Fettuccini and Shrimp Rosé

I think I was Italian in another life. I just wish I could remember living in Italy. It was probably pretty awesome, but the memories escape me.

But seriously, even though I'm part Norwegian, part Russian Jew, part German and a smattering of American Indian, I'm partial to Italian food, particularly pasta.

Tom is generally the pasta chef in our house. Sometime in the early 1980's he acquired this cookbook, which he's nearly worn out...


It's chock-full of wonderful, authentic Italian pasta recipes from classic red sauce to carbonara to puttanesca. There are really 99 recipes in the book, but even though Tom has used the cookbook for over 30 years, we have yet to try every single one.

This particular recipe isn't in the book, probably because combining Parmesan cheese and shrimp (or any kind of fish, for that matter) is supposed to be taboo in authentic Italian cooking. However, I've been known to break tradition now and then.

If you are craving a hearty dish that's quick and easy, here it is. The whole dish takes about 30 minutes from stove top to table. Warm a loaf of French bread in the oven and you've got a meal for a family of four to six people, depending on appetites.

I use smallish frozen shrimp, 31-40 count. They're bite sized, yet big in flavor.

Feel free to use any other kind of pasta ~ spaghetti, linguini, angel hair ~ whatever you have on hand.


Fettucini and Shrimp Rosé

• 4 tablespoons butter (divided)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 20 to 25 medium-sized raw shrimp (31-40 count), peeled and deveined
• 1 - 1 pound package fettuccine, linguine or spaghetti
• 1 small onion, finely diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red chili flakes
• 1 - 14.5 ounce can fire-roasted diced tomatoes, drained
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup fresh or frozen sweet peas
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving

Over medium high heat, melt two tablespoons of butter with the olive oil in a large skillet (it should be large enough to hold all the pasta and sauce at the end). Add the onions and sauté until slightly browned (about 6 or 7 minutes). Add the garlic and cook another minute.

Add the tomatoes, chili flakes, salt, pepper and brown sugar and bring the mixture to a boil.

Add the white wine and peas to the pan and bring to a full boil. Add the cream and Parmesan cheese and again bring the mixture to a full boil, stirring constantly. Reduce the heat so that the mixture is barely simmering and prepare the pasta according to package directions.

While pasta is cooking, quickly sauté the shrimp in the remaining 2 tablespoons butter and set aside.

To serve, drain the pasta and add it and the cooked shrimp to the simmering sauce.

Enjoy!

Pizza For Breakfast and Dinner

We are not big pizza lovers so we don't have it often. When we do eat it, generally we make it ourselves rather than eat out or order in. I know we are in the minority. Just a trip to the grocery store confirms that. I don't know about where you live, but the grocery stores in my town have a long freezer case dedicated to pizza. In addition, there are at least half a dozen pizza places within one minute's driving time from my house. It boggles my mind.

In addition, you could ask any of my six grandchildren and I'd bet every single one of them would say that pizza would be in their top two favorite foods.

What is it about pizza? Is it the crust? One place has a thin crust. Another a thick, chewy crust. And yet another a thick crust stuffed with cheese. Speaking of cheese, maybe that's the draw. Gooey, greasy cheese on top of the meats, vegetables, sauce. I think it's probably a combination of all of those things.

My pizza tastes run toward the non-traditional. Gusano's is a restaurant here in Conway that makes a pizza they call The Chaplin: an oil-base pie with Chicken, Artichoke Hearts, Onions, Tomatoes, Mozzarella & Feta Cheese. That's our choice, but we add spinach and ask them to hold the tomatoes. It's quite good when we are in the mood for pizza and don't feel like cooking. Another favorite of mine is prepared at Post Corner Pizza in Clearwater Beach, Florida, which is, oddly enough, a Greek restaurant. Although they make many traditional Italian style pizzas, their Greek pizza is awesome.

My favorite pizza of all time is one that Tom makes at home from a recipe he found in Bon Apetit magazine while waiting for his appointment with the dentist. You wouldn't think that potatoes would be good on pizza. I surely didn't think so when Tom suggested it, but I was wrong. This Asparagus, Fingerling Potato and Goat Cheese Pizza is delicious.

Asparagus, Fingerling Potato and Goat Cheese Pizza
Adapted from Bon Apetit Magazine

5 ounces fingerling potatoes (Tom has also substituted 2 or 3 Yukon Gold potatoes with fine results)
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1 garlic clove, pressed
4 green onions, thinly sliced, divided
1-1/3 cups grated mozzarella cheese
4 ounces soft fresh goat cheese, crumbled
8 ounces asparagus, trimmed, each spear cut in half lengthwise, then crosswise into 2- to 3-inch pieces
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
pinch of red pepper flakes (this is Tom's addition to the recipe. I love the little bit of heat it adds)

Pizza dough or pre-made pizza crust
Cornmeal (for sprinkling)

Place potatoes in small saucepan. Add enough water to cover by 1 inch. Sprinkle with salt. Bring to boil and cook until potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes. Drain. Cool. Cut potatoes into thin slices.

Preheat oven to 450°F. Sprinkle rimless baking sheet or pizza pan with cornmeal. If you are using pizza dough, roll and stretch pizza dough to 16x11-inch oval. Transfer to baking sheet. Mix 1 tablespoon olive oil and garlic in small bowl. Brush garlic oil over dough. Sprinkle 3/4 of green onions over the dough, then the mozzarella, leaving 1/2-inch plain border. Top the mozzarella with the potato slices and goat cheese. Toss asparagus with the remaining 1 tablespoon oil in medium bowl. Scatter asparagus over pizza. Sprinkle with Parmesan, then lightly with salt and generously with pepper. Sprinkle sparsely with red pepper flakes

Bake pizza until crust is browned and asparagus is tender, about 18 minutes. Transfer to cutting board. Sprinkle with remaining green onions. Cut into pieces.

PRINT THE RECIPE

Yummy....

Of course, pizza is not just for lunch or dinner anymore.

Last week I was trying to figure out what to fix Tom for breakfast for Father's Day. He had already said he wanted to make Seafood and Chicken Paella for dinner, so I didn't want to make something heavy. One of his favorite breakfasts is smoked salmon with herbed cream cheese, sliced red onion and tomato on croissants or bagels. I had almost settled for that until I saw Sam's post @ My Carolina Kitchen featuring Jacques Pepin's Pink Salmon Pizza on Naan Bread.

Except for the Naan bread (print the recipe here), there really isn't a recipe, but here is what I did.

I mixed the dough for the naan bread after dinner the night before and let it rise 4 hours. After it had risen, I cut the dough into 4 pieces (instead of the 6 pieces called for in the recipe). I rolled each piece into a ball and placed it on a lightly oiled plate, covered the plate of dough with plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator over night.

The next morning, after my cup of coffee, I removed the plate of dough from the refrigerator and let it come to room temperature.

In the meantime, I mixed 4 ounces of cream cheese (I used low-fat) with 1/2 cup of sour cream (also low-fat), then chopped some fresh dill and chives from my garden and added the herbs to the creamy mixture and stirred until smooth.


I set the cream mixture aside while I baked the naan bread. I used the stove-top method, baking the bread in a large skillet. Each round only takes about 3 minutes each.


When the bread was done and cooled, I started to assemble the pizza, first by spreading a generous layer of the cream cheese/sour cream mixture.


Then I layered the salmon, sliced red onions, thinly sliced tomato (on Tom's only; I left it off of mine), a few capers and sprinkled each one with a little more of the minced chives and dill. For any of the ingredients, you can add as much or as little as you like, or add something additional.


This was a nice change from our usual croissants or bagels and definitely worth the extra time to roll out and cook the naan bread.

A hint about rolling out the dough (or any other dough, for that matter). I've tried using a cutting board, my granite countertop, my sil-pat...just about everything imaginable to roll out dough and keep it from sticking, with absolutely no luck whatsoever. Then someone said in a blog somewhere to use parchment paper. I wish I could remember who said it. I would love to give them full credit for the idea because it is the perfect solution. I've tried it with dough from any number of breads and scones and it works perfectly every single time. And the clean up is easier, too!

Pasta with Sausage, Onions & Fennel

My husband Tom started to become an adventurous cook back in the late 70's and early 80's. Our two growing and very hungry sons were in middle and high school. My career was taking off and I was working late hours and commuting back and forth to work over an hour each way, which left little time for cooking up great meals every night. Tom's schedule was far more flexible than mine, so he did most of the grocery shopping and cooking. I rarely asked him what he was cooking for dinner. I would just come home from work and eat what was put in front of me. Everything was generally pretty good and I was so appreciative that Tom had just jumped in with both feet and made certain all of us were well fed.

By the time both boys had graduated from high school, Tom was quite an accomplished cook. He had even purchased a couple of cookbooks that included several recipes we've used for many years.

I remember the fall of 1992, my sister-in-law invited me to her cabin at Lake Almanore to vacation with her and a couple of her friends. Carol taught me to cross stitch that fall and the four of us talked, walked, played cards, read and had a great time.

At the end of our vacation week before we left the lake, I called Tom to let him know that I would be home between 5:00 or 6:00pm, in time for dinner. He was excited to let me know that he was going to prepare a new pasta dish for my homecoming.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Pasta with sausage and peas," he said.

My heart sunk. It sounded just awful. Honestly, I was hoping that at the very least I wouldn't gag when I took my first bite.

When I got home, Tom started cooking. I looked at the ingredients (Italian sausage, peas, onions, garlic, fresh rosemary, white wine) and tried not to roll my eyes in disgust. How can this possibly taste good, I thought. There's hardly anything in it!

My reaction seems silly now when I think back. At the time, I considered myself an adventurous eater. I didn't have a problem eating escargot (snails) or ceviche (fish "cooked" by the acid of lemon and lime juices). But I was turning my nose up at these "normal" ingredients he was about to put together for dinner.

Boy, was I proven wrong. Not only was the dish delicious, it became one of my favorites. When I'm craving pasta that's fairly light but big on flavor, pasta with sausage and peas is my choice.

So, a couple of weeks ago (with the aforementioned culinary experience under my belt) when Tom pulled out an old recipe he'd cut out of a magazine years earlier and said, "I'm going to try this dish," I said, "Go for it."

Pasta with Sausage, Onions & Fennel is a recipe from Cooking Light magazine. I only know that because on the back of the torn magazine page in a separate article it says, "Cooking Light." I couldn't find the recipe on the Cooking Light website, but, guessing from the yellowing magazine page, the recipe is several years old.

The original recipe calls for 1/4 cup of tomato paste, which Tom eliminated and added white wine instead and reduced the pasta cooking water by half. He also added the butter at the end to finish.

This recipe is so good. It's light, but quite filling and comforting. The sauce is not thick, but lighter and thinner than the usual pasta sauce and full of flavor.

If you've never used or tasted fennel, this would be a great recipe to try. The light anise flavor gives a real brightness to this dish.



Pasta with Sausage, Onions & Fennel
Adapted from Cooking Light Magazine

• 1 (1-1/4-pound) fennel bulb
• 6 quarts water
• 2-1/4 teaspoons salt, divided
• 1 pound uncooked penne or ziti (short, tube-shaped pasta - Tom used Penne)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 pound sweet Italian sausage (you could substitute turkey sweet Italian sausage)
• 2 cups (1/4-inch-thick) onion wedges (about 2 medium onions)
• 1 cup white wine
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 1/4 cup (about 1 ounce) grated fresh pecorino Romano cheese
• 2 tablespoons butter

Trim fennel, reserving fronds and bulb. Cut fennel bulb in half lengthwise; cut each bulb half lengthwise into (1/4-inch-thick) slices. Cut bulb slices into 2-inch-long pieces. Chop fennel fronds to measure 1/3 cup.

Bring 6 quarts water and 2 teaspoons of salt to a boil in a large stockpot. Stir in pasta; partially cover, and return to a boil, stirring frequently. Cook 8 minutes or until the pasta is almost al dente, stirring occasionally. Drain pasta in a colander over a bowl, reserving 1 cup cooking water.

While pasta cooks, heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Remove sausage from casings. Add sausage to Dutch oven; cook 2 minutes or until lightly browned, stirring to crumble. Push sausage to one side of pan. Add onion to open space in pan; cook 1 minute or until onion begins to soften. Stir onion into sausage. Push onion mixture to one side of the pan. Add fennel bulb to open space in pan; cook 1 minute or until fennel begins to soften. Stir fennel into onion mixture. Stir in the red pepper flakes and 1/4 teaspoon salt; cook 2 minutes.

Add reserved 1 cup of the pasta cooking water and the wine to the pan, stir to combine; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 6 minutes or until fennel is tender. Add the butter, fennel fronds and pasta; cook 2 minutes or until pasta is al dente, tossing to combine. Remove from heat; stir in cheese. Serve immediately.
PRINT THE RECIPE HERE

Country Breakfast in a Cup

I'm not much of a breakfast eater. I am just "Coffee, please," first thing in the morning and then usually wait until 9:30 or 10:00 before I can even think about something solid. Most mornings I have either a toasted English muffin or slice of toast with a couple of slices of avocado, or a turkey sausage patty, or a slice of turkey bacon. But, Tom has always been a great breakfast eater, so we go out to breakfast often on weekends.

Generally, for breakfast we wind up at Cracker Barrel, where I will order a breakfast much larger than I would generally eat simply because I like to have a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Grandpa's Country Fried Breakfast is my favorite because I get just what I want and I can pick my way through the eggs, country fried steak, hashbrown casserole, biscuits and gravy. At least, that's what I usually do, but I might have to rethink my choice.

This morning as I was perusing the internet I wandered onto The Daily Beast and into a media gallery entitled "This Is Why You Are Fat." The ninth photo is entitled "Country Breakfast Parfait" and contains nearly all the components of my beloved Cracker Barrel breakfast in one tall glass. . .

The caption for this photo reads: "this winner contains all the elements of a country breakfast shoved into a cup as a parfait would be. Those elements include tater tots, fried eggs, chicken-fried steak bites, buttermilk biscuit chunks, sausage gravy, and bacon.

It's one thing to see your breakfast laid out nicely on a plate, with a separate plate for your biscuits and a nice neat bowl for the gravy.

It's quite another thing to see it layered and mushed all together like a gravy, potato, egg and meat milkshake.

I may never eat breakfast again.

 

Welcome to the Church of the Holy Cabbage. Lettuce pray. ~ Author Unknown

I love cabbage. I love it in coleslaw. I love it in soups, especially Minnestrone. I love stuffed cabbage leaves. I love sweet and sour red cabbage. Most people don't think of serving it as side vegetable, but I love cabbage just sautéed with a little salt and pepper. So obviously when I come across a new recipe that incorporates cabbage, you get my attention.

A couple of weeks ago, I was wandering around the internet looking for some inspiration and I found this dish at Melissa's Magic in the Kitchen, which she adapted from Allrecipes.

Like Melissa, I made several changes to the recipe to make it more suited to my tastes. I went to one of my favorite cookbooks, Chef Paul Prudhomme's Louisiana Kitchen, to get the flavor I wanted and I incorporated the spices for Chef Paul's Red Beans and Rice into this recipe. The recipe below incorporates my changes.

This recipe is hearty, flavorful, simple to prepare and makes A LOT !! Tom and I each had seconds and we still vacuum sealed and froze enough for two more dinners.

Cabbage Jambalaya
by Terri Powers for Terri's Table
adapted from Melissa's Magic in the Kitchen

1 pound ground beef
1 pound kielbasa, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 medium head green cabbage, chopped
1 (14.5 ounce) can stewed tomatoes, drained well (I used diced tomatoes)
3 cups chicken stock
1 cup uncooked long grain white rice
1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
1 teaspoon Emeril's Essence seasoning (or other Cajun-syle seasoning)
2 bay leaves
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
3 teaspoons pepper

To prepare this dish, use a large stock pot, dutch oven or other large pot with tight fitting lid.


Put the olive oil in the pot over medium high heat. Add the onion, celery and carrots and cook until the onion is slightly cooked. Add the garlic and cook for one minute more. Add the ground beef and cook until the beef is evenly brown, breaking it up into small pieces with the spoon as it cooks. Add the kielbasa slices, cabbage, tomatoes, chicken stock, rice and all the herbs and spices and stir well.


Bring contents to a boil and reduce the heat to low for a slow simmer. Cover the pot and cook for 35 to 40 minutes, or until rice is done. Adjust the seasoning if desired and serve.