A FRIDGE FULL OF FOOD...

Better Than Mom's (Sorry Mom!) Lasagna

 

 

Sorry, Mom, even though you were a fabulous cook, I think in this one instance I beat you at your own game. 

I love lasagna but with only two of us it's something I only get to make when we're having company.  You just can't make a small lasagna!

So for New Year's Eve, that's what I did, although I stepped up a few of the ingredients my Mom used to use, switching out ricotta and cream cheese for the cottage cheese, and using a 50/50 mix of ground beef and country sausage for my Slow Cooker Meat Sauce. 

We were all pretty pleased, patting myself on the back. The result was rich without being overwhelming and not too wet, not to dry, perfect texture. Will be making these changes always from now on.

 

EPIC FAIL: Martha Stewart's Bacon Jam

I made a pledge on Facebook that I would concentrate on the true meaning of Christmas this year by only giving small heart-felt gifts this year.  Why Facebook?  I was using the theory on myself that if I announced it to everyone I know then I would keep myself accountable to my pledge and NOT wimp out and suddenly go on a huge shopping spree out of last-minute desperation.  Believe me, my friends live to give me hell so they were/are still watching me, ready to pounce, and that's what I love about them!

True to my word, I have knitted and sewed and crafted and now I've started cooking.  I decided to take some old recipes that my mom made when I was a kid for food gifts and update them.  I also picked out a couple of new recipes that intrigued me.  The first of those is this bacon jam from the Martha Stewart web site. The web site says to spread it on bread as an appetizer. In my mind I could also see it served over cream cheese with crackers, or as a meat chutney to go top of ham or beef, maybe even as a filling for phyllo appetizers or baked on top of brie.  It's an intriguing recipe.  The combination of ingredients looked to produce something sweet and savory and wonderful, a unique gift, as well as an appetizer for our family Christmas get-together. I still believe that, but in this case, either the bacon or the crockpot decided to go all Stephen King on me and produced this malevolent mess.

Speaking of giving me hell,  I'm just waiting for Auntie Miranda to speak up.  I'm known for not being a Martha Stewart fan. In reality, I love her ideas, but something about her bugs the crap out of me when I watch her show. Shudder.  It's the same thing that makes me turn the channel when Sandra Lee comes on.  In theory, I like them both and their ideas, for different reasons of course, but watching them sets my teeth on edge. I don't know why, it's just a personal thing. 

Timpano di Maccheroni: The "Mythic Pasta Dome"

  

This recipe was so much fun to make!  I'd seen it years ago, a classic Italian dish made famous by Stanley Tucci's movie "Big Night" , the story of two restauranteur brothers (Tucci and Tony Shalhoub, more recently starring as Adrian Monk) whose fortunates are on the wane.  In a last mad dash, they have one "Big Night" extravaganza to save the restaurant and this is one of the dishes they served.

I served it our Dexter Dinner group to celebrate the season six premiere of Dexter. We gathered for Timpano, Death in the Afternoon cocktails, and Dexter (Apple) cake. Everything, including Dexter, was delicious!  This recipe is definitely a showstopper and very flexible. I'll be serving it again.

Several years ago, I had planned on making it for my pasta-lovin' niece Jordan's birthday party as a truly celebratory entree but at the last minute I flinched, afraid I would leave the whole family in the lurch if I messed it up, and simply served baked mostacciola instead. While the dish does have several steps, almost all of them can be made ahead and the whole dish can easily be finished early on the day of serving and baked a bit before serving.  Actually, with at least a half hour cooling time it's a great dish to take to a potluck or to serve at an open house. I only made a 2qt bowl full and not only was it plenty of food for the four of us watching Dexter that night, there were leftovers, and during the dinner, the dish was still warm to the touch 45 minutes after cutting.

As much as I sort of dreaded and anticipated and was scared and excited all at the same time about preparing this dish, it really is much easier to make than it looks! I promise.

Slow Cooker Meat Sauce for Pasta

 

The first step in preparing for the "mythic pasta dome", Timpano is to create meatballs (traditional) or chunky meat sauce for the pasta.  Although I eat meat, I've found that many times I have a little texture problem when it comes to meat and I find myself pushing away the ground beef or meatballs and eating the pasta and sauce.  I do the same thing with chili with beans: I tend to eat the beans and work around the larger chunks of meat. Not any more.  Since experimenting one time with chili by putting the raw ground meat into the crockpot and slow cooking it for 10+ hours I've found that I know longer push aside the meat. The long slow cooking breaks down those tougher textures for a silker, more homogenous sauce.  I now always make my chili and pasta meat sauce this way.  The convenience is great also: throw it in the slow cooker and forget it.  This recipe makes approximately seven cups, three of which will be used in the Timpano.  The other three cups freeze very well for another meal another time. 

Dexter Dinner: Timpano, Dexter Cake, & Death in the Afternoon Cocktails

 

Dexter premiered season six last night and we were there! Last year, my cousin, James, came over to the house on Sunday nights so we could all watch Dexter together since we were all huge fans.  We adopted Auntie Miranda into the cult and have been a Dexter Dinner foursome ever since. We always meet at Gene's and my house and I make dinner, usually using them as guinea pigs to test new recipes.  It's a win-win for me and for them and the safety net is that if it's ever is a win-lose, there's always pizza that can be delivered.

 

Literally, for years I've been wanting to make Timpano, the classic "mythic dome pasta" (Mario Batali) dish made famous by the movie Big Night from 1996 where Stanley Tucci, as one of two restanteur brothers (Tony Shalhoub is the other) makes this dish for their "big night" make it or break it extravaganza.  My understanding is that Tucci himself came up with the idea to use this recipe in the movie since it's one that his family actually makes for special occasions in real life. In 1999, following the popularity of the food from the movie Tucci's mother and the chef who consulted on the film authored a cookbook "Cucina & Famiglia: Two Italian Families Share Their Stories, Recipes, and Traditions" by Joan Tropiano Tucci and Chef Gianni Scappin.

This week I'll be blogging my version of the Timpano recipe starting with a 15 hour slow cooker meat sauce for pasta, Auntie's fruited salad and vinaigrette, the apple cake with caramel apple filling, and Death in the Afternoon cocktail created by Ernest Hemingway using Absinthe which is now legal in the U.S. again.

Let's begin with the meat sauce...

Gene's Low & Slow Boneless Country Ribs for the Grill or in the Oven

 

Gene's been watching Food Network and exploring his own food making abilities lately. And I am the grateful recipient of all of his efforts.  These ribs are his best so far:  sticky, crunchy, sweet and smoky outside with fall-apart tenderness on the inside--and he didn't even have to break out the big grill to make ribs for just the two of us!  Yummy!

Promises to Keep by Jane Green and Fish Balls Recipe served with my Mother's Homemade Tartar Sauce

 

Promises to Keep by Jane Green  

I read this novel recently and enjoyed both the story and the recipes included in the book.  It's the story of a young chef sorting her life out on all fronts: romantically, professionally, and her place within her family.  The town Stephanie moved to reminds me a bit of Eureka Springs, AR so the book felt cozy and homey and like getting to know people I would like.

I'd definitely recommend the read and the recipes.  Gene and I both enjoyed the Fish Balls (although I flattened mine out slightly and added my mom's homemade tartar sauce) for dinner last night and the Gingerbread Trifle is next on my list to make. I'll be storing the book with my cookbooks for sure. 

Jenn's Birthday Sushi and (Hooray) the REAL Japanese steakhouse "Orange" Seafood Sauce Recipe

 

Saturday night, we were invited over to our good friends', Corbin and Jenn's, house to help celebrate Jenn's (cough)nd birthday where we were told there would be a few people and some finger foods--a total underestimation of the food and fun! We met Janis, a fellow foodie who took on the task of a 3-course sushi meal for nine people and her daughter, Jordan, who along with Jenn's daughter, Chelsea, made dessert for us all of chocolate chip cookies and fudgy brownies.  Good work, ladies! Also invited were another lively couple, Al, and his wife Melissa (can't believe I didn't get a decent picture of them all night)  whom I think (from my investigation on Facebook) might know a bunch of people I know which is even more fun. Melissa also had the dubious job of keeping me ante'd into the poker hands last night since she was sitting next to me instead of Gene.  I think she didn't realize she was going to have to take on his job all night of taking care of me but I thank her!

Happy Birthday, Jenn!  Thanks for the great party!

Oktoberfest All Week: Jagerschnitzel

One of the things I find most intriguing about exploring culture cooking is that we all eat the same things, we just call them different things and prepare them in slightly different ways.  I'm talking about things like finding out as an adult that the exotic-sounding  polenta is really the cornmeal mush of my youth, or that tonight's Jagerschnitzel is pounded pork chops with delicious mushroom gravy.  I admit the jokester in me sometimes enjoys giving Gene that hour or two of wondering what in the heck we're going to be eating and then seeing the relief in his eyes when the odd sounding "Oktoberfest Jagerschnitzel" meal I made was just his beloved pork chops and mushroom gravy, although really rich gravy since it's made with sour cream instead of just corn starch thickening the pan drippings.

Look For This: FishEx Alaska Seafoods for fantastic Paula Deen Crab Cakes Recipe

Kayla, from Fish Ex, sent down a pound of King Crab legs and a 12 oz reindeer sausage from Alaska today. Let me tell you, that's a fun Fed Ex package to receive. Even the driver was excited. "Is this really seafood from Alaska?"  "Yep."  "Wow, you're so cool!"  Well, good heavens, now I have to order more just so I can feel all cool and full of myself to the Fed Ex drivers! 

Shipped on dry ice, it arrives like it came from next door...and when they read this, I bet the Rileys will wish it had been delivered next door by mistake.

You know, I could go on and on about how nice the crab was and how fun the reindeer sausage tasted but let me just put it this way: It's 7:30pm and I've already made those crab cakes, ate those crab cakes, tasted that reindeer sausage, and placed another order with Fish Ex to be shipped in this Thursday for dry scallops, shrimp, King Crab bisque, and another sausage for the family Halloween party. 

Do I really need to say much more?  Well, you know me.  I will anyway.  After you've checked out the rest of my pics, the Paula Deen recipe I used for the crab cakes, plus my own recipe for Jalapeno Lemon Aioli to top it with, go check out their website for more of the particulars:  www.fishex.com 

As for the order I just placed, the dry scallops are particularly appealing to me because I have thought, for years, that I was a scallop idiot.  I love jumbo scallops in restaurants but each time I've tried my hand at them at home they've always turned out soggy and rubbery.  I thought it was me.  Show of hands--anybody else had that problem? 

It's not us.  It's the scallops. Apparently the restaurant grade scallops are "dry" and the ones sold in the groceries are "wet" with sodium tripolyphosphate (STP) which binds to the protein fibers making the scallops slimey but preserves them so they last days longer in the seafood counter.  Feels like a terrible joke played on the consumer, doesn't it? 

The scallops available through Fish Ex are dry, meaning no chemicals added.  You can read more about it on their web site and there is also a great article in this month's Cooking Illustrated about the difference and how to overcome the STP by brining them in salty lemon water to mask, not remove, the STP.  I'll order the dry, thank you, and avoid the whole chemical quandary.

Now back to the crab....