Summer Lovin'

We are in full-force summer here, and I LOVE it. I can get a bit cranky in the winter time and whine about living in a place that has nothing to do when it's 45 degrees outside, but this is the time of year when I remember why I love Savannah so much. Saturday we took the boat downtown to have brunch at one of our favorite the riverfront restaurants, Huey's. (Is there any better combination in this world than a Bloody Mary and Crab Cake Eggs Benedict? No there is not.) Sunday we took the boat to the beach for a few hours of picnic and play. And tonight it was warm enough to go swimming at 6pm and eat dinner at the pool. Heaven.
***
Alas, with all of these fabulous summer activities comes the summer vegetables. Yes, zucchini and squash, I'm looking at you. In fact, I've been looking at you all week, wondering what happened to the delightful spring lettuces, spinach, and strawberries. Did you really have to crowd those out so early? Feeling a bit pushy, no?
***
One of my very favorite meals to make for my oh-so-busy-little-family is baked pasta. It's ridiculously easy - just take your favorite frozen stuffed pasta (ravioli, tortellini), toss it in a baking dish with some pasta sauce, and bake covered at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes. Take out of the oven, uncover, sprinkle with provolone or mozzarella, and bake uncovered for another 10-15 minutes until the cheese is nicely melted. This is a great dish to put on 'delay start' for your oven, and walk in to have it waiting for you.

(Yes, there is a point to all of this, I promise.)

Soooo, with all that squash and zucchini sitting around, I was struck with inspiration. I made a fresh pasta sauce to use with baked pasta the next time we have it, and it couldn't be easier. Dice your squash (I had 4 yellow summer squash) and zucchini (I had 3 of these). Heat about a tablespoon of olive oil in a large dutch oven, saute some onion. Add the squash and zucchini, and cook over medium heat until tender. Add 28 ounce can of good diced tomatoes, a 6 ounce can of tomato paste, some diced garlic (I did 2 cloves), some Italian seasoning and a little salt and pepper. Simmer, stirring often, until the squash and zucchini are cooked all the way through, or until it occurs to you that you have better things to do. Turn off the heat, and using an immersion blender, blend until it's about the consistency of a store-bought can of pasta sauce. Taste for seasoning, adjust salt and pepper if you need to.

Delicious!! I froze mine in several batches of about 4 cups each to use the next time I make a baked pasta. Sorry no picture - I've been bad about snapping them lately. Happy eating.

On Top Of Spaghetti

The freezer and closet clean out continues. It is a perpetual failure of mine that I seem compelled to buy entirely random items at the grocery store and pop them in the freezer. Why do I do this? Why? Can't I just make a plan and stick to it? Apparently not. The latest discovery, way at the back and buried under a pound cake loaf and that damn shrimp etoufee that keeps mocking me, was a package of mild chicken sausage (1 pound). So tonight I made meatballs out of them, and served them up with homemade marina sauce and pasta. Yum, yum.

***

Meatballs, like meatloaf, are one of those things you don't really need a recipe for, but tonight I actually took notes while I was making them so I could blog about them if they turned out good. As luck would have it, these were actually really, really good. Here's what to do:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Remove casings from sausage, put in large mixing bowl. Add a generous pinch of kosher salt, several strong turns on the pepper mill, 1 cup fresh breadcrumbs (grind up 3 pieces of white bread, crusts removed), 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano (if I had sage I would have added it since it goes so beautifully with chicken), 1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese, and 1 beaten egg. Mix well, shape into balls. Place on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for 40 minutes. Here's what they'll look like - good luck not eating one right away.

While the meatballs are baking, saute 1 onion in 2 teaspoons olive oil over medium heat. Add 2 minced garlic cloves, cook an additional minute or so. Add 28 ounce can of San Marzano crushed tomatoes, 3 tablespoons tomato paste, a good pinch of kosher salt, a little fresh ground pepper, and a couple strong shakes of Italien seasoning. Stir well and simmer while the meatballs finish cooking. When the meatballs come out of the oven add them to the sauce, and cook an additional 5 minutes. Serve over pasta and dive in. So delicious and easy...perhaps chicken sausage isn't such a bad buy after all.

Easy Peasy

I'm typing this through the fog of a summer cold. Ugh! Even our 5 year old, who normally has the immune system of steel, is sniffling. We've been living on ham sandwiches and watermelon, since making anything else seems like WAY too much effort. I have chicken broth in the freezer, but there's something terribly unappealing about soup when it's 105 degrees outside.

Here's an incredibly easy and fast dinner idea, courtesy of my mom. And oh so good! Pick up from the grocery store: Alfredo sauce (we like Buitoni or Classico), rotisserie chicken, bow tie pasta, sundried tomatoes (in oil), and pitted kalamata olives. Cook the pasta according to directions. Heat Alfredo sauce and shred the chicken (or use leftover beer butt chicken!). Toss with the pasta, olives, and sundried tomatoes. If you want to add a veggie, broccoli would be great in this.

Happy eating!

It's Greek to Me (Part II)

It is so stinkin' hot here in Savannah that I almost hesitate to post tonight's recipe, because who can be bothered to be at the stove and then turn on the oven when it's 104 degrees outside? Not only that, this is NOT a quick, weeknight dinner - best to make it on a Sunday afternoon. But we had this for dinner last week (with the Greek salad), and it's so fabulous I've decided it's worth sweating over. Here are my two tips for it. First, forget the whole milk and cream - just use skim milk. It takes a little longer to thicken up but otherwise you'll never notice a difference. Second, once I get the pasta, meat sauce, and bechamel all ready, I assemble it in 2 smaller pans - one for dinner that night or the next, and another one goes into the freezer for a crazy week later this summer.

Ina Garten's Pastitsio
Ingredients
For the Tomato Meat Sauce
3 tablespoons good olive oil
1 1/2 cups chopped yellow onion (1 large)
1 pound lean ground beef
1 pound lean ground lamb
1/2 cup dry red wine
1 tablespoon minced garlic (3 large cloves)
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
Pinch of cayenne pepper
1 can (28 ounces) crushed tomatoes in puree
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the Bechamel:
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 cups freshly grated Parmesan or Kasseri cheese
2 extra-large eggs, beaten
2/3 cup Greek-style yogurt, such as Fage Total
3/4 pound small shells

Directions
For the sauce, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat in a large pot. Add the onion and saute for 5 minutes. Add the beef and lamb, and saute over medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes, until it's no longer pink, crumbling it with the back of wooden spoon. Drain off any excess liquid, add the wine, and cook for 2 more minutes. Add the garlic, cinnamon, oregano, thyme, and cayenne, and continue cooking over medium heat for 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 40 to 45 minutes. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

For the bechamel, heat the milk and cream together in a small saucepan over medium-low heat until simmering. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter. Add the flour and cook over medium heat, whisking constantly for 2 minutes. Pour the warm milk and cream mixture into the butter and flour mixture, whisking constantly. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, over medium heat for 5 to 7 minutes, until smooth and thick. Add the nutmeg, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoon of pepper. Stir in 3/4 cup of Parmesan cheese, 1/2 cup of the tomato and meat sauce, and allow to cool for 10 minutes. Stir in the eggs and yogurt and set aside.

Meanwhile, cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling water until al dente. Don't over-cook because the pasta will later be baked. Drain and set aside.

Add the pasta to the meat and tomato sauce, and pour the mixture into a baking dish. Spread the bechamel evenly to cover the pasta and sprinkle with the remaining 3/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Bake for 1 hour, until golden brown and bubbly. Set aside for 10 minutes and serve hot.

Reliable Staple

A guest blog today from Atlanta Mom!

***

My husband and I will celebrate our 15th anniversary in September. During our engagement and early in our marriage, I scoured my mother-in-law’s cookbooks for recipes since I had no collection of my own. Few of those recipes remain in my cooking rotation—except one that I made on Monday night. We commented on how long I had been making this dish, and how much (remarkably) we still enjoy it. And even better—it is easy and at any given moment, you likely have what you need to make it in your fridge and pantry. Perhaps this is why it is still around…

Chick Pea Pasta
1 T. + 2 t. of EVOO
½ c. chopped onion (1 small)
1 garlic clove, minced
1 19 oz. can of chick peas, rinsed and drained
¼ t. dried oregano (or 1 t. fresh)
¼ t. pepper
¼ t. red pepper flakes
1 bay leaf
1 28 oz. can of diced tomatoes, with juices
2 c. penne pasta or bowties
1 t. grated parmesan cheese

Heat water for pasta. Heat oil in large skillet and sauté onions over med-low heat until tender, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook one more minute. Add chick peas, oregano, black pepper, bay leaf, and red pepper flakes. Crush at least half of the chick peas with a fork (leave some whole, depending on desired consistency/chunkiness), and heat through, about 5 minutes. Add tomatoes with juices (may want to add a little additional water). Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer covered for 10 minutes.
Serve over cooked pasta and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

Makes great left-overs (yum—eating it for lunch RIGHT NOW!), and also freezes beautifully. Happy eating!

Easy, Easy, Yum

First: What exactly is candy corn? Mine says it is "Made With Real Honey!", but all I can figure is that it's some kind of chewable wax. And yet I can't stay away from it - some idiot put it in a big bowl at the bottom of the stairs, which I must pass 30 times each day, and I can't stop myself from grabbing a few pieces every time I go buy. Arg!

Next: a guest blog from Attorney Mom. It's a good thing I have friends, or I would have no blog these days since life is so crazy...notes in bold are my editorial commentary.

***

Here is what I call a one-pot wonder of a meal: it's easy, delicious, and the clean-up is so fast we make it out the door in time for an after-dinner walk!

Dinner for 2.5 (2 adults, plus toddler):

One fresh Italian sausage, about 1/2 pound (now, what makes this super delish is that the sausage is from our local Fresh Market, and it's spicy, organic and stuffed full of good flavors, including fennel. It's totally worth the trip) (If you live in a real city, you may have a Fresh Market just down the road that you can pop into frequently. Sadly, where we live, it's so far away that yes, we actually have to consider whether it's "worth the trip.")
8 oz. baby bella mushrooms, chopped
1 head broccoli, chopped
1 red or orange pepper, sliced
1 jar tomato sauce (I prefer Paul Newman's brand, any flavor)
Penne, or any pasta shape that your toddler will try
Chicken stock, about 3/4 cup (I like the Kitchen Basics brand)

Start pasta water boiling. Slice sausage, and start sauteeing in chicken stock, about 5 minutes, adding additional stock as necessary. Cover briefly. I like my veggies crunchy, so when the sausage looks about done, I thrown in the broccoli, mushrooms, and pepper, and saute another few minutes. Once sausage and veggies look done, I add tomato sauce to heat. Pasta should be done by now, so drain (do not rinse), and add to the tomato sauce mixture. Voila! A glass of wine and some fruit completes dinner for us (and, happily, if darling toddler tries everything on her plate, we get dessert too!).

Enjoy!

25 Minute Meals, Part I

I have a theme for the rest of this month's posts. On the Wall Street Journal "Juggle" blog today, there was a great discussion of how hard it is to walk through the door at 5:30 or 6:00 and get a homemade, healthy dinner on the table 30 minutes later. This is really the great daily dilemma for parents every where, isn't it? (See Ray, Rachael for the huge industry that has cropped up around solving this problem). So for the rest of the month, I'm going to be blogging about how we deal with this around here (some days more effectively than others).

Here are 2 suggestions for the days when you've been gone all day, and walk through the door in the evening starving.


1) Pasta with roasted shrimp. (Caveat: you have to peel and devein your shrimp the night before, or buy them already peeled and deveined). Everyone has their favorite easy pasta and veggies recipe, right? Just add roasted shrimp to it, and it feels like even more of a meal. Salt your water, set it on the stove to boil. An obvious note that all of us know but never actually do anything about - it will boil faster if you use less water! If you're anything like me, you put in twice as much water as you actually need, and then get irritated when it isn't boiling 3 minutes later. Preheat your oven to 400. While that's coming to a boil, toss the shrimp with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and put them on a baking sheet lined with aluminium foil. Water boiling now? Excellent. Toss the pasta in, and your oven has probably preheated. Put the shrimp in, set the timer for 8 minutes. You now have 8 minutes slice a package of cherry tomatoes in half, open and drain a jar of pitted kalamata olives, and crumble some feta cheese. (While you're at it, pour yourself a glass of wine. You deserve). 8 minutes up? Take shrimp out of the oven, set aside. Drain the pasta, return to pot. Toss with the cherry tomatoes, olives, feta cheese, shrimp, a little olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste. Serve with another veggie on the side that doesn't require any cooking. Maybe snowpeas with a little ranch dressing for dipping?

2) Baked potatoes with chili. I know, it's still summer so this doesn't sound so appealing. But it's such a great meal to come home to, especially once there's a little crispness in the air, because you can do the potatoes in the oven with the "delay start" function - just have them start cooking 1.5 hours before you want to eat, and it's not going to hurt them to party in the oven all day. Put your favorite chili recipe in the crockpot, and dinner is ready for you when you walk in. My crockpot chili recipe is: 1lb ground beef, 1 can kidney beans, 1 small diced onion, 1 can diced tomatoes, and 1 package McCormick mild chili seasoning. Cook on low for 8 hours. If you're going to be gone for 9-10 hours, I am of the opinion that nothing bad is going to happen to that meat if you put your crockpot on a timer and it hangs out for an hour or a little more before the cooking process starts. After all, chefs at steakhouses recommend letting your steak sit on the counter for an hour before grilling it. Surely ground beef is just as tough? (Note to readers: if you have evidence to the contrary, I don't really want to know). Slice open the baked potatoes, top with chili and a handful of shredded cheese, and enjoy. So good. We also like chili on rice, which is easily made ahead of time (and perhaps rice steamers come with timers, too? I don't know).

Happy eating!