Pesto with Pasta

 Just in case you, as I have a tendency to do, think shopping in your very favorite Natural Foods store is, or should be a foolproof experience, forget it already.  No one here is owning up to who actually bought the cheese in question.  It was either him or I.  But, in any case, shouldn't have been in that place at all.  Here are the rules, according to the if-it-looks-like-a-duck theory (if you'll hang in there with my rant):

1. If it looks like orange processed cheese,
2. If it tastes like processed cheese,
3. It resists mold beautifully,
4. It will stay in a tidy little square when heated,
Guess what, it is processed cheese.  Duh. So much for that.  Do what you will with it.  Maybe you love processed cheese.  In that case, my apologies.

I have gone over these salient facts with the employees of said store, with a request for proper labeling.  This was labeled "Smoked Sharp Cheddar."  And, do you know what I was told?  No, you don't.  So, I'll tell you.  That cheese is our very best seller!  Yes, folks, true, which fact, you would scarcely believe from checking out the customers here.  Perhaps we're dealing with a throwback to childhoods in less enlightened times.  The flavors of mommy's kitchen?  Comfort food?  End of rant.

You have heard about a picture being worth a 1000 words, right?  Well, this little video says it all about the perfect Pesto and the perfect Pasta. Just watch Chef Paolo Laboa prepare both, you'll see what I mean.  So, that was my goal this week.  To do both, perfectly.

All that aside, this very (seemingly) simple pasta dish was quite lovely.  And, I made the pasta twice, improving on my technique and getting the dough thinner.  Next time will be even better, I'm sure.  It was not all that difficult.  There are good video instructions here on rolling the dough out, which the above mentioned chef neglects to completely show us.  Plus, I can see that this will make lasagna a more feasible operation in future  (for me anyway).  Look for it next week.

So, the first thing to do is to make your favorite Pesto.  Having a nice bunch of CSA kale, as well as a bunch of basil, I made a combination Kale Basil Pesto.

Salmon Ravioli with Brown Butter Sauce

I have to say that I love, love, love ravioli.  Tempting little pockets, hiding delicious morsels inside them, swathed with a touch of simple brown butter and thyme, or coated in marinara.  So, here I go again.  This incarnation it is smoked salmon, preserved lemon and spring onion inside, with brown butter, thyme and white wine reduction for the finish, just to nicely coat them.

I found some smaller (3x3") won ton/ravioli wraps from the same folks who make the larger ones, NaSoya,   Pictured on my Lemon Feta Ravioli post.  So, less cutting is required. Use your round, 2 1/2 inch cookie cutter.  Or, you could just have slightly larger square or triangle shaped pasta. Yes, one day soon - perhaps next week - I will actually do that thing where you put a heap of flour on your counter, crack an egg into it and make the dough myself.  Until then, I am singing the praises of this little store bought item.  I tell you, by the time I finish with enough ravioli for just the two of us, plus the nice beets with greens and basil salad, then whipping up a sauce, it somehow seems like enough already.  Maybe it's my time of life.

This salad of cooked beets  with their greens, and bits of basil was such a beautiful contrast, accenting the pasta.  Thank you CSA folks.  I used a simple vinaigrette dressing on it.

Hooray for Crumpets

I am now able to turn out proper crumpets.  What a thrill!  And, using Genevieve, my ancient (over 200 years and counting) natural yeast starter, this is a double thrill, as anyone maintaining a starter will realize.  It is a super way to use up that excess, continually being produced as a result of their prodigious appetites.  At least once a week, we feed our starters, giving away, using in recipes, or dumping the extra. 

Thanks here are due to Clotilde of Chocolate and Zucchini, who some months ago posted her recipe.  They turned out wonderfully, slightly crispy on the outside, tender and moist inside, with that tangy sourdough flavor.  I didn't need to change a thing.  So, I am recommending that you just try her recipe. Also, her suggestion to lift the ring off, flip and cook the other side, worked out well, as I am doing below, while the next one is cooking.

 If you are wanting to be frugal (as I was) and not buy more kitchen utensils, don't bother saving tuna cans.  They now make it impossible to remove both ends.  One end is rounded. Unless you live in an unrounded tuna tin country.   I did find a substitute however, which makes a slightly larger, more authentic sized crumpet.  Pick up, if you can find them, a couple cans of Stuffed Grape Leaves, vegetarian dolmas.  Save, wash and remove both ends, for perfect crumpet rings.

After cooling, pull apart or slice in half, toast your crumpets, and watch them soak up butter.  I'm having mine with slices of our lovely white pineapple.

P.S.  I had been laboring under the impression that English Muffins and Crumpets were synonomous, and hence the splitting instructions.  Next time I will use only 1/4 cup batter in each, and not bother flipping them, or splitting.  Clotilde has instructions here for English Muffins, using sourdough starter.  They are quite similar, though the muffin is a thicker individual.  And, the process MUCH more involved, as you will note.  In any case, they should never be sliced in half.  That, apparently is verbotin.  Pulling only is permitted.

Still Crazy After All Those Years

One for every year!  45 was too many for any one of my vases, so I had to divide the bouquet between two.  So beautiful, and what a romantic gift.  On top of which, our grandkids made a sweet little anniversary cake for us.

Looks like they had fun with the colored icings, and there's Strawberry Guava filling inside.  In fact, I'm going to have a piece right now.  Happy Anniversary to us!

The School of Essential Ingredients - Chocolate Fondue with Pineapple

 Our current Cook the Books Club selection is The School of Essential Ingredients, by Erica Bauermeister.  A charming tale of  intertwined  lives, brought together through a cooking class, with careful character depictions and individual stories, well thought out, and woven seamlessly into the whole novel.  I truly enjoy reading good fiction, especially that which also triggers creativity, and fires my culinary enthusiasm.  I won't go into great detail and spoil it for those of you who haven't read this wonderful book yet.  Just go out and get your copy!

The story of the Restaurant owner, and chef-instructor of the evening classes, Lillian, and her childhood relationship with her mother, reminded me a bit of Ruth Reichl's Tender at the Bone, Growing up at the Table.  Especially the cover photo of a young Ruth, standing at the stove cooking.  I loved that book. I loved this one too.  So, why did I have such a hard time trying to decide what to cook?  Everything they prepared in the cooking classes sounded so fantastic, I want to make it all. And, I will!  Being as the idea here was the importance of simplicity and the best of ingredients, I asked myself, what is just about your favorite ingredient - an essential, in other words?  The answer would have to be chocolate.

I have my own tree, process the cacao and incorporate the product into my cooking occasionally.  Though mostly I just use it for a morning cocoa drink or homemade truffles, since buying the equipment necessary to get cacao nibs to chocolate factory smoothness, is not going to happen.

Another essential ingredient for me would be whatever delicious fruit is happening, fresh and ripe at the moment.  That right now would be our fabulous Hawaiian white pineapples.  Must really be tasted to appreciate fully. Stop by, and I will let you try some.

Kealani and the Giant Zucchini

Possibly many of you zucchini growers out there have raised bigger ones, however this was the largest to ever cross my personal threshold.  The lovely people from our CSA sent it over, and we heard it grew to this size in one day.  The kids had named it Daily.  Nevertheless, Daily was destined to be stuffed.  I was looking forward immediately to the challenge.

I think I've mentioned she's a Drama Queen.  Don't be so sad, you will enjoy eating him.  Just watch.
First we simmer our victim in boiling water.  Had to use my biggest roasting pan, and turn halfway through, as it couldn't be completely covered with the water.

 I simmered Mr. Daily about 10 minutes on each side.  Then cooled on a rack, before splitting down the middle, lengthwise.  After that, pretty much followed the directions for Drop Dead Delicious Stuffed Zucchini at Food.com.  Where it calls for meat or fish, I used a bit of left-over ground veal, which had been stuck in the freezer awaiting the Apocalypse.  Now I don't know what we'll do when that event happens.

Topped it all off with a nice sharp cheddar cheese before baking.  The little ceramic dish is to prevent that half from slipping over on its side.  Baked for 30 minutes or so, and removed to tremendous appreciation.  She polished off several helpings.

I would recommend this recipe to anyone wanting to stuff their vegetable of choice actually.  It made for a very savory meal, as well as a positive salute to heroic effort on the part of a zucchini this humongous.

World Cup Green-Chile Pozole

This was my salute to the World Cup winners.  Not, that I'm a soccer fan, mind you, but it was blaring on the TV from early on Sunday.  And, as I was fixing a Dutch Baby for breakfast, Bob said there needed to be something Spanish on the menu.  So, I had a Sangria with mine, made with Alto del Carmen for the Brandy, I might add, and a Spanish red, so what more could anyone ask?  Well, dinner I guess, in honor of the World Cup winner.  It was going to be Green-Chile Pozole. New Spain, to be sure, but still....

I was in the Dr.'s office Friday, waiting for my x-ray, and read the recipe in Martha Stewart.  So, I was intending to make this before ever the Soccer Cup was in my consciousness at all.  Also, the ingredients duly noted down, were purchased before Sunday.  And, as I had assumed, the recipe was available on Martha's handy site, so no need to purloin the waiting room copy.  Not that I would, heh heh.

There didn't seem to be any dried hominy available locally, so I used the canned, which worked out fine.  It was a hearty, comforting and delicious dish.  Topped with cubes of fresh avocado, cilantro and thinly sliced onions, diced tomato if desired.  It is one of those dishes that cook slowly, filling the house with tempting smells all day, while you lay about relaxing and watching World Cup Soccer, or not.  Thank you Sunny, for pulling all the pork.  Yea Spain!

Nancy's Banana Splits in Waffle Cups

This Fourth of July dessert was so awesome, I felt it deserved its own post.  I'm still resting my bum, the technical name being "Piriformis Syndrome rehabilitation", also known as sciatica, pinched nerve.  Not to complain or anything, still painful.  But regardless, wanting to have a few friends over, decided to delegate a lot.  To my rib eyes, for which I actually made the marinade, were added corn on the cob and a salad, courtesy of Sunny, Bob did the BBQ thing, and Kealani made an appetizer (with a bit of my help), which was lovely puff pastry salmon mini-quiches.  Good job, Kealani!  The killer was dessert by our newly crowned "Dessert Queen", Nancy.

Here, topping off her waffle cups (lined with dark chocolate), and filled with banana ice cream, are fresh strawberries, and a bit of whipped cream.  Tooo good.  Per Nancy, the directions:

For Chicken Fanciers

I finally got my daughter to videotape their Silkie rooster doing his famous chicken dance.  I've been hearing about it for ages.  Apparently he does it quite often for Kealani, who is here encouraging him, or egging him on, more like it. Somehow I was expecting something a bit more complicated, but hey, what can you really expect from a bird?   And, we don't call him Fricassiee, Tajine or Adobo, he's too precious for that.