White Bean Ragout with Toast

This is a super easy, delicious and hearty vegetarian meal for any night of the week. I saw the recipe a few months ago in Bon Appétit, and I'd like to officially add it to my repertoire. Not only is it simple and yummy, but also the recipe yields double the amount of soffritto (chopped aromatics; in this case onions, peppers, garlic and tomato paste) so that you can freeze some for later. Then you have it ready to go to quickly make this dish again (which I'm going to do tonight!), or you have a base ready for countless other sauces and soups.

Enjoy!

Chicken Banh Mi

When I saw this recipe in Sunset magazine, I knew I had to make it!  Anything involving chinese five-spice is always good in my opinion.  Plus adding on all the condiments - there's no way it could be bad.

This is a super easy meal to make! But when the recipe says to matchstick cut your veggies, don't do that unless you feel ambitious and not very hungry yet - it's not necessary. Just cut, grate or slice them in whatever manner sounds easy and appetizing to you. Also, I used chicken tenders instead of full breasts which made the cooking time even faster. And I also subbed out the mayonnaise on the bread for Sriracha. Yummy in the tummy!

Yes Peas!

My favorite thing at the farmers market recently is the fresh shellin' peas! They are so tasty... and so adorable!

They make a delicious side-dish all by themselves, and last night I made this really simple, fresh, delicious pasta featuring fresh peas and mint from our little garden. Perfect for summer!

Green Smoothies!!!

To be honest, I have several things to tell you about, I've just really been lagging with the posting. But I feel the need to follow up that last post about the carbonara with a brief note about my current obsession, which happens to be very healthy. Namely, smoothies! And more specifically, kale smoothies!

I've been making different concoctions involving kale almost every day for a week or so, and I'm hooked. Kale is great in a smoothie because it really just turns it green and packs it full of vitamins, without overpowering the yummy fruits and juices you might use. I've been doing various combos of frozen fruit (strawberries, raspberries, mangos etc.), coconut water or passion fruit juice, banana or avocado, kale leaves, sometimes parsley, a little ground flax seed... etc. So refreshing and energizing in the morning!

Spring Pastas!

First of all, a lovely pasta dish with prosciutto, asparagus, mushrooms and peas...

This is the recipe I used, except instead of fettuccine I used some fancy "casereccia" noodles that Jimmy brought home from Murrays. (It is very hard to go into Murrays without bringing home a few fancy things).

It was a very yummy Pasta Primavera indeed!

Another recent dish, also from Bon Appétit: Pasta Carbonara... "The Silkiest Carbonara" to be exact! And oh my was it silky. I have made carbonara in the past, but I don't think it was ever THIS good. I guess the trick really is lots of egg yolk but not so much white. I used pancetta instead of the guanciale, but I'd love to try the later another time. This dish is decadent and SOOO delicious!

Jimmy's recent hits

I started buying purple cauliflower at the farmers market, b/c it's just so pretty. Well, it turns out it's also really tasty. Jimmy invented this attractive and healthy veg medly, including purple cauliflower, little red potatos, Brussels sprouts, onion, olive oil and s&p, cooked in the oven at 400. I believe he puts the potatoes in first since they need longer; after 20 minutes he adds the veggies for another 20 minutes. It's so yummy and colorful! A great side dish for any meal.

Another one of the super-duper dishes he likes to come with is twice-baked potatoes. So delish! Potatoes, cheddar cheese, chives, sour cream... (this time we had some Crème fraîche on hand so they were particularly creamy and scrumptious). On this particular night he served them up with a juicy steak that we shared and some peas. Perfect.

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!

Mini Frittatas

I wanted to make something for a snack during the week that involved some protein so I thought of these little fellers: mini frittatas.  They're so easy to make and so cute!

Here goes the recipe I used:

Whisk together 4 eggs, a little milk,  S&P, 3 slices of prosciutto (sauteed and chopped), a little chopped parsley, and some grated Grana Padano.  Grease a muffin pan then spoon egg mixture in.  Bake at 325 for 8-10 minutes or until the eggs have puffed up and are cooked through.

Of course you can use any ingredients with this...ham, cheddar, scallions, tomatoes...the possibilities are endless!  But they are perfect for an elevensies snack, or of course for breakfast.  Hell! I would eat these at any point during the day!

Penne with Broccoli

Carlinhos and I were watching Giada's Everyday Italian cooking program the other day (well actually I was watching it and so he was forced to watch it with me), and she made Farfalle with Broccoli.  Carlinhos asked me to make it and so I did last night for dinner.  It's a really easy recipe that is pretty tasty.  Most importantly Carlinhos really liked it!

Clean-out-your-fridge - Lavash Pizza

So here is a slightly healthier take on pizza, using lavash bread as the dough.  It's as easy as pie to make!...well actually it's WAY easier than pie! All you do is preheat your oven to 450, lay a piece of lavash on a baking sheet, and brush some olive oil onto the top of it.  On mine I put some cherry tomatoes that were on their way out which I cut in half, some sliced onion and fennel, and lastly some slices of leftover steak from the previous night's dinner.  After all that I grated some Parmesan cheese on top.  I then baked it for about 5 minutes or until the cheese was melted.  While it was baking I combined some arugula, a squeeze of lemon, olive oil and S&P and tossed that up.  After the lavash came out of the oven, I topped it with the arugula mixture and enjoyed the tasty creation.

This is super easy and you can really put whatever you want on top.  I just put whatever I had that I didn't want to go to waste and it came out great.  Next time I may try with eggplant and maybe a little mozzarella like in this recipe from Bon Appetit.

Pasta with squash and tarragon

If you love tarragon and have it growing in your herb garden like I do, this is an easy light pasta you should try with some lovely summer squash. Here's the recipe I used, from Martha Stewart. I didn't use ouzo because I didn't feel like buying it, but it was still yummy!!

Stir-Fried Chili Scallops with Baby Bok Choy

This was my first time stir-frying scallops. I've been a little afraid of cooking scallops since I got food poisoning from them several years ago. It took me a while to even eat them again. Man, those little guys really are delicious though aren't they. This stir-fry was a really good way to have them too. It's another one from my favorite stir-fry cookbook, but I found the recipe online here for you. Enjoy!

Lunch time cool-out snack

Look at this healthiness!!

It's so hot here so I'm staying in, working at home with the air conditioner on, and can't bare to even eat anything warm. Sabra Hummus: it's good stuff by the way. It's no Hummus Place Hummus, but for store-bought, it works. I am now reminded that I need to go back to Hummus Place. When we lived in the East Village, it was one of my staples. The Hummus Fava is amazing.

Lunchtime leftovers snack.

By the way, if you've never tried Finn Crisps, you should.

Farmer's Market!

From May through December, we've got the farmer's market in Van Vorst Park every Saturday, and in the Grove Street Plaza on Mondays and Thursdays; both right around the corner from us. Here's Saturday's bounty:

With the lovely Jersey tomatoes, domestic mootzy and basil from our little fire escape herb garden (which, by the way, is growing like crazy!) I made a nice Caprese Salad. Jimmy grilled up a piece of tuna and sauteed some asparagus and squash. Fresh, easy and delish. 

Tiny Brats

With all the talk of wieners these days, I thought I'd point out another recent TJ's find that I'm very excited about. These tiny Bratwursts! We picked them up just to try - I was a bit skeptical as they didn't really look like the typical brat. But let me tell you they're delicious! A very nice traditional bratwurst flavor.

Quickly heated in a skillet, served with some lovely spring asparagus, little pan-fried potatoes, a good mustard and a crisp Hofbräu Original... a nice little würstlparty.