Is this thing on?

I'm wondering if this still works since I have abandoned it so completely over the last month or so. I would like to say that, even though I haven't been posting, we've still been cooking up a storm but, sadly, it is not true. We have ground to a halt. I'm not sure when I've eaten so much pizza or so many hot dogs.

We did manage two new recipes recently that I will label "from the ridiculous to the sublime".

First the ridiculous. This is from a small Taste of Home cookbook that I picked up as a joke. You see, it's the BACON recipe card edition. And while most of the recipes look like coronary artery disease on a plate, we did actually make one and it was really quite tasty! I give you the

BLT Salad

1 pound sliced bacon, cut into 1-inch pieces
¼ cup butter, cubed
4 slices white bread, crusts removed and cut into 1-inch cubes
½ cup mayonnaise
3 tablespoons minced fresh basil
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
½ teaspoon pepper
½ teaspoon minced garlic
6 cups torn romaine
1½ cups grape tomatoes

1. In a large skillet, cook bacon over medium heat until crisp. Using a slotted spoon, remove to paper towels; drain, reserving 2 tablespoons drippings. Set bacon and drippings aside.

2. In another large skillet, melt butter. Add bread cubes, cook over medium heat for 4-5 minutes or until golden brown, stirring frequently. Remove to paper towels; cool.

3. For dressing, in a small bowl, whisk the mayonnaise, basil, vinegar, pepper, garlic and reserved drippings. In a large bowl, combine the romaine, tomatoes and bacon. Drizzle with dressing and toss to coat. Top with croutons.

We've made this twice and it's really delicious! The ingredients listed reflect the modifications that we made to the original recipe and we like it better this way. It's a nice summer dinner. And it's quick and easy, which is a definite plus these days!

And now the sublime. This is from Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics cookbook. This is another really fast and delicious meal that's great for the summer, especially how we paired it.

Tagliarelle with Truffle Butter

Kosher salt
½ cup heavy cream
3 ounces white truffle butter
Freshly ground black pepper
1 (8.82-ounce) package Cipriani tagliarelle dried pasta or other egg fettuccine
3 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
3 ounces Parmesan, shaved thin with a vegetable peeler

Add 1 tablespoon salt to a large pot of water and bring to a boil.
Meanwhile, in a large (12-inch) sauté pan, heat the cream over medium heat until it comes to a simmer. Add the truffle butter, 1 teaspoon salt, and ½ teaspoon pepper; lower the heat to very low, and swirl the butter until it melts. Keep warm over very low heat.
Add the pasta to the boiling water and cook for 3 minutes, exactly. (If you're not using Cipriani pasta, follow the directions on the package.) When the pasta is cooked, reserve ½ cup of the cooking water, then drain the pasta. Add the drained pasta to the sauté pan and toss it with the truffle-cream mixture. As the pasta absorbs the sauce, add as much of the reserved cooking water as necessary to keep the pasta very creamy.
Serve the pasta in shallow bowls and garnish each serving with a generous sprinkling of chives and shaved Parmesan.
Sprinkle with salt and pepper and serve at once.

Ina's description of this dish starts with "OMG", which busts me up, but it's, in fact, the right reaction. This meal is unbelievable! And it's ridiculously easy to make. Perfect for those rushed nights when you're home late from work and you just can't face another pizza! We did not find Cipriani pasta but we did find premium tagliatelle egg pasta that is simply amazing. We also have difficulty finding the truffle butter on a regular basis. We've only actually found it once but we check in the store every single time we go because we will buy this tiny pot of butter for $12 every time we see it. Yes, we will.

As an alternative, we did try a 3-ounce container of garlic finishing butter and it wasn't the same by far (and not close to $12) but it was still quite tasty.

And now the surprise for me with this dish. We served it with a plain baby arugula mix from the grocery store and some freshly made Good Seasons Italian dressing. That's it. I cannot tell you how fantastic this pairing was! And served with a good Italian wine - it's other-worldly!

I'm going to count these two since they were new recipes for us and we actually did cook, so in the newly designed Our Own Julie/Julia Project, these are the latest two entries.

Days 155 and 164/365:Recipes 42 and 43/175

Day Fifty

She Said:

We have sort of been out of synch with our own Julie/Julia Project. Things have gotten in the way of our cooking but we did do a tiny bit last night. After all, we had gone to the farmer's market on Saturday and had fresh things we needed to use. So we did.

We had a couple of buffalo hot dogs, just cut up on the plate. We got them from the farmer's market, of course. They did not taste like hot dogs. They tasted more like summer sausage, and that's not bad. I made up a side dish of Rice-a-Roni Rice Pilaf, which is always good. And then came the scary part.

This is from Serving Up the Harvest by Andrea Chesman.

Warm Mushroom Salad

8 cups arugula leaves (we got this from the farmer's market)
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 pound mixed mushrooms, quartered or cut into wedges (we had a half pound each of crimini and dried morel mushrooms from the farmer's market - we reconstituted the morels before cooking, naturally!)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme or ½ teaspoon dried (it was raining and I was tired so I didn't go out to pick fresh thyme - I used dried)
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
Freshly shaved Parmesan

1. Put the arugula in a large salad bowl. Drizzle in 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and the lemon juice. Toss to coat. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Divide among four salad plates or arrange on a large platter.

2. Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms and let cook undisturbed until golden on the bottoms, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic and thyme, stir, and continue to cook until the mushrooms are tender throughout, about 4 minutes longer.

3. Stir in the vinegar and let cook until the vinegar is mostly absorbed. Season to taste with more salt and pepper.

4. Spoon the mushroom mixture over the arugula. Top with a few curls of shaved Parmesan. Serve at once.

I knew that this was going to be awful for me. I am iffy on mushrooms and they really can't be the star of the show for me to eat them. But I gave it the old college try. And you know what? It was pretty damn good. This was my first taste of morel mushrooms and, oh yes, I will be back! They are fantastic!

(But I learned that you mustn't eat them raw - be sure to cook your morels!)

I doubt that I would ever suggest that we make this again but He might want it again some day and I will be happy to partake.

Oh, and this was also our first taste of arugula. (I know, where have we been living? Under a rock??) Wow - what a flavor! I wouldn't have thought you could get that much distance between a plain lettuce like iceberg and a powerful green like arugula, but there you have it. Distance with a capital D! It was quite tasty.

Day 50/365:Recipe 28/175

Days Forty-Three and Forty-Six, Or, I Will Never Eat Canned Spinach Again!

She Said:

It's been a busy week but we managed to get some cooking in and we did make two more recipes that count toward our own Julie/Julia Project.

On Tuesday night, we realized that we hadn't marinated the swordfish like we meant to, so we went with Plan B. Sort of. Plan B involved grilling outside but there ended up being a hella storm at dinner time so we kept it inside. Plus, we were supposed to grill asparagus and only at dinner time remembered that they were out of asparagus at the store so we didn't have any. Once we got it all together, we had a delicious and healthy meal.

We marinated a pork tenderloin (from the farmer's market) in a teriyaki marinade and ended up roasting it. It was delicious! I made some organic Yukon gold mashed potatoes, nothing special but we are loving the Yukon gold for the mashed potatoes! That was my choice because I love mashed potatoes with pork tenderloin, regardless of the marinade or rub.

Then instead of that grilled asparagus we were supposed to have, we peeked in the fridge and saw a bag of spinach from the farmer's market and decided on this recipe from Serving Up the Harvest by Andrea Chesman.

Creamed Spinach

2 tablespoons butter
1 large shallot, minced
2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1½ pounds spinach, tough stems removed

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.

2. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the shallot and sauté until soft, about 3 minutes. Whisk in the flour until you have a paste. Increase the heat, pour in the milk, and whisk to combine. Continue whisking until the sauce thickens, about 3 minutes. Season with the salt and pepper to taste. Reduce the heat to low.

3. Add the spinach to the boiling water and cook long enough to wilt, about 30 seconds. Drain well. Place the spinach on a cutting board and roughly chop.

4. Add the spinach to the cream sauce and stir to thoroughly combine. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Serve hot.

I loved, loved, loved this recipe. I am a huge creamed spinach fan anyway but this tasted NOTHING like the creamed spinach I've had in my life. I'm convinced that none of the places I've ever had it made it with fresh spinach. It was like a whole different dish. Wonderful! So wonderful, in fact, that we made it again the next night, but we added some chopped garlic to the cream sauce, making it even better!

Last night, we were using up some of those things we've had around that are not recipe ingredients. We had two frozen salmon pieces in lemon butter so we cooked them up. Then He made roasted baby potatoes with olive oil, salt and pepper, garlic powder and fresh rosemary. Fabulous!!

But, once again, the side dish stole the show. I was afraid of this one for some reason but, oh ho, this will become a staple in our house. It was stellar! This is also from Serving Up the Harvest.

Wilted Spinach Salad with Chickpeas

1½-2 pounds spinach, tough stems removed
1½ cups cooked chickpeas or 1 can (15 ounces) chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 small red onion, halved and sliced
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1½ tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 garlic clove, minced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Stir in the spinach and cook until wilted, 30 to 60 seconds. Drain well. Press out the excess moisture. Transfer to a cutting board and chop.

2. Combine the spinach, chickpeas, and onion in a large bowl. Toss to mix.

3. Whisk together the oil, vinegar, garlic, and salt and pepper to taste in a small bowl. Pour over the spinach mixture and toss to mix well. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Serve at once.

I can't begin to describe how well the flavors of the red wine vinegar, red onion, chickpeas and spinach went together. This could be the best salad I have ever had. (So far.) It was truly fabulous and I can't wait to make it again!

Days 43 and 46/365:Recipes 26 and 27/175

Day Twenty-Seven

She Said:

We skipped Day Twenty-Six due to overindulgence on Day Twenty-Five. Booze, not food. So, we picked back up on Day Twenty-Seven. Two recipes to count toward our own Julie/Julia Project. These are both from Serving Up the Harvest by Andrea Chesman.

Creamy Asparagus Fettucine

1 pound asparagus (about 20 medium-thick spears)
1 pound fettucine
1 large red bell pepper, roasted and cut into strips (we used jarred, since we had it on hand)
1 pound ricotta cheese, at room temperature
¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan, plus more for serving
⅓ cup chopped fresh chives, garlic chives, or scallions (we used scallions)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Begin heating a large pot of salted water.

2. Snap off and discard the woody ends of the asparagus. Cut off the tips of the asparagus spears and reserve. Cut the spears into 1½-inch lengths.

3. When the water comes to a boil, add the asparagus and cook for 2 minutes. Add the tips and cook until the asparagus is just tender, about 2 minutes longer. Using a large skimmer or slotted spoon, remove the asparagus and transfer to a bowl. Cover and keep warm.

4. Cook the fettucine in the water until al dente. Remove ½ cup of the cooking water. Briefly drain the fettucine in a colander and return it to the pot, along with the asparagus.

5. Add the roasted pepper, ricotta, Parmesan, and chives. Toss well, adding the reserved cooking water as needed to make a creamy sauce. Season generously with salt and pepper.

6. Serve hot, passing additional Parmesan at the table.

I think this recipe has potential, but the way we ended up making it, it was like noodles coated with kindergarten paste. I think we could tweak it to make it better - add some chicken or vegetable broth, maybe, and use low-fat ricotta instead of the full-fat variety that we used. It was quite tasty - just way too thick and gummy.

The other recipe He made was for lunches this week. I haven't had any yet (as I'm feeling quite under the weather) but I'm sure I will.

Classic Potato Salad

2½ pounds waxy or all-purpose potatoes
3 hard-cooked eggs, chopped
2 large celery stalks, finely chopped
½ red bell pepper, finely chopped
½ large sweet onion or small yellow onion, finely chopped
1 cup boiled salad dressing, such as Miracle Whip, or more to taste
2 tablespoons chopped dill pickle or sweet pickle relish, or more to taste
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Paprika, to garnish

1. Put the potatoes in a large saucepan and fill with enough cold water to cover the potatoes by 1 inch. Bring to a simmer and cook until the potatoes are tender, 15 to 30 minutes, depending on the size. Don't overcook. Drain well and let cool.

2. When the potatoes are cool enough to handle, peel and slice them into ½-inch cubes.

3. Combine the potatoes, eggs, celery, bell pepper, and onion in a large mixing bowl. Add the dressing and pickles. Season with salt and pepper. Mix well. Add more dressing if the salad seems dry. Adjust the flavor with additional pickles and salt and pepper, if desired. Chill well. The salad will develop flavor as it sits.

4. Just before serving, taste and adjust the seasoning. Sprinkle paprika on top to garnish.

The funny thing is that I grew up on Miracle Whip. My mother never had real mayonnaise in the house and the first time I tried mayonnaise, I hated it! But since I've been out of my parents' house, I've used mayonnaise almost exclusively and it was actually a nice reminiscence to go buy a jar of Miracle Whip. I plan to use it and relive those younger years. (I swear, when I was little, I could eat that stuff by the spoonful. My mom used to put out a platter of sliced tomatoes and iceberg lettuce with a bowl of Miracle Whip in the center. Since I couldn't stand tomatoes, I used to just slather Miracle Whip on the almost-tasteless iceberg lettuce and truly, truly enjoy myself. And that's about as close to eating it by the spoonful as you can get without actually doing the deed. Mmmm...Miracle Whip!)

Day 27/365:Recipes 19 and 20/175

Day Twelve

She Said:

Day Twelve of our own Julie/Julia Project was a rousing success!! We made one thing from Serving Up the Harvest by Andrea Chesman and one surprise!

First, the item from Serving Up the Harvest. We wanted a salad to go along with our surprise dinner, so I picked up some fresh organic spring mix and served that simply with this salad dressing.

Black & Green Olive Vinaigrette

1 garlic clove
1 tablespoon fresh oregano leaves
¼ cup pitted black olives
¼ cup pitted green olives
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Freshly ground black pepper

1. In a blender or food processor, process the garlic and oregano until finely chopped. Add the black and green olives and process to finely chop. Scrape down the sides of the container, pour in the vinegar, and process until mixed.

2. With the motor running, slowly pour in the oil and process until the mixture is thick and smooth. Season to taste with the pepper.

3. Serve immediately or store in an airtight jar in the refrigerator for up to a week. It will need remixing before serving.

Now we LOVE olives! So this was a perfect dressing for us. Although, once you get the vinegar and pepper and oregano and garlic in there, it's really only reminiscent of olives. It's not an in-your-face olive flavor. Still quite delicious! And perfect for the simple salad.

Now the surprise. We picked up another couple of cookbooks to use during our own Julie/Julia Project to make things a little more challenging when we had the time. This recipe is from Tyler's Ultimate by Tyler Florence.

The Ultimate Spaghetti Carbonara

Kosher salt
Extra-virgin olive oil
8 bacon slices, cut crosswise into thin strips
1 onion, chopped
4 large eggs
6 tablespoons heavy cream
¼ cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1 pound spaghetti
Cracked black pepper
¼ cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Bring a big pot of salted water to a boil for the spaghetti.

Heat a 3-count of olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the bacon and onion and cook for 7 to 8 minutes, until the onion is caramelized and the bacon is crisp. While that's going, crack the eggs into a big serving bowl. Add the cream and cheese and whisk. Scrape the bacon and onion into the bowl along with the cooking fat.

By now your pasta water has come to a boil. Throw in the spaghetti and give it a stir to separate the strands; cook for 8 to 9 minutes, until al dente. Scoop out about ¼ cup of the pasta cooking water and add that to the bowl with the bacon and eggs. Then drain the spaghetti, add it to the bowl, and give everything a toss. Invert a plate on top of the bowl to hold in the heat and let the pasta set for 5 minutes. Remove the plate, toss in some salt and lots of cracked black pepper and the parsley, and boom: You've got spaghetti carbonara!

Now, I've only had spaghetti carbonara one other time and it was in an "authentic" Italian restaurant. And I didn't like it. I only ate a little of it and didn't take home the leftovers. So I was a bit nervous about this recipe. But my fears have been allayed! This is one truly delicious meal! I actually made yummy noises all the way through dinner. Fabulous!

He Said:

Day Twelve, indeed! Now that was a great cooking day. The salad dressing that She talks about above was as good a dressing as I've ever had. Seriously. Rich, earthy and savory. The spaghetti carbonara exceeded my expectations. And my expectations were actually pretty high. Such a great meal. In fact, 12 hours later (at work, grrrr) I find that I am craving that meal again. Hmmmmm. I wonder if I could get She to bring some over for me. Just kidding, honey. I know you would but I think I can wait.

Or can I?

*wink*

Day 12/365:Recipe 8/175

Dijon Chicken Salad

She Said:

We could call this a New Year's resolution, but we won't. He has decided that He is going to be making something that He has never made before, once a week. He outdid Himself yesterday. He made three things that He's never made before.

The first one I'm going to talk about is the Dijon Chicken Salad. Based on this recipe, we made it our own. Here's what we did:

Dijon Chicken Salad

1 lb. chicken breast tenders, cooked
1 cup sliced celery
1/2 cup halved green grapes
1/2 cup halved red grapes
1 cup very roughly chopped walnuts (you can leave these as halved walnuts, depending on how much you like walnuts!)
2 teaspoons dried chives
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
3/4 cup light mayonnaise
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix together the chicken, celery, grapes, walnuts and chives in a bowl. Whisk together the honey, mustard, mayonnaise, salt and pepper in a separate bowl. Add the mustard mixture to the chicken mixture and stir to coat.

I absolutely loved this recipe and it was really, really easy!