PAGE 30 SHAVED FENNEL WITH PEACHES AND HAZELNUTS

I got some early peaches at the farmer's market in old town Alexandria (reported to be the oldest continuously operating farmer's market in America) and thought, why not?  I mean, I like peaches and hazelnuts, and at least like fennel a little bit.  How bad could it be?  Well...not bad, not bad at all.  In fact, kind of good!

I realized that 4 June is my 29th anniversary of supporting the Marine Corps.  I am  so humbled and grateful at being given the opportunity to work with the finest group of individuals to walk the face of the earth.  I am a much better person for knowing each and ever one of them...cheers to OPP, Spooner and Herbie!

I roasted 6 peaches (small ones, after quartering them and sprinkling them with olive oil and salt) at 375 for 10 minutes.  I simultaneously roasted 1/2 cups of hazelnuts.  While they were roasting I shaved 2 cups of fennel.   I actually couldn't find my mandoline so I just chopped the fennel finely.

I chopped the hazelnuts and peeled and chopped the peaches.  I took half of a peeled peach and put it into the food processer with olive oil, vinegar and salt to make a vinaigrette.  Tossed the remaining peaches and fennel, topped with vinaigrette and hazelnuts.  Tasted fresh, kind of sweet and tart.

Pictures aren't working.  Will upload later!

PAGE 250 PIG IN A BOX WITH SOUR ORANGE RELISH

Wow, this is the coolest thing I've ever made!  Even though the sour orange relish was nasty and this is the last we will speak od it.  This was such a cool challenge for the Memorial Day weekend.  We actually had a big metal box.  Josh built a bamboo rack from bamboo in the yard to elevate the pig (henceforth known as "oinkers") off the bottom of the box.  I went to BK Millers and bought a 29 lb frozen pig on friday evening.  We brined it with 14 cups kosher salt and 4 cups brown sugar in a plastic box in the kitchen until Monday, icing it on the top. and putting it in another box on the bottom.  Josh started a fire underneath oinkers to warm up the metal box, closed the box, and lit a charcoal fire on top of the box.  We re-charged the fire 4 times, going through about 30 lb of charcoal.  Oinkers was amazing, we picked him after about 7 hours of cooking.  The brine helped in that it was salty but still moist and smoky.  A once in a lifetime experience, we gave pig to all the neighbors and are still eating it, with a barbeque sauce.

LASAGNA PAGE 109

Wow, this is the longest I've gone without blogging since starting this project.  I got involved with watching all the back episodes of breaking bad (too good of a show, what a pyschological drama), taking care of the puppy Tesla and working.  The tragedy in Boston was horrific.  Intersting dilemma about how much of our individual rights should we give up to catch the perps?  Tesla is very entertaining, it's cool to watch her grow up.  Working alot with the ordnance Marines lately.  I'm used to working with Motor T (holla) and they are a unusual change of pace.  Very earnest and sincere and passionate about what they do.

Made the lasagna.  Very good.  So good we ate it all before I could take a picture.  Tasted like lasagna, like you would expect, but very good.  The grand mother tomato sauce was very fresh, I liked the lemon zest, and the homemade noodles all contributed.

So, I made the grand mother tomato sauce by combining onions, garlic, tomatoes, fresh tomatoes, bat leaf, salt and pepper,  Cooked it all down for an hour.  Made the pasta from flour, egg yolks, water and olive oil.  I so love my Kitchen Aid mixer.  My motivation for getting it was the pasta recipes in this cookbook.  I sauteed Italian sausage, combined ricotta, mozz, parm reggiano, lemon zest and 1/2 cup tomato sauce. 

I made the lasagna by first putting tomato sauce in the bottom of the pan, topping it with pasta, topping that with cheese, topping that with sausage, adding tomato sauce and repeating.  The whole thing was topped by cheese and baked for 40 minutes at 375.  We enjoyed it and it wasn't labor intensive.

Promise to get back on track with the blog.

PAGE 14 DEVILED BACON, EGG AND CHEESE

Wow! Big news, we adopted a puppy!  Miss Tesla is gracing our house with her 12 week old self, depriving us of sleep and bringing joy.  Had the day off of work due to the weather.  Lots of things I planned to do, but the puppy and back episodes of breaking bad took over.  Did make some awesome deviled eggs....

These were easy to make and delicious.  I fried up a half poundofbacon  a nd hard boiled a dozen eggs.  I mixed the yolks with 6 TBS sour cream a nd 1ts p mustard.  I added a cupofshredded ch  eddarandchivesandth e b  ac on.  Stuffed the eggs. Very good!

 New puppy Tesla!

PAGE 254 PORK SHOULDER BRAISED IN SPICY TOMATO BROTH WITH CLAMS CORN AND POTATO

Long title! And maybe more than this recipe deserved.  I mean, it was good and all.  But way involved.

So, I seared a pork shoulder.  Then I sweated bell pepper, onion and garlic.  I am not sweating it because this is still ordinary. 


i added tomato paste and red chili flakes.  Easy, normal for Mike.  Stirred in chicken broth, crushed tomatos and bay leaf.  Easy day, I knew to have these on hand.  So I added the pork and cooked for an hour.

Then, I cubed 1/2 lb of potatos and kerneled 2 ears of corn.  I returned to oven for 45 minutes.  I was supposed to add the clams at that point, but all I had was a can of clams, added it.  Cooked for another 10 minutes. 

Topped with paresly and lemon juice.  Okay, but too much trouble.  Probably won't make again.

 

PAGE 83 CRUNCHY CRUSHED POTATOES WITH BACON GRAVY AND RICOTTA SALATA

Mike refers to this as his version of disco fries!  I love it!  It was very unami friendly and delicious.  Good day, Pellegrin is back supporting maintenance and Herbie will start supporting the Marine Corps next Monday.  We took Harry the dog to the beach last Monday to celebrate his 11th? birthday and had one of our best days. 

Fun easy recipe, one of Mike's easiest and best.  I was able to find ricotta salata at Trader Joe's, otherwise this might have been hard.  I boiled potatoes for 10 minutes and drained them.  I sauteed onions, celery, garlic and bacon, added thyme and bay leaf and cooked until the bacon was crispy.  I whisked in flour and chilli flakes, and added chicken broth.  It didn't need any additional salt. 

I smashed the potatoes a little bit and threw them in two batches into the deep fryer for about 5 minutes.  They did not get golden, but got a little brown.  I removed them from the fryer and topped with the bacon gravy and ricotta salata.  Very good!

Doris in Nanty Glo!

Harry at the beach!

Disco fries!

PAGE 85 FISH FRIES WITH BLACK MAYO

I don't know why I haven't blogged in a while, maybe I've been tired or busy in the evenings?  No good reason, just haven't.  Still been cooking Mike's book!  Heading to Nanty Glo this weekend to hang out with Doris and stuff.  ( used to work with a Marine who ALWAYS said "and stuff".  We used to make a (coffee) drinking game out of it in meetings. 

Made the fish fries and black mayo, after I ordered the squid ink on line through Amazon.  I thought I would run into some in my travels, but didn't so I succombed to peer pressure and bought it on line.  These were very tasty.  I remember when my ex-husband and I were in Monacco and a small boat captain was grilling his lunch of smelts aboard his boat.  They smelled amazing, so I've alwways had a soft spot for smelt.

I couldn't find fresh smelt, so I used frozen.  I defrosted it and rinsed the smelt under cold wqter.  I mixed flour, parsley, thyme and salt and dredged the smelt.  I fried it for 4 minutes in the deep fryer.  It was crispy and golden.  Easy enough!  I made the black mayo, which was egg yolk, anchovies, squid ink, lemon juice, dijon mustard, salt and oil in the food processor for one minute until it emulsified.  Not weird tasting, even though it sounds weird, kind of a more savory mayo.  Dipped the fish in the mayo and all was good.

Crispy fishies!

Another angle!

PAGE 190 PUMPKIN BUCATINI WITH DUCK LIVER AND GOLDEN RAISINS

Oh wow, this was so bad!  Sooo bad, so bad.  It pains me to remember it, how it smelled, how it looked, yucko!

I think the problem was my dislike of liver, not the recipe, but that didn't help.  The kids took one look at it and told me they couldn't take a bite.

The pasta went well, it was classic flour, 3 egg yolks, olive oil, and 1/4 cup pumpkin.  It alll came together nicely with the Kitchen Aid mixer and pasta attachments (love my Christmas gift!)  It cooked well, in three minutes.

The sauce was the problem.  I put the raw liver in the food processor and ground it finely.  I soaked raisins for 10 minutes in hot water.  After melting butter, I sauteed a shallot, then the liver for a couple of minutes.  I added bourban and cooked a little longer.  Finally, I added the raisins, sage, a little reserved pasta water, and the pasta.  The texture, smell and everythingn else was bad.  I couldn't even give it to Harry the dog because of the bourbon and the raisins.  Runs from this recipe!

Solved the photo problem.  I had to upload my photos to picassa.

PAGE 263 SAUSAGE AND PEPPERS

Surprisingly delicious!  I did not have high hopes for a recipe called sausage and peppers.  How boring is that?  The water, ketchup and bay leaf kinda made a sauce that was very nice, I just expected fried onions and peppers with my sausage.  Wish me luck on up loading pictures!''Sidenote.  My friend Pellegrin owes me lunch.  He offered me tips (good ones) on adding cilantro to the gnocchi sauce,  Hopefully he will come through.

So, I added oil to a pan, sauteed sausage, removed it and added onions and peppers.  I added the sausage back to the pan with 1/2 cup water, some ketchup and a bay leaf.  Cooked for 20 minutes, removed the bay leaf, sliced the sausage and served it on rolls.  Win!  Very delicious.  I am not a pepper fan, but they added here.  Will make again.

Still problems with photos!  I will investigate further! 

PAGE 121 GRANDMA'S POTATO GNOCCHI

Ha!  Had to look up the way to spell GNOCCHI in Mike's cookbook twice before posting this!  Kids and Harry napping.  Had a fun day in Quantico talking about Motor Transport.  It's all in strategic planning, thinking about the future while staying focused on the present.  Leading us to...potato gnocchi!

I've always been a bit ambivalent about gnocchi, finding them a little bland and wondering what they accomplished that other pasta did not.  I'm not sure these answered my question, they tasted like gnocchi...but they were GOOD gnocchi.

I baked 4 russet potatoes and let them cool until I could handle them.  Then I boiled a big pot of water and scooped the flesh out of the potatoes.  I don't have a potato ricer so I just mashed them up.  I stirred in a cup of flour, egg yolks, parm reggiano and a lot of salt.  The dough was rolled into ropes, floured, and cut into inch long pieces.  I didn't have a problem with the dough sticcking when I rolled and cut it, maybe I was just lucky.  The pieces went into the boiling water and cooked for 2 minutes.  I took them out and served them with the Grand Mother tomato sauce.

Like I said, they were good, not exceptional, but they weren't hard to make or anything.  I could taste potato, but I don't think that was bad or anything.  I can see myself making these again.

(Having problems uploading photos!)

AMAZING PIE!

We had an amazing time at ICE! today.  The photos demonstrate how cool it was.  Not a Mike Isabella recipe, but adapted from a Joy the Baker recipe.  This is a totally easy pie, especially for non bakers or people with pie crust phobias.

Make a pie crust
1 cup flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup shortning
1/4 cup water


Blend together the flour, salt and shortning with a potato masher. Add the water.  You can sprinkle flour and roll it out, but I just wet my hands and press it into a pie pan.  Chill for 45 minutes in the refridge.  Preheat the oven to 400.

For the filling, mix
1 cup mascarpone
3/4 cup sour cream
1/3 cup honey


Bake the pie crust for 15 minutes, or until golden

When cool, add the mascarpone mixture

Top with 2 cups of fruit

Chill

PAGE 123 MOM'S BROILED CHICKEN WITH POTATOES AND ONIONS

Cold out today!  I went to church and Target, kept hoping it would be warmer when I got out of the car.  It was not.  We are going to see ICE! at National Harbor tomorrow, very excited, we've seen every ICE!  I've put off making this recipe, kinda hoping Doris would do it because it sounded so boring.  I mean, chicken and potatoes?  But, it really exceeded my expectations. 

I preheated the broiler on the oven and cut up a couple of potatoes and 16 pearl onions.  I made a paste out of olive oil, oregno, garlic, paprika and lemon zest.  I spread half of the paste on the chicken (I used a cut up whole chicken) and seasoned with salt and pepper.  I tossed the potatoes and onions with the remaining paste and salted it.  I added them to the pan and broiled for around 40 minutes.  The recipe said 25 minutes under the broiler, but the chicken was still raw. 

It was crispier and more flavorable than I expected.  It was kind of spicy and salty and the onions were crispy.  I felt bad for ignoring the recipe and will try to not judge!

PAGE 227 FISH TACOS WITH FENNEL SLAW AND BASIL AIOLI

Sorry for the long Christmas break!  We went to Pennsylvania and got busy.  Christmas was great, did a Men in Black 1, 2 and 3 marathon, caught nuances and amazingness.  Ate way too much, got an an
amazing kitchen aid mixer and pasta attachments.  Doris got a bracelet crafted from sand at Dewey Beach (at least they said it was from Dewey Beach). Came back yesterday.  The kids spun signs today and I made some good fish tacos.

I had some doubts about these fish tacos since they weren't battered.  I should have trusted Mike, they were delicious!  But a little work.  First I made fennel slaw.  I boiled water, vinegar and sugar.   Meanwhile, I finely diceed fennel, carrots (bought them finely diced), onion and pepper.  I marinated the vegetables in the liquid for 20 minutes, drained the liquid and added the fennel fronds, olive oil and salt. 

I next made the aioli.  Really, there is no basil this time of year, so we did plain, vs basil, aioli.  I put egg yolks, lemon juice, garlic and salt in the food processor, and added olive oil until it got thick.

It was really easy to fry the fish.  I fried them in olive oil, 2 minutes per side.

They were really good and not too hard.  I would make these again.  Now, off to watch Magic Mike!  Hello!

PAGE 7 SPICED PISTACHIOS

Mixed up football day!  Redskins and Cowboys won and Steelers lost.  But Dakota Meyer started following me on twitter (blush).  Made some spiced pisatchios which were good.  Not amazaballs good like the spiced peanuts but still highly delicious.

I used shelled pistachios, which I suppose violate the recipe, but we don't like shelling pistachios.  I blended garlic oil (again, purchased, you may be thinking why I bothered to make this...) oregano and rosemary.  I toasted fennel, coriander and carraway and added chilli flakes.  I added cayenne, paprika and salt and tossed everything over the pistachios.  Roasted them for 10 minutes and they were done.  They were very tasty, especially warm.  I would make them again.

PAGE 266 SPICED PORK LOIN WITH PUMPKIN SEED SAUCE

Everything is going well with our Christmas preps!  We have most of our gifts bought and the kids have finished their finals.  Made some really good pork loin.  It was a little expensive so I don't know if I would make it regularly, but everyone really liked it.

I went to Harris Teeter for my pork loins, and could only get two, for like $15.  I doubled the recipe and made a brine of cinnammon sticks, peppercorns, allspice, cumin, cloves, water, salt, garlic, brown sugar, bay leaves and thyme.  10 bay leaves are a lot!  The pork was very bay-y!

I refrigerated the pork in the brine for 4 hours.  While the pork was brining, I made the rub by toasting almonds, sesame seeds, cumin, peppercorns and clove.  I added bread crumbs, pumpkin seeds, salt and brown sugar. 

Started getting a  little bit involved, I had to make a sauce of onion, garlic, and jalepeno sauteed.  Then I processed it with pumpkin seeds, parsely, cilantro, lemon juice, olive oil and water.  I had to take a break and drink an alcoholic beverage.

Anyway, I removed the pork loin from the reefer, rinsed it, coated it in the rub, sauteed it and cooked it in the oven for 10 minutes.  I was kind of tired of making this.

I plated it and served it with the sauce.  Then I lay down to take a nap.  It was very good, though.  The pumpkin seed was kind of musky and added a good flavor note.

The sauce was green due to the cilantro and parsley.  Ooooh, we are going to watch Ted on DVD.  So excited!

PAGE 230 SLOW ROASTED BASS WITH STEWED ARTICHOKES, PINE NUTS AND BACON

Oh wow!  I don't normally like seafood at home.  It tastes really fishy and unpleasant.  I liked this recipe, though.  My kids did not.

I could not find sea bass and had to substitute halibut.  3 different stores!  I got tired!  I did the whole artichoke thing, lemon juice and water, cleaned artichokes.  I sauteed the bacon and shallot.  I added artichoke, carrots, garlic and salt.  I added white wine, thyme and bay leaf and after 10 minutes added chicken stock and simmered for 15 minutes. 

I topped the fish with bacon fat and salt and baked for 15 minutes.  While the fish was cooking I toasted pine nuts and added them to the artichoke mixture.  I topped the artichoke mixture with the fish.  It was good.  Not amazing or make this again immediayely, but solid.  Good if you are looking for something different.

   

PAGE 214 SCALLOP CUTLETS WITH BACON, BREAD CRUMBS AND ARUGULA PESTO

Jusr got back from Nanty Glo, PA.  It was great to see Doris, hang out, cook and work on the house.  Made some scallop cutlets.  I liked them, I really liked them, but I would have done a couple of things differently.  I liked cutting the sea scallops in half and pounding them thin.  I liked the bacon in the crumb mixture.  But I would add WAY more bacon to the crmb mixture (only three slices were called for, I would use at least six next time.)  And the arugula pesto was the wrong sauce for these.  Josh was particularly vocal about the fact that these needed a spicy, jalapeno based sauce, not a slightly bitter arugula based sauce. 

So, to make it I sliced the scallops in half and pounded them thin.  I toasted the pine nuts and cooked the 3 slices of bacon.  I added the bread crumbs to the bacon fat and sauteed them for 2 minutes.  I stirred in the bacon, chives and salt.  I set up a 3 bowl breading station with flour, egg and bread crumbs.  I coated the scallops in flour, egg and bread crumbs and fried them in 1/2 cup olive oil.I only had to fry them for a minute on each side.

I made the arugula pesto by combining arugla, parm reggiano, pine nuts, garlic and salt in the food processor and adding olive oil.  I plated the scallops with the sauce.

No one could taste the bacon or liked the sauce.  The scallops werre good, though.  I might make it again with more bacon.

 Nice picture of John!

PAGE 105 CALZONE WITH RICOTTA, YELLOW TOMATO AND PANCETTA

Good day at work, good policy day and planning a trip to Nanty Glo on Friday, followed up by a good Mike recipe day!  These calzones had a delicious supple crust, not too much ricotta (ricotta sometimes tastes like hot cottage cheese to me) and a good sauce.  There wasn't enough for dipping, however, and we resorted to jarred sauce!  I took a short detour and made my favorite Christmas cookie, Ann Hodgeman's almond triangles.        


http://books.google.com/books?id=OyNj7cP-ZJkC&pg=PA217&lpg=PA217&dq=PRICELESS+ALMOND+TRIANGLES&source=bl&ots=4gb3Dtgg_B&sig=RNrONgVttzWYNQTTfcbjTry4Vtg&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Kni1UPzEBsTG0AH66IDABA&ved=0CC4Q6AEwADgK#v=onepage&q=PRICELESS%20ALMOND%20TRIANGLES&f=false

Anyway, I made the dough, yeast, water, sugar flour, salt and olive oil and let it rest for an hour.  I divided it into 4 balls.  I made the sauce by heating olivr oil and sauyeeing the pancetta, adding onions and garlic, adding tomatoes and rosemary and cooking for 40 minutes.  Not hard or complicated. 

I mixed a container of ricotta, 1/2 cup of mozz and 1/4 cup parm reggiano.  I rolled out each of the 4 dough balls and spooned in 1/4 of the ricotta mixture and topped with 1/4 of the sauce.  I then baked for 15 minutes.  They were extremely delicious and worth making again.  I plan on making them when I see Doris this weekend, if time permits.

PAGE 183 EGG NOODLES WITH SPINACH, OVEN-DRIED TOMATO AND LEMON

Well, we got through Thanksgiving and black Friday.  The kids drove up to Doris' house in PA.  I held down the fort and used Alton Brown's recipe for turkey   http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/good-eats-roast-turkey-recipe/index.html?rsrc=thanksgiving  and was very pleased with how crispy the skin was and how moist the breast meat turned out.  The kids took a turducken to PA, I like that Harris Teeter carries turducken.  I met my friend Herbie for coffee at Starbucks and we had some delicious gingerbread and good convo. 



Good picture of Herbie.

The only shopping I did was to go to Barnes and Noble for a $59 Nook, which I got at 4:00 PM in 5 minutes.  Awesome!  Anyway, I did find time to make egg noodles with spinach, oven dried tomato and lemon and was happy that I did.  It was easy, tasty and filling.  I would make this again.  It is a casserole, so it would be either a good main dish or side dish.  There were no expensive or exotic ingredients, just egg noodles, grape tomatoes, onion and garlic (of course!  every recipe has had onions and garlic) fresh spinach, eggs, ricotta, milk, mascarpone, lemon zest and shredded provolone.  First I drizzled the tomatoes with olive oil and oven roasted them.  It took like an hour and a half.  I raised the oven temperature to 375 and brought water to a boil and cooked the egg noodles.  After sweating the onions and garlic I added the spinach to the frying pan until the spinach wilted (about 2 minutes).  When the onions/spinxh cooled I mixed in the tomatoes.  I cooked the noodles al dente and mixed with the spinach/onion mixture.  Next I mixed the eggs, ricotta, milk, mascarpone, lemon zest and salt in the blender.  I added to the noodle/spinach/onion mixture and put into an 8x8 baking dish.  I then topped with the shredded provolone and baked for 40 minutes.  Nothing was complex about this recipe.  I liked the addition of the lemon, it made it brighter, I might start adding lemon to more recipes.  Other than having to whip out the blender and the time it took to oven roast the tomatoes, this was no trouble at all, and very delicious in a lasagne kind of way.  A favorite in the cookbook, so far.  Doris promised she's making quiche on
monday, so look out!

Delicious noodle  casserole!

More delicious casserole!

One of my favorite pictures of my oldest son and my dad!

CHICKEN FEET!

Somehow I succumbed to peer pressure and made chicken feet.  I thibk I saw a recipe on chow.com that rapsodized over how crunchy and delicious they were and referred to them as adidas.  I was enchanted!  I bought a couple of lb at the fabulous Grandmart, but forgot to cook them.  I re-bought some more at Giant and set forth.  My awesome friend Herbie thought that me cooking chicken feet was the funniest thing that he had ever heard.

2 lb chicken feet
4 cups of lard
1 stick butter
2 TBLS garlic
1 1/2 quart water
2 TBS salt

Cut the little nails off of the feet.  Salt the feet and let them sit for 10 minutes.  Boil them for 1 1/2 hours.  Fry them in the lard.  Melt the butter and cook with the garlic until it is browned.  Top the feet with the garlic butter.  Try mightily to find some chicken to eat.  The pads of the feet have some fat, but the little fingers that look like human hand have nothing.  Repeat in futility, cursing the day you made chicken feet.

Not good!

Little hands!