Food goodness

Father's Day 2011 recipe #2. Lidia once convinced me to make guazzetto, so she has some pretty significant persuasive powers. This is a much simpler recipe. I made fresh pasta yesterday. It was not a rip roaring success, but nonetheless it still had the texture and flavor of fresh pasta and the sauce was so delicious that I'm still pleased with the results. Here's an extra treat - Lidia helping Mo Rocca make his Italian grandmother's raviolis . They are both completely adorable. Let me tell you how my dough passing through my roller did not look remotely as pretty as hers but I'll keep trying. salt 1 lb spaghetti 1/4 C olive oil 8 cloves garlic, chopped fine 1 1/2 lb assorted mushrooms, cleaned and sliced/gently chopped/hand torn [I used portobello and oyster] freshly ground black pepper 8 fresh sage leaves, chopped 1 C veg/chicken stock 1/4 C Italian parsley, chopped 1 C freshly grated Parmagiano-Reggiano cheese Makes 6 servings. Bring 6 quarts of salted water to a...

We made Lidia Bastianich's Eggplant Parmigiana for the Italian papa for Father's Day. It's taken me a long time to get used to this book. Her recipes are written in very differently from other cookbooks I've used. One result of this is that you really can't skim; you have to read thoroughly. I've gotten myself in trouble a few times because I thought I had read and understood it. I bought the ingredients, chosen the day to try it, started cooking for a hungry husband or family and THEN came to the line about "let it rest/chill/roast for 3 days," and/or "make the other super-complicated sauce on pg 97 and use that for this recipe." The thoughtfulness and care is reflective of the kind of food she makes and it's a nice challenge. I also like that she always generously includes some tips for assembly or finishing touches that we would have to spend decades being Italian grandmothers to figure out for ourselves. >>>>> Backgroun...

A small note to those of us trying to eat more veg, as Kelly would say... this soba noodle salad is delicious with slaw replacing some or all of the noodles. I made it with just one little bundle of noodles, a whole bag of broccoli slaw, and half a bag of cabbage/carrot mixture, and it's great -- actually provides a delicious crunch and you don't miss the rest of the noodles. I cooked the chicken in a bit of the marinade, too, and diced it into the salad/noodle/mango mixture for some protein. Yum.

Adapted From: Annie's Eats and Chukar Cherry Recipes I wanted to make cranberry-orange scones to serve at the coffee hour at church this morning, but I didn't have the heavy cream called for in Annie's recipe, but I did have plenty of Greek yogurt, so I improvised, recalling the cherry scones recipe that Todd likes to make. I also added a glaze to these scones, because I thought the orange zest was a tad bitter. Perhaps I went too far into the pith with the zester. Anyway, these were very pretty, and everyone loved them. 1½ tbsp. freshly grated orange zest 2½ cups all-purpose flour ½ cup plus 3 tbsp. sugar, divided 1 tbsp. baking powder ½ tsp. salt 6 tbsp. cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces 1¼ cups fresh or frozen cranberries, coarsely chopped 2 large eggs 3/4 cup Greek yogurt 1/4 cup milk (or, sub a total of 1 cup heavy cream for the yogurt and milk) Additional sugar for sprinkling, or make a glaze (see below) Directions: Preheat the oven to 400˚ F. Line a bak...

Like rhubarb crumble-type desserts and enchilada variations, I'm of the mind that we can't get enough daal recipes on this site of ours. I hope I'm not alone. This one is nicely flavorful and LOOK!, Heidi uses the zest AND the juice of the lemon. I like when she keeps it real like that. Lemon in everything, a signature Heidi suggestion, sounds really good to me in the summer. >> Spinach can be particularly muddy this time of year it seems. I fill the large bowl from my salad spinner with cold water, place the spinach in the basket the place it into the bowl of water. Swish the leaves around a bit to loosen any dirt. Drain and repeat. This usually does the trick. I use the same approach with kale and leeks as well. As far as peppers go, I used serrano chile peppers here, and used a pure red chile powder made from a mildly spicy red pepper, not cayenne in this case, I suspect that would be a bit on the too spicy side...but if that is all you have, adjust to what taste...

Heidi makes this street food recipe. I ate it as-is, no toppings, but that sounds good too. I bet this only cost a couple dollars. I had TJ's bag of sliced leeks in the freezer and I bought a teeny cabbage at the farmer's market on Saturday and only used half of that. I did add a third egg and I'm glad I did. It held together well. File this in the Tortilla Espanola-craving crevice of my brain. I found this recipe much easier and faster than the T.E. I can't seem to get right but once every two years or so. >> Leeks are notoriously gritty. To clean them well I typically slice them lengthwise and then submerge them in a big bowl of water - where I rinse and swish them to loosen up any dirt. Drain and repeat if needed. Then chop/slice. 2 cups cabbage, finely shredded 1 cup leeks, well washed and chopped (see head notes) 2/3 cup whole wheat pastry flour (or apf flour) a couple pinches of fine grain sea salt 2 eggs, beaten 1+ tablespoon olive ...

Summer is a good time to eat Heidi -style. I loved this. Not many others in my house did, so if you're the husband, preschooler daughter or toddler son of a mid-thirties gal, you won't love this as much as your wife/mom did. More leftovers for her! >> This is great with crumbled feta. But it's also perfect with thinned-out, salted, plain yogurt. Also, for those of you who are fans of quinoa patties - I made patties out of the leftovers by combining a scant 3 cups of leftovers with 4 beaten eggs, and enough breadcrumbs to thicken things up a bit - 1/2 cup or so. Press with hands firmly into patties, then pan-fry, covered. 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil 1 bunch green onions, chopped 3/4 teaspoons fine-grain sea salt 1 cup / 6.5 oz / 185 g quinoa, well rinsed and drained 2 cups water 1/4 cup / 1 oz / 30g dried currants 1 lemon 2 sm-med zucchini, grated on box grater 4 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds 4 tablespoons chopped fres...

From the Wegmans magazine. I love Wegmans tomato pesto sauce -- which is one of the suggested variations, and which is sort of creamier but has less fat than regular pesto -- but it's kind of hard to go wrong with something like this. And this is one of those recipes where you basically roast/grill any veggies you happen to have on hand; the more variety, the better. Hard to say exactly how many WW points per serving since I have no idea how big a serving is with all the extra veggies, but I'm going to use 6 points for a cup that has about eight raviolis in it. 1 pkg (20 oz) Italian Classics Six Cheese Tortellini [I used the dried spinach and cheese tortellini the first time; refrigerated whole wheat ricotta and spinach ravioli the second time] ...

I got the tiniest little turnips last week from the CSA, and didn't really know what to do with them, so I went looking on WW to see what they had. This recipe makes 6 servings, and each serving is 2 points each. And it's good. 2 medium potatoes, peeled and quartered 2 medium carrots, peeled and quartered 8 oz butternut squash, peeled and chunked 1 medium turnips (or 4 tiny ones), peeled and chunked 5 cloves garlic, peeled 1/4 c. fat free sour cream 1/2 c. vegetable or chicken broth, warmed Put all the veg (including garlic) into pan and cover with water, bring to boil. Simmer until veg are tender. Drain and mash using potato masher. Stir in sour cream and broth. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

This is my new favorite salsa. Ernie makes it and it's super easy, and it is so, so good. Best news: fat free salsa (and this qualifies), is 0 WW points. The chips you want to eat it with? Not so much. But the salsa is is a 0 point food. From The Man, Rick Bayless 1 pound ripe tomatoes Fresh hot green chiles to taste (we've been using 2 jalapenos, and 2 poblanos) 3 cloves garlic, unpeeled 1/4 c. finely chopped white onion 1/3 c. loosely packed cilantro salt squeeze of lime Roast the tomatoes on a baking sheet 4 inches below a very hot broiler until they're darkly roasted, about 6 minutes. Flip them and roast the other side, 5-6 minutes more will give you splotchy-black and blistered tomatoes that are cooked through -- this is what you want. Cool. Pull off and discard the blackened skins, cut out hard core where stems were attached. Roast the chiles and garlic in a dry skillet or on a griddle over medium heat, turning occasionally, until they are soft and darkened in places....

I found this recipe in the Whole Foods -- our new store has all kinds of recipes hanging from the shelves and near the register. By my calculations, this was was WW 7 points for one slice. Pie yields 8 slices. 1 c. sour cream (I used reduced fat) 1/2 c. sugar 2 large eggs 1 tsp. vanilla extract 1 pint blueberries 1 frozen 9-inch pie crust, thawed (I used a white crust, but you could use wheat, too) powdered sugar for garnish (I omitted) Preheat oven to 350. In a medium bowl, whisk sour cream, sugar, eggs and vanilla. Gently stir in blueberries. Pour mixture into pie crust and bake 55 to 65 minutes or until custard is slightly puffed and just set in the middle. Allow pie to cool to room temperature. If desired, chill before sprinkling with powdered sugar and serving.