cleanup chili

this will not win the chili cookoff tomorrow at good shepherd because it's got too many unusual ingredients, but it tastes good to me. i cleaned out leftover things in the fridge.

1 lb of boneless beef ribs, diced
1/2 diced onion

Saute in olive oil. Add three minced cloves of garlic and a generous douse of ancho chili pepper, salt and black pepper. continue to cook till meat is well browned.

Add the rest of the bottle of bloody mary mix, the jar of cilantro tomato salsa, 1/2 round box of crispy onions that go on the 50's green bean casserole, and the 1/2 jar left of guiltless gourmet spicy black bean dip. chop up the leftover marinated roasted red peppers and green and black olives from the deli bar at fresh market. simmer for an hour, adding chicken broth as needed, and adding a couple of tablespoons of (traditional) chili powder. soak leftover dried garbanzo and pinto beans, and after 8 hours, drain and cook them for an hour or so. put all ingredients in the crock pot and take to the shrove tuesday chili cookoff, and don't expect to win.

spaghetti and parmesean

Spaghetti with Cheese and Pepper [Spaghetti Cacio e Pepe]
Adapted very loosely from Mario Batali and copied from smitten kitchen

As I’ve mentioned, for something with such a simple ingredient list this dish manages to fall all over the map. Some versions use just oil, no butter, some use neither oil of butter; some stud the sauce with large, barely cracked peppercorns and half-melted pebbles of romano; some opt for a smoother cheese, cacio de roma, which I located, auditioned and discovered I liked the saltier and more accessible Pecorino Romano better. There are a lot of ways to approach the dish and people who will find something inauthentic with each of them. I say ignore them all and just enjoy your spaghetti.

Serves 4 as a main, 8 as a first course

1/4 cup olive oil
1 pound dried spaghetti
2 tablespoons butter
4 ounces Pecorino Romano cheese, finely grated
1 1/2 teaspoon finely ground black pepper
Salt (optional)

Cook spaghetti in well-salted water to your al dente tastes in a large, wide-bottomed pot. (You’ll have fewer dishes to wash if you use this pot to assemble the dish as well.) Drain spaghetti, reserving 1 1/2 cups of pasta cooking water.

Dry out your pot, then heat the olive oil over high heat until almost smoking. Add drained spaghetti and 1 cup of reserved pasta water and jump back, this will splatter mightily, also known as “I made this three times, and never once learned my lesson. Do as I say, not as I do.”

Add butter, 3 ounces cheese and ground pepper and toss together with tongs. Taste, adding more pasta water, cheese, pepper or salt (which should not be neccessary, as Romano is very salty) to taste.

Serve immediately, sprinkling with reserved cheese and an extra grind or two of black pepper.

marmelade cake

Marmalade Cake
Adapted from the Boonville Hotel and copied from orangette (blog)

Note: it took less than an hour. i checked it 15 minutes before an hour and it was brown, and probably done plenty earlier. also, apparently it doesn't rise much, so go ahead and fill the pan, even though it looked like it's not big enough.

You could make this cake with store-bought roasted almonds, but I like to buy them raw and toast them myself. That way, I can control how deeply they’re toasted, and they also taste fresher. If you’re short on time, you can toast them a day or two ahead. You might also want to plan ahead for preparing the citrus fruits, since boiling and cooling them takes time. (And remember to use organic oranges and lemons, since you’ll be eating the rind.) Once you’ve got the nuts and fruits ready, this cake is quick to make.

1 small to medium orange
1 lemon
6 ounces raw almonds
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder
4 large eggs, ideally at room temperature
½ tsp. table salt
1 ½ cups sugar
2/3 cup olive oil
Confectioners’ sugar, for serving

First, get to work on the citrus. Put the orange and the lemon in a saucepan, and cover with water. (They’ll want to float. Don’t worry about it.) Bring to a boil over medium-high heat; then reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 30 minutes. Drain, and cool.

Meanwhile, toast the almonds. Preheat the oven to 325°F, and set a rack in the middle position. Put the almonds on an ungreased sheet pan, and bake until they look golden and smell warm and toasty, 10 to 15 minutes. (I tend to get nervous about burning them, and consequently, I always try to pull them out of the oven too soon. Don’t do that. Let them really toast.) Set aside to cool completely. When the almonds are cool, pulse them in a food processor until finely ground, the texture of coarse sand. Set aside.

Set the oven to 350°F, and grease a 9-inch round springform pan.

When the citrus is cool, cut the lemon in half, and scoop out and discard the pulp and seeds. Cut the orange in half, and discard the seeds. Put the lemon rind and orange halves in the food processor – there’s no need to wash it after grinding the almonds – and process to chop finely, almost to a coarse paste.

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour and baking powder.

Combine the eggs and salt in a mixing bowl. Beat until foamy. Gradually beat in the sugar. Fold in the flour mixture. Add the citrus, almonds, and olive oil, and beat on low speed to just incorporate. Do not overmix. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and bake for about 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool the cake in its pan on a wire rack. Remove the sides of the pan. Before serving, dust the cake with confectioners’ sugar.

Note: This cake tastes even better on the second - or even third - day, as the flavors meld and mellow. Store it at room temperature, covered with plastic wrap.

Yield: 8 to 10 servings

valentine's cookies

this morning i made cookies to bring to sunday school since it's valentine's day, but i didn't have too much time so i found the recipe below that looked easy and good. i didn't make the sandwiches - saved time and made over 45 heart cookies, 1 1/2 inch each. dabbed some pink icing in the center, sprinkled them with red sugar and put a red hot in the center. decorated the plate with more red hots and red sugar.


Ingredients

* 1 cup butter
* 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
* 1 egg
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1/2 teaspoon almond extract (optional)
* 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 teaspoon cream of tartar

Directions

1. In a large bowl, cream together butter and confectioners' sugar. Beat in egg, vanilla and almond extract. Mix well.
2. In a medium bowl, stir together flour, baking soda and cream of tartar; blend into the butter mixture. Divide dough into thirds and shape into balls.
3. Working with 1/3 of dough at a time, roll out dough into desired thickness on a lightly floured surface. For each heart sandwich cookie, cut out 2 3-inch hearts. Cut out the center of ONE of the 3-inch hearts with the 1 1/2-inch cutter.
4. Place each piece separately on an ungreased cookie sheet, 1 - 2 inches apart. Bake in a preheated, 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) oven until lightly browned (7-8 minutes for 1/4 inch thick cookies). Cool completely on wire rack. Frost bottom cookie with Pink Valentine Frosting and place an open centered cookie on top to form the sandwich. Also frost the small 1 1/2 inch hearts and serve as separate cookies.

Footnotes

*

*
Frost with Pink Valentine Frosting.

when life gives you lemons

http://www.foodnetwork.com/mario-eats-italy/when-life-gives-you-lemons/index.html

shrimp bruscetta with limoncella
pasta al limone
lemon salad, for heavens sake

all on this site:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/mario-eats-italy/when-life-gives-you-lemons/index.html

tagliarini con salsa di noci

attributed to contessa lucrezia corsini, in "ismail merchant's florence," the book about filming "a room with a view" and feasting in florence.

this was fabulous. just one clove of garlic is perfect for making half of the recipe.

1 c walnuts 1/2 c milk
1/4 c pine nuts 3 T olive oil
2 T bread crumbs s & p
2 cloves garlic 1 pd tagliarini pasta
fresh basil

in a blender or processor, briefly spin the nuts. not having walnuts i used pecans. add the rest of the ingredients x pasta, and combine till the consistency of thick cream, adding milk if necessary. cook the pasta, which was rotini in my case, drain, toss with sauce and spinkle with coarsely chopped walnuts.

cheesy breadd

Cheesy Bread Recipe
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Ingredients

* 8 oz shredded Mozzarella cheese
* 1 lb shredded sharp cheddar cheese
* 1/2 to 1 cup chopped green onion (to taste)
* 1/2 cup mayonnaise
* 2 Tbsp sour cream (optional)
* 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
* 1 stick unsalted butter (1/2 cup, 4 ounces), softened to the point of being slightly melted

* 1 to 2 loaves of French or Italian bread (I used Ciabatta), depending on the size of the loaves

Method

1 In a large bowl, mix together the cheeses and the green onion. Stir in the mayonnaise and sour cream. In a separate small bowl blend the butter and garlic until smooth. Add the butter mixture to the cheese mixture.

2 Preheat broiler. Slice loaf of bread in half horizontally, lay crust side down. Spread cheese mixture over the bread. Place under the broiler until nicely browned, about 3 to 5 minutes.

3 Remove from broiler and let sit for 5 minutes until cool enough to handle. Slice the bread with a bread knife. Serve.

Makes 30 to 40 slices.