I first wrote about mussels a few months here and it was the first time I had ever made mussels. Since then I have made that recipe a few times and it continues to be delicious.

Mussels are something that I make when I have the apartment to myself.  My [...]]]>

I first wrote about mussels a few months here and it was the first time I had ever made mussels. Since then I have made that recipe a few times and it continues to be delicious.

Mussels are something that I make when I have the apartment to myself.  My “roommate” doesn’t do mussels and I generally cook for two so I forgo them.  Recently I was gifted with the place to myself for almost a week so mussels were definitely on that week’s menu plan.  While I love my usual recipe I wanted something different so I turned to Lidia Bastianich and she had a recipe for mussels in tomato sauce.

Because of the lack of chopping here this recipe is EVEN EASIER than my usual recipe.  How is that even possible?  Bastianich recommends soaking the mussels in water with cornmeal in it to clean them.  I decided to skip this step since a good scrub seems to do the trick. Once cleaning was done it was on to making the super simple sauce.  And by super simple I mean frying sliced garlic and then adding tomatoes, herbs.

This dish could be a great appetizer sans pasta but with a ton of crusty bread to mop up the saucy goodness.  I needed a meal so I served the mussels with pasta.  In the end I had a lot of sauce left on my plate, luckily I had a baguette on hand to mop up the goodness.

I’m always amazed by how much of an elegant and cheap meal mussels make.  This time around I paid $1.99/lb for the mussels.  I bought only a pound since I knew I was eating pasta as well and it was the perfect portion. I’m sure if I calculated the cost of this meal it would come in under $5.  This is definitely one of the greatest meals I’ve made in awhile.

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Now don’t get me wrong, I love a farmers’ market as much as the next girl (or guy). But does anyone else find this whole eating locally and seasonally thing a bit stressful?

So let’s say you skip the market for a week or two or even three.  Then you show [...]]]>

Now don’t get me wrong, I love a farmers’ market as much as the next girl (or guy). But does anyone else find this whole eating locally and seasonally thing a bit stressful?

So let’s say you skip the market for a week or two or even three.  Then you show up at the market and discover this new (to you) fruit, vegetable, whatever. You buy some at the farmer’s urging and take it home and fall in love.  The following week that you go back to the market and said produce is nowhere in sight.  And it won’t be … for at least a year.  The season has ended and now you’re SOL.

This always happens to me!  Or I won’t realize that the season has started for something that I enjoy and then it’s too late.  This year already I have been burned by fiddleheads coming and going and I was later to rhubarb season than I had hoped to be.  I was totally on top of this year’s somewhat disappointing strawberry season though.  I’m now committed to going to the market weekly to ensure that I don’t miss a week of corn, peaches, plums, tomatoes and other goodies.  This is what it’s come to!  I need my seasonal produce.

My discovery this week was garlic scapes.  I always read about garlic scapes but had never thought to buy them.  One stall at the market was selling them for 10 for $1 and that was enticing enough for me to give it a try.  Garlic scapes are the stalks of hardneck garlic.  Farmers cut them off as the garlic grows to keep the plant’s energy focused on making more awesome garlic.

I knew right away that I would make a pesto.  I had planned on making basil pesto the week before but got sidetracked and never got around to it.  I found a ton of recipes for garlic scape-only pesto but I wanted to use up some of the basil from my balcony garden so I did some more digging.  Apparently it’s quite normal to do the garlic scape/pesto variety.

The combination is definitely a winner.  The garlic scapes add a nice garlic flavour with a hint of grassiness.  The basil ties in the traditional pesto flavours without being too herby.  I used almonds instead of pine nuts and was totally happy with the way that worked out.  My only issue was getting the consistency down right.  The pesto was on the thick side no matter how much oil I added.  At a certain point I stopped adding oil because it seemed excessive.  This is definitely a hit!  I’ve been eating it with pasta and chicken for a great summer salad.  I also plan on using the pesto as a spread in a breakfast sandwich with eggs, cheese and bacon.

For the recipe visit Serious Eats.

A few months ago I was at this great shop in my hood called Culinarium trying to use up a recent Groupon purchase. Culinarium takes the idea of being a “locavore” to another level and only stocks products made/grown in Ontario. For awhile I would buy my bacon there all [...]]]>

A few months ago I was at this great shop in my hood called Culinarium trying to use up a recent Groupon purchase. Culinarium takes the idea of being a “locavore” to another level and only stocks products made/grown in Ontario. For awhile I would buy my bacon there all the time and I’ve had luck with various jams, popcorn, cheese etc. It really is a great store.

While looking through the meat case I stumbled upon pieces of guanciale. Guanciale is one of those things that I often see listed in recipes or including on menus at restaurants but I’m never quite sure what it is. To me, guanciale is kind of like bottarga, I always come across it but always forget what it is. Seeing that the guanciale was clearly some type of pork product, I picked it up knowing that I can always find a way to use up a piece of pork.

I came home, threw the guanciale in the freezer and forgot about it until one day when I was taking stock of what was in my freezer. I decided it was about time to figure out what to do with the guanciale. The first thing on my to-do list was figure out what the heck it is. Guanciale is a pig jowl or cheeks that has been cured. Think of it kind of as cheek bacon. I knew that this would be great in a pasta and I just so happened to find this recipe for Bucatini All’Amatriciana.

I’m always on the hunt for delicious, simple and somewhat authentic pasta dishes. I’ve never been a fan of jarred or canned pasta sauce (although I used to have a love affair with Newman’s Own vodka sauce) so I’m forever trying to perfect a tomato sauce. Let me just say, guanciale makes things better.

You know when you’re cooking and you can’t stop eating the individual ingredients? Well, that was me with the guanciale. How has no one ever opened my eyes to the joys of guanciale? It’s like bacon, but better… if that’s even possible. It’s pure porky goodness.

This is one of those recipes that it is great to have in your back pocket. It’s super simple to make and the ingredients aren’t crazy. If you don’t have access to guanciale you can use pancetta or unsmoked bacon. The final dish has some great robust flavours. You get a nice layer of meatiness that melds perfectly with the spiciness of the pepper flakes (I added extra) and of course the hint of garlic. Leftovers were great and this is definitely making its way into my meal rotation.

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So one of my fave “celebrity chefs”, Ina Garten has a new cookbook out called How Easy is That?. I’ve had good times pouring through it and deciding what to make. The other day I was craving a nice big bowl of pasta so I gravitated towards her “Weeknight Bolognese” [...]]]>

So one of my fave “celebrity chefs”, Ina Garten has a new cookbook out called How Easy is That?. I’ve had good times pouring through it and deciding what to make. The other day I was craving a nice big bowl of pasta so I gravitated towards her “Weeknight Bolognese” which I incidentally made on a Sunday night, go figure.

There is nothing revolutionary about this recipe.  It’s just a really basic recipe for pasta with meat sauce.  A pretty delicious recipe for pasta with meat sauce.  And it’s easy.  There aren’t any surprise ingredients and nothing too fancy.  The wine is a great addition and adds a nice layer of flavour to things.

I really enjoyed the sauce but at the end kind of felt like I didn’t need a recipe to make this happen at all.  I think next time I’d throw a bunch of these ingredients into a pot and let them simmer.  If you’re new to making your own pasta sauce this would be a great recipe.  It really is perfect for a weeknight supper and is so much better than opening up a jar of random sauce.  Trust me.

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I remember [...]]]> One of the great things about living in NYC was the access I had to some of the top trend-setting restaurants.  Granted my entry level salary didn’t really allow me to dine at Le Bernardin but I was able to try a lot of the more moderately priced spots.

I remember when The Spotted Pig opened up it was all the talk. It’s a small-ish restaurant in the West Village owned by April Bloomfield and Ken Friedman (my food crush, Mario Batali is a partner). A certain Mr. Carter aka Jay-z used to be there all the time (if you rate celebrities) and there was ALWAYS a wait for a table. It introduced the term “gastropub” into the culinary lexicon Stateside (gastropubs were already big in London).

Aside from the points mentioned above the other thing you’d hear about The Spotted Pig is that they had a dish called gnudi that everyone was raving about.  Gnudi are kind of like ricotta gnocchi.  Imagine the filling of ricotta ravioli without the pasta.  I had never heard of gnudi before but thought it sounded pretty delicious (cheesy balls sauteed in butter? HELLO!?!?).  So off it was to The Spotted Pig.  Granted my trip to The Spotted Pig was about 5 years ago so I don’t remember the meal exactly but I do remember not being disappointed by the gnudi.  After that I meal I kind of forgot about gnudi because I rarely see it on menus and never really thought about making it… until now.

I’m not quite sure what triggered my desire to make gnudi but one day I became obsessed with the idea and managed to find this post from The Paupered Chef for gnudi from The Spotted Pig. Score! Alas this opened up a proverbial can of worms. I needed fresh ricotta. The supermarket stuff wouldn’t cut it and I didn’t feel like going to the Italian market so I decided to make ricotta from scratch. No big deal.

After the ricotta was made the gnudi-making was pretty simple.  I combined the ricotta with some herbs, cheese, eggs and flour and then shaped them and buried them in semolina overnight.  To cook the gnudi you drop them in boiling water until they float to the surface (about 2 minutes) and then sautee them in brown butter.  A pretty quick process.

I was beyond pleased with my gnudi.  They were so light and luscious.  The semolina coating formed a nice crust on the outside to contain the melty ricotta goodness.  I’m not even kidding when I say that the ricotta was silky. So good.  I ended up serving about 6 pieces of gnudi with some green salad and it was definitely not enough for a meal.  This would be a good starter otherwise you’d have to eat A LOT of gnudi to make it a meal.

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After my fun cottage weekend I was gifted with a ton of kale. Kale isn’t something that I would normally buy so I wasn’t too sure what to do with it. Of course I could prepare it like I would spinach or some other dark, leafy green but I wanted some [...]]]>

After my fun cottage weekend I was gifted with a ton of kale. Kale isn’t something that I would normally buy so I wasn’t too sure what to do with it. Of course I could prepare it like I would spinach or some other dark, leafy green but I wanted some a bit different.  I took to the interwebs and found this recipe courtesy of Gourmet.

I’ve always had a thing for Mediterranean flavours so the combination of feta, olives and greens sounded perfect.  There was this great saltiness from the olives and feta and a nice brightness from the lemons.  As this dish is basically assembled raw, it’s in your best interest to buy good quality olives and feta.  Oh, I also added some extra garlic because 1 clove didn’t seem like it would be enough.  PLUS the dish is vegetarian… always a bonus.

This recipe is super easy and perfect for a weeknight.  It might also be a great dish for a picnic because leftovers were almost better than when the dish was first prepared.   I love recipes like that!

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The other day I was at home with the day off and got hungry for lunch.  I didn’t want to buy lunch because I had bought breakfast so I started rummaging in my fridge to see what I had.  The day before I (on a whim) bought some packaged gnocchi so [...]]]>

The other day I was at home with the day off and got hungry for lunch.  I didn’t want to buy lunch because I had bought breakfast so I started rummaging in my fridge to see what I had.  The day before I (on a whim) bought some packaged gnocchi so I figured I would use some of that.  I also realized that I had some fresh fava beans from the farmers’ market that had to be used up  stat.  And because I’m me, I had some bacon.

I took to the interwebs to see what I could make and didn’t really find anything so I decided to freestyle.  Bacon/pancetta and fava beans is a pretty common combination so I figured I could cook those two together.  To bind the fava bean and bacon combination the idea of a cream sauce sounded appealing.  Then I’d toss the gnocchi in.

I had never cooked with fava beans so I had to do some googling to figure out how to prepare them.  Turns out you not only have to remove them from the big pods but then blanch them, remove the waxy outer pod and then cook again.  A lot of work but so worth it for those wonderfully creamy beans.

The dish turned out AMAZING.  I thought it would be good, possibly even great but it was really pretty amazing.  I added a whole clove of garlic to the cream to infuse the sauce with a subtle garlic flavour and also added a handful of grated parmesan to add to the creaminess.  The only downside was that there was a BIT too much of that bacon fat taste, next time I’d pour a bit of it off.

Of course I didn’t measure things as I went along but I’ll post a rough guide on how to prepare this below.

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