Fennel Broth

You might remember a week or so back that I made a pork loin roasted with fennel bulbs. I tossed the stalks and other unused trimmings into a ziploc bag for later use. It seemed a shame to throw away so much flavor.

Fennel Broth

Ingredients:

• Left over fennel stalks and trimmings from 4 fennel bulbs (about a pound)
• 1 small potato, peeled and cut into chunks
• 4 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 tsp fennel seeds
• 1 allspice berry
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp butter
• 4 cups cold water.

Directions:

• Roughly chop the fennel.
• Place all ingredients in a stock pot.
• Bring to a boil over medium heat.
• Reduce heat and simmer for about 45 minutes or until liquid has reduced to half.
• Strain and throw away solids.
• Refigerate for 5 days or freeze up to 2 months.

Yields around 2 cups broth.

Friday Focus on Food--Chicken

Wikipedia Article on Chicken

Favorite Fun Facts from the Wikipedia Article:

Recent evidence suggests that domestication of the chicken was under way in Vietnam over 10,000 years ago.

With a population of more than 24 billion in 2003,^[3] there are more chickens in the world than any other bird.

Chickens are omnivores.^[7] In the wild, they often scratch at the soil to search for seeds, insects and even larger animals such as lizards or young mice.^[8]


Because of its relatively low cost, chicken is one of the most used meats in the world. Nearly all parts of the bird can be used for food, and the meat can be cooked in many different ways.

In the Hadith, Muhammad commands, "When you hear the crowing of cocks, ask for Allah's Blessings for (their crowing indicates that) they have seen an angel.

In many Central European folk tales, the devil is believed to flee at the first crowing of a cock.

* * * *

I roasted my chickens last night(Roast Chicken with Pan Gravy) and they turned out moist and succulent. There'll be many more chicken articles this week!

The Grocery List --Feb. 27- March 6

Produce:

Garlic Cloves
2 Lemons
2 Cucumbers
1 pint grape tomatoes
1 small red onion
yellow onions
flat leaf parsley
mint
rosemary
lettuce

Canned/Bottled:

___


Dried:

Cereal
2 LB spaghetti noodles (for lazy days!)


milk/dairy/bread:

Unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups greek yogurt
flatbread for sandwiches


Meat:

2 whole chickens (about 31/2 lbs each)

Equipment:

Kitchen String
Basting Brush


Total Cost: $45

Notes: This list is for one week instead of the usual 2 weeks. I'm planning to base the next two weeks around four recipes that revolve around roast chicken, as I mentioned in Feb. 26th's Thursday Thinking Ahead article. This week I'm going to focus on the Roast Chicken with Pan Gravy and the Chicken Gyros with Cucumber Salsa and Tsatsiki. I'll return to the grocery store next week to get the ingredients needed for the Cheesy Chicken and Mushroom Lasagna and the Leek and Pea Risotto with Grilled Calamari. Breaking the list in two will result in fresher produce.

Thursday Thinking Ahead--Feb. 26

I am a huge fan of Gourmet magazine. My husband's mother had bought a 2 year subscription several years back, but quickly realized that it wasn't the sort of cooking she did, so she'd read through the articles and pass it on to me. The subscription ran out a while back and I kind of forgot about it, but then Ric bought me a subscription for Christmas this year (me receiving it pictured above).

I got my second issue in the mail earlier this week and on page 94 found the sort of article that is written just for me. It's under the Cook Smart section and the article is called Birds in Hand. Two roast chickens=4 meals. I took this as a challenge and I have based my grocery list for the next 2 weeks around these recipes which Gourmet has provided online at their website and at their partner site Epicurious.com:

Roast Chicken with Pan Gravy

Cheesy Chicken and Mushroom Lasagne

Gyros with Cucumber Salsa and Tsatsiki

Leek and Pea Risotto with Grilled Calamari

These are the sort of large meals that should have plenty of leftover potential for lunches throughout the week. With a few small meals mixed in, I'll have my whole week planned out.

Plus, the good news is that I already have some of the ingredients on hand: white wine, thyme (this stuff seems to keep forever in the fridge), gruyere cheese, parmesan reggiano. And I'll make the lasagne noodles from scratch!

In upcoming posts there should be plenty of pictures of chicken being prepared!

Sunday Brunch--Pfannkuchen or Dutch Baby

This is a pancake from Southern Germany that comes to us from the Pennsylvania Dutch (thus the Dutch Baby). I first made it on Twelfth Night back in January for our breakfast and we loved it so much that I vowed I'd make it for Easter. Well, my husband has begged for it so much that we have probably eaten it at least every other Sunday! It is a large, thick pancake--cut it into wedges. Don't be surprised when the inside is creamy like a custard--it is supposed to be that way.


It is very important to heat the pan in the oven first for it to turn out correctly. Mine rose that first morning in a bizarre, assymetrical way, and I thought for sure I had goofed. But it settled down nicely and looked like the other pictures I've seen online.

Ingredients:

• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 cup milk, warmed
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 1 cup flour
• 2 teaspoons shortening
• powdered sugar

Directions:

• Heat a well-seasoned 10-inch cast-iron skillet in the oven for 10 minutes (I've read that you should never ever use anything deeper than 3 inches, but the only cast iron pot I have the right size is my 6 quart enamel cast iron dutch oven, which I have used successfully)
  
• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
• Heat the milk and butter in the microwave for about a minute.
  
• Whisk together the eggs, salt, sugar, vanilla.
• Add the warmed milk slowly, whisking the batter all the while.
  
• Whisk in the flour to make a smooth batter.
• Remove the skillet from the ovenand brush the inside with the shortening.
  
• Pour in the batter and bake for 15 minutes.
  
• Lower the oven to 350 degrees F. and continue baking until puffed and golden brown, about 13 to 15 minutes more.
  
• Sift the confectioners' sugar over the pancake.
• Run a knife around the edge of the skille and cut into wedges.

Serve with honey or other topping of choice. My favorite is a ginger spread that came in my stocking this year.

Experimenting with Cheese--Results! Neufchatel and Shrimp Alfredo

Another obvious choice to put the neufchatel to use would be some sort of pasta considering all the egg noodles on hand right now. I researched some recipes and came across this one: Top Secret Never Tell Neufchatel Alfredo. I did make a few changes to it, so I'll go ahead and lay it out as I proceeded:

Ingredients:

• 3 TB olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1/2 Tsp crushed red pepper
• 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
• 1 TB butter
• 1 TB flour
• 2/3 Neufchatel cheese Dr. Fankhauser‘s Neufchatel
  
• 1/4 cup chopped parsley
• 1/4 cup parmesan reggiano
• 1/4 - 1/2 LB shrimp, deveined but with tails on.
• 1 LB cooked pasta From Scratch
  
• fresh ground pepper to taste

Directions:

• On medium heat saute oil, garlic and crushed red pepper, until garlic is golden.
• Remove garlic.
• Add chicken broth and bring to a boil.
• Whisk in Neufchatel until thouroughly blended, simmer on medium heat.
• Meanwhile in a small saute pan on low heat, melt the butter.
• Mix in the flour until well blended.
• A TB at a time, add some liquid from the Neufchatel mixture, whisking constantly, until somewhat thick, but well blended.
• Pour the flour mixture into the Neufchatel mixture, blend well.
• Continue stirring and cooking on medium heat until well blended and thickented.
• Add the shrimp--I leave the tails on, it makes for messier eating but adds flavor.
• Once the shrimp are heated through, turn off the heat add the parmesan and the parsley and stir together.
• Add the cooked pasta and stir until thouroughly coated.

New Artwork Above the Stove

In between baking a cheesecake Sunday, and making noodles for a neufchatel and shrimp alfredo (you'll get the recipe tomorrow), I finally sat down the with the children's memory game I had bought at Old Navy last week. My plan was to piece it together into a collage, frame it and hang it above the stove. The art is by one of my favorite artists of the twentieth century, Charles Harper. His style reduces the subject matter, mostly animals and nature, to its essential lines, capturing its essence. Being an outdoor nut, as well as a fan of minimal art (my non-food photography tends to wander down this path) the minute I saw Charles Harper I fell in love.

I spent over an hour trying to place the cards in a way that made sense, an in the end I fell back on my experience as a quilt lover and the daughter of a quilter (Mom‘s Blog) and hopefully managed to pull the colors into some semblance of order: the pinks/reds/oranges in the left hand diagonal and the blues and greens in the right, with the whites interspersed throughout.

Read about Charles Harper here:

Charles Harper at Wikipedia

Happy Birthday to Me!

My husband making my cake yesterday!

Experimenting with Cheese--Neufchatel Results!

Well, I finally dipped my finger in the neufchatel today, and tasted it. Still a little sour, but not nearly so much as before I salted it. It has mellowed out over a couple of days in the fridge. I started researching cheesecake recipes looking for something really basic to showcase the cheese. I also wanted to stay away from anything with sour cream in it, since I already had a somewhat sour cheese!

I was really influenced by the Pennsylvania Dutch cheesecake recipes because they used farmer's cheese. Another thing that I pulled from the Pennsylvania Dutch recipes, was the separation of the eggs. Mixing all the ingredients with the egg yolks, and then folding in the stiffened egg whites, gave it a rich yellow color and an airier texture--almost like a souffle.

It is fitting that I should post up a cheesecake recipe today, because it is my birthday, and traditionally my mother has made me a cheesecake as a birthday cake since I was old enough to pick out what I wanted.

Mel's Basic Cheesecake

Shortbread Crust:

• 1/4 cup butter
• 2 TB sugar
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp vanilla

Filling:

• 24 oz neufchatel or farmer's cheese Dr. Fankhauser‘s Neufchatel
  
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 4 eggs, separated

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
• Beat together the ingredients for the crust--it should be crumbly like a graham cracker crust.
• Press the crust mixture into the bottom of a springform pan.
• Bake in the oven for 10 minutes and then cool.
• Turn the oven down to 350 degrees.
• Meanwhile beat together the cheese, sugar, vanilla, and egg yolks.
• Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
• Fold the egg whites into the cheese mixture.
• When the crust has cooled, pour the filling into the pan.
• Bake the cheesecake for an hour.
• Let cool on the counter and then put in the fridge overnight.

Chocolate Semifreddo

Ingredients:

• 3 egg whites
• 3 TB sugar
• 2 TB chocolate powder
  
• 1 cup heavy cream

Directions:

Beat egg whites on medium with an electric mixer until peaks just begin to form. Add sugar a little at a time, continue beating. Turn to high until stiff peaks form. Sift chocolate over meringue and fold in a little at a time. Put aside.

Beat heavy cream on high, until peaks just begin to form.

Fold meringue into heavy cream until thouroughly mixed.

Freeze for atleast 4 hours.

Note: This version comes out at 234 calories per serving (1 cup).

Simply from Scratch -- Chili

My assitant--blurry enough that he didn't mind me blogging his photo!

We've been making a lot of chili this winter. I can make a big pot and leave it in the fridge and we eat out of it all week when I come home for lunches. This recipe is sooo simple. The hardest part is chopping the meat, onion, and celery. And when you have a helper it goes fast!

Ingredients:

• Vegetable oil
• 2 LB pork, cubed
• 1 onion chopped
• 1 stalk celery chopped
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 TB chili powder
• 2 cups tomato sauce
• small can jalapenos (can't remember what ouce, just the itsy bitsy can)
• Bottle of Beer
• 32 oz of canned beans
• 1 TB sugar

On the Stove:

• Brown the pork in vegetable oil in a large pot--I use my 6 quart enamel cast iron pot.
• Add the onion and celery and saute for several minutes.
• Meanwhile, dry fry the cumin until aromatic, grind in a spice grinder or mortar and pestle.
• Add spices, tomato sauce, chilis, and beer to the meat and vegetables.
• Bring to a boil.
• Cover and cook for an hour.
• Add canned beans and sugar.
• Cook for 10 minutes.

Serve with cheddar cheese and flour tortillas.

Friday Focus on Food -- Fennel

Fennel


Wikipedia Article


Favorite Facts from the Wiki Article:

It is a highly aromatic and flavorful herb with culinary and medicinal uses, and is one of the primary ingredients of absinthe. Florence fennel or finocchio is a selection with a swollen, bulb-like stem base that is used as a vegetable.

John Chadwick notes that this word is the origin of the place name Marathon (meaning "place of fennel"), site of the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC

In Greek mythology, Prometheus used the stalk of a fennel plant to steal fire from the gods.

It propagates well by seed, and is considered an invasive species and a weed in Australia and the United States

Fennel features prominently in Italian cuisine, where bulbs and fronds are used, both raw and cooked, in side dishes, salads, pastas, and risottos. Fennel seed is a common ingredient in Italian sausages and meatballs and northern European rye breads.

one of the primary ingredients of absinthe

* * *

One of the great marriages of flavor is that of fennel and pork. This week I roasted a 2 LB pork loin with 4 fennel bulbs and some potatoes. For additional flavoring I used a little chicken broth, white wine, salt, pepper, fennel seeds, butter and olive oil. Yum!!

Recipe Here

I doubled the recipe and added potatoes.

Note: You need a big pot, if you double this recipe--especially if you add vegetables like I did!

Thursday Thinking Ahead -- Feb. 19

This week, I've been enjoying the fruits of last weekends labors!

Saturday was the big day for experimenting with my new chitarra--and I made enough pasta for 3 meals. As quick as fresh (even after it is dried) pasta cooks, that has been a great short cut for some quick meals this week.

Sunday morning I made buttermilk pancakes for breakfast and doubled the recipe so I could freeze the leftovers. Since we only have 2 pancakes at a sit down, usually with a couple of eggs, there are plenty in the freezer for quick breakfasts and/or dinners.


I also made a milk loaf in the machine on Sunday--which takes all of 10 minutes and provides bread for the entire week to go alongside pasta or to make quick sandwiches.

This was my three day weekend--Saturday, Sunday, and Monday--so Monday I was still busy in the kitchen roasting a pork loin with fennel bulbs and potatoes. Which we have been eating for lunch for a couple of days now. Who says you can't have a meal from scratch after a full day at work!

Buttermilk Pancakes

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 2 TB sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 1/4 cups buttermilk
• vegetable oil

Directions:

• Mix dry ingredients in one bowl.
• Wet ingredients in another bowl.
• Combine and mix well.
• Heat vegetable oil on the griddle.
• drop batter on the griddle in 1/4 cup measurements.
• Cook on first side until air bubbles start to form and it is golden on the bottom.
• Flip and fry until golden on other side.

Experimenting with Cheese (My attempt to make Neufchatel)--Day 3

Well, I unwrapped it last night. It is very nicely formed and has the texture and density of cream cheese. It still tastes a little sour--like yogurt or sour cream, though. So I'm not quite sure if it has turned out! I went ahead and salted it and am letting it sit in the fridge for a day or two to see how it tastes then. If it is still sour, I'm probably going to make a cheesy stroganoff, or something like that, and see if I can get some use out of it that way.

Light and Easy Ice Cream -- without a machine

Semifreddo

Base Ingredients:

• 3 egg whites
• 3 TB sugar
• 1 cup heavy cream

Directions:

Beat egg whites on medium with an electric mixer until peaks just begin to form. Add sugar a little at a time, continue beating. Turn to high until stiff peaks form. Put aside.

Beat heavy cream on high, until peaks just begin to form.

Fold meringue into heavy cream until thouroughly mixed.

Freeze for atleast 4 hours.

Flavorings:

3/4 cup nuts (pistachios, almonds, hazelnuts, etc.), ground in a spice grinder or food processor with a tablespoon of sugar. Fold nuts into the whipped cream and meringue mixture. You also could beat rum/almond extract into heavy cream in step one.

Other flavorings I'm planning on experimenting with over the next couple of weeks will include: frozen fruit, coffee, chocolate, peanutbutter, and ricotta.


Makes one quart.

Note:

We don't eat a lot of sweets, but occasionally we just get a craving for ice cream. The texture is different--somewhere between sherbert and ice-cream, but it fulfilled the craving. I figured out the calories to be around 332 per cup, which is 200 less than our favorite cookie dough ice cream at 540 a cup.

Day Dreaming of Summer and the Farmer's Market

Now that the daffodils are blooming it seems as though it might not be so far away after all . . . .






Little Rock, Arkansas -- The River Market, downtown on the banks of the Arkansas River

Experimenting with Cheese (my attempt to make Neufchatel)--Day 2 continued . . .

After letting the curds drain for a couple of hours in the colanders, I hung them in the refrigerator.

Experimenting with Cheese (my attempt to make Neufchatel)--Day 2 continued . . .

Well this afternoon I went ahead and ladled the curds into cheese cloth lined colanders. I'm letting them sit in the colanders in the fridge to drain for a little while before I rig them up to hang.

Not only does it look like yogurt--it smells and tastes like it, too!

Experimenting with Cheese (my attempt to make Neufchatel)-- Day 1 & 2

Day 1

Yesterday, I innoculated the milk and the buttermilk and added the rennet. I'm using this web page Beginning Cheesemaking. Evidently Dr. Fankhauser is the cheese from scratch guy, because in my rennet box the list of recipes included his hard cheese recipe!

Day 2

The innoculated milk has been sitting overnight and this is what it looks like right now:

I really thought that the milk was still completely liquid, until I looked closer and saw the separation(If you look closely in this photo you can also see the indention from my index finger where I tested the firmness this morning!):

From Scratch -- The photos

When I scooped a bit up it had the consistency of yogurt. Since this is my first attempt at cheesemaking, I'm not really sure if that is set up enough, so just to make sure I'm going to wait until this evening to strain it through the cheese clothe.

A Girl and Her Chitarra

3 cups of flour, 6 eggs, and a couple of hours later . . . .

Cutting Pasta with a Chitarra

Prepare pasta dough as demonstrated in my previous article Don’t Put All Your Eggs in One Basket . . . .

Cut each sheet of dough into 4 pieces to fit the chitarra strings. If you want uniform pasta, cut your sheet into a rectangular shape. I don't mind if my pasta is assymetrical (personally, I think that is part of the charm of food from scratch) so I simply cut my pasta into quarter circles (quarter ovals?).

Flour the sheets of dough liberally, as though dredging fillets of fish or chicken for pan frying, and shake off the excess. I discovered quickly that the flour was my friend and not to be afraid of it. Too little, and the pasta stuck to the strings and created a mess.

Once the sheets of pasta are on the chitarra, roll pin over the sheet, firmly pressing down. Once the pasta is pushed into the strings, continue moving the pin over the pasta, but in long, smooth pushes, instead of rolling.

I plucked at the strings with my fingers, and tapped with the end of the rolling pin, to remove any stubborn strands of pasta.

Remove the tray from the chitarra. At this point you can either slide the pasta directly in boiling water and cook for about 2 minutes. Or lay out to dry. Optimally, you would use pasta drying sheets, basically a mesh frame, so that the air can circulate on both sides of the pasta. As I don't have the pasta drying frames, I just laid the pasta out on cookie sheets, etc.

From Scratch -- The photos

I made a large batch of pasta to last throughout the week. I am letting the pasta dry completely for 24 hours before I store it. When I store it, each layer of pasta will be separated by paper towels in a box. If the pasta has any moisture remaining in it, and is sealed tightly in a container, mold will develop. I found this out the hard way! Pasta dried this way needs to be handled carefully, as it will become brittle and break if handled carelessly.

As my chitarra didn't come with directions I found this article at FXcuisine.com, My New Italian Chitarra Pasta Cutter, very useful.

Pasta tossed with sauteed onions, anchovies, bread crumbs, dill, salt, black pepper, red pepper, and olive oil.

Sunday Brunch--Wrap around the clock

Breakfast Crespelles

Crespelles are an Italian version of crepes. These are very versatile and can be filled with all sorts of fillings for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. I prepared the following version for a middle of the afternoon lunch/brunch Tuesday.

Crespelles


Breakfast Crespelles

From Scratch -- The Photos

Ingredients:

Crespelles:

• 1/2 cup milk
• 3/8 cup flour
• 1 egg
• 1/4 tsp salt
• Stick of butter

Filling:

• 1 Italian sausage
• 4 eggs
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 TB sage
• salt
• freshly ground pepper
• 3 - 4 canned tomatoes, chopped
  
• 1/3 cup mozarella cheese

• Parmesan Reggiano to serve

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
• Put the sausage in a pan with 1/3 cup water on high heat, cover.
• When water boils away, remove lid and turn down heat to medium low.
• Add oil if necessary so sausage doesn't stick.
• Pour the milk in a bowl.
• Sift the flour into the bowly while continuously stirring the flour with a fork to keep the batter smooth and lump free.
• Add the egg and beat rapidly.
• Stir in the salt.
• Heat the skillet on medium low heat.
• Smear the skillet with the stick of butter.
• Add 2 TB batter to the hot skillet, tilting and swirling the pan to distribute the batter thinly across the skillet.
• When the batter sets, flip. The crespelle should be slightly golden and speckled brown.
• Remove the crespelle and set aside on a plate.
• Repeat, until the batter is gone. You should end up with 8 crepes.
• Scramble eggs with the milk, herbs, salt and pepper.
• Remove the sausage from the skillet and chop.
• Add the eggs and sausage back into the pan and scramble.
• Distribute the egg mixture equally into all eight crespelles.
• Wrap tightly and line up in a square baking pan.
• Distribute the tomatoes evenly across the top.
• Sprinkle the cheese evenly across the top.
• Heat in the oven for 5 minutes.
• Turn the heat to broil.
• Broil for one minute or until the crepes and cheese are lightly browned on top.
• Remove and serve.
  

Spring's around the Corner

Saturday, Simply from Scratch--Hearty Open Faced Sandwiches

The following recipe is a quicky! This is the kind of thing I whip up when I want something quick after work, or something warm and simple after an outdoor hike. Serve with soup or eggs and bacon for a meal, or by themselves for a snack.

From Scratch -- The photos

Toasties

Ingredients:

• 4 slices thick bread (from scratch)
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups grated cheese
• 1-2 tsp whole grain brown mustard, horseradish sauce, etc.
• freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
• Butter the bottom of the bread and line in a baking dish.
• Whisk the eggs in a bowl.
• Add the shredded cheese and stir well.
• Add the mustard and black pepper and combine.
• Spread the egg and cheese mixture evenly on top of the bread slices.
• Bake in the oven for 15 minutes--the cheese should puff up. These are the best cheese sandwiches ever!

Ideas:

Place a layer of ham or other lunch meat on the bread before spreading the cheese mixture on top, to make a more substantial sandwich.

The Grocery List -- Feb 13th - 27th

Produce:

• 4 fennel bulbs
• 1 bag russet potatoes
• cabbage
• onions
• celery
• mushrooms
• parsley
• dill

Canned/Bottled:

• white wine
• 4 oz green chilis
• 2 16 oz can kidney beans

Dried:

• fennel seeds
• chili powder
• 2 bags flour
• Rennet tablets
• Cocoa Puffs

milk/dairy

• heavy cream
• buttermilk
• every day milk
• 1 gallon whole milk for cheese making
• eggs

Equipment:

• thermometer for cheesemaking
• cheese cloth

Total Cost: $95

Notes:

This week I built my grocery list around a 4lb pork tenderloin I've had in the freezer since the payday before last. One half will be used for a roast with fennel bulbs and the other half for a pot of chili (I'm cheating this week and used canned beans instead of dried, since I've got some other work intensive projects planned).

I also still have Italian sausages from the trip to Sams's, as well as a huge quantities of canned tomatoes, tomato paste, and artichoke hearts (and a hunk of parmesan reggiano) -- so Italian cuisine will continue to take center stage. Not to mention the fact that I have a beautiful chitarra to put to use in making some fresh pasta!

I'm also going to be experimenting with cheese making this week. I'm going to attempt Neufchatel, and also bought the heavy cream to make another batch of ricotta.

Friday -- Focus on Food -- Parmigiano-Reggiano

From Scratch -- The photos

Parmigiano-Reggiano

Wikipedia Article

Favorite Fun Facts from the Wikipedia Article:

Parmigiano-Reggiano is a hard, fat granular cheese, cooked but not pressed, named after the producing areas of Parma, Reggio Emilia, Modena, Bologna, in Emilia-Romagna, and Mantova, in Lombardy, Italy.

Parmigiano-Reggiano is made from raw cow's milk.

At 12 months, the Consorzio Parmigiano-Reggiano inspects each and every cheese. The cheese is tested by a master grader whose only instruments are a hammer and his ear. By tapping the wheel at various points, he can identify undesirable cracks and voids within the wheel.

Traditionally, cows have to be fed only on grass or hay, producing grass fed milk

The only additive allowed is salt, which the cheese absorbs while being submerged for 20 days in brine tanks saturated to near total salinity with Mediterranean sea salt.

Uses of the cheese include being grated with a grater over pasta, stirred into soup and risotto, and eaten in chunks with balsamic vinegar. It is also a key ingredient in alfredo sauce and pesto.

In the European Union, "Parmesan" is a protected designation of origin; legally, it refers exclusively to the Parmigiano-Reggiano DOP cheese manufactured in a limited area in Northern Italy. Outside Europe, most notably in the United States, similar cheeses may be sold under the name Parmesan, considered generic. When they are sold in Europe, they must use another name, such as Kraft's "pamesello italiano".

^{Here's an awesome article on Parm: The Perfect Pantry}

^{This is the simplest pasta recipe I cook, the Parmigiano-Reggiano really adds a punch:}

^{Garlic Pasta}

Ingredients:

• 1/2 LB Cooked Pasta
  
• 3 TB Olive Oil
• 2 Cloves of Garlic, chopped
• 2 TB Parsley, chopped
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Freshly Grated Parmesan Reggiano

On the stove:

• Saute the garlic on medium heat until it is barely golden.
• Stir in the parsley and season with salt and pepper.
• Stir in the pasta and cook together, stiring to coat, for 2 minutes.
• Serve at once with abundant Parmigiano-Reggiano.

Trash Can Pasta

Well, it is the end of the pay period and I'm trying to use what I have, and not make an extra trip to the grocery store. That means it's time to start rummaging through the pantry for canned and dried items, and picking through what's left of the produce in the fridge.

Today I discovered that when I started pulling away the yellowed leafs of the broccoli rabe, that there was still quite a bit of green that was salvageable. I came up with the following "trash can" pasta recipe, based around the strong flavor of the broccoli rabe. I made enough that we will be able to reheat it for lunch tomorrow.

Broccoli Rabe and Italian Sausage Pasta

Ingredients:

• 1 LB of pasta (from scratch)
  
• 1 Italian sausage link
• 4 TB olive oil
• 4 garlic cloves, diced
• 4 canned anchovy fillets, rinsed and drained
• 2 cups chopped broccoli rabe
• freshly ground black pepper
• 6 canned artichoke hearts, quartered
• Parmesan Regianno to serve

On the Stove:

• Set 4 - 6 quarts of water to boil
• Place the Italian sausage in a skillet with a 1/3 cup of water on high heat, covered.
• When the water evaporates turn the heat to medium low and fry the sausage, add a little oil if necessary to prevent sticking.
• In another skillet, heat the garlic cloves in the oil until golden.
• Add the anchovy fillets, smash into the garlic and oil with a fork, until they dissolve.
• Turn heat to low until the water for the pasta comes to a boil.
• Add the pasta to the water.
• While the pasta is cooking add the broccoli rabe and artichokes to the garlic, oil, anchovy mixture and turn the heat up to medium high.
• Chop the cooked Italian sausage and add to skillet.
  
• Add freshly ground pepper to taste.
• Cook until the greens are bright and limp. Remove from heat.
• Drain the pasta, and add to the olive oil mixture.
• Return to the heat, stirring pasta to coat.
• Spoon onto a plate and serve with freshly grated parmesan reggiano cheese.

Thursday Thinking Ahead--Pizza

When I know I'm going to have a busy week I often think pizza. This week I made 4 sausage pizzas because I knew I was going to be putting in extra time at work. When I would come home for lunch we would zap them in the microwave (also when I was coming home way after supper time!) Not only did this save time, but it stretched the groceries!

I think we'll be taking a break from pizza for awhile after this.

Pizza From Scratch

Early Birthday Surprise

A Chitarra!

I got to open this early, as I've had a really rough week, and my hubby wanted to cheer me up. Hopefully, this weekend I'll be able to post some pictures of it in action.

Anyone want to venture a guess as to its purpose?







From Scratch -- The Photos

And while if you strum it, it makes lovely music--it's not a musical instrument.

Coffee Makers -- Old and New

From Scratch -- The Photos

Sunday Brunch--The Eyes Have It

Re-fried Hashbrowns

Ingredients:

• 3 Small Yellow Potatoes, small dice
• Vegetable Oil
• 1 TB Butter
• 2 TB Chopped Herbs (ex. Rosemary, Thyme)
• 2 Garlic Cloves, crushed

On the Stove:

• Fry the potatoes in 1/4 inch vegetable oil on medium to medium high heat until they are a deep golden brown.
• Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on a paper towel.
• Drain vegetable oil from pan, and melt butter, you may need to turn the heat down at this point.
• Add herbs and garlic to butter and saute until fragrant.
• Add potatoes and stir until coated well in the butter and herb mixture.

Friday Focus on Food -- Onions

From Scratch -- The Photos

"a plant, Allium cepa, of the amaryllis family, having an edible, succulent, pungent bulb"
--dictionary.com

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Wikipedia article on onions

Favorite Fun Facts from the Wikipedia Article:

one of the oldest vegetables known to humankind

It is thought that bulbs from the onion family have been used as a food source for millennia

Onion is native to South Asia, and is widely used in Indian cuisine.

In the Middle Ages onions were such an important food that people would pay their rent with onions and even give them as gifts.

They contain chemical compounds believed to have anti-inflammatory, anticholesterol, anticancer, and antioxidant properties such as quercetin.


***

I probably buy more onions than any other vegetable--except maybe, garlic or tomatoes. Onion is a starter for so many sauces and broths, curry pastes, hashes, sautes, etc. ,not to mention a great topping on pizzas, or inside crespelles.

I use them most in a dice, usually sauteed as a base for many recipes.

I copied this way of cutting onions off of several food network chefs:

1. Slice off the tops
2. Flip to where top is facing up, and slice in half
3. peel off the skin
4. Cut horizontally across the onion, but not all the way across, leave a small portion connecting at the end.
5. Cut vertically across the horizonal slices.

I also love them sliced and slow cooked in frittatas and on top of pizza.

***

A recipe celebrating onions in all their glory:

French Onion Soup

Ingredients:

• 2 tb butter
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 1/2 teaspoon white sugar
• 1/2 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup red wine
• 2 cups beef broth
• 2 slices bread, (from scratch)
• 4 ounces sliced Gruyere cheese

On the Stove:

1. Melt butter in a 4 quart saucepan. Stir in sugar. Cook onion over low heat until golden brown--about 20 minutes to half and hour.
2. Stir in flour until well blended with the onions and pan juices. Add wine and beef broth; heat to boiling. Reduce heat to low. Cover soup, and simmer for 10 minutes.
3. Toast the bread slices.
4. Ladle soup into two 12 ounce, oven-safe bowls. Place 1 slice toasted bread on top of the soup in each bowl. Fit cheese onto toasted bread slices. Place soup bowls on a cookie sheet for easier handling.
5. Bake at 425 degrees for 10 minutes, or just until cheese is melted

Thursday -- Thinking Ahead--Feb 5

From Scratch -- The Photos

Thinking ahead on the weekend, I made extra pumpkin bread and pumpkin pancakes and threw them in the freezer.


The pumpkin bread has been an easy breakfast to grab on my way out the door in the mornings.


Fry up a couple of eggs while the pancakes defrost in the oven and the coffe is brewing--and voila, a sit down brunch.

Sunday I braised baby bellas with garlic and a couple of tsp. of butter (just melt the butter and let the garlic turn golden on low heat under a lid, add the mushrooms, put the lid back on and cook on low for half an hour or so, letting the mushroom and garlic flavor build). I threw them in the fridge and had a powerful flavor source to jumpstart a meal after work.

My intention was to add them to a bechamel sauce (from scratch) and toss on top of a pizza crust (from scratch) with some mozarella, but I ended up reheating the mushrooms, and adding a couple of cups diced tomatoes, a splash of red wine, a couple TBs of thyme, a TB of tomato paste, and two Italian sausages. I popped a lid on the sauce, set some water to boil for pasta, went outside for twenty minutes or so to play with the dog. Came back in and added the pasta to the water and voila, a half hour of next to no work and a full meal.

The Grocery List -- an addition to Feb. 1st - 13th

Well, we didn't actually do any major grocery shopping this week. At the end of last week we added to our earlier purchases when we went to Sam's club.

I ended up with:

• 20 Italian Sausages
• A huge can of tomatoes (I will put in ziplocs and freeze in smaller quantites)
• A box of tomato paste cans
• a huge block of Parmesan Reggiano
• a huge block of Gruyere
• A big bottle of artichoke hearts

I'm guessing that the grocery part of our shopping at Sam's cost us between $40 and $50--which will come out of the month budget, not the weekly budgets as when buying in these quantities the food lasts all month.

Other than that we've picked up eggs and milk several times. And new bags of both all-purpose white flour and wheat flour. All in all, I'd say we spent the same this week as last week ($90) or a little bit less. But mostly, I've still been using the food we purchased last week.

Let's Get Saucy

Bechamel Sauce

Ingredients:

• 2 TB Unsalted Butter
• 2 TB Flour
• 1/2 TSP Salt
• 1 Cup Milk

On the Stove:

• Heat milk to nearly boiling on low heat.
• In another sauce pan melt the butter on low heat and stir in the flour until smooth.
• Slowly add the milk to the flour, a couple of tablespoons at a time, constantly stirring.
• Still on low to medium low heat, continue stirring the mixtures until it thickens to the desired consistency.

Variations:

Cheese Sauce:

Cut the above ingredients in half and substitute a 1/2 cup shredded cheese of your choice and freshly ground pepper to taste.

Substitute bechamel sauce as a lower fat alternative, in recipes calling for alfredo sauce. Saute a crushed clove of garlic in a teaspoon of butter until golden. Stir in bechamel sauce, simmering for 5 minutes. Stir in 1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan reggiano cheese, freshly ground black pepper to taste, and chopped Italian parsley to taste.

Eat your Greens

Bruschetta with Greens:

• 1 1/2 TB Olive Oil
• 2 Cloves Garlic, sliced
• 1/2 Dried Chili Pepper
• 1/2 LB blanched greens (moisture squeeze out), recommended: Spinach or Broccoli Rabe
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• 1 Garlic Clove, halfed
• 1 TB Olive Oil
• 2 Large, Thick Slices of Bread, from scratch

On the Stove:

• Heat olive oil, garlic and chili until garlic is golden.
• Add the greens and stir fry until wilted and well coated.
• Add salt and pepper to taste.

Under the Broiler:

• Rub the bread with the garlic clove halves.
• Broil 2 minutes on each side.
• Top with greens.

Stir-Fried Green Beans

From Scratch -- The Photos

According to my Betty Crocker 1958 copy of Cooking for Two, every woman should have a few simple recipes in her repertoire that she is known for to be a good cook. While I don't think I've ever used any recipes from the book, the illustrations by Charles Harper are great (an observant reader might even have noticed that I've used a few as templates for my own illustrations!). And I do have one of those recipes--I think my husband would be disappointed if my green beans came to the table any other way than the following recipe. And my mom liked them when I cooked them for her last summer, as well! In the summer when the farmer's market downtown is open, I use gorgeous eggplant colored, long beans that I purchase from one of the Hmong vendors--but right now in the dead of winter, I used some really beautiful green beans that I found at the supermarket.


Ingredients

• 3 TB Olive Oil
• 2 Cloves Garlic, crushed
• 1 Dried Chili Pepper
• 1 Bay Leaf
• 3 TB Chopped Fresh Herbs (usually Thyme or Oregano)
• Freshly Ground Pepper
• 1 LB Green Beans, blanched in salted water, and drained
• 1/4 Cup Dry Bread Crumbs
• A dash of balsamic vinegar

On the Stove:

• Heat olive oil, garlic, chili pepper and bay leaf until garlic is golden.
• Add fresh herbs and black pepper to taste, saute until fragrant.
• Add green beans and stir until coated.
• Saute, stirring occasionally until nearly done.
• Turn heat up medium high to high, sprinkle over bread crumbs, strir until beans are coated, and cook until golden.
• Sprinkle a few drops of balsamic vinegar and stir to coat.

My Space

From Scratch -- The Photos

A faux Gourmet Magazine look at my work area. My kitchen is a small square with counter and cabinets against one wall, and the rest of the space taken up by an old gas stove (hanging to the side of the stove are some decorative copper pans that serve to hide the plugged up holes from the old wood stove) and the refrigerator. I do have a nice pantry cupboard to the side of the stove. The 1940s cabinets are amazing--tall and deep, and my favorite thing about this old cottage kitchen.


I'll be day-dreaming about my space as I head back to work today after a week's vacation.