Cookin No. 19 - First Day of School

I think that I am going to love college life! Today was the first day, I woke up early, and having barely slept threw the night, I slowly put on my uniform with trembling hands. This is the day, the day that I had been agonizing over since February, when I found out that I was accepted to this program. This is the day that marks the start of my new life.

So I get to the school early, thinking that I’ll just walk around for a while and get to drool over the huge kitchen that I’ll get to work in. However, when I pull into the parking lot, I see tons of people in white chef coats. Oh no! They stole my idea! Although, immediately as I step out of my car, I find three women, smile and say good morning, and poof, I have friends. Then we get to the class room, and I find that I am sitting in a room filled with 24 people who are as passionate about food as I am. On break we are talking about what we had for breakfast, or what we are going to make for dinner, or what our favorite dishes are. I can’t believe that I am so lucky.

After we settle down, Chef Duncan introduces us to the world of sanitation. Well, we only graze that topic, he hands out a take home test, and then onto nutrition with Chef Duncan again. I learned some very interesting things today, like did you know that vitamin D does not appear in milk naturally. The government requires that vitamin D be added to milk, because some crazy mothers, years ago, were putting tones of sunscreen on their kids, and covering them head to toe to protect them from the sun. However, vitamin D is obtained naturally from the sun, so all these over protected children were having vitamin deficiencies, and the government thought, “well kids drink milk, lets give put the vitamin D in the milk”, and tada! Vitamin D in milk. So if you don’t drink milk, just take a jaunt outside and soak in the nutrients.

I also got myself a job. My friend owns a hotdog stand, and with my unlucky streak of trying to find a job in a restaurant, she offered me a spot in her kitchen. So this weekend I was on my feet working the grill, making hot dogs, and scrubbing a lot of pots. It was a lot of fun, although, to be honest, I am having a hard time integrating into the world of my co-workers. Most of them are high school kids who seem to have a problem with everything, and don’t want to work too much. Don’t get me wrong, they seem like nice kids and all, but when we are slammed with customers, I don’t think it’s a good idea to be chatting with your friends. I had to try to calm down two very upset people who had to wait 30 minutes for porgies. I was on the hot dog station and the person who was on the grill and fryer was chatting with his buddies, and the cash register girl and I were too busy to notice that he didn’t put the order in. I completely understand why the people were upset, and I felt bad for them, because no one else seemed to care or understand. Oh well, I’m not going to take it personally.

However, I don’t know if I will be at the stand for long, because Wegman’s just called me today, and I have an interview on Wednesday after school! I hope I can get a position in one of their kitchens, because I know that I can learn so much from them. I am learning a lot from the hot dog stand though, like how to move fast, how to share a small space with two other people and still be efficient. Those are such good skills.

Well, I just finished up my homework for today, I think that I will sit back on my balcony for a bit and just enjoy this day.

Bon Appetite

Cookin No. 18 - Guacamole and Salmon Cakes

After a few days of dreaming about guacamole, I finally decided to do something about it, and make some. My idea was guacamole stuffed tomatoes, so my souse chef, chris came over, and after a glass of wine for me, and a beer for her, we set forth to make some guac. Although, there was a slight detour in our cooking, when I cut into my tomatoes, there was… how should you say… growth. It appeared that my tomatoes were trying to grow more tomatoes within themselves. So after a quick run to the giant, we were back to cooking. I am convinced that I am one of the messiest cooks out there, because when I’m done cooking, half of the dish is all over the kitchen. When I made truffles, there was a nice layer of chocolate, and today, there was guacamole everywhere. But it came out tasting good, so I won’t complain, nothing a sponge won’t take care of. After the tomatoes were stuffed, there was a plenty of guacamole left, so I made some tortilla chips, and we gorged ourselves on the goodness.

Guacamole stuffed tomatoes (I will have to load pictures tomorrow):

3 avocados, halved, seeded and peeled
1 lime, juiced
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
½ Vidalia onion, diced
5 tomatoes with the insides scooped out
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
1 clove garlic, minced

Put the avocados, lime juice, salt, cumin, onion, tomato innards, cilantro and garlic in the blender and rev that engine. Scoop the guacamole into the tomatoes, top with grated cheddar and put into the oven at 350o until the cheese is melted. Garnish with tortilla chips.

Tortilla chips:

1 tortilla
Salt
Olive oil

Cut the tortilla into 8 pieces, place on a cookie sheet and sprinkle with olive oil. With a pastry brush smooth out the olive oil, then sprinkle some salt over the slices. Turn the tortilla slices over and repeat the olive oil and salt. Place into an oven at 350o for about 10 minutes, until the tortillas are golden brown.

Plate and enjoy.



After I headed out to my parents house to help my father cook for dinner. We made Hong Kong Salmon cakes with baby Bok Choy. A delicious dish. I had salmon cakes once in my life before today, and I didn’t really like them, but these were amazing. I enjoy cooking with my father, we seem to be like to dynamic duo, arguing and laughing. A good time.

Hong Kong Salmon Cakes with Baby Bok Choy, courtesy of Tyler Florence:














Salmon Cakes:

1/4 cup peanut oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 shallot, minced
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
1 to 2 red or green chiles, minced
1 1/2 pounds skinless boneless salmon fillets, cut in small cubes
1 cup fresh bread crumbs (4 slices white bread with crusts removed pulsed in the food processor)
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro leaves 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 lemon, juiced
1 large egg white
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons peanut oils

Bok Choy:

2 tablespoons peanut oil
2-inch piece fresh ginger
2 heads baby bok choy, halved lengthwise
1/4 cup water
3 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup oyster sauce
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 tablespoon brown sugar
Toasted sesame seeds,
chopped cilantro leaves,
and sliced green onion, for garnish

To make the salmon cakes:
Heat 2 tablespoons of the peanut oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic, shallot, ginger, and chiles; saute for a few minutes to release the flavor. Remove from heat to cool slightly. In a mixing bowl, combine the salmon, bread crumbs, cilantro, mayonnaise, lemon juice and egg white. Scrape the garlic/ginger oil into the salmon mixture; season with salt and pepper. Fold the ingredients together gently but thoroughly, taking care not to mash the salmon too much. Using your hands, form the mixture into 4 salmon cakes, they should be moist and just hold together.

Coat a non-stick skillet with the 2 tablespoons of peanut oil and bring it to a slight smoke over medium heat. Fry the salmon cakes until brown, about 4 minutes on each side, turning carefully with a spatula. Keep warm on a plate lined with paper towels.

To make the bok choy:
Return the skillet to the heat and coat with the 2 tablespoons of peanut oil and heat until almost smoking. Split the piece of ginger open with a knife then whack it with the flat side of the knife. Lay the ginger pieces in the oil, cut-side down to let it start to perfume. Pan-fry the bok choy, cut-side down, for a couple of minutes to give it some color. Add the water and cook another minute to steam the bok choy; carefully remove it to a plate. Add the soy sauce, oyster sauce, lemon juice, and brown sugar. Cook and stir for 3 minutes until the sauce is the consistency of syrup.

Serve the salmon cakes with the bok choy, and drizzle the brown sauce over the whole thing. Garnish the dish with the toasted sesame seeds, cilantro, and green onion.

Plate and enjoy.

I want to make sure that you are aware that this recipe was obtained from the food network, and is a recipe by Tyler Florence. And it was damn good.

Tomorrow, I will head out to lunch with some ladies from my old job. It will be strange to see the office again, and to see my old desk, empty.

Until next time, Bon Appetite

Cookin No. 17 - Olives and Tomato Sauce

I sit back with a glass of wine, eating fat black grapes, and reading Rumi. The moon hangs brightly in the sky tonight, the air is cool, and I am on my balcony taking a break from Rumi, watching the little boy who lives next door run around with a blanket wrapped around him like a cape. He is bat man; he is the mighty hero on this dark night. His mother sits in the grass, massaging the back of my other neighbor; I think they have formed the relationship. The big R. I’m happy for her, because I was getting sick of her screaming at all her other men, day and night, it started to get a little tiresome. But she seems genuinely happy now, and the guy is really great with her kid. That is always wonderful to see.

So here I sit, thinking about a good weekend. On Friday my friend Jared and I went to see Tori Amos play at the PNC Bank Arts Center in New Jersey. It was a good show, and we got awesome seats.

Then on Saturday I headed to Brooklyn to visit my brother and his fiancé, in their snazzy NY apartment. Of course I got a bit lost getting there, driving in Manhattan always unnerves me, I become a maniac begging those crazy taxi drivers to just think about cutting me off. So after circling the Holland Tunnel for a while I finally found my way to the Manhattan Bridge, and made way to a really nice part of Brooklyn. After the quick tour of the apartment, we headed out for some lunch. We went to a nice French wine bar, where we had a wonderful Riesling and I had the cold cucumber and tomato soup, with olives on top. It was wonderful, and I finally found out that I do like olives. As a kid, I hated them; they were too salty in my young opinion. But suddenly the flavor just exploded in my mouth, so meaty, and salty sweet, I really liked it. So now I am going to explore the wonderful world of olives. Wegmans has a nice olive bar, so tomorrow I am going to have a sampling. After lunch we went to a seafood market, and my brother picked out mussels, clams and shrimp in preparation for Paella. I am amazed at these small markets, just think, everything you want is a few steps out your door, and they usually have really good stuff. After we went back to the apartment to find out what was still needed, Kim and I headed out to get a bottle of wine, and pick up the rest of the ingredients. The wine store really amazed me, the sales man, gave really good suggestions about what would go good with the Paella, and when we purchased the wine, they put it in a chiller for us to come back after the rest of the shopping to pick it up. Out here, they do not have sales associates who are so knowledgeable about wine and what would be good with what, it’s a bit of a guessing game, and you pick up tips here and there, but I keep thinking how nice it would be to have a store that knows its stuff. After all that, the Paella came out really good, though my brother was agonizing over how cooked the rice was, I thought it was wonderful, and a good first dinner party at their apartment.

I didn’t get home until 3:00 on Sunday morning; I had gone out to a bar with Kim’s sister, Tara after dinner. And after a few hours of sleep I headed out to my parents house to pick up my Grandfather, for a visit to my great aunt and uncle. My uncle Lenny is an Italian who insists that you come for a visit during lunch. He always cooks so much food, and for lunch we had raviolis, meatballs and sausage, a huge salad, and chocolate cake. I was so glad that I didn’t eat breakfast, because that was filling. I couldn’t help but think back to when I was a kid, and watching my uncle make sauce, or gravy as the Jersey Italians call it. It would always fill the house with a wonderful smell, and one day I learned the great secret to tomato sauce. He told me to add a little bit of sugar to cut the acidity of the tomatoes, and now when I make my sauce there is always a bit of sugar that goes in. He also always had an amazing garden that I always loved to get lost in. We would pull up carrots, and go inside to wash them off and then just crunch right into them. He had everything in his garden, sugar snap peas that melted in your mouth, radishes that were so wonderfully spicy, lettuce, herbs, peppers, tomatoes and so much more. Everything in his garden always seemed to taste a hundred times better than something you could buy into a store.

I just realized that I don’t have a recipe for tomato sauce; I just imitate everything I saw my family do when I was a kid. Perhaps tomorrow I will make a pot and create a recipe.

Until then, Bon Appetite

Cookin No. 16 - Job Huntin

Today with resume in hand, I went to the top 4 restaurants in the Lehigh Valley, and introduced myself. I collected cards, exchanged words, and I will be that persistent annoyance that calls back for weeks until I hear something. Positive or not, I want a job. I am such a food snob, my only desire is to work for the best, I suppose that if the best doesn’t want me, then Ruby Tuesday’s is hiring. However, I also went to Wegman’s, and a very decedent chocolate shop in Bethlehem to apply for an inexperienced position. So lets keep the fingers crossed.

Now, I am going to sit back with a bottle of Hoegaarden, and read more about the wonderful world of Sanitation. Which I have to say, is extremely scary. All the germs and disease… its just… *shudder*

Bon Appetite

Cookin No. 15 - Oysters and Resumes

The first few days of unemployment have been, kind of boring. I’m not used to this no job thing, since I was 15 I have always had a job. So this will be a good experience for me, learning how to relax.

On Friday, my friends Chris and Mat took me out to dinner, we went to Marblehead Grille and Chowder. It was a nice place, though I think that we were the youngest people in the joint. Our waiter seemed surprised to see us, and even more surprised when we ordered oysters. And then it happened, I ate my first oyster. It was… not that bad… I honestly didn’t see what was so wonderfully delicious about them, when people talk about eating oysters, they sound like they had the most profound and enjoyable culinary experience of their lives, and to be honest, my oysters tasted a bit like mussels. Don’t get me wrong, I love mussels, I could eat them day and night, so I did enjoy my oysters, but I don’t understand the hype. I think my major question is, are you supposed to chew the oyster? Mine kind of crawled down my throat too quickly for me to enjoy them in my mouth. They are very slippery.

I did some research on oysters, and did you know that they are a wonderful source for vitamins? I had no idea that oysters have vitamins A, B1(thiamin), B2 (riboflavin), B3 (niacin), C ( ascorbic acid) and D (calciferol). They say that four to five oysters supplies the allotted daily source for, iron, copper, iodine, magnesium, calcium, zinc, manganese and phosphorus. I find that amazing.

Maybe people love oysters so much, because they are linked to Aphrodite. It was this goddess that sprang from the ocean in an oyster shell. And it is said that if you eat an oyster, you will fall in love. Hmm, well, I have to say I didn’t fall in love, but next time I try an oyster, who knows what could happen.

After the oysters were swimming with the fishes in my stomach, the weekend happened. Which I have to say was very uneventful, I mainly lounged around and blew my nose a lot. I really don’t like summer colds.

Last night I had dinner with my parents, and my father made Carbonera. Its amazing, his carbonera has such a flavor, that I have yet to copy. Maybe its because he uses garlic powder, but I will have to experiment a little more, and see what I can come up with.

As a going back to school gift, my parents gave me a book on truffles and other candies. I am so excited, some of the recipes look amazing. Ever since I have explored the recipe I got off of brownie points, I have been thinking about truffles, and here is the answer to all my questions. “Truffles, candies & confections” by Carole Bloom. With recipes like, fresh mint chocolate truffles, five-spice truffles and Madagascar bourbon vanilla truffles, I can tell that I am going to enjoy this. There are also a few recipes for marzipan, mmm, I love marzipan.

And now the rain starts. Today I am going to start on my resume, and start making a lit of restaurants that I would like to work for, even the ones that are a bit out of my league. I am also going to read a few more chapters out of my “Serve Safe Sanitation” book for school, which is already making me a bacteria nut.

Until later, Bon Appetite

Cookin No. 14 - Last days and Banana Loaf

I must say, that this week has been one of the strangest weeks of my life. It was the last week at my job, a job that I have been at, or should I say “had” been at for 4 ½ years. That’s the beginning of my adult life. That is one reason why I didn’t post this week, the other is because I managed to get a nasty cold, and was laid up in bed on Wednesday burning off the fever. Ick. Now that I am well, and today is/ was my last day at work, I really don’t have much to say at the moment, but I wanted to talk about the banana loaf that I made on Monday night. J It is my mother’s recipe, and it came out just the way I love my banana loaf.

As I was running out the door, Monday morning I went to grab a banana for breakfast, and realized that the bushel had seemed to pass its peak. The only thing I can think to do with almost bad bananas is banana loaf. I think I am turning into my mother.


Banana loaf:

2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/3 cup shortening
3 Tablespoons milk
1 cup masked bananas
2 cups of sifted flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup chopped walnuts

Mix together sugar, eggs, shortening. Sir in the milk and bananas. Sift and stir in the flour, soda, powder and salt. Then blend in the nuts. Throw into a 9x5x3 loaf pan and bake at 350o for 50 to 60 minutes.

Let cool and enjoy.

Right now I am going to run off and enjoy dinner with my friends. Chris and Mat are taking me out to a nice sea food joint. I’ll let you know what I think later.

Until then, Bon Appetite

Cookin No. 13 - The State Fair

Music fest has come to town, and as a local, I fled Bethlehem as the hordes of tourists came in to see the show. Music fest usually means slow traveling around the city, It means that you probably won’t be able to get to your favorite restaurant, and that you won’t be able to find a parking spot. Music fest means a week at home, staying out of sight and relaxing. So this weekend was relaxing at the lake, and the weather was great. We had planned on having a Tuscan dish for an early dinner, and then head out to the Sussex county fair for some hick fun. Although everyone decided that they would rather eat fair food, so dinner was cancelled. My friend and I enjoyed a tomato, basil and mozzarella sandwich by the lake before we jumped in for a swim. After the swim we headed out to the fair. The dish was supposed to be tuna, with red onion, brochette and canolini beans with sage. It’s a easy and quick dish to put together, and very refreshing in the summer. I first experienced it in the town of Luca, Italy, where I also had my first bite of real parmesan cheese, oh what a delightful dinner that was.

Tuscan Tuna:

One can of Progresso Tuna in Oil, per person
1 red onion
A couple of sprigs of sage
Olive oil
Canolini beans
Tomatoes
Fresh basil
Balsamic vinegar
garlic
Bread
Mozzarella

The beans:

Rinse the beans and in a bowl toss with olive oil, and chopped sage. Add a pinch of salt and pepper and let chill in the refrigerator.

The Brochette:

Dice the tomato, a real feat I know, but do your best. Mix the tomatoes with chopped basil, vinegar, olive oil, pinch of salt, pepper, and finely chopped garlic. Cut the bread into slices, and place on a baking sheet. Spoon the tomatoes onto the bread and then cover with shredded mozzarella. Set into preheated oven at 350o until they are golden.

Tuna:

Open can of tuna, squeeze out some of the oil, scoop tuna onto plate, and put a slice of red onion over it.

Then finish the plate off with the Brochette and beans.

Eat and be merry.

I will have to make this dish soon so that I can show you what it looks like.

Onto the fair:



I really enjoyed the vegetable competition; some of the veggies were so amazing looking. Like a rippled tomato, I had never seen a tomato that looked like that, and baskets of the most amazing looking vegetables, made me just want to take one home and start cooking. There was also a flower show, and some of the arrangements were just gorgeous, I saw the perfect roses, they looked like they would taste delicious, perfect sunflowers that breathed warmth into the air, and other vibrant colors.

After looking at the horticulture we moved on towards the food tents, and saw a vendor that was making ice cream on the spot. They has redesigned a John Deere engine from 1903 to churn ice cream, it made quite a bit of noise, and we just had to try the ice cream. I had vanilla and peach, which were very good, but not as good at the purple cow in Easton. We were also going to watch some cows get milked, but moved on before the show started. There were rows of prize winning beef cattle, and I kept looking at them thinking, “my god, I’m looking my food in the eye”, it was a little hard to stay around them. The impersonal ness of a slab of meat, and meeting the source, is kind of daunting. But I survived.

The best part of the day was the demolition derby though. No food involved, but highly entertaining. I had never experienced one before, and this being my first time, I loved it. I never thought watching beat up cars smashing into each other would be considered entertainment, but I was unlike anything I had ever seen. I found myself rooting for cars with funny paint jobs, and actually being disappointed when my car lost. It was a true test of machine against machine. We were sitting so close that we got sprayed with dirt, and I didn’t even care.

And now, I am sitting back, thinking about what to make for dinner, maybe I’ll find some ripe tomatoes and see what happens.



Bon Appetite

Cookin No. 12 - Carbonera

Half day Fridays at work, just make the summer perfect. After I left the office, I headed home for a quick nap, and then back out for an oil change. Got to keep the car running. all went well, and when I returned home, I took last nights prep work out of the fridge and made myself a bowl of Carbonera. The workers lunch, comprised of left over breakfast, is a favorite of mine. I have watched my father make it for years, and recipes vary, but here is the one that I grew up with, and the one that I love the most.

Carbonera:



Three eggs
Romano cheese
Pinch of salt
Fresh basil
A bit of ground pepper
One chopped clove of garlic

6 strips of bacon (more or less according to your preference)
Pot of boiling water
Some spaghetti

The bacon:

In a pan on medium heat, cook the bacon to your desired level of cooked. Crispy or not. But keep the grease! Put the grease aside in another bowl, your going to want it later. After the bacon cools, cut into bits.

The egg:

In a bowl, beat the eggs, salt, pepper, chopped basil, and garlic. Cook in a pan until cooked, and then take off the heat, let it cool and then cut the “omelet” into strips.

The pasta:

Boil water, cook pasta, drain the water.

In a pan on medium heat, throw in the bacon grease, bacon, egg, and spaghetti, mix well and then plate.

Sprinkle a bit of fresh chopped basil on the dish and enjoy.

I sat back and enjoyed my lunch on the balcony, Riley was eating my basil plant, and I didn’t really care. This dish always makes me just not care about anything.

After lunch, I met a friend for a drink, and then we sat back on her deck and enjoyed the cooling air. On the drive home, there must have been 15 hot air balloons in the sky. That is the great thing about growing up so close to Hunterdon County, the balloons from Clinton, NJ. As I was driving along, listening to Louie Armstrong sing about the sunny side of the street, I watched a balloon land in someone’s yard, and the chaser, (a person who drives around with a case of champagne chasing the balloons) pulled up and handed the family who’s property the balloon landed on a bottle of champagne. That’s customary, sort of an apology for dropping in unexpected. But seeing this, reminded me of a girl who I was friends with when I was very young, her family had a hot air balloon, and one night I was outside with my family and I hear someone call my name. I look around, but don’t see anyone, and then I look up, and there she is with her parents about to land in our back yard. I would like to go up in one of those some day, when I have enough money of course.

Well I head out, with my memories, for the night.

Bon Appetite

Cookin No. 11 - Outside my window and a missed meal

Outside my window, the heat wins another battle, and I hide in the shelter of my air conditioning. Although, I am not alone, a juicy peach sits on a plate next to me, half eaten, a glass of Sangiovese sits in front of me, a lit cigarette smolders in the ash tray to my left, and the prep work is done for tonight’s dinner. Pam was right, this wine is a good wine for relaxing in the evening. The smell of fresh basil wafts threw my apartment, and I had just chased Penny off from trying to steal a piece of bacon. That little scamp will stop at nothing, sometimes I think she is more dog than cat, to date she has made off with broccoli, the insides of a Wegman’s sub, a piece of chicken off my mother’s dinner place, tuna off of a sandwich, and she likes to chew on bones. Now she is resorting to stealing my bacon… extreme measures must be taken, no matter how cute you are, don’t mess with bacon. Unfortunately Penny is just too cute, so I give her a piece of bacon anyway.

I have skipped tai chi today, the heat was pounding on me at I couldn’t bring myself to get all sweaty on this fine day. The air conditioner is making so much noise, that I kind of wish it were cooler outside, so I could have the windows thrown open, and just enjoy the fresh air. However the air out there isn’t too fresh today, it is heavy and rank, and I refused to smoke my after work cigarette, because my lungs were just to angry. So I went to Wegmans, and slid threw the isles, smelling all the fresh fruit, taking in the aroma of the just baked bread, stood over the basil a little longer than necessary, day dreaming about Italy, and imagining that there I could sit outside and enjoy the day.

Outside my window, a car drives by, with rap music playing so loud, that my knees are vibrating. The beater honks its horn, and of courses its for my annoying neighbor who likes to throw loud drunken parties into the wee hours of the morning during the work week. But soon the car drives off and I am again enjoying Charlie Musselwhite’s harmonica. Blues and summer seem to go hand in hand, well, to me blues and anything go together, but today its especially enjoyable to sit back and let my eyes glaze over just a little.

Well my company just arrived, and dinner tonight won’t be happening, due to gastrointestinal issues. No worries, I put everything away, and it’ll make lunch tomorrow.

Now I sit back and finish my wine, and have a conversation with my friend.

Until tomorrow with recipe in hand, Bon Appetite.

Cookin No. 10 - Crepes for the day

After Monday, I got the bad craving for zucchini, and I was thinking about doing something for that night, however when I got home, a strange desire to clean came over me. So Monday was spent scrubbing, vacuuming, dusting, and reorganizing. Thanks to this website: http://www.lifeorganizers.com/, I was able to find the inspiration to get up and run around like a mad woman. Most of the advice the site gives on cleaning is kind of obvious, but sometimes it is good to have a little inspiration, a little push in the direction you really don’t feel like going in.

Back to zucchini, I decided that after tai chi yesterday, I would have A over so I could try out my zucchini and crepe idea on him. I was moderately surprised at how well this came out, mainly because the only recipe I even looked at was the crepe recipe. For the crepes I used a recipe for manicotti, because A is lactose intolerant, and manicotti doesn’t call for milk.

Zucchini Crepes:

Manicotti:

1 cup sifted flour
1 cup water
1 T. olive oil
2 eggs
Pinch of salt

Beat everything together.

Using a crepe pan (or a flat skillet), heat on medium heat and melt a pat of butter. Pour batter onto the pan, if you want big crepes then use a large spoonful, if you want smaller crepes then use a smaller portion.

Zucchini inside (for two people, makes 4 crepes):

1 Zucchini (Take the skin off the zucchini, and then keep using the peeler to make long strips of zucchini.)
2 chopped shallots
Pinch of salt
Grated Romano cheese

In a sauté pan, heat a small portion of olive oil and then throw in the shallots. Let them cook for about 30 seconds or until they start to appear translucent, then add the zucchini and a pinch of salt. Sauté until the zucchini starts to seem like its melting. Take off the heat, put keep near the stove. Start to make the crepes.

Cook the crepes only one side, put the zucchini onto a portion of the crepe, sprinkle the Romano cheese over it and flip over the other half, and let cook.

Plate and enjoy.

The nice this about this dish was that the zucchini took on a different flavor with the Romano cheese. It was a very light dish, which was good for a hot day.

You will notice that I am trying to make this blog much more visual. So when I can, I am going to try to take pictures of my dishes, hopefully they come out ok.

Bon Appetite

Cookin No. 9 - Spice and Orange makes chocolate go round

On Saturday, I headed to Long Island for my brother’s bridal shower, well, it was mainly for Kim, but he got some cool stuff too. My cousin Carolyn, her daughter Kassidy, my mother and I piled into the car and headed out way too early, in hopes to beat the traffic. We beat it all right; we beat it 2 hours early. No worries though, we got some coffee and chatted for a while.

The house that the party was at was beautiful, when I get older and ready to take on the responsibility of a mortgage, I would love a house like that. Hard wood floors, open and spacious front room, a good size dinning room, a really nice kitchen with a good amount of room to spread out, a nice enclosed patio, and a very well shaded small yard. Enough of that, onward to the food…

Lunch was catered by a Panini joint down the road, and they were very good panini’s on a ciabatta bread. Very nicely grilled vegetables and chicken on mine, and a good fresh arugula salad to top. Mmmm arugula. On ciabatta bread, I had first encountered this bread by name at wegmans, and it happens to be the bread I love to make my mozzarella, tomato and basil sandwich on. It is usually a bit flatter than most bread, and always had a good solid crust. However, ciabatta is really a bread of many verities, but always the same slipper shape. Most people believe the ciabatta originated in Lake Como, Italy, however there is a gentleman at Pan Technology, (a school in Italy devoted to bread, everything bread, and how to make it better), who claims to be the inventor of ciabatta. Regardless of who made it first, ciabatta is good bread.

For desert there was an ice cream cake by carvel, chocolate chip cookies, fruit salad, and Chile Orange Truffles. I was so full from the lunch that I bypassed the cake and cookie, and grabbed a fruit salad, and one truffle. See I made the truffle, so I had to have one. I got the recipe for the truffles from: http://www.browniepointsblog.com/, and I have to say, they were wonderful.

After I let the truffles cool in the refrigerator and scooped them out, I found that the ones I made were too large, this recipe is very rich, and the next time I make them, I will defiantly have to cut them down in size, so that they can be enjoyed even on a full stomach. The recipe was easy to follow, and very easy to make, there were something that I will have to try again. The spicy part of the truffle was cayenne pepper, and it left such a hint of a bite, that if the person didn’t know what it was, they were a bit confused. It was a wonderful addition though, and I think I’ll put cayenne pepper in more chocolate now.

As for now, I am contemplating what I should make for dinner. Something very fresh, I think I’m in the mood for zucchini.

Bon Appetite