Pasta with Shrimp, Tomatoes, Basil, and Lots of Garlic

                                                            

  Sunday night is always something of an improv to use up things before my grocery trip on Tuesday. I had a lot of ripe tomatoes waiting and a half bag of shrimp in the freezer. Plus a burgeoning basil plant and there's always garlic and butter.

So, I got the butter good and hot and stirred in the defrosted shrimp and the garlic (8 cloves, chopped.) It was a very brief cook time, just till the shrimp curled, and I removed shrimp and garlic to a bowl. Then I put 3 chopped up tomatoes into the butter and cooked till some began to caramelize on the edges. Off heat, added a bit more butter then the shrimp and garlic and a good bit of torn basil leaves.

Served over pasta (farfalle) and topped with parmesan. 

It was right good for improv.

A Perfect Spring Meal

 

So simple! Chicken thighs, potatoes, asparagus, and scallions all on a sheet pan and dinner is ready in less than an hour.

You start with a mix of salt, paprika, and garlic granules in a small bowl. Heat the oven to 425,  slice up a lemon to put under the chicken, slice your red potatoes, trim the asparagus and scallions, pour a goodly amount of olive oil on a sheet pan.

Now put the chicken (which you've coated with the the olive oil) on the sheet pan atop the lemon slices and sprinkle with the salt mixture. Add the potato slices, flipping to coat with the oil and then sprinkling with the mixture. Into the oven and roast 25 minutes.

Remove sheet pan and push potatoes to one side and put the chicken on top of them. Put the asparagus and scallions in the cleared space, turning to coat with the oil. Sprinkle with the salt mixture. Roast 15 minute. for medium sized asparagus.

The potatoes are crispy outside and melting inside' the chicken skin is also crispy, and the asparagus and scallions taste of spring.

A more detailed recipe that was my guide is HERE.

Toad in the Hole

The Brits have some intriguing names for food, which is part of the reason I made Toad in the Hole. It's basically sausage, surrounded by batter (as for popovers or Yorkshire pudding) and served with an excellent onion gravy. I strayed from orthodoxy a bit by using sausage with jalapeno and cheddar and it was delicious.

The recipe I followed is HERE.

What next? Bangers and Mash with Mushy Peas and Spotted Dick for afters? Could be.

 

Quick and Easy and Almost Vegan

Garbanzos, kale, and tomatoes are the basis of this tasty stew, served over rice or quinoa and topped with sour cream swirled with spicy harissa. 

1 red onion, thinly sliced

3-5 clove garlic, sliced or chopped

Olive oil

1 can garbanzos (14 oz. more or less)

1 can diced tomatoes (also 14 oz.)

2 large handfuls chopped kale

2 tsp. tumeric

Salt to taste

Sour cream (or use a vegan substitute)

Harissa paste (could substitute Gochujang or some other spicy condiment, maybe Chili Crisp?)

Saute the onions in olive oil till beginning to crisp, stir in garlic and cook another minute. 

Dump in the can of undrained garbanzos and the can of tomatoes. Add the tumeric and then the kale. Stir till kale begins to wilt, then cook till the tomatoes begin to break down and form a sauce. Salt to taste.

Serve over rice or quinoa. Top with a liberal dose of Sour cream and harissa.

 

Pico de Gallo and True Lime

                                                             

Beans and rice appear on our table with some regularity. Sometimes it's quinoa or barley or brown rice, but when I'm in a hurry, it's basmati rice which is done in about 15 minutes. The beans are generally out of a can, sometimes black beans or garbanzos, sometimes one of the various field peas.

Sometimes I cut up corn tortillas and fry them for accompanying chips.

                                                 And if I have a fresh jalapeno in the house, I make pico de gallo to top the beans and rice. It's simple and delicious (any leftover goes on scrambled eggs in the morning.) You just chop up one onion, two tomatoes, and one jalapeno. Add a quarter teaspoon of salt and some lime juice--or a couple envelopes of True Lime, which is powdered lime and is an amazingly good substitute for fresh lime. (Limes are awfully expensive these days, probably due to tariffs.) Fresh cilantro is a traditional ingredient, but as John is genetically disposed to find cilantro tasting of soap, I leave it out. 

It's a cheap and healthful meal. 

               

What's for Supper?

Cream of spinach and mushroom soup accompanied by Pumpkin Challah rolls--an early fall delight.

The soup was a no-recipe effort to use up some mushrooms. I sauteed chopped onion and celery in butter, added the mushrooms and sprinkled in a little flour to make a light roux. Added chicken broth and thawed frozen spinach. Cooked till it thickened a bit then stirred in some heavy cream.

The rolls were from a recipe I saw HERE. Mine didn't turn out as pretty and shiny as theirs, but they were extremely tasty. I'm looking forward to some for breakfast too.

 

Really Good Fish Tacos--Muy Sabrosos!

I think I've posted about fish tacos before, but those I made last night were extra good--because of the crispy coating on the fish and the tasty sauce.

I used catfish fillets, cut in strips, soaked in buttermilk then rolled in Masa P.A.N. before frying in canola oil. The Masa has been lurking in the back of my refrigerator since I got ambitious and made pupusas a few years back. It's very finely ground and, while ordinary cornmeal works just fine, this was a revelation in crispiness.

The other new and delicious change was a sauce made of equal parts of mayonnaise and sour cream,  with Sriracha, lime juice, and a clove of pressed garlic. (This sauce would be good on many things.)

Warm corn tortillas, some shredded purple cabbage,a squeeze of lime juice, and some pickled red onions topped the fish with some tomato wedges on the side. 

Something to do while I wait for the taco trucks on every corner the GOP "threatened" us with. (Bring them on!)

 

For a Chilly Night

                         

 The weather has been rainy and chilly--and pleasant to sleep under blankets at night. A good time for a warming dish of Thai curried chickpeas, spinach, and tomatoes in coconut milk.

It's a quick and easy recipe using canned chickpeas and canned diced tomatoes. Fresh spinach is a nice addition for color.

                             

Here's the recipe:

Preheat oven to 350

1 can chickpeas, drained

1 tsp. garam masala

1 TB olive oil

Garlic, onion, and ginger

Thai red curry paste

1 can diced tomatoes

1 can full fat coconut milk

fresh spinach

Limes, cilantro, basil, and/or parsley for garnish          

                         

Toss chickpeas and garam masala together in a saucepan, then remove with slotted spoon to a baking sheet, lined with parchment paper. Roast at 350 for 20 minutes. (If you're in a hurry, you could probably skip the roasting and just add the drained chickpeas.)

Meanwhile, chop your onion and garlic and add to the pan you used to coat the chickpeas (olive oil being such a price that I like to make it do double duty.) Add the ginger, either minced or squeezed through a garlic press. Saute briefly then stir in a tsp or more, depending on your tolerance for heat, of the curry paste. Cook a minute then stir in the tomatoes, cook a few minutes, now add a few handfuls of spinach. When the spinach had wilted, add the coconut milk.

Serve in a soup bowl over jasmine or basmati rice. We had a spinach and mango salad with vinaigrette on the side--a nice complement.

                                              

Tuscan Chicken

This is a really easy and tasty way to cook chicken thighs (or 'second-joints,' as they were called when I was growing up, along with 'white meat' , rather than the scandalous breast.)

We had leftovers with this amount. A bonus!

8 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs

Olive oil, salt and pepper

Mirepoix ( 2 c chopped celery, 2 c. chopped carrots, 4 c. chopped onions)

2-3 tsp. fresh rosemary

1/2 cup mixed olives plus 1/4 cup olive brine (the original recipe specified Castelvetrano olives but not having those, I used some fancy mixed olives we'd been given for Christmas.)

1 pint cherry tomatoes

#####

Preheat oven to 425 F. Pat thighs dry and season all over with salt and pepper. Heat olive oil in large casserole with lid. Add thighs (in batches, if necessary) and saute till browned, about 5 minutes. Turn and cook other side 2 minutes then remove to plate. (Chicken will finish cooking in the oven.)

Now add the mirepoix mix to the casserole and cook over high heat 3-5 minutes, stirring till browned. Add rosemary, stir, and then add the olive brine, stirring to scrape up browned bits. Cook about 1 min., till liquid has evaporated. Stir in cherry tomatoes and olives, and salt and pepper as desired.

Off heat, arrange the chicken, browned side up, in the casserole, along with any juices.  Cover and put in oven for about 15 min..

A Southern Take on Caldo Gallego.

                                                                       

 The classic Spanish version calls for turnip greens and Spanish chorizo (not at all like Mexican.) In the past I have used kielbasa but what I had on hand was collard greens and Alabama's Conecuh hickory smoked sausage. And a bunch of broth left over from boiling the turkey carcass. 

Accompanied by John's bread, hot from the oven, and a salad of spinach, red cabbage, and tangerines with blue (for John) or goat (for me) cheese, it was a more than worthy iteration of the classic. Goodbye, kielbasa--it's Conecuh from now on!

                                                  

5 quarts turkey broth (or whatever broth you choose)

1 package chopped collar (or kale) greens

1 can garbanzos, undrained

1 can cannellini beans, undrained

1 pkg Conecuh sausage, cut into bite size pieces

2 onions, chopped

1 red (or green) pepper, also chopped

about half a head of garlic, peeled and chopped

two medium red potatoes, chopped

2 bay leaves

2 pkg Goya Sazon

Bring the broth to a boil, stir in greens and beans. In a skillet, brown the sausage then add to soup. In the sausage fat, sauté the onions, pepper, and garlic and add to soup. Throw in the chopped potatoes, a couple of bay leaves, and the Sazon.

Simmer about an hour. Taste to decide if you need salt.  Freezes well.

                                                          

Needs Must Salad

Needs Must salad is what I make the night before I go to the grocery. I'm out of lettuce and/or spinach so I turn to that nice, long-lasting purple cabbage lurking in the bottom drawer of the fridge. Shredded carrots, celery, and yellow bell pepper round out this iteration. Sometimes there are onions and tomatoes--really, whatever I can find that crunches. I dress it with a little salt, olive oil, and white balsamic vinegar for a touch of sweetness.

On this night we also had a cream of celery and onion soup, made with some broth from the turkey carcass, and hot popovers--those little miracles made from just flour, salt, eggs, milk, and a hot oven.

Yum.

 

A Concept of a Recipe

A riff on Fish Veracruz.  Big catfish filets, marinated in yoghurt with a little Dijon mustard then rolled in a mixture of flour, salt, paprika, and garlic powder and fried in canola oil. 

Sered atop cheesy grits and dressed with a fresh salsa of lightly sauteed onions, garlic, bell pepper, and tomato. Some green olives stirred in at the end.

There should have been some shrimp, to come nearer to the Veracruz ideal, but it was pretty tasty for a concept.

 

Shepherds' Salad

A tasty salad for a hot summer day. Chopped cucumber, green pepper, tomato, and onion--add lemon juice and olive oil, salt to taste, fresh parsley, feta cheese and kalamata olives. Chill well.

It also makes a nice filling for a pita or a crusty sub roll.

                                                                                  

Salade 'Week-End'

                                                                          

Yesterday I was still a little hung-over from the excitement of the convention and the unusual for me late night. 

After cleaning and reorganizing the refrigerator--a terrible smell caused by a hidden plastic bag full of the liquid remains of a forgotten squash made it necessary--I realized that there were some other veg on the edge and what I needed to do was make a salad for dinner.

I had a good start with a simple potato salad I'd made the day before with some extra boiled potatoes--just added a bit of mayo, dill weed, and chopped celery and onion.

A bed of Romaine lettuce, the potato salad, tomato wedges, sliced cucumber, ditto onion, leftover cooked green beans, a little salt, a drizzle of olive oil and white balsamic vinegar and the fancy touch of a handful of shrimp, sauteed in a little butter and Sriracha sauce came together to make this not-quite Salade Nicoise.

Some ciabattas toasted with garlic butter and a glass of white wine made for a rather elegant summer supper.

And now for an early night.

Garbanzo Pasta Rosa

Still trying to adhere to the alternate-night vegetarian plan, I came up with this simple dish. As almost always, it begins with an onion.

Sauté one chopped onion in butter. Add one large tomato, also chopped, and a can of garbanzos (chick peas), drained. As it cooks, chop some garlic then add it. When most of the moisture is gone, add heavy cream, a sprinkle of dried chili flakes, chopped fresh basil and parsley, them simmer till sauce has thickened. 

I served it over conchiglie --small shell-shaped pasta--and the garbanzos nestled in the shells like big, delicious pearls. We topped it with a bit of parmesan.

Surprisingly delicious and filling, not to mention quick and easy to prepare.

 

If, On a Hot Summer Evening. . .

Sometimes, nothing sounds better than a salad. A Salade Nicoise is pretty much a full meal. There's a little advance prep that, ideally, could be done in the morning before things heat up. Boil potatoes, hard cook eggs, steam green beans, make vinaigrette (fresh basil, thyme, oregano, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper,) and pour some on the cooked potatoes, then use it to marinate the thin sliced onions. 

Come evening, it's just a matter of assembling the ingredients--lettuce (or spinach,) a small can of tuna in oil, sliced cukes, tomato wedges, the potatoes, green beans, onions, hard-cooked egg, some olives--Kalamata if you don't have the little French ones, some capers, and the vinaigrette. 

And if, after a too hot day, a cooling thunderstorm moves in, it's nice to sit on the porch with coffee and, for Himself, perhaps a drop of something stronger. . .

                                           

 

Florentine Butter Chicken

 A recipe from Food and Wine that John suggested we try. It's not especially complicated and is quite delicious. It does include an artery-choking amount of butter...which is, of course, why it's so tasty.

Ingredients

1 large egg, beaten

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

2 (7-ounce) boneless, skinless chicken breasts, lightly pounded to 3/4-inch-thickness

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon coarsely ground pepper

1/2 cup, plus 2 tablespoons (5 ounces) cold salted cultured butter (such as Vermont Creamery), cut into pieces, divided

3 tablespoons olive oil

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (from 2 lemons)

DIRECTIONS

Place beaten egg in a shallow bowl or pie plate. Spread flour in a separate shallow bowl or pie plate. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Working with 1 breast at a time, dip chicken in egg, letting any excess drip back into bowl, then dredge in flour, shaking off excess.

Melt 1/4 cup butter with oil in a 10-inch stainless steel skillet over medium-high, and cook, swirling occasionally, until milk solids begin to sink to bottom of skillet and start to brown, 4 to 5 minutes. Add chicken, rounded sides down, and cook, swirling skillet occasionally, until lightly golden, about 3 minutes. Carefully turn chicken over, and add remaining 6 tablespoons butter. Tilt skillet toward you so butter pools, and cook, basting chicken often, until chicken is just cooked through and golden brown, 4 to 5 minutes.

Remove from heat, and carefully pour in lemon juice (butter will start to bubble). Serve immediately.

Eclipse, Rapture, and Intermittent Vegetarianism

The early morning sky and the weather report promised a cloudy day, and that's what we got. John and I sat out on the porch during totality and noted the drop in temperature, but the light hardly changed, it was so cloudy already. The dogs didn't seem to notice anything unusual.

Another disappointment was that apparently, Marjorie Taylor Greene and the cohort of Magahats weren't raptured away.  Just imagine how, with that gang gone, Congress could get to work and actually do something useful rather than parroting Russian propaganda.

Oh, well. 

                                                                               

In a whiplash-inducing change of subject, here's what we had for dinner. We try to eat vegetarian every other night. Health, economy, environment all come into it.

 Tonight, it was crowder peas on basmati rice with a bit of thyme and lemon juice, topped with a veggie mélange--yellow squash, onion, red pepper, and green beans (using up veg before going to the store.) 

But the best part of the meal was the broccoli slaw with a ripe, sweet mango cut up in it. An amazing pairing.

(My dressing for slaw is something like this--half a teaspoon sugar, one teaspoon salt (I use Jane's Crazy Salt,) a teaspoon of Dijon mustard, a teaspoon cider vinegar, and enough mayonnaise to moisten the slaw. These amounts are only approximate; you can adjust them to suit your own palate.)

Bucatini with Salsa Rosa

                                                                                                                                                              

Though I've been accused of chopping up onions and garlic while I decide what I'm fixing for dinner, last night I actually had a plan.                                                                                                                                                              

There was bucatini (hollow spaghetti) at the store for the first time in ages and, in my mind, it was calling for a creamy sauce. So, start the water to boil for the pasta. Now sauté the onions, mushrooms, and garlic in butter, season with salt and mixed Italian herbs, stir in a couple tablespoons of tomato paste then flood the pan with heavy cream and simmer till it becomes the thick creamy sauce of my dreams.

                                                                                       

I stirred in a little fresh spinach  and some red pepper flakes.

                                                                                          

                        Topped with Parmesan and with a spinach/ red pepper salad on the side, it was a satisfying and quick supper. Meatless, but not low calorie, more's the pity. 

We were in need of comfort food--our new dryer is not working, and for a while it seemed that our new oven's electronic controls were possessed by evil spirits. And with family here for Christmas! Arrgh!

But John the hero went to You Tube and found the fix that exorcized the evil spirits. In the oven, at least. The dryer is waiting on a part.

                                                    

Moros y Christianos

                                                              

AKA black beans and rice. A Spanish/Cuban favorite from my Tampa childhood. 

For some time now, we've been trying to have meatless suppers every other night. This is a tasty, easy treat.

First, I sauté chopped onion, green pepper, and garlic in olive oil. Then I stir in a can (undrained) of black beans and a packet of Goya Sazon.  A bit of dried oregano and finally, about a quarter cup of red wine. 

The wine is not traditional, but I tried it some time ago and it made the beans much tastier and somehow better rounded in flavor.

Top with chopped raw onion and a bit of olive oil and vinegar. A baked sweet potato is a good accompaniment. (Sauteed plantains would be even better.) And a tomato salad.

Muy bueno!