Cheese please…

Hubby is away so I am going crazy with putting cheese in everything!

Last night was a quick orecchiette, with sautéed spinach, tons of crushed garlic cloves and red Argentinian shrimp from Trader Joes (sometimes I just don’t feel like going to the fish monger, and these tasty, frozen shrimp are a great Plan B). First get your salted water boiling for the pasta. While this is happening sauté fresh crushed garlic and the shrimp in a little EVOO until shrimp are mostly cooked, then add spinach until cook until wilted (use a large sauté pan as you’ll add the pasta when it’s cooked). When water is rapidly boiling add your pasta cook for 9-10 minutes (or until it’s cooked al dente). Save about a cup of the starchy water and strain the pasta. Add pasta to sauté pan with shrimp, garlic and spinach adding the water if you need to loosen up the mixture. Keep heat on low and mix until well incorporated.

After plating this ‘beaut I topped with red pepper flakes and as much grated cheese as I could get on the plate.

Pro-tip: Did you know that Orecchiette means “little ear” in Italian? Think about that next time you cook it – notice the shape.

Freshness is paramount…

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My obsession with Trader Joes continues. The hubby is traveling so I took some time to shop and load up on fresh produce and all the products I love from this store. I don’t do a lot of carbs but I am now a bit obsessed with this flatbread. I used it last night for the chicken gyros I made (stand by for that recipe, it was great!) And used one this morning for avocado toast.

I love a super fresh avocado toast. I never order it in a restaurant because it always looks so sad and pale, like it came from a container. TJ’s had super fresh and perfectly ripe avocados yesterday. I like my guac a bit chunky so I roughly mash it, add onion, jalapeño, salt, pepper, and the juice from 1/2 a fresh lemon. I toasted my flatbread, topped with guac, feta cheese, and fresh San Marzano cherry tomatoes cut in half. I usually sprinkle a bit of either cayenne or red pepper flakes on top, but the jalapeño I had today was pretty hot and I didn’t need more heat.

Simple Yummy…

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I’m back in the office now (good riddance COVID) so quick dinners after a long day are key now. This dish was so good and super easy to pull together. First, I love to use as few pots/pans as possible, so the order of my construction here is key. I start by sautéing the spinach in a bit of EVOO, a touch of butter, salt, pepper and crushed red pepper. After it’s fully wilted and cooked I removed it from my wok and placed in a bowl in my microwave to keep warm. After that I prepared my polenta using chicken stock instead of water – for added flavor. Polenta is a pain because it needs all of your attention (to avoid lumps & bumps). After slowly drizzling in all of the polenta to the boiling chicken stock I season with a little butter, salt, pepper, and mascarpone while constantly stirring for about 30 minutes on low heat until you end up with the desired consistency (we like it on the thicker side). Then back to the wok – I sautéed the butterflied shrimp (our fish monger had gorgeous tiger prawns that were huge). Before adding the shrimp I quickly sautéed minced garlic, diced fresh tomato and seasonings then tossed in the shrimp (or whatever protein you choose). When the shrimp turn pink they are cooked (time depends on size of shrimp).

To plate this gorgeous dish I put the polenta down first followed by the spinach and then the beautifully sautéed shrimp.
I added a garnish of fresh sliced avocado (only because I had it around).

Enjoy!

Slow and low kind of day…

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There’s nothing easier or better than tossing a few ingredients (short ribs, one jar of Goya Sofrito and one jar of Goya Recaito) into the crockpot and letting the magic happen – eight hours on low.

Last night was short ribs over polenta preceded by antipasto on the patio and our go-to wine, Ghost Pines. Hubby making his cameo.

Quick dinner…

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Need a quick, healthy dish that is super tasty?

Add well cleaned, chopped escarole to rapidly boiling water (add a chicken bullion cube for extra flavor and to remove any bitterness from the escarole), cook for 7 minutes, strain and refresh with cold water. Then, sauté shrimp with a little EVOO, butter, lemon, garlic, red onion, fresh cherry tomatoes that have been halved, pepper, fresh cilantro (I have this growing on my patio so I’ve been adding that to everything!) When shrimp is cooked add escarole and combine. Viola! Dinner is served.

Pro-tip: This is a good recipe to improvise on – i.e. get rid of any vegetables that you have in the fridge – you can toss anything into this dish and it will come out great!

Birthday Celebration

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Not much of a recipe to share here, but this is what happened on my husband’s birthday this week. Easy dinner (got the lobster steamed at our local fish monger). The big boy was a little over three pounds!! We also had some little neck clams and filet mignon. Not too shabby!

Pizzagaina…Easter Pie

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I make this recipe only once a year. It’s super rich and delicious but not nearly as good as my grandfather’s recipe. I just can’t seem to be able to replicate his pizzagaina even so, whenever I serve this on Easter everyone seems to be happy. Enjoy!

Easy side dish…

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If you need a healthy, easy to prepare side dish try this:

Buy a bag of fresh string beans (haricot verts if you’re fancy) snip off the stem side (top of picture below):

After snipping and cleaning, submerge the string beans into rapidly boiling, salted water and cook for 7-8 minutes (we like ours on the crunchy side but if you don’t, just cook longer). When done cooking, blanch the string beans by dumping into strainer and rinsing with very cold ice water. Blanching the string beans will bring back the bright green color of the string beans

(Science tip: Blanching stops enzyme actions which would otherwise cause loss of flavor, color and texture.)

Place blanched string beans in serving dish, drizzle with a little EVOO, season with kosher salt, pepper and diced red onion (or whatever spices you like) and serve!

Chili even when it’s hot out

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I did an experiment the other day and tossed two packages of ground turkey, chopped red, yellow and green peppers (one of each) a chopped onion, cilantro, salt & pepper, taco seasoning and a 28 ounce can of diced tomatoes into my slow cooker. I cooked it for six hours on high.

It came out great! I topped with some shredded cheddar, sour cream, chopped red onions and fresh diced jalapeños and it was both a great presentation and delicious.

A nod to Cod…

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One of my favorite fish is Cod. I drizzle filets with a little EVOO, pepper or blackening seasoning and bake in the oven at 350 for about 20-30 minutes depending on the size of the filet.

I served this the other night over a bed of sautéed Brussel sprouts with bits of pre-cooked bacon tossed in with crushed grape tomatoes on the bottom layer.

Super fast, fresh and healthy.

Pro-tip: Half the Brussel sprouts and sauté in EVOO for about 15 minutes until softened, but so they still have a bit of crunch. When cooked, toss in the bits of pre-cooked bacon for added flavor. No need to salt if you use the bacon.