I was feeling inspired to cook, probably because this week I've been going through the old foodie magazines, pulling the keeper recipes.  Today I found an old keeper that I'd forgotten all about:  Fusilli Alla Crazy Bastard! (Food & Wine, Jan 2009)  The whole family had enjoyed this in the past, several times, with improv variations, but it had been so long that I'd totally forgotten about it (other than I can never say "fusilli" without following it up with "you crazy bastard" anymore).

So, the dish is the creation of Andy Nusser, Mario Batali's head chef at multiple locations.  Andy and Mario have adopted "Fusilli, you crazy bastard" as the punch line to every joke :)

I made half the usual recipe, since it was just the two of us:  toasted walnuts or pine nuts, roasted cherry tomatoes, sauted sliced garlic, beet greens, red pepper, chevre and parmesan create a "sauce" for the pasta.  I used whole wheat penne, since that's what I had, and forgot the nuts.  I had spinach instead of beet greens, and with B's lactose issue, I just used the soy cream cheese instead.  I think a bit of lemon juice would have helped add the goaty tang, but I forgot to try it.  I wanted a bit more protein, so I sliced up some hard salami into ribbons and fried them up until crispy to toss in - a nod to bacon, but more in keeping with the italian inspiration.

For the side, I made a wilted asparagus salad with a orange-tarragon-leek vinaigrette.  This was adapted from a Vegetarian Times recipe.  Half a leek, thinly sliced and sauteed in olive oil until limp, and half a pound of super thin asparagus (if it was regular sized, I would have shaved it with a vegetable peeler) tossed in the pan and heated until bright green, but still super crisp, with about a tablespoon of chopped fresh tarragon.  I squeezed the juice from half a blood orange into the pan and splashed it with some tarragon vinegar (white balsamic would have been great as well), some freshly ground black pepper on top, and it was done.

DH made us some lovely lemon martinis and we were set.  It was lovely, and relatively quick to pull together (30-40 min).  Imma use the rest of the asparagus for an Asparagus-Mushroom Bread Pudding tomorrow or Monday.

 at loligo's journal:  yum

the technique also worked with the cheese wafers we made last weekend.

It's been awhile since I've done a food post.

Rupert announced he had become a vegetarian about 2 months ago.  He's not even eating ramen anymore, because we only found one flavor (mushroom) that is inoffensive.  It's been tough finding ways to keep him full.  He really dislikes the vegetarian options in the school cafeteria, so I tried keeping stuff at home he could make and take, but he's rarely motivated to pack a lunch.  I'm also keeping some grab and go stuff on hand for breakfasts - milk chugs and strawberry Boost, breakfast bars, powerbars, snack packs of peanuts or almonds or trail mix, yogurt and a full fruit bowl.  We weren't quite ready to jump nearly full time back into the veg diet, so we asked if he'd be willing to eat fishy things.  Yes he is, but we only do that 1-2 times per week.  We're doing full veg things 3-4 times and the rest of the time, we cook meat and give him a substitute - chix patties, boca stuff, "steak" strips.  His reason for turning veg is the poor treatment of "food" animals.  He doesn't want to condone that.  I believe he is currently thinking through his position on organically raised animals.  He's asked us some questions about organic practices.  Before B had to go on such a limited and meat based diet, we were doing organic meats only and veggie stuff the rest of the time, because organic meat is so much more expensive.  I wouldn't mind going back to that diet, but I'm not sure B is ready for that yet.





I haven't decided today's meals yet.  It's brunch day, but the girl works until 1:00.  Rupert is still sleeping and B is still sick, so his appetite is spotty.  I've got grapefruit, and a box of strawberries, and frozen blueberries, and there are eggs.  I don't know if I feel up to producing waffles, but a crispy cornmeal waffle with fruit sounds pretty good right now.  

Next sunday's dinner is in the fridge - a small boneless leg of lamb.  It will be the centerpiece of our traditional mediterranean-based spring feast.  With lots of chocolate for dessert.  There will of course be hummus and baba ghanoush, marinated veggies, dates, pita bread, etc.

For the week, I've got on hand:  Ham steak with sweet potatoes and broccoli; homemade chinese - veggie pot stickers, spicy eggplant, and possibly lacquered tofu with haricots vert; there's always something mexican or southwestern on the menu; tilapia - in rice bowls or just broiled and served with lemon caper butter; I think I've got everything I need to try out the new "meatloaf" recipe in Vegetarian Times, or I can do a meatless shepard's pie.  We usually get one meal out and we usually have one "pick up" meal.  Since I'll be out of town Monday night and Mavis will have her class on Tuesday night, those are the most likely nights we'll fall back on "easy."

Yesterday's dinner guests kind of surprised me with their enthusiasm and appreciation of a fairly simple meal.  See, they've been our dinner guests quite frequently over the past 7 years, so I guess I thought they'd just get used to our style, and stop commenting on it.  I still remember some of those first meals we served to busman1994, because his orgasmic delight was apparent throughout the meals.  See, I've always held that food = love, but not in that unhealthy way that produces 200-lb middle schoolers.  barley52 calls it "food of love," which is by no means a phrase original to him, but it does express where I'm coming from more precisely.

So yesterday, bzdchris and busman1994 came for dinner, bearing 10 ears of fresh corn and dessert fixin's.  barley52 peeled and grilled 2 lbs of medium shrimp, and bzdchris shucked and grilled her corn right alongside him.  busman1994 and I assembled the dinner plates in the kitchen.  Starting with the large glass fish-shaped platters I got for a buck apiece several years ago, for each person, I mounded about 3 cups of freshly harvested and washed, tender young lettuces in the center.  Topped those with grape tomatoes, cucumber slices, garden-fresh radishes and baby carrots, and slices of yellow bell pepper.  Scattered on top were several edible pansies, I had purchased because Mavis loves them.  My helper then grated parmesan over top of that.  At the tail-end of the platter, a generous cup of 3-cheese tortellini salad leftover from earlier in the week.  At the head, about a half cup of homemade hummus (also a leftover), thinned with some fresh lemon juice, decorated with kalamata olives and drizzled with olive oil.  Nestled between the hummus and the salad bed were some home-marinated mushrooms.  Arranged along the "back" were fins made from pita triangles.  When the plates were brought to the table, we topped our salads with the grilled shrimp, and dressed them with a vidalia onion vinaigrette.  I buy it in a big ol bottle from Sam's Club - it's the only place I've ever seen it, and it is lightly sweet and creamy, but not thick.  We used traditional salad plates to house our corn cobs, dripping with butter.

The thing is, this was just salad and leftovers on a big plate.  It wasn't hard to do, and the only thing we picked up "special" for dinner was the shrimp, but we always do at least one seafood dinner each week, so we usually have shrimp, scallops or tilapia on hand.  I use the fish plates so rarely, that it was a special treat to haul them out (they're too big to wash in the dishwasher, so I don't use them all that often, and usually only with seafood), but the dinner would have been just as yummy and lovely on my plain white china.  It's just what we do around here, and it's not at all difficult.

For dessert, bzdchris brought fresh meringues, chocolate ice cream, mint chocolate chip ice cream, and freshly picked black raspberries from her yard.  We put the ice creams on top of the meringues, and the black raspberries in the glasses of prosecco we had with our dessert.  De-Lish!  This dessert wasn't any more or less difficult than dinner - she had the meringues on hand because she's a pastry chef.  Store-bought, high quality ice cream on top.  Done.  You could do the same thing with cookies or bars or fruit.  

The only thing a meal like this really takes is intent.  You just have to pay attention to what you're doing.  Will this look better on a plain plate, or in a bowl?  Is there a way to punch up the flavor of this? (I am the queen of condiments - among other things).  Which colors will look nicer next to each other?  Do the wine glasses match the wine?  Do they match the other dishes?  Or is the table setting more eclectic this evening?  Are we serving wine, beer or cocktails?  Sure, at some point you have to make a conscious decision to approach your meals this way.  You have to give yourself permission to use cloth napkins and fresh garlic and the pretty glasses, and to light those decorative candles you keep on the table.  Is it any harder to put on the music channel than it is to leave "the Simpsons" blaring through dinner?  Is it really so inconvenient to carry the meal to the outdoor table when the weather is nice?  Improving the view or the atmosphere automatically improves the meal.  Honest.  Put that mac n' cheese in a pretty bowl, carry it outside to a table with a placemat and a cloth napkin, pour a nice glass of wine, and tell me it still feels like you're eating Kraft dinner.  The intent is to make the meal a pleasant respite from the rest of the day, or even the week.  I think it's easier to do than get in a walk every day, or take time out for a bubble bath, or drive to a gym for a workout.  And I'm convinced the mental benefit is the same.  Of course, if you're not careful, you'll really need those walks and workouts ::g::  

So now you know my biggest secret of culinary success.  I don't make really complicated dishes very often.  Three to five ingredients and less than an hour of effort are my typical parameters for trying out recipes.  I love slow cooking (not necessarily crock-pot cooking), but I tend to save that for wintry sundays.  I also really love things like spring rolls and dolmades, but sheesh, I've got to be in the mood to invest the time in those. 

Go forth!  Spread the love!

I've been craving Cioppino for a couple of months now.  If you're not familiar with this particular fish stew, it was created in California, with San Francisco and San Pedro both claiming the invention.  I vote for San Fran, because I'm from the Bay Area, and the main ingredient is Dungeness Crabs, which I would buy cracked from SF fishmongers and eat with a cold brew at my side while dangling my legs off the nearest wharf with a side of real sourdough.  Heaven on earth, I'm tellin' ya.

Anyway, I had been hoping to recreate the dish economically, as Dungeness tends to be very dear in the midwest, when I rediscovered the frozen seafood mix at Woodman's.  It's a 1 lb. bag of pre-cooked, mixed calamari (including tentacles), shrimp, cuttlefish, mussels, and maybe some scallops. It sells for $2.99.  This is a steal, but I've never been able to come up with a truly satisfactory use for this combo until last night.

Recipe for 4-6 people:

2-3 Tbl extra virgin olive oil
4 large cloves garlic finely chopped
2 jalepenos, seeded and minced
1/2 red bell pepper and 1/2 green bell pepper, finely chopped
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 large bay leaf
1 tomato bouillion cube or 1 Tbl tomato paste
1/4 cup dry red wine (I used Timbuktu's Big Block Red)
14 oz can diced tomatoes with liquid
10 oz can whole baby clams, juice reserved
1 quart vegetable juice (V8)
1 lb frozen seafood mix, thawed and rinsed
Basil or Oregano-infused olive oil to garnish
Crusty (Sourdough!) bread for serving

Dissolve the tomato boullion cube in the red wine and set aside.
In a very large soup pot, heat the olive oil over med-high until shimmering.  Add the chopped garlic, jalapenos, bell peppers, onion and bay leaf and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and beginning to brown, ~10 min. 
Add the tomato boullion and wine mixture and cook, stirring until the wine is nearly evaporated 1-2 minutes.  If using tomato paste instead, add the paste first for 1 min, then add the wine for another minute.
Add the whole can of diced tomatoes and cook over moderately high heat until slightly thickened, ~5 min.
Add the vegetable juice to the clam juice to make a total of 30 oz of liquid and add to the pot.  Season lightly with salt and generously with pepper.  Bring to a boil and simmer for approximately 20 minutes.  The broth will reduce somewhat.
Add the clams and the rinsed seafood mix to the pot, and return the stew to a strong simmer, making sure all the seafood is thoroughly heated before serving.
Ladle into deep soup bowls, drizzle with the herb-infused olive oil (optional) and serve with lots of bread.

DH and Rupert each had 2 bowls.  I had only one, but I was loading up on the bread.  There is more than a full bowl left (Mavis wasn't here for dinner), but probably not 2.  The flavor was deeply tomatoey, slightly fishy (as a fish stew should be), and zippy.  My mouth was just the right amount of happy spicyness at the end of the meal.  We drank the rest of the bottle of Big Block Red with dinner.

If this were real cioppino, with the crabs, you'd want at least 2 steamed crabs, and you'd quarter them so that each piece had a leg and portion of body after cleaning them.  Then you'd serve it in wide & shallow soup plates.  And you'd also have fresh clams, mussels, shrimp, scallops, and fish.  But it's hard to get all those things here in Wisconsin, and be able to afford them all at once.  If you ever visit the CA coast, make sure to get the real thing.  It will be the highlight of the trip.

Pronounciation guide:  chu-pee-no

Well, I feel like I've been writing meeting reports continuously this week, so even though in my head I've got at least 3 LJ entries written, I'm not gonna write them tonite.  In summary:

No weight change. It's December, and even though I should be glad the number isn't going up, I'm bummed it isn't going down.

Subaruby!! Brought the new baby home on Wed, and have to get the borrowed transportation back to cfxjosh  and leathermines. Thanks you guys! You rock! We are once again a 2-car family, with a '01 Subaru Legacy as the newest member of the family. Say sayonara to the year of the car.

The Gay and Lesbian Business Alliance has named 'My Caterer' their official caterer! Tuesday was a big success and moreso because of the skills and talents of cfxjosh and leathermines. See above. How cool is it that a professional cake decorator decided to stay till the mini creme puffs were served, and then pronounced them delightfully light and airy?! There were actual groans of appreciation as barley52 carried them to their pedastal. It's been such a long week that I fear my spelling sucks....

There's been some amazing writing and reccing on my flist this week, and I've tried to keep up, but I've had limited time.

Got my first 2 weeks of pay from the new job too. Bank account is very happy.

Installed shelves and a bulletin board, a cordless phone and a shiny new laptop in my job trailer. Too bad said laptop came with nothing but Lotus Notes installed. Took all week to straighten it out, and am still missing Project. But, things are definitely coming into focus on the job.

Tonight, I recycled the leftover scallop ceviche as scallops in cream. Heavy cream in a light roux flavored with tarragon. Drain the scallops, add to the cream, heat through and serve over angel hair. The tanginess of the lime in the scallops played nicely against the richness of the cream. Had a glass of german riesling on the side. Served myself seconds, then couldn't even take a bite. There's one dish waiting in the fridge for DH. It was all his fault to begin with ::g::

So that's the week in review.

Yesterday, DH and I went to the Farmer's Market, and it had to be the most Food Porntastic day of the season! Everything was gorgeous, and it all wanted to come home with us. We bought:

• Carrots in various colors - beet red, golden, etc.
• A golden cauliflower
• Heirloom tomatoes - pineapple stripe, zebra roma, and black roma
• leeks
• Lots of Hot Peppers in all different colors, plus red bells
• A baker's dozen of corn
• A bucket of red and a bucket of gold tomatoes ($1.50 each bucket!)
• A pint of yellow pear tomatoes
• 3 lb bag of mixed onions - maybe 6-10 different varieties
• 4 medium green tomatoes
• Deep purple eggplants
• 3 lb of Macoun apples - My all time favorite.  I have to wait all season, and we don't buy apples from the FM until the Macouns are ready.  So crisp and sweet!

All this abundance means that today, we are cooking and freezing.  We've made yellow salsa and red salsa, bratwurst onions, and curried chicken phyllo triangles (ate those for lunch).  I've got 12 yellow and 12 red salsa "cupcakes" plus a couple pints of each color in the freezer.  10 Large onions and 1.5 sticks butter went into the bratwurst onions plus soy sauce, teryaki, southern comfort, worcestershire and liquid smoke.  They'll continue to cook for another 8 hrs or so.  There's a golden tomato-basil-sage sauce on the stove also.  On the outdoor burner, a pot of water is going for the corn, which will be blanched, cut and frozen for midwinter corn relish, and additions to chili and cornbread.  Of course we'll save a few for tonight's dinner.  I'm expecting the green tomatoes to make an appearance, but you never know.  DH is also planning a red tomato-garlic-basil sauce.

The yellow salsa started out with so much up-front burn, it raised my voice into the next register and had me asking for a beer at 10;30 am! LOL  More tomatoes solved that and brought it back into tolerable range.  The triangles are so nummy that I ate 3, and seriously contemplated a 4th with my second beer.  I decided to have a Macoun though.  Very nice.  We didn't make it to see Farmer John today, so the nubs of parmesan and gorgonzola will have to last until Thurs. at least.

Last night, we gave away all but two medium yellow zucchini and this morning DH has picked 2 and says 8 more will be ready soonest.  I think the CA axiom about planting no more than 1 zucchini per 1.5 city blocks is being proven by our backyard monster.

Laundry is awashing, and I've got to go get the girl from her friend's house.  All in all, a stellar way to spend a rainy Sunday.

Okay, this is where I usually get with all my journals, past present, and most likely future.

I think of things all the time to be writing down, but by the time I've got the time to sit down and transcribe my life, I'm all "bleh, who wants to write about it when you could be.. drinking wine or martinis, eating, having sex, sleeping, reading damn good slash, watching something that inspires damn good slash, having sex, yelling at the kids, etc.  That last thought would come across a lot funnier if I could figure out how to do that crossed out text thing, and only leave in the bits about sex and slash. Heh.

Tonight we couldn't think of what to do for dinner.  That usually means Goldy has to get creative.  So I rearranged the pantry (gotta know what's on hand), and perused the fridge, and (heee!) the little bits of harvest from the garden.  This is what we had:

Goldy's Kitchen Sink Carbonara

4 slices leftover Neuske's bacon, chopped, 1/4 cup previously sliced green onions, one thinly sliced garlic scape, 1/2 diced yellow bell pepper, 1/2 diced poblano pepper, 1 tbl minced fresh rosemary, 2 minced Peruvian Purple peppers, 12 large Basil leaves, frisee sliced, 6 baby plum tomatoes, sixthed instead of quartered, 2 eggs, approx. 2 cups grated italian cheeses.  I used a good quality parmesan, Farmer John's Provenello & mozzarella.  Ground black pepper, red pepper flakes, cooked spaghetti.

Fry the bacon in a cast iron skillet until soft and a good amount of fat has been rendered.  Add the peppers, scape, rosemary, and onions.  Cook, stirring to prevent sticking until wilted through, but not so much as to lose all crispness and color.

Beat the eggs in a big serving bowl, add black pepper, red pepper flakes, basil frisee and mix well.

Drain the pasta. Put a scoop of pasta into the skillet and mix with the bacon mixture.  Add the pasta and cheese to the serving bowl, a big scoop at a time, mixing well with each addition.  Add the bacon- veggie-pasta mixture, and mix again.  This takes some judgement, because you don't want so much cheese that it clumps up.  Throw in the tomatoes at the end and mix again.  Garnish, if desired, with more grated parmesan or sprigs of herbs.

Tonight's version wasn't really spicy at all.  I wanted a bit of zip, and while it was tasty, I never got any heat from it.  I chickened out on using the serrano pepper I had, but minced finely enough, and only using half would probably have given the right amount of zing.  The kids devoured it, DH complimented it after eating 2 plates, so I'm offering it up here.

Since it's 80-something degrees here, we aren't terribly hungry, and this was all we had.  To round out the meal, you could add salad and bread.  Also, prosciutto-wrapped melon would fancy it up.  We drank our house white, but a young, bright red (pinot noir or chianti) would be a wonderful match.

And carbonara doesn't translate very well into a cold dish, unless you are exceedingly weird and like cold mac & cheese for breakfast (like me).  So I don't recommend it for picnics, but once you've chopped everything, assembly is like 10 minutes, so it's super great when you're tired and hungry, and can farm out chopping to a couple different helpers.

Maybe tomorrow I'll update on the car, the kids and the consulting stuff.