Weeknight Gourmet

We had our first snow!! Well, first accumulation. Since there is no such thing as "local" news in the Little Apple, I have to rely on the ever fabulous Topeka news to determine now many inches we actually got - approximately 8". I wasn't able to measure it due to the fact that we have this lovely phenomena called "blowing snow" - super fun!

Alas, it was quite beautiful when the sun came out! But with the sun came an arctic blast - it was 5* (-10* with windchill) when J was shoveling the drive. Owen and I enjoyed watching from inside the warm house :)

Anyfood, we are on this "don't-eat-take-out" kick, or maybe you could call it a resolution to cook more at home and throw less away. I swear, I am the queen of buying a TON at the super market and then choosing to eat out every night. I have good intentions to make yummy wholesome meals all week long, but I have terrible follow through. So for the last two whole weeks, we've been making dinner :) And tonight was new-recipe-night - um, delish. I busted out my "Williams-Sonoma Weeknight" cookbook that we got for our wedding. I LOVE this book - super easy and quick! Generally I love really simple scallops, but these were fantastic with a little Chinese Five Spice - delish!

Five-Spice Scallops with Noodles
Serves 4

Ingredients:

2 Oranges
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1/2 lb fresh Chinese egg noodles (I used udon noodles because that was what I had in the pantry!)
1 1/4 lb large sea scallops (as opposed to bay scallops - although I bet they would be just as good)
2 tsp Chinese five-spice powder (if you have trouble find this spice, try www.penzeys.com - on a totally different note, I had the BEST Five-Spice Gimlet at Mei N Yu in Georgetown about a year and half ago - they made it with Chinese five-spice simple syrup - amazing!)
4 tbsp Peanut or Canola oil
1 tbsp fresh ginger, finally chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/4 lb sugar snap peas (we used snow peas because we have a huge bag from our monthly run to Costco!)
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 tbsp soy sauce
4 green onions, white and pale green parts chopped

Instructions:

1) Grate 1 teaspoon zest from the orange and squeeze 1/2 cup juice, and set both aside. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the noodles to the boiling water and cook, stirring occasionally, until the noodles are tender, according to the package directions. Drain and set aside.

2) While the noodles are cooking, sprinkle the scallops on both sides with the five-spice powder and season lightly with slat and pepper. In a large frying pan over high heat, warm 3 tablespoons of the oil. Working in batches if necessary add the scallops in a single layer to the pan and cook until well browned on the bottom, about one minute. Turn the scallops and cook until well browned on the outside and just opaque in the center, 1-2 minutes. Transfer the scallops to a plate (and I would add that you should cover them - while perfectly cooked, they were a bit on the cold side when I plated).

3) Add the remaining 1 tbsp oil to the same frying pan over high heat. Add the ginger and garlic and stir-fry just until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the sugar snap peas and stir fry just until tender-crisp, about 1 minute. Stir in the orange zest and juice, wine and soy sauce and cook until slightly reduced, 1-2 minutes. Add the cooked noodles and green onions and toss gently to combine. Divide the noodles and snap peas among 4 plates, top with the scallops and serve.

Bon Appetit!

I'm spoiled.

First of all, check out those thighs!! I just want to eat them up! Every day we experience more and more baby chub and I LOVE IT!

Second of all, my dear sweet man loves to make me frittata - I don't know where this came from, but I'm not questioning it! He had been making one with potatoes and onions - but it gave me terrible indigestion, esp'lly while I was pregs. He found one on www.williams-sonoma.com and we are never turning back. It is A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. It makes enough for breaky and then dinner the next day - yummo!

Grilled Asparagus Frittata
From the Williams Sonoma Kitchen

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. asparagus, tough ends trimmed
• 1 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
• 2 1⁄2 Tbs. unsalted butter
• 1 leek, white and light green portions, halved,
  thinly sliced and rinsed well
• 6 eggs
• 1⁄4 cup heavy cream
• 1⁄2 cup finely grated pecorino romano cheese
• 3 Tbs. finely chopped fresh chives
• 3 Tbs. minced fresh basil
• Crumbled goat cheese (chèvre) for garnish
  (optional)

Directions:

Using a vegetable peeler, peel the skin off the thick ends of the asparagus. In a bowl, toss the asparagus with the olive oil, salt and pepper.

Heat a grill pan over high heat. Place the asparagus on the pan and cook until tender and nicely grill-marked, 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer to a cutting board and cut into 2-inch pieces. Transfer to a plate.

In the deep half of a frittata pan over medium heat, melt 1 Tbs. of the butter. Add the leek and cook until soft and light golden, about 5 minutes. Transfer to the plate with the asparagus. Wipe out the pan with a paper towel.

In a bowl, whisk together the eggs and cream until frothy. Stir in the asparagus, leek, pecorino romano cheese, chives and basil, and season with salt and pepper.

In the deep half of the frittata pan over medium heat, melt 1 Tbs. of the butter. Add the egg mixture and cook until set, 7 to 10 minutes, using a rubber spatula to gently lift the cooked edges and allow the uncooked eggs to flow underneath. After 3 minutes of cooking, in the shallow half of the frittata pan over medium heat, melt the remaining 1/2 Tbs. butter.

Place the shallow pan upside down on top of the deep pan, then flip the frittata into the shallow pan and cook, covered, for 3 minutes. Remove the deep pan and continue cooking until the eggs are completely set and cooked through, about 5 minutes more.

Gently shake the pan to loosen the frittata, then slide it onto a serving plate. Garnish with goat cheese. Serves 8 to 10.

Williams-Sonoma Kitchen

Happy New Year!

O had a long night celebrating his first of many New Years! He was so tired, he tipped over during his photo shoot...How cute is his little 2011 outfit?? Alternatively, he was up all night because he is beginning the teething process - not because he was drinking champagne and playing Wii with his parents...

The days of ringing in the New Year at a big bash are gone - actually, I don't think I've ever really gone to a big New Year's bash - overrated. I think in the six years the J man and I've been together, we've only had one fancy shmancy New Year's. One of his college friends got married on New Year's Eve and had a right fabulous party. The rest of our New Year's we've either been alseep before the ball dropped or in Tahoe with the fam. This year, we rang in the New Year with champagne and Wii :) As parents of a 4 1/2 month old, I cannot believe we made it to midnight. But we did, and then watched an episode of the "Office" - best New Year's yet.

So the real reason for this post is to discuss the amazing meal I made for my hubby. My happy little monkey was my kitchen helper as I prepared our best meal yet! Who says everything changes with a baby?? It may have taken 4x the amount of time to make, but we still ate like kings. Little man actually made it to bed early and we *almost* ate a meal uninterrupted. He, of course, woke up in the middle of our romantic meal. Sigh.

So my sweet sister-in-law called me this past month to rave about three recipes in "Back to Basics" that she made for her girlfriends. So I decided to be wholly unoriginal, and make the same menu for our New Year's feast. To start we had Roasted Tomato Caprese Salad, followed by Tagliarelle with Truffle Butter and Garlic Ciabatta Bread. All three are DELISH and super easy - it would have taken no time at all if it weren't for our little miracle of life :)

The first and most important ingredient you will need is White Truffle Butter. I live in the smaller, lesser known, Manhattan and thus truffle butter, white or otherwise, is virtually nonexistent. In fact, I couldn't even find it in Kansas City at the Whole Foods. I found it at the Whole Foods in Boulder - yes, I traveled 8 hours for white truffle butter. And to visit with long time friends and family :) You can also order it online.


Yummy. For the Caprese, you roast the toms for 2 hours at *275, SO DELISH. And the best part is that you can use crummy roma tomatoes that are about all you can get in the winter. The pan on the left is the deliciousness for the ciabatta - garlic, parsley, oregano and oil. Yummy!


Roasted Tomato Caprese Salad
Serves 6 ~ Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics

12 plum tomatoes, halved lengthwise, seeds (not cores) removed (I used roma because we didn't have plum in the Little Apple)
1/4 cup good olive oil, plus more for the drizzling
1 1/2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 large garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons sugar
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
16 ounces fresh salted mozzarella
12 fresh basil leaves julienned

Preheat oven to 275*.

Arrange tomatoes on a sheet pan, cut sides up, in a single layer. Drizzle with the olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Sprinkle with garlic, sugar, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. (I just kind of dropped lumps of garlic onto the tomatoes - I highly recommend spreading it like butter instead...) Roast for 2 hours until the tomatoes are concentrated and begin to caramelize. Allow the tomatoes to cool to room temperature.

Cut the mozzarella into slices slightly less than 1/2 inch thick. (My little trick is to freeze the mozzarella for about 30 minutes before you are ready to cut it - makes it SO MUCH EASIER.) If the slices of mozzarella are larger than the tomatoes, cut the mozzarella slices in half. Layer the tomatoes alternately with the mozzarella on a platter and scatter the basil on top. Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper and drizzle lightly with olive oil. Serve at room temperature.


Tagliarelle with Truffle Butter
Serves 2-3 for dinner, 4-5 for a side dish or appetizer ~ Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics

Kosher salt
1/2 cup heavy cream
3 ounces white truffle butter
Freshly ground black pepper
1 (8.82 ounce) package Cipriani tagliarelle dried pasta or other egg fettuccine (Um, none of the above exists in the Little Apple - we settled on egg noodles made by the Amish...)
3 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
3 ounces Parmesan, shaved thin with a veggie peeler

1) Add 1 tablespoon salt to a large pot of water and bring to a boil.

2) Meanwhile, in a large (12 inch) saute pan, heat the cream over medium heat until it comes to a simmer. Add the truffle butter, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper, lower the heat to very low, and swirl the butter until it melts. Keep warm over very low heat.

3) Add the pasta to the boiling water and cook for 3 minutes, exactly. (If you're not using Cipriani pasta, follow the directions on the package.) When the pasta is cooked, reserve 1/2 cup of the cooking water, then drain the pasta. Add the drained pasta to the saute pan and toss with the truffle-cream mixture. As the pasta absorbs the sauce, add as much of the reserved cooking water as necessary to keep the pasta very creamy.

4) Serve the pasta in shallow bowls and garnish each serving with a generous sprinkling of chives and shaved Parmesan. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and serve at once.

Not a bad start to the New Year - eh?

Bon Appetit!