Monday 25 February
I was stunned to discover that we've never done this dish since starting the blog, since it's simplicity itself. It's taken from Beard on Pasta, an old standby.
Cut 1/2 lb. • asparagus into 1" pieces on the bias.
Boil in the pasta pot till just tender but still a tad crisp.
Fish asparagus out of the pasta pot and put pasta in the pasta pot (1/2 a package of spaghetti or spaghettini, for us)
In a frying pan add
• 2 TBSPs butter
and fry
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
when they start to color, dump in
• juice of 1 lemon
• 1TBSP Worcestershire sauce (i.e. about half the amount of Wooster to lemon
• lots of fresh pepper.
• Add the asparagus, then
• add the pasta when done.
The combo of the lemon and Wooster gives the asparagooses a perfect zippiness and just enough salty goodness.
As a variation, tonight we oven-roasted the asparagus, rather than boiled 'em, and we're not sure we don’t prefer the darker notes with the Wooster sauce.
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Pride of Baltimore Crab Cakes with Fennel and Blood Orange Salad
Sunday 24 FebruaryWe made a new type of crab cake as a departure from our usual, following this recipe - though we were not impressed, we have to admit.
The fault may have been in using butter crackers (sort of like Ritz), the only ones we had around, instead of plain Saltine-style soda crackers. But we tend to put the blame on the egg, which made the crabcakes too heavy and soggy. Barbara even felt the need to run up some emergency tartar sauce. So, we're going back to the traditions of our ancestors (all right, half of our ancestors considered crab an abomination, and the other half couldn't afford it).
On the side was a lovely salad of fennel run through the benriner. We put them in water in the fridge to crisp up, which really seemed to perk them up even more, then topped with thin slices of blood oranges, and dressed with just a little oil and rice wine vinegar.
Crab Ravioli
Saturday 23 February
Saturday is our usual day for longer preps, so we made basic pasta dough early in afternoon. The filling was a take on a crab filling for fish, etc. from the old Joy, and mighty tasty too. So
• 1/3 lb. crab meat
• 1/2 small onion, finely minced
• 1/2 red pepper, ditto
• 1/2 stalk of celery
sauté them in
• a lot of butter (1/3 stick)
stir in
• enough bread crumbs to bind
then add
• a zotz of cream, cuz it wasn't quite moist enough.
The sauce over them was just
• a knob of good butter (to the size of a walnut),
•cream
reduced in the saucier, then thickened with
• lots of grated romano.
This was so good it had Barbara bouncing out of her chair.
Saturday is our usual day for longer preps, so we made basic pasta dough early in afternoon. The filling was a take on a crab filling for fish, etc. from the old Joy, and mighty tasty too. So
• 1/3 lb. crab meat
• 1/2 small onion, finely minced
• 1/2 red pepper, ditto
• 1/2 stalk of celery
sauté them in
• a lot of butter (1/3 stick)
stir in
• enough bread crumbs to bind
then add
• a zotz of cream, cuz it wasn't quite moist enough.
The sauce over them was just
• a knob of good butter (to the size of a walnut),
•cream
reduced in the saucier, then thickened with
• lots of grated romano.
This was so good it had Barbara bouncing out of her chair.
Steak with Fingerling Potatoes
Friday 22 February
A simple grilled steak is sometimes (well, often, if you read this blog) just the thing. With a heaping mound of gorgonzola butter . . . enough to swirl some boiled fingerlings in as well.
A simple grilled steak is sometimes (well, often, if you read this blog) just the thing. With a heaping mound of gorgonzola butter . . . enough to swirl some boiled fingerlings in as well.
Tilapia with Zhough and Ginger-braised Carrots
Thursday 21 February
We still had some of the lovely zhough paste we had frozen and put aside. It made a fine filling for what were in essence tilapia sandwiches. The Trader Joe's fish always seems to comes in packages of 3, so we spread each fillet with a heaping TBSP of bright green zough, folded it over lengthwise to make a little package, then dipped them in bread crumbs to seal the edges. Fried up in oil they were a treat, and we split one of the fish sammiches so there were no ugly fights.
A nice vedge was the carrots with stem ginger - this time just parboiled, not puréed as usual.
We still had some of the lovely zhough paste we had frozen and put aside. It made a fine filling for what were in essence tilapia sandwiches. The Trader Joe's fish always seems to comes in packages of 3, so we spread each fillet with a heaping TBSP of bright green zough, folded it over lengthwise to make a little package, then dipped them in bread crumbs to seal the edges. Fried up in oil they were a treat, and we split one of the fish sammiches so there were no ugly fights.
A nice vedge was the carrots with stem ginger - this time just parboiled, not puréed as usual.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Home again - Ravioli with Pesto
Wednesday 20 February all over again
Since we crossed the International Date Line, it was still Feb. 20 - in fact, it was officially just 4 hours after we'd left Wellington, despite our 20 hours of travel - when we arrived back in Cincinnati. So once we entered our lovely, large, COLD house, our stomachs thought it was time for dinner.
Luckily, there was a serving of Holy Ravioli in the freezer, plus some pesto cubes from last summer's harvest. We kept our noses over the boiling water, and left our coats on to eat this summery meal in the midst of - oh, Lord - Cincinnati winter again.
Since we crossed the International Date Line, it was still Feb. 20 - in fact, it was officially just 4 hours after we'd left Wellington, despite our 20 hours of travel - when we arrived back in Cincinnati. So once we entered our lovely, large, COLD house, our stomachs thought it was time for dinner.
Luckily, there was a serving of Holy Ravioli in the freezer, plus some pesto cubes from last summer's harvest. We kept our noses over the boiling water, and left our coats on to eat this summery meal in the midst of - oh, Lord - Cincinnati winter again.
Air New Zealand, Somewhere over the Pacific
Wednesday 20 February
At 8 PM Wellington time, we belted in for our 12-hour flight to Los Angeles. Dinner was chicken or lamb; Holt had the lamb, Barbara had the chicken. The less said about it the better, except that Air New Zealand serves free wine - with refills - and even scotch to all those flying this route. It makes for a better possibility of dozing, if not true sleep.
At 8 PM Wellington time, we belted in for our 12-hour flight to Los Angeles. Dinner was chicken or lamb; Holt had the lamb, Barbara had the chicken. The less said about it the better, except that Air New Zealand serves free wine - with refills - and even scotch to all those flying this route. It makes for a better possibility of dozing, if not true sleep.
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