Archives for posts with tag: Garlic

baby romanesco

quick and delicious silky romanesco soup

A botanical dilemma, this gorgeous edible has caused much confusion about its true parentage. Sometimes called Romanesco broccoli and sometimes called Romanesco cauliflower in North America, the French call it Romanesco cabbage while the Italians refer to it as broccolo Romanesco.

Having a dense texture reminiscent to cauliflower, baby broccoli Romanesco has a crunchier bite. I substituted Romanesco for a  www.smittenkitchen.com recipe that called for cauliflower and was happy with this healthy dinner for girls night.

Eating is so much more than preparing and cooking food: it’s about giving, friendship, beauty, warmth, color, experience, fragrance, simplicity and of course company.

Serves 4 to 6

8 heads baby romanesco
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 shallots, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 quart low-sodium chicken stock or veggie stock
1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Remove the leaves and thick core from the romanesco, coarsely chop, and reserve.

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan or soup pot over medium heat and add the onion and garlic. Cook until softened, but not browned, about 5 minutes.

Add the romanesco and stock and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer, cover, and cook until the romanesco is very soft and falling apart, about 15 minutes.

Remove from heat and, using a hand held immersion blender, puree the soup, or puree in small batches in a blender and return it to the pot.

Add the Parmesan and stir until smooth.

Season, to taste, with salt and black pepper. Keep warm until ready to serve.

Now play with glitter with all your best friends because glitter makes everything better, and we were making Valentine’s Day cards for our loved ones. You should probably go make a card for your mom, sister, brother, nephew or niece, grandparents and best friends right now.

cherry tomatoes

Heirloom tomatoes are finally here and in abundance. Be careful of storing your summer bounty. When you refrigerate a tomato you damage the internal membrane and create the ubiquitous mealy texture that we connect with bad or off-season tomatoes. The best place to store tomatoes is in the open air, they continue to develop their flavor until maturation peaks a few days after harvest.

I wanted to try out this recipe from Food52 that was originally a Martha Stewart creation. Claiming to create a sauce as it cooked the ingredients in one pot by simply using the appropriate proportions appealed to me, as well as being able to feature the beautiful sungold and cherry tomatoes coming from our local farms.

Here is the recipe

12 ounces linguine
12 ounces cherry or grape tomatoes, halved or quartered if large
1/2 onion, thinly sliced (about 2 cups)
1 shallot, thinly sliced
4 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes, I used more than recommended for extra spice
2 sprigs basil, plus torn leaves for garnish
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for serving
Coarse salt
Freshly ground black pepper
4 1/2 cups water
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese, for serving

Combine pasta, tomatoes, onion, garlic, red-pepper flakes, basil, oil, 2 teaspoons salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and water in a large straight-sided skillet (the linguine should lay flat). Bring to a boil over high heat. Boil mixture, stirring and turning pasta frequently with tongs or a fork, until pasta is al dente and water has nearly evaporated, about 9 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper, divide among 4 bowls, and garnish with basil. Serve with olive oil and Parmesan.

I sautéed crimini mushrooms and a little onion in a sauté pan, and added them at the end for a little more substance. This negates the dish being truly a one pot pasta, but I was worried the mushroom flavor would overwhelm the rest of the dish. I made this for my friends with a delicious light salad and everyone was happy and full as we dined alfresco in the Summer air. This became an instant classic, and something I am bound to cook for the rest of my life.

Photo Dec 23, 2 46 59 PM

Growing up my dad chose to put his foot down and take his wife and four daughters to Maui every year for Thanksgiving, thus escaping the craziness of a huge family get together. I was incredibly lucky to spend countless hours in the ocean, playing with my friends I’d made over the years and quality time with my sisters. I cherish that intimate family time and the memories we made.

Christmas has always been the opposite, a big get together with aunties and uncles, cousins, my sisters and their families, friends and little ones. This year we have close to thirty people over for dinner. We are having beef tenderloin and salmon this year, with our guests bringing side dishes. I wanted to try something different, and enjoyed the bites of the sunchoke and pork belly dish my dad had recently ordered at a dinner out at Soif so much. Sunchokes look like ginger, but can be prepared like a potato. Scrub them clean with a stiff vegetable brush. Slice them about 1/4″ thick, I found I liked the texture much more when they weren’t too thin.

Ingredients:
2 to 3 large sunchokes, sliced 1/4-inch thick
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 sprig of fresh rosemary, leaves removed
3 to 4 cloves of garlic, peeled and left whole

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Scrub the sunchokes clean. When picking them out at the store, try to avoid the really knobby ones, because it makes it more difficult to clean. Slice thinly. Add the garlic and sunchokes to a roasting pan, tossing them in olive oil. I like to use a refillable spray like this one because you can evenly and lightly cover your veggies or pastas that way. Sprinkle with salt and rosemary and let roast for approximately 15 minutes. They are a great substitute for potatoes and taste a touch sweet.

 

roasted sunchoke