Basic Sauce - Part II

In the previous post I mentioned that it took at least a month to use the delicious freezer sauce, but alas it took three days.  Some of the incarnations include: eggplant pizza, ravioli and the guest submission sauce over shells.  I would like to thank Mr. Short for his exceptional photograph and note that Mr. Short Jr. ate a walloping five shells with this magic sauce which was an unprecedented amount!  This sauce wins toddler seal of approval and Storkbite even liked it off a pizza bone (i.e. crust).

Eggplant Pizza

There was a serious abundance of eggplant in Thursday’s farm box so I roasted at least four eggplants and stored them in the refrigerator.  For this pizza I got crust a my local parlor, loaded on the sauce, added a layer of roasted eggplant, and smothered it with shredded mozzarella.   The pizza went into a 450 degree oven for at least 45 minutes and turned out to be Sicilian style.  As mentioned, Storkbite polished off a pizza bone and loved it.

Ravioli and Sauce

Nothing special about this meal because it was on a night that Papa worked late and Mama had to do all the bedtime routine soup to nuts. For those nights we have out secret stock of ravioli from the ravioli maker in the Bronx near Arthur Ave.  The shop only sells ravioli and there is a darling little old man that puts a lot of love into each little square. We buy it by the box and freeze it in smaller portions.  The special homemade sauce really kicks it up and notch and the whole thing is plated and served in the time it takes to boil water.

Shells and Sauce

Mrs. Short kindly looked after Storkbite the other day while I went to get a little work done on my face (not really, but I like the way that sounds), so she got some magic sauce to review.  Mr. Short and his fancy camera took this photo which blows all the other photos on Storkbite Stew out of the water.  The best part of this dinner was that it’s toddler approved!  The young Short and friend of Storkbite kept asking for more.  That means that he got several vegetables at once including: zucchini, eggplant, tomato, garlic, basil, and green pepper.  That’s reassuring.

Braised Chicken and Basic Sauce

Every now and again I try out a recipe from a magazine. Generally I look at all the pictures, scan the ingredients and make my own variation. I prefer that method because I do not have a suitable stand to hold a recipe book on my small kitchen counter. However, this time I “tested” out the recipe for braised chicken with dried plums from the September 2008 issue of Martha’s Everyday FOOD. There are a lot of great things about this magazine especially the small format and excellent photographs of mouth watering food. The one problem I always encounter with the dishes that I try is that richness is somehow missing. Either there is not enough butter, cream or cheese. I’m sure it’s more healthy, but I’m often left wanting more…

Braised Chicken with Dried Plums

You can get the precise recipe from Martha. My problem with the dish is that the wine (2 cups of dry white) was very overwhelming. The polenta on the side was too dense and the chicken seemed undercooked since it was browned on either side for 6 - 8 minutes total and then braised in the liquid for another 8 - 10 minutes. I was a little bit squeamish since my chicken was glassy and had colored juices running forth. Hmmm… Back to making up my own stuff, I guess.

Basic Sauce

Every summer when I have loads of vegetables to process I make this sauce. It’s easy, delicious, requires no canning equipment and was my mother’s idea. My mom is an expert canner. In this case I do not use the term lightly as the lady wins blue ribbons and this year Best in Show at our local county fair. No fear of botulism with her goods. I don’t have nearly the amount of vegetables that need to be processed so I make this simple freezer sauce and it’s just as delicious in my opinion because everything is roasted first. In this batch I roasted zucchini, eggplant, tomatoes, garlic and green peppers at 425 for about an hour. Everything got a good dousing of olive oil and salt and pepper sprinkle before their roast. Once the vegetables are roasted, remove the skins on the tomatoes and let them cool in their juices on the pan. After it’s all cool, simply process the sauce in a food processor (in batches if you have a lot) adding olive oil to emulsify and freeze in small portions. I generally use it up within the first month because it’s so amazing. It’s great on pasta, pizza, ice cream.

3 Hour Pasta Salad

Storkbite’s house has been busy with visitors this August and there has been no shortage of excellent food; however, there has been a shortage of time for Storkbite Stew. Some days I think of something brilliant to make in 20 minutes (beating even Rachel Ray), and other days it takes hours and hours to put a meal together. This recipe is for 3 Hour Pasta Salad.

Ingredients:

1 teething baby *

2 boxes spinach bow-tie pasta

Any vegetable you can find

Olive oil

Parmesan cheese

Salt, pepper, red wine vinegar and dried herbs

* Note that if you do not have the teething baby, this recipe should take approx. 30 mins.

Bring water to boil, add salt to water and boil pasta. Once pasta is cooked, drain it in a colander under cool water and ice if necessary to bring it to room temperature. While pasta is cooking, dice all your desired vegetables (i.e. olives, carrots, bell peppers, onions, zucchini etc). In a large bowl combine all ingredients, add oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, a sprinkle of oregano and basil. Dust with grated parmesan as desired and serve.

Unfortunately for me, I had to take hour long breaks in between each step to soothe my teething babe who has been rendering herself inconsolable in the later portion of the day.

Salmon, Sausage and Scallops (again)

This week’s cooking conundrum that arrived in our CSA box was called purslane. It looks like a weed, kind of tastes like a weed and well according to Wikipedia - is a weed. The other obstacle of the week arrived on Friday - my cousins - from a landlocked place called Colorado. I was determined to show them a little something about seafood that was just plucked from the Atlantic. They were most appreciative.

Sausage and Puslane

Our local Irish butcher started carrying their own fresh made sausage and it’s excellent. It comes in a coil or links and the make it in a few flavors. This variety was cheese and parsley. The caraway and garlic flavors shined through. I had no idea what to do with the purslane, so after cooking up the sausage in our frying pan, we just added some red wine to the pork fat and reduced it. Once it was nice and saucy, we added the purslane and cooked in down for about a minute. The lemon flavors of the purslane really came through and it was a very delicious and simple dish.

Salmon and Potato Coins

From left to right: rainbow chard and garlic, yellow potatoes, salmon. Everything came from the CSA box except the salmon. This was the first time I tried grilling potatoes and I’m not sure that I recommend it. I par boiled them before grilling, but it wasn’t long enough to make them tender. They did photograph well. The chard was delicious and it’s our new favorite vegetable. I cut the leaves off the stems, then diced the stems and rough chopped the leaves. I sautéed the diced stems in olive oil and garlic, then threw in the leaves. I sautéed it all together for at least 10 minutes or so until it was tender. The salmon got tossed on the grill last after a quick hit of S&P.

Scallops and Fluke

My cousins from Colorado were talking about fish sticks and so I decided treats from the Atlantic were in order. The fisher at our local Saturday market had scallops (these are becoming our Saturday tradition) and fluke. First I counted my scallops and then counted half that amount of bacon strips. I cut the bacon strips in half and laid them on a baking sheet which I put under the oven broiler for a few minutes. I removed the bacon from the oven when it was about half cooked. I let it cool and then wrapped each scallop with a strip and pinned it with a toothpick. I lightly salted and peppered the pile. The fluke just got prepped with a little salt and pepper. In a very hot cast iron skillet I added a tablespoon of butter to a big puddle of olive oil. Once the butter melted and bubbled, I added the scallops one by one. They just take a second and then turn them over. Cooking them too long turns them into wads of gum. Once those were all finished and put on the platter, I added more butter and olive oil to my skillet, a handful on minced garlic and then the fluke. It only takes about two minutes on each side. I snipped fresh chives over the top and served it to the land lubbers. They enjoyed every single tender morsel and we had a very empty platter at the end of our delicious meal. The sides which I failed to mention were sautéed Napa cabbage and roasted red potatoes.

Breakfast

This is just a lovely little breakfast of eggs, salmon and cream cheese on brown toast and fresh strawberries. PG Tips is served here each and every morning.