Quick recipes #6 and #7

Baked salmon and a lovely lemon sauce complete one week of easy and quick recipes. We love salmon and it is good for you. Some local folks claim it is dry eating but with this sauce it is far from dry.

For the salmon(recipe 6) all you need is to preheat an oven to 350°F and cook the fish for 20 minutes. I place my salmon steaks onto parchment paper and don't add oil. If you like you can lightly spray a baking sheet and place the salmon onto the pan. No need to flip the fish.

For the sauce (recipe 7)

olive oil

1 clove minced garlic

4T lemon juice

2 T capers

1 t lemon pepper seasoning

4 oz yogurt

Heat oil in saucepan and add garlic, cooking for one minute. Reduce the heat to low and add lemon juice, capers and lemon pepper seasoning and cook for 5 minutes. Add yogurt and heat thru without bringing to a boil.

Quick and super easy recipe #5

This recipe is a kin to no cookin'- cooking! A close cousin. It can be an appetizer or a side dish. All you need is fresh tomatoes, pesto sauce, parmigiana cheese and a drizzle of olive oil.

Slice tomatoes about 1/4 inch thick. Spread pesto on top of each slice. How much pesto? Spread to your liking. I know that many jars of pesto have cheese mixed in but I add grated parmigiana on top of the pesto and drizzle with olive oil.

Put under the broiler for 3 to 4 minutes. Presto PESTO!

Quick recipe #4

So, I asked my daughter .....you like hummus? Why don't you make your own?? She even repeated this to her girlfriend and laughed about the time it would take her to make this verses buying it over the deli counter.

Well it can be easy to make at home. It doesn't have to start with the dry bean. We have the time and we have the dry beans so that is how it is made in my home. When you make it at home you can add lots of different ingredients. I usually make it the standard way without the parsley. I have something against parsley. I should give it another chance. I do add hot pepper and since we don't have the tahini I substitute with a large tablespoon of peanut butter.

Hummus

1 16 oz can of chickpeas or garbanzo beans
1/4 cup liquid from can of chickpeas
3-5 tablespoons lemon juice (depending on taste)
1 1/2 tablespoons tahini
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil

additional suggestions---hot pepper, carrots, parsley

Drain chickpeas and set aside liquid from can. Combine remaining ingredients in blender or food processor. Add 1/4 cup of liquid from chickpeas. Blend for 3-5 minutes on low until thoroughly mixed and smooth. Taste and adjust to your liking.

Now that is pretty easy.

Quick recipe #3

The recipe today is English Lemon Cake with twist of Italy. I admit making this cake from scratch but I have an idea that I think will work for a quick dessert. This cake calls for the juice of one large lemon. The day I made it I did not have any lemons in the house and decided to spice it up with limoncello. Delicious.

My idea is to purchase a pound cake and warm it up a bit in a microwave oven. As soon as you take it out poke holes into the top of the cake and pour over the top as much limoncello as you want. I think 1/2 a glass of the stuff would be fine for a pound cake. Let it cool and serve. How about a little limoncello to wash it down????

If you want to make your own cake here is the recipe.

English Lemon Cake

1 cup sugar

1 cup softened butter

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup milk

Juice of 1 large lemon

grated rind of 1/2 lemon (or just use the limoncello)

1/3 cup sugar

Oven temp 350°F

Grease standard size loaf pan

Cream sugar with butter. Add eggs one at a time beating in well till mixture is light and fluffy.

Sift flour, salt and baking powder together. Add dry ingredients to first mixture alternating with milk, beating in well. Pour into pan and cook 45 minutes.

Mix sugar, lemon juice and rind and heat in small sauce pan till dissolved. Pour over cake while cake is hot. Let cool to room temperature.

Quick recipe #2

This is an antipasto or a side dish made with three ingredients.

1 large eggplant

4 or 5 tomatoes

fresh mozzarella (I used bocconcini)

salt/pepper/oregano

Slice the eggplant into 1/8 th inch slices. You can salt and drain but this is probably not necessary. Heat up a grill pan and place the slices onto the pan, dry. Turn and cook thru. This is all the cooking in this recipe.

Place the eggplant onto a platter, covering with diced tomatoes. You want the best tomatoes you can find. Top with sliced mozzarella and season. Looks like someone over did the oregano in my picture. Never mind it will all be mixed up on your plate. Do drizzle olive oil on the top. This is where the extra virgin olive oil is best used.

Quick food recipes

All my posts this week will be recipes for quick cooking but good taste. Eggs are a good food that had gotten a bad name. We eat lots of eggs and are lucky to have them delivered to our door straight from the farm.

Here is an easy recipe for fried/poached eggs.

eggs

olive oil or butter

salt/pepper

water

non stick skillet

Heat up your skillet, then add oil or butter, your choice. Break eggs and add to skillet and wait one minute until the eggs are set up. I like to salt and pepper them now. Add about 2/3 cup of water to the skillet and cover immediately. Continue to cook for 4 minutes. Done!

Appetizer

This is a picture of what I did with figs yesterday, but the recipe below is nicer. I did not have the ingredients.

Fichi Antipasto

10 to 12 figs

Gorgonzola cheese

honey

prosciutto crudo

olive oil

Wash and cut an X into the top of the figs. Push up gently from the bottom to expose the pulp. Add one small teaspoon of Gorgonzola cheese into the center of each fig and follow with a drop of honey. Place prosciutto crudo onto a small platter and surround with figs. Drizzle with olive oil.

We used some delish honey given to me at the Vasari Winery. It is biological honey.

Good Deeds...Good Eating

Andy has been giving the guy next door free shaves. He is ill and we have been neighbors for fifteen years. Yesterday, the neighbor's son shows up with two fresh caught squid. Better than gold jewelery (local humor).

Squid with Tomatoes and Wine

2 pounds whole squid, fresh or frozen

1/4 cup olive oil

1 cup chopped onion

2 cups canned tomatoes

1/4 cup sherry or wine

salt

oregano

hot red pepper

(Andy added one potato cubed)

Clean squid..cut into 1/2 inch rings. Cut tentacles into 1 inch pieces. Wash and drain thoroughly on absorbent paper.

Cook onion in hot oil until tender(add potato at this time). Add squid and cook for 5 minutes. Add tomatoes, wine and seasonings. Cover and simmer for 1 & 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally.

Eat over liguine or spaghetti. (Serves 3 to 4 ...but not me!)

All I see is Eggplant

Wait that' s not eggplant that's Eggplant Involtini. This is an old game made up out of boredom. Just keep changing the noun. We have an influx of eggplant and I made Involtini for lunch. My South Beach friends might want to tune out. But I think if you eat just one it wouldn't be much over 75 calories.

Ingredients include:

2 medium eggplant

bread crumb

soft cheese

tomato sauce

cooked ham

parmesan cheese

white sauce

basil

salt

bread crumbs

Place the sliced eggplant in a strainer with salt to drain liquid. Make tomato sauce and a white sauce. I use this recipe for white sauce.

2T butter

2T flour

1 cup milk

grated nutmeg

salt

The eggplant needs to be fried on both sides till slightly brown. Don't overcook as it needs to be soft enough to roll.

Mix the bread crumbs with the parmesean cheese and chopped basil. Add some olive oil to bind ingredients together. You all know how to make sauce that you like but check out the pan the sauce is cooking in. (This pan is over 40 years old. It was purchased from that guy on USA TV who used to bang pots and pans together. ...waterless cookwear! I was lucky to receive a set as a gift. They all look just as new as the day I got them and I use them every day.)

I use small toasted bread to make crumbs. I think they must be like Melba Toast.

The next step is to place a heaping tablespoon of the crumb mix onto each eggplant slice. Then top with some cooked ham and a cube of soft cheese. I am using swiss cheese. That doesn't sound right to be using in an Italian recipe but it gives a good taste and melts just right. Roll the eggplant and cover with more breadcrumbs before placing them into a pan that has a layer of sauce in the bottom. It will make 18 to 20 rolls. We had some extra eggplant so Andy will have a small casserole to snack on later.

Mix the white sauce with the remaining tomato sauce and pour on top of the eggplant and finish with a sprinkling of parmesean.

Bake at 375° for about 30 minutes. You will see it begin to bubble.

I baked it in my little oven. We bought this DeLonghi before we had our kitchen finished 15 years ago and it is still going strong. Nice not to heat up the whole kitchen. We gave some away and had some for lunch. It always tastes good. Now...

dishes, dishes ...all I see is dishes!

Simple Salad

Every season brings it's favorites. Since we eat vegetables and fruit in season they are something to look forward to. Right now, we see local apricots in the markets. Yummy! I love apricot and tomato salad.

Recipe.........

Equal parts of apricots and tomatoes chopped

Small onion finely chopped

Your best Olive Oil

Balsamic vinegar

Salt and oregano

So easy and yet so delicious!

Bread and Butter Pickles

The 79 cent a kilo veggie store had cukes on Monday, so I went wild and bought alot of them to make these pickles. I was all out of the ones I made last year. They are so good used in chicken and ham salad mixtures. They are so good eaten right out of the jar.

I have given jars of these pickles away in past years but now I give the recipe.

Bread and Butter Pickles

4 qts sliced cucumbers

1/2 cup salt

Ice Cubes

2 qts sliced onions

1 qt vinegar

4 cups sugar

1T celery seeds

2T mustard seeds

1T ginger

1T turmeric

Stir salt into thinly sliced cukes and cover with ice cubes. Let sit for 3 to 4 hours until slices are crisp and cold. Change ice as it melts. Drain and add onions.

Combine remaining ingredients bringing quickly to a boil and boil for 10 minutes.

Add cukes and onions and bring to boiling point. Pack at once into hot jars. Process in boiling water for 30 minutes.

Makes 8 pints.

Mac & Cheese Italiano

The Rai Sat Gambero Rosso channel has cooking shows all day long. During the month of April they featured Jacques Pepin with his show Fast Food My Way. This recipe does not come from his show but it is really fast. Chef Pepin is my new favorite cook and I have ordered a couple of his cookbooks.

When we first came here our 12 year old son really missed Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. With all those great flavors in Italy he still missed this food. We used to receive packages with these boxes of mac and cheese inside. Then we tried making it the old fashioned way but sometimes the first taste of a dish is the best taste for life.

One show on Rai Sat Gambero Rosso featured a recipe for macaroni and cheese. It is something that can be whipped up in a flash. I thought this can't be tasty, but I had to try it. They suggest using fresh peppercorns toasted in a skillet on your stove top and then crushed. It might just be the saving flavor of this recipe, as the taste is so mild. We did not have peppercorns and I used black pepper. It did not pop up a taste. Perhaps red pepper flakes would do.


Here is the recipe...



Mac and Cheese Italiano

150 grams pasta

6T pecorino romano or parm cheese grated

1T ricotta cheese

peppercorns toasted and crushed

salt

a bit of pasta water

That is all you need for two persons.


Start the water boiling and add the pasta. Put grated cheese and ricotta in a blender or food processor and whirl..add small amounts of pasta water to form sauce. Be careful with the amount of water ..don't over do. It needs to be creamy. Use the best cheese you can get as the Parmesan in those cardboard containers aren't so tasty. It works but it was mild. Something you could feed to a child or hospital patient. It needed the red pepper flakes. Put this sauce into a pan and then add the pasta and stir together. We scraped the bowl to put every last drop on the top.

Seppia

It all began with this lonely tomato. Not just the one but a whole bowl of them. Who would ask anyone to make tomato sauce from tomatoes the size of a demitasse spoon? Well it got worse or better depending on which side of the table you sit.

In the door comes a cuttlefish (seppia) and a sheepish grin asking if I would use this to make a black sauce. I don't like to even look at black sauce. I have never tried it so I don't know if the taste is good or bad but who would want to eat black food that looks squirmy?

I washed and halved each one of those tomatoes and cooked them in onion and garlic to make the sauce. As for the fish it was cut into pieces and simmered in garlic and vino then the the sauce is added along with the black ink. It is at this point that my stomach starts churning. This also simmers for 20 minutes. It is best eaten with linguini..that is what I am told.

I did take the picture of the finished dish but made my exit from the table before it was eaten.

Rice Krispies Treat

So, I asked another Blogger ( http://bleedingespresso-sognatrice.blogspot.com/) about using Nutella with Rice Krispies and she told me to experiment and give it a try. Sometimes that is all you need ...a little encouragement. She did not think *Nutella would be as sticky as Marshmallow Fluff so I added a bit of corn syrup. I melted the Nutella with a little butter (that is what they list using with the Fluff). Then I added one tablespoon of corn syrup .. stir till smooth. Added the cereal and stirred some more. Pressed the mix into a buttered dish and let it sit in the fridge for 10 minutes. It held together and the taste is better than the fluff. I only had a small bite. I made this for Andy who likes some breakfast with his espresso in the morning.

*Notice the picture on the Nutella reusable glass. I will collect these for my Wonder Woman!

HAM-Burger with Mozzarella

My culinary minded nephew wants recipes. This one came up on an Italian Food Channel (RaiSat Gambero Rosso), and since it is phase one South Beach friendly, I gave it a try. Very easy to make..has a good taste and all the ingredients are good for you, me and all my diet buddies.

The ingredients include deli baked ham, mozzarella*, apricot sugar free marmalade mixed with mustard and a couple slices of tomato. Since I am from the USA, I super sized it with some lettuce and since I already cut into the tomato ..I put a few slices between the layers.

Cook the baked ham on a grill pan to warm and then start layering. First the mozzarella topped with the mustard/marmalade mix, then a slice of ham, lettuce and tomato. Keep this going until you have two slices of ham and three of mozzarella. Top with more tomato. It was more than I could eat. But, the good part is the taste. It was truly nice. The flavors blended perfectly. Probably this would make a better summer dish but we will have it once more on our 14 day ph1 SBeach diet.

If you try this let me know how you like it.

*We can buy mozzarella in sheets rolled up. This photo shows it rolled and squished as I did not refrigerate it properly.

Beans with the Bag Open

You don't have to open the bag to know beans anymore as they have these plastic see thru bags now. Well....not knowing *beans with the bag open* is an old saying. About as old as my introduction to Saturday night beans. Beans and franks and some reheated Harris bread rolls were on the table during my child hood every Saturday night. If my Dad was lucky he might have a bit of horseradish on his plate.

Well my bean knowledge has certainly changed. Sometimes, I make Boston Baked beans but mostly they are cooked into a soup with onions, carrots, tomatoes and greens. The ingredients change depending what is in the refrigerator. Every week in the winter I cook up a large pot of this bean concoction and Andy eats it for breakfast, lunch or dinner. I have become the Regina of bean soup. I used to give it away but now he guards it with his life. I have drawn the line on making this once per week. Many may think of this soup as pasta fagioli but we skip the pasta and just go for the beans.

Prince (Barilla) Spaghetti Day

Today and every Wednesday it is Prince Spaghetti Day in the North End of Boston. That was a good commercial for Prince Spaghetti. The mom calling Anthony to come home for his plate of spaghetti.

In honor of this day I decided to make spaghetti and meat(a) balls. We don't have Prince products here so I used Barilla instead. We don't use white flour pasta anymore and Barilla now makes integrale and 5 cereal pasta and that is what we use and eat. Misura makes good integrale pasta also.

The sauce is made from vine tomatoes, garlic, onion, frozen basil and salt...with a little hot pepper. The oil I use is local. You can chop the tomatoes and onions and garlic into chunky pieces as it will cook down and it all gets ground thru a vegetable passata. I like vine tomatoes better than plum tomatoes. They give off a better perfumo and are more liquid.

Today's meatballs were made with hamburg, granna padanna cheese, fine bread crumbs, garlic, 2 eggs, pinch of salt and some hot pepper. I like to add some sausage meat to the meatballs but did not have any in the house today.

I cook the meatballs in just a little oil for about 5 minutes to brown and then add to the sauce.

When it got into the plate I was a little disappointed with the look, but it was just fine. I used to make this dish with tomato sauce, but for the past few years we have come to like the fresh tomatoes better.

Now I just need my Antonio ....to come to the table! An..to ...ni..o!!!