Pasta Alla Carbonara

The other day while at Trader Joe's, I noticed they have a little container of pancetta that is chopped into little cubes.  And what better to do with that than make Pasta all Carbonara!  This gem from Trader Joe's saves you the time that it would normally take to chop the pancetta. This was my first time ever making this pasta, and I was a little nervous about the egg - either it scrambling or being too raw.  But voilà! it came out great!

Here is how to make it:

Boil the water for your pasta with a little salt. In a bowl whisk together 2 eggs with 1/4 cup of Pecorino Romano cheese and 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese. Heat about 1 TBS of olive oil in a pan and cook the pancetta until it is browned, about 8-10 minutes. Then add 2 minced garlic cloves and cook for about 1 minute. Stir in about 1/3 of a cup of dry white wine to de-glaze the pan and cook for another minute. When the pasta is al dente, toss it in the pan with the pancetta until well incorporated. Then pour the pasta and pancetta into the egg mixture bowl and toss vigorously to heat the egg and coat the pasta. Season with salt and pepper and parsley. Serve and eat immediately.

Apple Cider Cream Pie

For Thanksgiving I volunteered to make a pie after I saw this recipe in the November Food & Wine.  I couldn't resist!  It is really quite easy to make as far as pies go.  The only trouble I had was with stretching the dough to fit my pie dish.  So it shrank a little while cooking.  But the combination of the buttery dough, with the slightly tart apple cider custard, and the sweet cinnamon-y whipped cream on top was a nice combination.

Kale Chips

I had some leftover kale yesterday and so I made kale chips with it.  It's really easy to do and for those of you who don't like kale, this is a good way to eat it that you will actually enjoy.  They are crispy, salty, light and a perfect snack!

Directions: cut the kale into chip-size pieces, then toss them in a little olive oil and salt, and finally bake them on a cookie sheet at 300 degrees for about 8 minutes or until they are crisp.  Then snack away!

Thanksgiving Pops!

I took these to a birthday party over the weekend, and since it is almost Turkey Day I made them using pumpkin and decorated them with cute fall sprinkles.

All I did was make a yellow cake and added to it one can of pumpkin puree, a little vanilla extract, and some pumpkin spice.  Then once that was baked and cooled I mixed in some cream cheese frosting that I made using 1 stick of butter, 8oz of cream cheese and powdered sugar to taste.  I even added a little pumpkin spice to the frosting too!  Then I dipped them all in melted white chocolate and decorated them with sprinkles that Shauna sent to me for my birthday!  If you look closely they are little gingerbread men and leaves.  So cute!

I think these are the best tasting cake pops I have made thus far. They were definitely a hit!

Pasta with Radiccio

Another beautiful ingredient at the farmers market right now: radiccio. Searching for something new to try with it, I found this great fall recipe for Pasta with Roasted Radiccio. You gotta try this it's so good! The roasted radiccio is SO yummy, it's bitterness perfectly complimented by the kalamata olives and pine nuts. The only thing I left out were the sun-dried tomatoes, which I'm not a huge fan of. I used fresh cherry tomatoes instead, and I thought they were perfect. We served it up with a little lean steak. Yum!

Cranberries!

I love cranberries! I've been getting them fresh at the farmers market, and I want to tell you about some delicious things I've made with them lately. First of all, this Pan-Roasted Pork Chop with Cranberries and Swiss Chard which I found on Epicurious is so good and super easy,.. I've made it twice in the last few weeks! This last time, we had a nice dry cider with it that really rounded out the lovely fall flavor profile:

Second, I made some really amazing Cranberry-Orange Scones. I used this recipe, also from Epicurious, but with a few changes. I used fresh cranberries instead of dried, and added a little extra sugar to account for the tartness, and replaced a bit of the buttermilk with some fresh squeezed orange juice. Also I cut them into 16 pieces instead of 8, because they would have been way too huge.

They were so yummy right out of the oven, and even better the next day after the flavors had time to merge further. I'm going to make them again very soon!

Heaven! i.e. Bacon Jam

I was introduced to this lovely sweet and savory gooey goodness by Margot.  She made it for a feast we had at Mom's house (I can't remember what for though) and it was soooooooo good, it blew my mind!  So of course I had to make it again!  And I will make it again and again and again!  It is really simple to make - all you need are these ingredients:

• 1 pound smoked bacon
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 medium brown onion sliced
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• Tabasco sauce (I used cayenne pepper)
• 1 cup coffee
• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• Black pepper to taste
• extra water

Start by frying up the bacon in a dutch oven until crisp.  Transfer to another plate and when cool cut the bacon slices into 1 inch pieces.  Discard all but about 1-2 tablespoons of the rendered bacon fat (for a later use of course).  Add the onions and garlic to the pot and saute until softened.  Return the bacon to the pot and add the other ingredients except the water.

Simmer for about 2 hours, adding 1/4 cup of water every 30 minutes or so if it starts to look dry.  And be aware that the smell is going to permeate every inch of your house, and drive you crazy because the aromas are heavenly!

The above picture is after about 2 hours of cooking and it is done once all the liquid is gone and it is the sticky consistency of jam.  Let it cool for about 15 minutes and then process it in a food processor until it is smoother but not too smooth.

Then you can do whatever your little heart desires with it!  Eat it by the spoonfuls if you'd like - and you will! Here are a couple other ideas:

You can make some crostinis by slicing a baguette and toasting them in the oven until a little crispy and then slather some of your Bacon Jam right on them.

Or you can do like I did and make a pizza using the Bacon Jam as the sauce. I used a pre-made pizza dough from TJ's which I topped with some mozzarella, sliced red onions, and grated asiago cheese. I then put it in the oven for about 12 minutes until crispy. Then I topped the whole thing with arugula. Delicious delight!  

You gotta make this stuff mang!

Salad Time!

I love making and eating salads.  It is usually what I eat for dinner when I get home from work on my late nights.  I am going to introduce you to the current salad in my life.  I think he's a keeper and not going anywhere.

I put a nice pile of arugula in a bowl, some thinly sliced onion, some sliced fennel, a little handful of sun-dried tomatoes, another handful of sliced almonds, freshly ground salt and pepper, some grated Parmesan cheese, and lastly a drizzle of olive oil and a splash of balsamic vinegar if I feel like it. Other options if they are around: avocado (pictured here) and prosciutto.

Note: I know there are a lot of people who add pre-made salad dressings to their salads. But these have so many processed, fake ingredients. I promise that if you get a good olive oil and be liberal with the S&P (to your taste), you will like it much better than that other crap, and it's better for you!

Triple Chocolate Cookies

These cookies are super easy to make and very tasty.  And I just think they are so pretty too!  Here is a recipe that is similar to the one I used.

Slow Cooker Carnitas

Here is a recipe for a healthier version of carnitas than one where the meat is deep fried in lard.  This one was very easy to make and came out pretty good.  I must admit though, carnitas made with lard is much tastier.  DUH!  Anyways here is how I made this version:

First I browned the 3.5 pound pork shoulder roast which was seasoned with salt and pepper, and placed it in the slow cooker.

Then in the same pot that I browned the roast, I added a chopped onion and 2 minced garlic cloves, and sauteed those until they started to soften. Then I poured in a Corona (you can use any Mexican lager) to deglaze the pan and scrape up the brown bits in the pot.

Then I poured the beer mixture over the pork roast in the slow cooker. I zested a large orange and a lime, and added the it all along with the juice of both. And finally I added in a tablespoon of oregano.

The whole thing cooked in the slow cooker for 5 hours. After that I shredded the meat and made tacos topped with homemade guacamole, chopped onions, cilantro and a squeeze of lime! 

My new toy!

I have been trying to decide which dutch oven to keep - the big cobalt blue one or the slightly smaller one in cassis. I finally went with the smaller one because I love the color and I think the size is just right! I am excited to make lots of one-pot meals in it!

Nutella and Cheese Turnover

I had a little leftover ricotta cheese and wanted to do something with it.  We also have a supply of Nutella that never seems to end.  So I decided to make a turnover stuffed with these wonderful gems.  I mixed the ricotta with cream cheese in about a 2:1 ratio, added a few tablespoons of sugar, about a teaspoon of vanilla extract, and one egg.  I used ready-made pastry dough and cut each sheet into 4 squares, then spooned on a little cheese mixture followed by some Nutella.  I brushed a little beaten egg on the edges of the dough and folded them into triangles.  They baked at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes.  Anything with Nutella is dreamy so you can imagine how these were!

Tortilla Soup: Part 2

Here is the 2nd edition in the search for the best tortilla soup recipe.  I got this recipe from Food and Wine.  It has more layers of flavor than the previous soup I made, with the addition of cumin, coriander, cayenne, chili powder, and paprika.  And it feels a little heavier as well, and I think that is due to the added spices as well as using crushed tomatoes which literally makes it a little thicker.  Overall it is a very tasty soup, but I think I still like that first one better!

Note: I used Cotija cheese and added black beans, and skipped in the tortillas.

Bistro Burger

There's always a lot of debate about who makes the best burger in New York City. And I can't say I've tried them all, but I can say that a definite contender is the "bistro burger" at the Corner Bistro in the West Village. The Corner B has been around for like 100 years or something, and it's basically a dirty old pub that serves McSorley's Ale (from another New York Institution - NYC's oldest continuously operated saloon) and makes a great burger.

(sagging counter to demonstrate how old the place is)

Their fries are amazing - kinda like your perfect McDonalds-esque skinny fry except it tastes vaguely like bacon, probably because of all the bacon grease that has been permeating the walls for the last century. And the bistro burger is "an eight-ounce slab of juicy grilled beef piled several inches high with melted cheese, bacon and raw onions." To quote New York Magazine again: "If you call yourself a New Yorker, consider it your civic duty to have a beer and a burger here at least once. If you're really a New Yorker, you'll know that the best time to do that is a weekday afternoon, when Corner Bistro's timeless tavern charm feels as warm as the sun streaming through the front windows".

Lime Bars

One of the things left over from my birthday party was a giant bag of limes, and I have been thinking that I need to make something with them.  I just bought a new dessert cookbook from William Sonoma which has a recipe for Key Lime Bars (I used regular limes in stead of key limes).  I can't find a similar recipe online because they all use sweetened condensed milk, and this one called for eggs, sugar, lime zest, lime juice, sour cream and a little flour.  But either way I don't think you can go wrong with graham cracker crust and a citrusy, sugary, custardy filling.  Joy!

Soy-Ginger Chicken

Over my birthday weekend, Gayle & Andrew were so generous to give me a slow cooker.  So yesterday I decided to make the inaugural meal in it. I found this Soy-Ginger Chicken recipe on Martha Stewart's website which sounded very appetizing.  I always like these sweet and savory Asian flavors together.  All I had to do was combine the sauce right in the dish of the slow cooker.

Then I added the chicken and sliced carrots.

Then I just let it cook for 6 hours! So simple! And here is the final product with some freshly chopped cilantro and sliced scallions on top. 

Making this recipe in a slow cooker was super easy, and now I am so excited to make more yummy stuff in it! Thank you Gayle & Andrew for this awesome present!

Caprese Salad

I love a caprese salad!  Anytime, anywhere!  It's so easy and so good!  Last night I went to TJ's and they had these brown tomatoes called Kumatos that looked like they could be tasty, so I decided to try them and make a caprese salad.

I sliced the "kumatos" and mozzarella and topped them with some chopped basil.  Then I put a pile of arugula in the center, and drizzled olive oil over the entire thing along with some freshly ground salt & pepper. Yum! Yum! and Yum!