Belated birthday feast at Mulvaney’s Building & Loan in Sacramento, beginning with House Smoked Salmon
Hand Cut Fettuccine
Sunday dinner at home: Southern Pulled Pork with Mashed Potatoes (swapped chardonnay and water for vinegar)
Exploring the Mission: Turkey Sandwich at Goody Goodie Cream and Sugar
Saturday date night at Scratch in Mountain View; starting with Ahi Tuna Nicoise
Macaroni and Cheese (Best ever, according to David)
Lava Cake
On Monday night I had a weeknight houseguest: my dad, in town for business. Since he loves Italian food, and the only form of pasta in my cupboard was lasagna noodles, I made a recipe for cheeseless lasagna (was also low on cheese).
Unfortunately I don’t have the link to the recipe anymore, but you basically brown the meat, simmer it in tomato sauce with spices, pre-soak the noodles, and then layer the mixture in a 9×13 dish, top generously with Parmesan, and bake for about 45 minutes at 350 degrees. Delicious and guilt-free!
Mario Batali’s Basic Tomato Sauce with diced zucchini instead of carrots. Yum!
Stone fruit and berries continue to dominate my meal planning. This weekend was no exception. By request, my mom showed me the steps to make an apricot pie so I’m armed and ready to make the next one at home. See the “fruits” of our labor…
We also experimented with an ad hoc blueberry compote to serve on waffles, in place of syrup. To make the compote, I combined fresh blueberries with strawberry jam in a small sauce pan over low heat, and added a little extra sugar to make sure the finished product was thick enough.
Also, I put overly ripe fruit to use in an apricot, plum, and strawberry cobbler using the recipe for “Summer Berry Crisp” from the Epicurious iPad app – with a few modifications, of course.
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I can’t read about food without developing a nagging craving for it. Tonight’s spaghetti dinner was the culmination of countless descriptions of guiltless carb-loading in Italy from the pages of Eat, Pray, Love. (And by pages, I mean iPad – which I love reading on so far!)
It was also really important to me to find a tomato sauce recipe that required simmering on the stove. The anticipation of bubbling sounds and aromas coming from the kitchen are part of the experience (and leave me a little time to work out before dinner). I found Mario Batali’s “Basic Tomato Sauce” from the Epicurious iPad app, which I cut in half (and left out the carrot because I didn’t have one).
I also learned from my recent pasta class at Williams-Sonoma that Italians add salt to the water until it tastes “like the sea.” I’ll admit it, I was a little gun shy about adding multiple tablespoons. (The package called for 4 tablespoons but I couldn’t get past 2, which was plenty.) I plated the pasta with a little olive oil and about a half cup of sauce, and the salt brought a nice flavor to it. Buono appetito!
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Potatoes, patience, plus a Williams-Sonoma pasta class = homemade gnocchi. I never thought I would make one of my favorite menu items at home, but I successfully made gnocchi tonight. In subsequent posts, I will give the full instruction. But for now, here’s something worth 1,000 words.
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