My Baking Adventures

Jess from Cookbook Habit had a short post on her blog about a pasta recipe from Ina Garten with tomatoes, basil, garlic and parmesan cheese. I had originally wanted to make it for my dinner party last weekend but we ended up doing pizzas instead. But I had that dish on my mind and I couldn’t find my cookbook that the recipe was in so Jess was kind enough to send it to me.

We had it tonight for dinner - and as it necessary when you make an Ina recipe, I cut it in half. I really decreased the amount of garlic but holy schneikes! I am still breathing garlic breath. Yowza!

So my helper and I got the sauce going - she did all the work, I took the pictures:

She cut all the grape tomatoes in half, then went outside to our lavish, full grown herb garden (heavy sarcasm here!) and was able to get enough basil to chop up - of course, we no longer have ANY basil left, and with this heat, I am sure this is the last of it!

Just look at this -

Absolutely delicious! I threw in a few bocconcini per Jess’ recommendation, and it was fantastic. I will be making this again really soon - with a lot less garlic next time!

Summer Garden Pasta - Ina Garten, Barefoot Contessa at Home

4 pints cherry tomatoes, halved
good olive oil
2 TB minced garlic (6 cloves)
18 large basil leaves, julienned, plus more for serving
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
kosher salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 pound dried angel hair pasta
1 1/2 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus extra for serving (she
suggests grinding cheese in a food processor fitted with a metal
blade, instead of grating - gives it a nice texture)

Combine cherry tomatoes, 1/2 cup olive oil, garlic, basil leaves, red
pepper flakes, 1 teaspoon salt, and the pepper in a large bowl. Cover
with plastic wrap, and set aside at room temperature for about 4
hours.

Just before you’re ready to serve, bring a large pot of water with a
splash of olive oil and 2 TB salt to a boil and add the pasta. Cook al
dente according to package directions (about 2-3 minutes). Drain pasta
well and add to the bowl with the cherry tomatoes. Add the cheese and
some extra fresh basil leaves and toss well. Serve in big bowls with
extra cheese on each serving.

Here’s the recipe I’ve been meaning to post for the fabulous Mediterranean Salad I made a few weeks ago along with my homemade pita bread.

I actually got this recipe from the Los Angeles Times Food Section about 15 years ago. One of the great things about this recipe is that it isn’t ingredient specific, I’ve added artichoke hearts, sundried tomatoes, and whatever else I can find in the refrigerator. I use cannellini beans because Sabrina can’t eat garbanzos, and I don’t care for the strong taste of feta so I use mozzarella. I also use dried herbs, because, well, you know what happened to my herb garden.

Mediterranean Salad

½ lb orzo pasta, cooked and rinsed
1 15 oz can garbanzo or cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
4 plum tomatoes, quartered
1 cucumber, peeled, halved lengthwise and sliced
1 bunch green onions, sliced thin
¼ lb Kalamata olives, or regular black olives
½ lb. feta cheese or mozzarella cheese, cubed

Dressing:
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
½ cup olive oil
2 tbs. chopped parsley
2 tsp chopped marjoram
2 tbs. chopped basil
2 tbs. red wine vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste

In a large bowl, combine pasta, beans, tomatoes, cucumber, onions and olives. Cover and chill until ready to serve.

In a small bowl, combine all dressing ingredients. Cover and chill.

Just before serving, add cheese to salad, and toss dressing through.

Well, Dianne from Dianne’s Dishes is numero uno is our house tonight - considering we live in separate time zones and have never met, my kids think she is absolutely the greatest!

Ok, so what caused this love-fest? Every day, she has a cute little post called “What’s For Dinner?”, where she talks about what they are having for dinner and asks what you are having for dinner. And at least every other day, there I am, telling her what we are having that night. Just so you don’t think I’m a stalker, other people leave comments, too.

So I was telling her about my last minute chicken-in-the-slow-cooker to make tacos with, and she sent me the link to her blog with a recipe for mexican rice. I’ve never made mexican rice in my life, but I liked the recipe immediately because it didn’t call for :

1. condensed soup

2. anything pre-made.

For her original recipe, click here. Otherwise, here’s my modified version, only because after bathing three dogs, and spending the better part of the day cleaning the house, I had to make do with what we had:

Mexican Rice - adapted from Dianne’s Dishes

1 cup long grain white rice
1 cup fresh salsa
1 ear grilled corn, cut off the cob
2 cups water
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tsp. garlic powder
½ tsp cumin

Combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan, bring to boil over high heat, then lower heat, cover and simmer 20 minutes.

We all loved it! It was really a pleasant surprise - the salsa added alot of flavor, I think. It’s a definite make-again dish, so thanks again, Dianne!!

I found myself with an abundance of zucchini last week - but don’t get excited, I had to actually buy them, not grow them.

I was in the mood for quiche again, so I followed the clean-out-the fridge trick. Only I had to recruit the freezer as well. I found the zucchini, Sabrina’s roasted peppers, ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese and frozen spinach.

I started with the homemade crust:

Then I placed the sliced zucchini in a ring around the bottom, followed by roasted red peppers. Sabrina wasn’t so sure about the addition of the peppers. I assured her that since she made them, they would be outstanding in this dish:

Then, I mixed up 3 eggs, 1/2 cup milk, 1 1/2 cups ricotta cheese, 1 cup mozzarella cheese and some mixed dried herbs (oregano, basil, garlic powder), plus pepper and a pinch of salt and poured it over the top:

In Sabrina’s words: “Oh yeah, this is awesome!” Over 3 days, me, Sabrina and my mom polished off the whole thing. I almost forgot to take a picture, so that explains the half-eaten piece you see:

If you are wondering where the “hug” in the title comes from, Sabrina hugged me after she ate this and said it was so great!

This months theme for the Weekend Cookbook Challenge was salad. We eat a lot of salad in our house - with the favorite being Caesar. However, the kids have recently discovered the joys of arugula, and we enjoy it in panini, in soup and our new favorite - arugula salad. Our entry for the WCC is arugula salad, with shaved parmesan and lemon / olive oil dressing.

I have found that regular arugula has more flavor than the baby arugula the markets are selling these days. We’ve tried growing it in the backyard, but really, that’s a picture you don’t want to see.

Next up - the dressing: fresh lemon juice, olive oil, and fresh ground pepper. Don’t forget the parmesan cheese!

Just drizzle olive oil over the leaves, then squeeze about 1/4 of the lemon over, then add pepper. Shave off small pieces of parmesan cheese and toss together. Viola!

Thanks to Mel’s Diner for hosting this month’s challenge.

One of my most favorite ways to have pasta is with pesto. Alas, I am the only one in my family that eats it, so I don’t enjoy it nearly as often as I would like to. So when Elizabeth chose Pasta, Pesto and Peas for the Barefoot Bloggers, I gave a little jump for joy.

Now, as this will become standard protocol for these recipes, I have help in the form of The Kids. Since pesto contains nuts, and I did NOT have the luxury of time to make my own, I recruited Alexander to assist in the process. He actually used to love pesto, but as children are prone to do, he has since decided he doesn’t like it anymore. *sigh* But this is a child that devours lima beans and broccoli and cabbage, so really, do I have any room for complaints? Exactly.

Now, to read the step by step process that accompanied this recipe, head over the Cooking With The Kids.

If you just want to hear my version, stay right where you are.

The recipe is pretty straightforward, but following the advice of several members’ comments, I cut back on the mayo. And after doing so, I can tell you that I would completely omit the mayo next time. It really doesn’t add much to the dish, I think the olive oil covers all the bases necessary. I pureed the spinach, pesto, peas and cheese together and tossed it with the hot pasta, then added extra olive oil. It was great, but again, next time I will leave out the mayo and it will be fabulous.

I didn’t realize until now that I only had a picture of Alexander with the pasta, I forgot to take a picture of my dish. Oops. Oh well, he’s cute and you get the idea………………

Pasta, Pesto and Peas - Ina Garten

3/4 pound fusilli pasta
3/4 pound bow tie pasta
1/4 cup good olive oil
1 1/2 cups pesto, packaged or see recipe below
1 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and squeezed dry
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 1/4 cups good mayonnaise
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
1 1/2 cups frozen peas, defrosted
1/3 cup pignolis (pine nuts)
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Cook the fusilli and bow ties separately in a large pot of boiling salted water for 10 to 12 minutes until each pasta is al dente. Drain and toss into a bowl with the olive oil. Cool to room temperature.
In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade, puree the pesto, spinach, and lemon juice. Add the mayonnaise and puree. Add the pesto mixture to the cooled pasta and then add the Parmesan, peas, pignolis, salt, and pepper. Mix well, season to taste, and serve at room temperature.
Pesto:
1/4 cup walnuts
1/4 cup pignolis (pine nuts)
3 tablespoons chopped garlic (9 cloves)
5 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 cups good olive oil
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan
Place the walnuts, pignolis, and garlic in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Process for 15 seconds. Add the basil leaves, salt, and pepper. With the processor running, slowly pour the olive oil into the bowl through the feed tube and process until the pesto is thoroughly pureed. Add the Parmesan and puree for a minute. Use right away or store the pesto in the refrigerator or freezer with a thin film of olive oil on top.

Oh, this week’s VTV was such a slam dunk for me. Sometimes, I wonder if all the bloggers out here in cyberspace are hard-wired to the same frequency. It seems like everything goes in cycles - the same great ideas for dinner and desserts seem to show up about the same time. Either that, or a secret memo goes out that I’m not aware of.

So when Jen announced this weeks veggie of choice - spinach - I almost fell off my chair. Why, you ask? I had planned to make Ina Garten’s Spinach Pie this week! How nifty is that?

I have made this pie several times and it’s always delicious. But this week, with time running short - end of the school year, both kids birthdays, a cake order to fill - I skipped the puff pastry crust and baked this up in two small corning dishes. It’s a hit every time!

Spinach Pie - adapted from Ina Garten

2 tbs. butter
1 tbs. olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
1 clove minced garlic
1 10 oz. box frozen chopped spinach - thawed and squeezed dry
¼ cup chopped scallions
¾ cup grated parmesan
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tbs. seasoned bread crumbs, plus additional for sprinkling on top
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375. Lightly grease small casserole.

Heat butter and oil in medium skillet and cook onion until tender, 5-8 minutes. Add garlic and cook 1 minute longer. Pour into a large bowl and add spinach, scallions, cheese, eggs, bread crumbs and season with salt and pepper. Mix well and pour into greased dish. Sprinkle with additional bread crumbs and bake for 20-25 minutes or until top is browned and mixture is hot.

Our Cinco de Mayo fiesta was a huge success. David’s margaritas were great - so great, in fact, I had a hard time taking pictures of the food! We had the standard fare - tacos, burritos, fajitas, and I made corn fritters instead of cornbread. The only downer was the rain. All of a sudden, the clouds came over and it started raining. Just as we finished bringing everything inside, it stopped (of course). And, after a few more margaritas no one cared!

Here’s the margarita - David put a splash of pineapple juice in it and a cherry for color. That’s my pig, Francoise, behind the glass announcing that it is, in fact, Cinco de Mayo. He has his own pedestal to keep him from mingling amongst the other appliances. Don’t mind the cord behind him, that’s to my slow cooker which was keeping the chicken fajitas hot.

And my lovely corn fritter, topped with sour cream, cheese and salsa - it almost looks like a sundae:

The piece de resistance was my creme caramel, aka flan. Wow. I’ve never made it before and if you’ve never tried it, I would tell you that the consistency is strikingly similar to creme brulee, without the crunchy top. I used a 2 qt. corning casserole dish, because I don’t have an 8″ cake pan that the recipe calls for. I also didn’t have any cream in the house so I substituted evaporated milk. Here it is, right after I unmolded it - don’t mind the stripes on the left side, that a shadow from the lattice overhang in the backyard.

This is what was left after my third piece:

Yummy yummy. Can’t wait to make this again, it was so easy and delicious!

Corn Fritters - adapted from Everyday Food

Serves 4

1 - 15 oz can corn, drained
1/3 cup milk
1 large egg
½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. coarse ground pepper
¼ cup cornmeal
¼ cup flour
2 tbs vegetable oil
Sour cream, shredded cheese, salsa

Preheat oven to 200 degrees.

In large bowl, combine corn, milk, egg, baking powder, and pepper. Fold in cornmeal and flour. Line a rimmed baking sheet with paper towels. In a large nonstick skillet, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium. Working in two batches, drop batter into pan by heaping tablespoons. Fry until golden brown, about 2 minutes per side. Transfer to prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt; place in oven. Repeat. Keep warm in oven up to 30 minutes. Serve with sour cream, shredded cheese and salsa.

Caramel Topped Flan - Dorie Greenspan - Baking From My Home To Yours

For the Caramel

1/3 cup sugar
3 tbsp water
squirt of fresh lemon juice

For the Flan
1-1/2 cups heavy cream
1-1/4 cups whole milk
3 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Getting Ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a roasting pan or a 9-x-13-inch baking pan with a double thickness of paper towels. Fill a teakettle with water and put it on to boil; when the water boils, turn off the heat.
Put a metal 8-x-2-inch round cake pan-not a nonstick one-in the oven to heat while you prepare the caramel.

To Make the Caramel: Stir the sugar, water and lemon juice together in a small heavy-bottomed saucepan. Put the pan over medium-high heat and cook until the sugar becomes an amber-colored caramel, about 5 minutes-remove the pan from the heat at the first whiff of smoke. Remove the cake pan from the oven and, working with oven mitts, pour the caramel into the pan and immediately tilt the pan to spread the caramel evenly over the bottom; set the pan aside.

To Make the Flan: Bring the cream and milk just to a boil .Meanwhile, in a 2-quart glass measuring cup or in a bowl, whisk together the eggs, yolks and sugar. Whisk vigorously for a minute or two, and then stir in the vanilla. Still whisking, drizzle in about one quarter of the hot liquid-this will temper, or warm, the eggs so they won’t curdle. Whisking all the while, slowly pour in the remainder of the hot cream and milk. Using a large spoon, skim off the bubbles and foam that you worked up. Put the caramel-lined cake pan in the roasting pan. Pour the custard into the cake pan and slide the setup into the oven. Very carefully pour enough hot water from the kettle into the roasting pan to come halfway up the sides of the cake pan. (Don’t worry if this sets the cake pan afloat.) Bake the flan for about 35 minutes, or until the top puffs a bit and is golden here and there. A knife inserted into the center of the flan should come out clean. Remove the roasting pan from the oven, transfer the cake pan to a cooking rack and run a knife between the flan and the sides of the pan to loosen it.
Let the flan cool to room temperature on the rack, then loosely cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours. When ready to serve, once more, run a knife between the flan and the pan. Choose a rimmed serving platter, place the platter over the cake pan, quickly flip the platter and pan over and remove the cake pan-the flan will shimmy out and the caramel sauce will coat the custard.

Quiche, to me, is such a multi-purpose dish. The varieties are practically limitless - and what doesn’t taste good when it’s blended with cheese and baked in a crust? I don’t make it as often as I’d like to (the men in the house protest), but last night I was inspired when I found a lonely container of ricotta cheese staring at me from the back of the fridge. I also found arugula, spinach and mozzarella. Sounds like a good start! I call this not quite quiche because traditional quiche has bacon and a lot more eggs and cream. I’d rather save those ingredients for dessert, thank you. This version is a bit healthier - if I could only convince my husband to try it. Eh, let him become one with his steak. Nothing should come between a man and his barbecue.

My food processor made the crust in less time than it took for the oven to preheat. I have a favorite pie crust recipe that I use just about every time because you can either roll it out, or press it into the pan. I did a little of both, to insure that there weren’t any holes or weak spots.

I also pre-baked the crust for a good 20 minutes - the first half of the baking time it was lined with pie weights, the second half uncovered.

Then I mixed up the ricotta, mozzarella, eggs, arugula, spinach, pepper and for good luck, a few splashes of our favorite hot sauce. Into the oven it went - and while it was baking, I went outside to see my neighbors new puppy. She bought her daughter the cutest little Pomeranian. Of course, now my daughter wants to know why she can’t have her own dog. I’ll tell you why - this mommy isn’t going to spend $2,000 on a dog, that’s why!

So after admiring the cute pup, we came in to find the quiche absolutely perfect:

And I’ll tell you, it was as good as it looks - this will be my lunch today!

Not Quite Quiche

Crust:
1 ¼ cups flour
10 tbs. butter, cold
1 egg yolk, beaten
2 tbs. ice cold water
(note: if you want to use this crust for a sweet filling, just add 3 tbs. sugar to the flour before you add the butter)

Put the flour and a pinch of salt into the bowl of the food processor. Cut the butter into cubes, add them to the flour, and process using on/off pulses until the mixture resembles coarse oatmeal flakes. Combine the egg yolk and ice water, add to the flour mixture and pulse until the dough just starts to come together. Pour the dough onto a flour dusted surface, gather it into a ball and at this point, you can wrap it tightly and chill until you need it, or roll it out to the size you need, or just press it into your pan.

Line the crust with a sheet of foil punctured in several places to allow steam to escape. Cover the foil with pie weights and bake the crust at 425 degrees for 8-10 minutes. Remove the foil and weights and continue baking for another 10 minutes, or until the crust is lightly browned. Remove from oven and set aside while you prepare the filling.

Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees.

Filling:

1 15 oz. container ricotta cheese
1 ½ cups grated mozzarella cheese
3 large eggs
2 handfuls arugula
1 10 oz. box frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
Fresh ground pepper
3 dashes of your favorite hot sauce (optional)

In a large mixing bowl, stir together all of the ingredients until well blended. Pour into crust, and bake at 350 degrees or until top of quiche is set and lightly browned.

Just to rattle things around a bit, I will share one of our favorite side dishes that I got from the AllRecipes website. When I first read it, it didn’t sound so good but after seeing all the comments and great reviews, I had to try it. And in my family of vegetable lovers, well, nothing ventured, nothing gained. The original recipe is here, but this is our modified version:

Our version of Yum-Yum Corn

• 2 (15 oz.) cans corn kernels, drained
• 1/2 stick (4 tbs) butter
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
• 1 clove garlic, minced or passed through garlic press
• several grinds of fresh pepper (to your liking)
• 2 big dashes of Cholula Hot Sauce

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 2 quart baking dish and set aside. Put butter and cream cheese in a medium mixing bowl and microwave for 30 seconds to 1 minute on high. Remove from oven and mix well. Stir in garlic, pepper and hot sauce. Gently stir in corn until well blended. Bake for 30 minutes or until hot and bubbly.

Serves 4 with leftovers - if you’re lucky!