Spinached Eggplant, ButterHerb Grilled Chicken and Stuffed Tomatoes

This is a variation of the awesomely eggplant recipe I posted here. Add some baby spinach in between those layers of eggplanty-goodness. That's the only variation, but it was too good not to share.








Next, I'd like to give a little shout out to my favorite farm. Tendercrop Farm. These are four of their own chicken breasts stuffed with my very own herb butter and some lemon slices. Make sure the butter is cold when you put it between the meat and the skin, it melts slowly and stays on your chicken longer. I grilled these on low for about 30-45 minutes. Be careful about flare-ups that may be caused by the butter. When the juices run clear, or it reaches the right temp, it's done.


Tomatoes Provencal a la greque?
Alright, so I was trying to use up these tomatoes and I came up with this. Then I saw it in a recipe book, though slightly different and I felt really stupid.

Core the tomatoes, scooping out the seeds. Mix about 4 tbsp of feta, with a tablespoon of parsley, a small clove of garlic chopped finely, and just enough breadcrumbs to make a stuffing that loosely holds together, probably not more than a handful. Stuff the tomatoes and bake on 350 until they begin to soften. Another variation would be to use Parmesan instead of bread crumbs or feta.

Eggplant Not-Parmesan and Two other Tales

Eggplant is my new favorite vegetable. I've been making variations of this dish for a few months now. I believe that this dish is a combination of so many things that I can now call it my own. So here we go. Ingredients are in red, so they match the sauce.

Eggplant, about 5-7 small, Italian eggplant, sliced about 1/4 inch thick, salted and roasted. Sliced eggplant should be salted to remove excess water and bitterness. I do mine with coarse sea salt in a colander for about 20 minutes. Italian eggplant tends to be less bitter but you can use any variety of eggplant.

Roast eggplant drizzled with olive oil on baking sheets for about 10-20 minutes, switch them about halfway through to ensure they will finish at the same time.

Alright, the sauce for this one happens to be a simple marinara sauce.
Two 28 oz. cans of San Marzano tomatoes and two cloves of garlic pulsed in a food processor. Cook over medium heat with about 2 tbsp olive oil, for 15-20 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add about 1 handful of chopped basil, cook for another 5 minutes or so over medium heat.

Now, leave the oven on 350, and in a 9x12 pan, spread a layer of sauce on bottom. You can start your water for your pasta here, too. Layer eggplant with sauce and sliced fresh mozzarella, and about 1/2 cup of a grated hard cheese like Parmesan or Romano. Bake for about 20-30 minutes or until the mozzarella just begins to brown. Serve with a pound of your favorite pasta, fresh grated cheese at the table and if you are like me, a few dashes of crushed red pepper.

I just wanted to share these strawberries that we picked at a local farm, the same one where the eggplant for this recipe came from.
Here I made black raspberry jam, it was my first attempt at jamming. The recipe came from the box of Sure Jell. I would have probably used more pectin if I had not already misread the directions and headed down the slippery slope to runny jam. It did thicken up a bit but not as much as I had hoped. However it is more than edible and I was able to use it in an ice cream recipe. The blackberries came from Costco, if anyone was wondering.

Roasted Poblano Cream Sauce with Cumin Shrimp

Sauce:
3 poblano peppers, roasted skins peeled
1 clove garlic
4 c milk, heavy cream, or half and half
1 medium onion, diced
1/3 c flour
4 tbsp butter
1/2 c grated Parmesan (Romano or Grana Padano can substitute)
pepper
1/4 tsp nutmeg
olive oil

Roast the peppers in the oven, on the grill or other open flame of your choice, allow them to cool and remove skins. Once they are cool, in a food processor, pulse peppers and garlic. I was being really lazy and added my cheese into the processor so that I wouldn't have to grate it. You can do that too.

In a medium-size pot, saute onions in 1-2 tbsp olive oil, over medium heat until they begin to soften, add butter. When butter is completely melted, add flour. Stir. Add milk and nutmeg, I use whatever I have on hand, mostly milk and half and half. You can use pretty much any combination you like. Whisk until ingredients are combined and there are no lumps. Add poblano mixture. Stir often and allow mixture to thicken, reduce heat to medium-low if you prefer.

I start water for my pasta after I start the onions. Cook your favorite pasta according to directions.
While the sauce is thickening and the pasta is cooking, I make the shrimp.

Cumin Shrimp:
Olive oil
3/4 lb to 1 lb shrimp
salt
pepper
cumin

In a large skillet, heat olive oil. Add shrimp, season with salt, pepper, and cumin to taste. Cook until shrimp has just turned pink on both sides. Be careful not to overcook.

In order to serve this I mix the cream sauce with the cooked pasta, top with shrimp and extra sauce. You can add the shrimp to the sauce and combine with the pasta, if you like. I happen to have non-seafood eaters in the house, so I keep them separate. I top mine with a little grated cheese and crushed red pepper. Yum!

Macaroni and Cheese

By now, I have made this recipe for three consecutive Fridays. I got this recipe from Martha Stewart's new cook book: Cooking School, Lessons and Recipes for the Home Cook. (pgs 389-391.) It seems that Martha (can I call her by her first name?) has a lot of Macaroni and Cheese recipes on-line. As far as I know, this one isn't online.

I don't want Martha's cronies, if she has any, coming by and breaking my oven if I infringe on her copyright, otherwise I would love to post this recipe. It contains 4 cheeses, Gruyere, Parmesan, Cheddar, and Fontina. This recipe was a little daunting at first, but after I made it once, it seemed like a piece of cake the second time. I swapped Romano for the Parmesan and made adjustments with the liquids depending on what I had in the fridge. I also doubled the amount as the original amount would probably not feed a hungry family of 4.

The first time I made this, my children were talking to me and I added too much cayenne so it was a little spicy for my husband and daughter, but my son and I loved it.

She also suggests serving roasted tomatoes on top. I did this two weeks ago and it is a wonderful way to make nasty winter tomatoes very tasty and actually flavorful.

Lasagna Roll-Ups

Ingredients:

• 8 cooked lasagna noodles
• 16 oz of your favorite sauce (I used a marinara because this was for a Friday)
• 8 oz (1/2 a large container) of ricotta
• 1 egg
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella
• 1 tsp basil
• salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. Mix ricotta, egg, basil salt and pepper
2. Divide mixture evenly onto noodles and roll up
3. Pour sauce over top
4. Top with mozzarella cheese
5. Bake at 325 for 25-30 minutes

This was just something that I came up with to be a quick meal. We did not want any leftovers, so I made the exact number of roll-ups that I thought everyone would eat.

Shrimp Scampi

Ingredients

• 20-25 shrimp peeled, de-veined (tails removed, if you prefer)
• 6-8 button mushrooms, sliced
• 1/2 c white wine (I used Chardonnay because it was on hand)
• 2-3 tbsp lemon juice
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 bunch green onions sliced
• 1/2 stick unsalted butter
• 2 small tomatoes, diced
• sea salt
• pepper
• olive oil
• 1/2 lb fettuccine (or your favorite pasta)
• hard cheese like Romano or Parmesan to serve on top

Directions:

1. In a large skillet, add 2 tbsp olive oil, garlic, shrimp, mushrooms and green onions
2. Saute over medium heat for 3-4 minutes
3. Add wine and butter
4. Add lemon juice, season with salt and pepper to taste
5. Cook until shrimp are completely pink and tender. Careful not to overcook them or they will be like rubber!
6. Add tomatoes and remove from heat.
7. Serve over pasta with grated cheese on top.

PS Please excuse my absence, I have had guests and sickness and busy Holy Days! I hope to get back on track soon!

Potato Gnocchis, from Mashed Potatoes

While I didn't get any pictures of them finished, here they are. I was too busy eating. You can use leftover mashed potatoes and it really is easy.

1. To about 4-6 cups of mashed potatoes, add 1 egg, and 1/2 cup of flour at a time, mix until it has a semi-firm consistency that hold its shape. (About like play dough)
2. Roll out into snakes about 1-2 inches wide and cut into pieces about 2 inches long
3. Turn each cut piece onto its side, pressing thumb in center to make a well
4. In a pot of boiling water, with salt and oil added, drop 8-10 gnocchis in
5. When they float, they are done, drain and serve with your favorite sauce

St. Ambrose

This is my take on a Milanese dish, credited to St. Ambrose. I made this for his feast but never got around to posting it.

Ingredients:
Chicken:

• 4 chicken breasts pounded flat
• 1 cup bread crumbs
• sea salt
• 2 tbsp grated hard cheese, like romano or parmesean
• 1 egg
• 3 tbsp water

Sauce:

• 10-12 button mushrooms, sliced
• 1 shallot, minced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 5 tbsp butter
• 1/2 c white wine (I used Chardonay)
• 1/4 chicken broth
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• pepper
• 2 tsp corn starch
• 1/8 c half and half
• olive oil

• 1 lb of pasta boiled, drained

Directions:

1. Pound chicken to about 1/2 thickness
2. Mix grated cheese with breacrumbs, cheese, pepper, and sea salt to taste
3. Beat egg with water
4. Preheat oven to 400 and start water for pasta
5. Coat chicken in egg and then in bread crumbs, placing on an ungreased, rimmed baking tray
6. Cook in oven on 400 for 15-20 minutes

For the sauce:

1. While chicken cooks and pasta boils, sautee mushrooms in a pan with olive oil, butter, shallots and chicken broth over medium heat
2. When mushrooms are tender, add garlic, cook 1-2 minutes, and then add wine
3. Mix cornstarch with cold half and half (I put mine in a cup and stir it around with a fork)
4. Add cornstarch mixture, and stir
5. Season with pepper to tasteServe chicken over pasta with sauce on top, garnish with grated cheese