A Minestrone to Love in The Summer Villa

Chic lit I suppose, but enjoyable all the same, with good themes and endings.  The Summer Villa, by Melissa Hill brings three young women together in a picturesque, though somewhat run down villa on the Mediterranean sea in Italy.  They are all running away from something in their lives, hoping a change of scene will help.

Six years later, they meet up again, still escaping from what now, once again,  look to be impossible situations; and lives run amuck.  

From the Publishers:

"The Irish Times #1 bestseller! Three women. One summer reunion...

Villa Dolce Vita, a rambling stone house on the Amalfi Coast, sits high above the Gulf of Naples amid dappled lemon groves and fragrant, tumbling bougainvillea. Kim, Colette and Annie all came to the villa in need of escape and in the process forged an unlikely friendship.

Now, years later, Kim has transformed the crumbling house into a luxury retreat and has invited her friends back for the summer to celebrate.

But as friendships are rekindled under the Italian sun, secrets buried in the past will come to light, and not everyone is happy that the three friends are reuniting... Each woman will have things to face up to if they are all to find true happiness and fully embrace the sweet life.

An epic summer read about food, friendship and the magic of Italy,"

I thought a pot of minestrone was the perfect food image for this yummy novel, things thrown together, from past meals, to create something better in the final mélange.  To a base of homemade stock, I added two sorts of leftover pasta, one with pesto clinging to it, moringa leaves, some tomato paste, pieces of duck breast, chickpeas, carrots, onion, garlic and celery.  I added thyme, parsley and sage from my garden, with a jolt of Worcestershire, and was amazed at the fabulous flavors in the end result. Recombining some old leftovers make a new and wonderful Minestrone!

I'll share the goodness over at Weekend Cooking, hosted by the inimitable and Intrepid Reader, Marge, and with Heather for her January edition of the Foodies Read Challenge.  Please visit, check out all the good food and book recommendations.

May Highlights In My Kitchen

 I left you with the brining  ham last time, so here it is cooked up

The highlights of May. My version of In My Kitchen! Sprinkled through the various meals I fixed are a few books, and I read some very good ones in May; several on my new Kindle and a couple from our newly re-opened public library.  Actually the ones I got through Kindle were via the public library Overdrive program. We now book an appointment at the library, then go to the front doors, wearing a mask, to collect our books.:)  These last two months have been just hilarious. Ha ha.

 A Roots Soup, which was absolutely delicious!

I read a couple of Martha Grimes' novels, her books are always enjoyable, several by C.S. Harris with her Sebastian St. Cyr, English Regency period mysteries, and a new favorite author, Donna Andrews, who has an iron-mongering artist sleuth, with a totally hysterical family, whose Crouching Buzzard Leaping Loon was my most recently read. I heartily recommend these for any of you who want less angst and dread in your lives, to be replaced by humor. 

Breadfruit with cheese and pickles

I don't know if this is really worthy of a post, but somehow being surprised by something good, might be reason enough. More ways to use a really useful fruit/vegetable, what have you.  It's alternatively called ulu around here, and a good sized one generally supplies more than enough for several meals.  I have posted  a few recipes before, this is just a left-over snack.

I boiled up a whole one, cut in fourths, and used some for Breadfruit/potato salad.  Which other than the ulu, was pretty much your standard potato salad and very yummy.  I added in radishes, green onions and olives to the usual.  Then last night as a side with some duck breasts, I roasted slices coated with olive oil and spices - paprika, salt, pepper and ginger, just enough to get them a bit crispy and hot, since they were already cooked enough.

This little container was left.  And, not being in the mood for sandwiches, doing my usual scrounge in the fridge for left-overs, I tried a few cold.  Surprising, I don't know why that should be.  Added some aged cheddar and then there's my latest  pickles - Kim Chee style this time made of turnip, red cabbage and onion.  And, don't you just love how that red cabbage made my pickles all pink?  What a satisfying and tasty lunch.  Perfect for Chaya's Lets Do Lunch, Breakfast and Brunch, where you can catch some good ideas for those meals.

Chicken and Vegetable Cobbler

I watched Mark Bittman do this and thought it would be the perfect dinner, using up some left-over chicken and most of my remaining CSA vegetables.  It was a bit more colorful than this photo shows.  The carrot seems to be hiding.  Anyway, my variation was to put the cobbler topping on the vegetables, right in the oven-proof pan they were cooked in, then pop it into the oven.  I love one pot cooking.

 First simmer your chopped vegetables in chicken broth and perhaps some white wine, a few herbs. Season to taste.  Bittman used rosemary.  I used squash, green beans, a small leek, a few mushrooms and carrots.  If your chicken is uncooked, of course cook it along with the vegetables, otherwise add at the end.  When everything is nearly tender, add some of the reserved broth or wine, with 2 tablespoons cornstarch blended in, to thicken.  I added chopped basil just before topping with the cobbler dough.  Which you can prepare while the filling is simmering.  Preheat oven to 400 F.

Cobbler Crust

1 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg
3 tablespoons cold butter
1/2 cup buttermilk

Whir together in a food processor or mix in a bowl, cutting in the butter. Plop clumps of dough onto the top of your chicken and vegetables, and pop the pan into a preheated oven for about 40 minutes.

Serve with a good white wine.  Much easier than Chicken Pot Pie.  No rolling out of pie crusts is involved here.  Thanks Mark Bittman, good idea.

Beef Ravioli With Chiffonade of Greens in Truffle Butter

My plating for this post leaves a lot to be desired.  Too rushed at the end, as per usual.  But at least I'm still having fun with those sweet little Nasoya egg wraps.  This time they're filled with beef and a bit of mashed sweet potato, and topped with a chiffonade of lightly sauteed beet and mustard greens, all swirled in truffle butter.  And, just so you know, it tasted way better than it looks. Delicious in fact.

Originally I was only going to use mustard greens, but the beets had been cooked, (see previous post) and their nice little tops were calling out to me.  However, when you stir beet greens with something white, guess what happens?  Sure, they're called beet GREENS, but a reddish tint follows them about.  It's really OK, I like pink.  Only next time maybe not.

Also, when  left-over pot roast is glaring at you from a shelf in the fridge, this is one of the many things you can do with it.  I didn't use a grinder, just minced the beef extremely fine, added in a bit of the sauce, some mashed, cooked sweet potato, carrot, an egg, salt and pepper.

Cannelloni alla Madonita

This post for Presto Pasta Nights is all about what not to do.  Well, not ALL, but a few things to consider anyway.  The idea was to make cannelloni, using those nifty little Nasoya egg roll wraps, which were very successful in my Lemon Feta Ravioli.  This is another perfect application for them.  They work excellently for cannelloni.  It was just me.  Two mistakes which you can easily avoid.  Which I should have avoided, since I've made cannelloni so many times.  One would think it could have been done blindfolded.  It's good to learn from the errors of others.  Saves doing a botch job yourself.

Numero uno, don't crowd your pan.  Use a bigger one.  If they are touching, they will stick.  Still tasting good, but the presentation and serving is marred. And we foodies HATE that.  Next, butter the bottom of the dish, or put a bit of the sauce there, also so they won't stick.  Do you get what happened?  Everything stuck. Other than that, it was just fine.  Smiley face.

Pork Enchiladas in Green Sauce

Chocolate is the secret ingredient here.  Don't tell anyone.  I had roasted a pork loin for Sunday and, was faced with the oldest question in gastronomic history, what to transform some left-over meat into.  A resplendent reincarnation, altogether new, is called for.  A favorite with this Left-Over Diva is enchiladas, or cannelloni if we're going Italian style.  Meat pies or empanadas would be a good option, but that's another post.

First off, I wanted to simmer the pork, diced into small cubes, in a marinade of citrus juices and white wine until the liquid was almost all evaporated or absorbed into the meat.  Just because it sounded like a good idea.  Then saute some cooked, diced potatoes (more left-overs, ha), a bit of onion, some minced chili pepper, and add that to the meat.

It was at this point that chocolate popped into my head.  Can't imagine what cosmic dimension the thought arrived from.  But, what the heck.  Everything goes better with bacon, right?  Well, we've already got pork covered, so what else is almost universally loved?  Right, chocolate.  I ground some cacao nibs (yes, these are from my tree) and toasted pumpkin seeds, just because they go well together, then added that into the pork mixture.  Ready for stuffing those tortillas.  Recipe after the jump.

Heart Healthy Chicken Salad

Friday, February 5th is National Wear Red Day® sponsored by The National Heart Lung and Blood Institute to encourage women to better understand their own heart health, risk factors, and ways to decrease heart disease among women. Robin Sue from The Big Red Kitchen is hosting her own take on the day, with a round-up of Heart Healthy recipes. So, get out that red dress, Ladies.  Or, tee shirt.  And, cook heart healthy.

My contribution, a Chicken Salad, with olives and carambola slices.  Carambola or starfruit is juicy and mildly citrusy, a terrific combination with the tangy, black Kalamata olives and tender, succulent chicken.  That birdy was especially moist, as I did the Ruhlman Brined Roast Chicken thing (which he posted last week) on Sunday and had a nice supply of the best ever cooked chicken on hand.  I will be doing that a lot.

For additional heart healthy recipes, the Mayo Clinic has an extensive list, and also check out Robin Sue's round-up on her site after Friday.

Chicken Salad with Olives and Carambola

1 cup cooked, chopped chicken
handful of torn romaine lettuce
handful of torn red leaf or Manoa lettuce
handful of watercress or arugula leaves
6 or 7 black olives, sliced in half
2 starfruit (carambolas), sliced and seeded
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup sliced cucumber
1/4 red onion, minced (optional)

Dressing

1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice or vinegar (I used lemon juice and Balsamic vinegar)
1 bruised clove of garlic
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

Shake together in a jar and use about 3 tablespoons for your salad.  The rest will keep nicely in the fridge for a week or so. I arranged the fruit on top after tossing the salad with dressing.  Serve with fresh bread and a soup, if you have some really hungry guys.  The salad and bread were enough for us.

From Burg to Bisque

The soup formerly known as Mushroom Burg (short for Bourguignon) has now become Mushroom Bisque.  Adam, the funny and talented Amateur Gourmet posted a recipe at his site last week (which he, in turn, credits to Deb Perelman of Smiten Kitchen) for Mushroom Bourguignon.  And, it was perfect for a vegetarian dinner guest.  Actually, we all enjoyed it very much, excepting only Bob, who valiantly struggled through, confining  himself to just one remark about mushrooms tasting of mold.  He thinks they are an utterly useless food.  Which just goes to prove, you can't please everyone. Though, I do sometimes try.

With the addition of dry Sherry, some white wine, cream and a bit of water, more cream (can you have too much cream?), the blender, in its inimitable way, transformed our leftovers to a lovely bisque.  Garnished with chives and more cream on top, bread and salad, voila.  Dinner.

I love a good mushroom soup.  A favorite restaurant in town, occasionally serves an excellent version.  OK, all right, I'll tell you, it's Cafe Pesto.  Guess what, folks??  Yes, I think we've more than matched them here.  Check out Adam's recipe and make that hearty stew, (which I altered by using half portobellos and the rest a mixture of other mushrooms) and then, with anything left, you too can create a quick, easy dinner for two.

Pesto Devils

This marvelous snack came about because of excess Pesto.  Is it really possible to have an overabundance of Pesto?  The thing is you don't want to keep it for too long.  You could stand at the kitchen counter and just eat what's left by the spoonful, but thankfully,  there are other options.  

To begin at the beginning, we have Lemon Basil.  Cutting it back so that it will keep producing, gives us amounts sufficient for Pesto.  Lemon Basil Pesto with Macadamia nuts, to be exact, adapted from Alice Waters' Pesto recipe in The Art of Simple Food.

Lightly toast the mac nuts to bring out their nuttiest flavor, then proceed:

 Ingredients

2 cups lemon basil (or other variety) leaves, lightly packed

1 clove garlic, peeled

Kosher salt

1/4 cup macadamia nuts, lightly toasted

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Whir in your food processor - or pound and grind away in a mortar and pestle, depending upon your craving for authenticity.  One day I'll have to try the mortar and pestle version so I really know from authentic.

While whirring, slowly add

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil or macadamia nut oil.

Taste and adjust for salt if needed.  Will keep 3 days or so, refrigerated with plastic wrap touching onto the pesto.

OK, now you've served it with your pasta, as a side with a lovely vegetable and Feta Frittata ( as I did), or perhaps with grilled chicken.  Then, say you have about a 1/3 cup or so left?  It is at this point, Deviled Eggs may start calling to you.  Sunday afternoon, and still without lunch, that's exactly what happened.  I leaped up and put some eggs on to boil.

After slicing them lengthwise, remove the yolks, mash well, add the pesto, a scoop of full-fat (only way to go) yogurt, a scoop of mayonnaise and dash of salt.  Mix well and stuff.  Eat and enjoy.  Should be called angelic.

Miracle of Fishes and Ahi Enchaladas

This is what comes of meditations in the middle of the night, thanks to the Martha Stewart of birdland, up in my eves.  She's busy at all hours, probably disturbing the sleep of her chicks, re-arranging furniture, cleaning, organizing.  One can only imagine.  Rustlings and bustlings at that hour(s) - 12:30, 2:00 am, 3:30, and etc.??  Maybe she's an insomniac or on crystal meth?  I've heard that sort of behavior is a sure sign of such an addiction. It's now 10:54 am and she's still at it.  Bless her heart.

At any rate, I've decided we had a "Loaves and Fishes" miracle here.  Bob asked a client and his wife over for dinner and brought me home four ahi steaks (as per my request).  I made a coconut cream curry for them, which came out superbly, if I do say so.  They were large steaks, so we had leftovers, plus I hadn't even cooked one of them.  So, then Sunday, I broiled the extra one, added it to the other left-overs, a bit more coconut cream and, voila, dinner for daughter, grandkids, etc., very good as well.

And, still, with the left-overs.  So, several nights later, and only Isaiah to join us, I made fish enchaladas.  Mushed up the last of the ahi (there was also some broiled, chopped onion in there) with a bit of  left-over pumpkin, and a little minced salted lemon; then filled tortillas; heated some tomatillo green enchalada sauce, mixed with sour cream; poured over the enchaladas; and sprinkled with grated cheese and minced parsley.  Baked at 350F for 25 min. or so.

Yes, another awesome meal from those four original fillets.  Bob said it was the best, and I had to post about it.  He and Isaiah waited while I got the camera, suggesting plating ideas.

Afterwards, of course, there was extra stuffing left from filling all the tortillas.  So, the next day, Kealani and I had tuna melts with it for lunch.  A miracle?  Or am I just the left-over queen?

Impossible Chicken 'n Vegetable Pie

This is actually about Impossible Pie, but I couldn't resist putting up that photo, taken my daughter, Sunny.

To begin with, I was going to make quiche with a bit of left-over chicken from two nights before and, I'm ashamed to admit, had none of those lovely frozen Whole Foods type pie crusts left in my freezer.  Well, we all (almost all) know what Michael Pollan would have to say about such heresy.  So, I'm not perfect.  Then,  I remembered a famous Bisquick invention from our distant past - Impossible Pies. And, piling heresy upon heresy, as there was some baking mix??! in the fridge....

Should I mention, that baking mix was bought, thanks to Nancy and her recipe for Southern Cobbler? Which I still need to make. Thanks Nancy.

Back to Impossible Pies.  The fabulous thing is, you can use whatever happens to be on hand.  I had half of one red bell pepper, a handful of green beans, some left-over bbq'd chicken, as mentioned, and the last of that wonderful feta, recently made.

I had forgotten how good those pies can be, and this was no exception.  Fast too.  Everything gets dumped into the pie pan, into the oven, and there it is.  Almost instant quiche.

Impossible Chicken 'n Vegetable Pie

Ingredients
1 small onion, peeled and chopped
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
1/4 cup chopped shitake mushrooms
1 cup green beans, chopped
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup feta or ricotta
1 1/2 cups cut-up cooked chicken
1 1/3 cups milk
3 eggs
3/4 cup baking mix ** see note below
3/4 teas. salt & 1/4 teas. pepper, minced parsley or basil

Heat oven to 400 F; butter your 10x1 1/2" pie plate.  Rinse, dry & chop the vegetables. Feel free to use what you have available.  Cut up the chicken and distribute evenly in the pie plate with vegetables.  Grate cheese, crumbling the feta or ricotta and sprinkle over the top. Beat eggs, milk and baking mix til smooth with wire whip (or15 seconds in blender). Pour over the ingredients in pie plate.

Bake 25-35 minutes or until knife inserted into the center comes out clean.  Cool for 5 minutes or so.
6-8 servings
**  Note - I should mention, if you are out of Bisquick, or don't want to use it, a good substitution for 1 cup of baking mix is:

1 Cup flour, 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder, 1/4 teas. salt and add for each cup 1 tablespoon melted butter when you make a recipe.

Very satisfying, served with a small salad and some fresh bread.  Don't know why I've overlooked this for so long.

Empanadas or What Goes Around ...

Or, whatever goes around, comes around (again?) I find this principle in cooking leftovers as well as in life. I have personally been reconstituted a number of times. I'm not the same person I was 10, 20 or 30 years ago. We have that option of change, not having to stay in old ruts and ways of doing things.

On many a Sunday I will fix enough dinner for our extended family. However, if there has been a communication outage, and no-show, we might be left with a terrific amount of whatever it happens to be. In this case, a lovely beef stew. Two nights, not even concurrently, of anything re-heated is probably enough for most of us. Excepting possibly bachelors. When I first met Bob, he was in the habit of cooking up a large batch of soup or stew and, voila, dinner for the next week. So, the remainder of my pot of stew was relegated to the freezer.

The following week, I saw a post on Smitten Kitchen about empanadas, recipe for a meat filling in neat packages of pie crust, and the little bulb upstairs flickered into life. Yes, brilliant, no need to cook up and prepare a stuffing for those babies. It was waiting patiently in my freezer. Deb suggested that next time she would spice it up a bit. So, no problem. I can do that.

This sort of dish has a relative of one type or another, boiled, baked or fried, all over the world. There are Hamburgers (should they really be included?), Pita Pockets, Cornish Pasties, Aussie and English Meat Pies, Empanadas, Calzones, Pierogi, Samosas, even Manapua (as we call them in Hawaii). Traditional, very portable meals, they all probably originated as lunches for workers, or to take on picnics. There is a good history of them here. But, what an awesome reincarnation for some of our left-over meals.



The pie crust recipe was not only basic, simple and easy to work with, it was flaky and tasty.

If you do freeze some pies, put them uncooked on a baking sheet, fairly close together and set in a freezer. When they're totally frozen you can dump them all into a zip-lock freezer bag til you get the urge for more meat pie. A label might be a good idea, in case you forget just what is in that empanada/pie/pasty.

The Pie Crust

Makes 12
4 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons salt
2 sticks (8 oz.) cold, unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 " cubes
2 large eggs
2/3 cup ice water
2 tablespoons vinegar (I used apple cider, but plain white vinegar is fine)
1 egg beaten with 2 teaspoons of water (for brushing onto the pies)

Sift flour and salt into a large bowl and cut in the butter with a pastry blender or two knives until the mixture resembles coarse meal, with some of the bits about pea size. Beat the eggs, water and vinegar in a small bowl. Add to the flour mixture, stirring with a fork until just incorporated. Then turn out onto a floured surface and knead gently a few times to gather it all together into two flat rectangles. Chill them, wrapped in plastic for at least an hour, up to 6 hours.

The Filling

Meanwhile, prepare your filling (approximately 3 cups). I will leave that to your imagination,
however, you can use the above link to Deb's site for her recipe. For my stew, I minced up the chunks of tender, slow-cooked beef and the larger pieces of carrot, potato and turnip, etc. and added in some zippy spices.

Depending upon the main filling ingredient, you might add sliced olives, capers, diced hot peppers, minced salted lemon, etc. The sky is the limit here. I had a jar of Berber dry spice mix I had made up for one of my ethnic experiments, Ethiopian Teff Bread - where you put the curry like mixtures on top and tear off sections. So anyway, I added a few tablespoons of that spicy mix to my filling. I really loved the way they turned out, a very re-doable deal. The crust makes 12 and I had exactly enough to fill them nicely. Six to bake and six to freeze.

When ready to roll, preheat oven to 400F.

Cut one of the dough pieces (leaving the other in the fridge) into 6 equal portions. On a floured surface, roll each chunk out into a 6 inch disk, place about 3 tablespoons of filling in the center, moisten bottom half edges with water, fold over, seal, press with fork tines, and place on a baking sheet. If you are going to freeze some, place them closer together on a separate sheet and put in your freezer.

When you have the pies that are to be baked ready, brush each one lightly with the egg and water mixture, then place on center to upper third rack in oven. Bake about 25 minutes or until golden. Cool on racks at least 5 minutes. It is customary to eat them warm or at room temperature, though also good hot, as we found. These meat pies were absolutely to munch with gusto, and I'll be making them, with all sorts of fillings again and again and...