Creamy Pesto Tortellini

I threw together dinner last night in about 30 min.
Store bought cheese tortellini
3 basil cubes (from the garden last year, blended with a bit of water and olive oil then frozen in ice cube trays)
a splash of heavy cream (probably ~1/4 cup)
~1/3 tomato coarsely chopped
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

Served with steamed snow peas.

The heavy cream was a nice touch and made the pesto creamy. Leftovers got drier and drier though.

Long Overdue Strawberry Shortcake

Last weekend we went strawberry picking and at the 11th hour (almost literally) of this weekend, I finally got around to making a strawberry shortcake with all the strawberries that we picked.
Red Fire Farm has an annual Strawberry Soiree, where they have strawberry varietal tasting and strawberry shortcake and chocolate covered strawberries for sale in addition to picking our yearly allotment of strawberries for our CSA share.
I was a bit disappointed in the strawberry shortcake at the farm, it tasted more like a biscuit - more salty than sweet- and it was harder/crunchier than I like.
In our Food and Wine recipe pull, there was a recipe for Strawberry shortcake. In all my procrastination glory, I decided to make it starting at 9pm on Sunday night. Overall it wasn't too involved, but required some planning ahead. For example, the strawberries were supposed to macerate in the sugar for ~3 hours. It ended up being more like 1 hour, but there was enough juice for it it to work.

1 pint vanilla ice cream, softened (I used Ben and Jerry's- it was on sale)
3 cups self-rising flour - I used the King Arthur conversion of 1 cup AP flour, 1-1/2 teaspoon baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon salt
2 sticks of cold unsalted butter cut in chunks

1 quart hulled and sliced strawberries
1/2 cup sugar

1 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon honey (I used sugar)

1. Preheat oven to 450degF
2. Soften the ice cream in the fridge or on the counter and pour into a large bowl.
3. Pulse the flour (mixture) and butter in a food processor until you have a course meal. I had to do this in two lots because my food processor isn't big enough for 3 cups of flour.
4. Pour the flour-butter mixture in with the ice cream and mix until combined.
5. Knead the dough with your hands until everything has come together.
6. Spread the dough out evenly in a 9x13 pan and bake for about 20 min or until golden brown.
7. Combine the strawberries and sugar in a med bowl to macerate for about 3 hours (mine were mixing for about 1 and it tasted OK).
8. Make whipped cream with the cream and sweetener.
9. Cut the shortcake into 12 squares and serve with Strawberries and whipped cream.

Yum, it was delicious! The shortcake was soft, moist, and just sweet enough. I think this was my first successful try at making whipped cream with my stand mixer. It was amazing and so easy!

I did try eating the shortcake without the accouterments. I wouldn't recommend it as a dessert on it's own.

Provoleta

We get Food and Wine magazine every month due to some glitch or because Ebon likes to spend points or miles on magazines or something like that. In any case, I enjoy looking through it and Ebon and I have been in the habit of bookmarking the various recipes we want to try out. The recipe for Provoleta with Oregano and Tomatoes stood out for Ebon because it involved bread and cheese - his favorites!
I've made it a couple times so far.
The first I got the cheese from Sessa's in Davis square and got the Supremo Italiano brand provolone cheese. We didn't have the grape tomatoes and I excluded the crushed red pepper so Leela could eat it too - she hasn't mastered spicy food yet. I followed the recipe otherwise.
It turned out great - burnt and melty cheese tastes so good.
The second time, I had run out of oregano, so I used a bit of marjoram and paprika. I used Bel Gioioso Picante provolone, it was much greasier and tasted saltier than the first go round. Maybe it was aged a bit too long- the note in the recipe says a sharp cheese that is 8-9 months old is best. I think the Supremo Italiano is a little younger, so maybe we just like the young cheese better. I had the tomatoes on the 2nd try and they are a must.
In any case we ate both with a baguette or crusty bread.
I think this is meant to be an appetizer, but we've eaten the whole thing between the two(three with Leela/four with Sparty?) of us as a meal. This will go into our regular "quick meal" repertoire!

Spring Panzanella

2 posts on a week - I'm on a roll!
Ebon bought a baguette at the farmer's market on Tuesday, so it needed to be used up before it was too hard to chew. I wasn't in the mood for pasta, so I suggested a bread salad - aka panzanella. I had tried the recipe from 101 Cookbooks before and it was pretty good. I had attempted it again a month or two ago, but - heaven's to Betsy, I used wheat bread and canned peas. Ebon didn't want to have anything to do with it. I will admit, I didn't like canned peas either - much better with fresh or frozen - but they were in our pantry taking up space, so I thought I would use them. This go around was much more well received.

I followed the recipe - mostly. I cut up the 'white' baguette in ~1" cubes and in a large bowl coated the cubes with olive oil and dried thyme. Looking back, I should have also put the garlic in with the bread, as stated in the recipe, but I was more or less going from memory. I put the coated bread on a baking sheet in the oven preheated to ~350degF for about 15-20 min or until they are golden/crispy on the outside. I also flipped/mixed up the bread, maybe half way through.
I pan fried/roasted the asparagus with a little olive oil and I threw the garlic in after I flipped the shoots after 3-5 min. When the asparagus is tender, remove from heat and cut into ~1-2" pieces on the diagonal.
I cooked frozen peas in another pot in a bit of water until they were warmed through.
I had some grape tomatoes on hand an thought they would be good, so I cut them in half, coated them with a little olive oil, and roasted them under a low broil for about 5 minutes to warm them up and bring out a bit of the sugar.

Throw everything in a bowl and add about 1/3-1/2 cup of grated Parmesan cheese. Add salt and pepper to taste. I also added about 1 teaspoon of dried basil.

I skipped the shallots, fresh basil and spinach and didn't miss them.

Black Bean and Sweet Potato Cassarole

As always, I was struggling with what to make for dinner. I was in the mood for beans. I had black beans, kidney beans and white beans in the freezer. Black beans won out and a little Internet searching lead me to a recipe for a pumpkin and black bean casserole, so I used that as inspiration. I had sweet potatoes on hand, so that replaced the pumpkin and I pulled other stuff out of my freezer to add in.

2 cups black beans
One 28oz can of chopped tomatoes with the juice
5 cloves of garlic chopped small
6 green onions, white and green parts separated
1 cup corn (I used frozen)
1 teaspoon of ground cumin
1 teaspoon of dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon of salt (or to taste)
black pepper to taste
1 red pepper roasted
one sweet potato sliced thinly (~1/8")
4-8 oz shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat the oven to 425degF. Combine the beans, tomatoes, garlic, white parts of the green onion, corn, spices, and salt and pepper in a bowl and mix.
Spray a 9" x 13" pan with oil or non-stick spray. Pour half of the bean mixture in the pan, spread half of the sweet potatoes in one layer. Layer on half of the cheese. Then follow with the remaining bean mixture, the roasted red pepper, and finish with a single layer of the rest of the sweet potato. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 40 minutes. Uncover, spread the remaining amount of cheese on top and bake for another 20-30 minutes until the liquid has thickened and the cheese is golden brown.
Sprinkle the green parts of the green onion over the casserole.

I was very happy how it turned out. The flavors melded well. The only thing I would change is to chop up the red pepper and combine with the bean ingredients. Ebon seemed to like it well enough. He ate it with some corn tortilla chips. I will try to make it again if I have all the ingredients.

Brunch!

Brunch!

I love brunch. My nature is an affinity to the morning hours and I love breakfast. Most weekends I have two breakfasts - one around 7am when the babe and I wake up and the second sometime between 11 and 1pm when my Sleeping beauty of a husband finally wakes up.
This Sunday, however, we hosted some friends for brunch and I made a sweet item and a savory item, both pretty simple, both turned out great!  I made baked french toast and a crustless quiche.

I followed THIS  recipe for the baked french toast, except I used day old Challa bread that I cut up and left out for a few hours. In addition I added 2 eggs (for a total of 4 eggs), about 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon and 1 teaspoon of vanilla, just to give it a bit more flavor and make sure it was good and custardy. I was really happy how it turned out. It wasn't too soggy and it was nice and crispy on top. I really liked how easy it was and that I could prepare it the night before. I forgot about the butter and sugar, so, by accident, my version had slightly less fat and sugar in it.

The Quiche or savory egg bake was an attempt to copy a similar dish I had at a friend's house the week before. I did an OK job comparatively, but I think I'll add a little salt next time.

Ingredients for Quiche
1/2 small onion diced small
1-2 Tablespoons olive oil or butter (I used butter)
4 baby Portobello mushrooms sliced
large handful of spinach (about 2 cups)
8 eggs
salt and pepper to taste
~4 oz goat cheese
4 oz cheddar cheese shredded

Instructions
1. Melt the butter or heat the oil in a frying pan on medium/Med low heat, add the onions to soften - about 5 min. Add the mushrooms to soften and as they begin to release their liquid 5-10 min more. Add in the spinach to wilt.
2. Beat the eggs in a separate bowl and add the salt and pepper.
3. Butter or prepare a 10" pie plate, layer about half of the veggie mixture on the bottom of the pan. Spread around half of the cheese, then pour in half of the eggs, followed by the rest of the veggies, cheese and eggs.
4. Bake in a 425degF oven for about 25 min or until the eggs are cooked through.

Overall, I thought brunch was a great success!

Black Bean and Sweet Potato Chili

I occasionally participate in a food swap with other local mamas and I wanted to make a Black Bean and Sweet Potato Chili for that a couple weeks ago. I got sick the night before I was supposed to make the chili, so I opted to not make it and chance getting everyone else sick! SO Last night I threw together the Chili that I had intended making weeks before.


Olive oil
1 large onion (I had about 1/4 of a large red onion and a small yellow onion) cut into 1/2" chunks
5 garlic cloves minced
2 carrots 1/4" dice
2 stalks celery 1/4" dice
1 medium/medium-large sweet potato cut into 1/2" chunks
28 oz can of diced tomatoes and their juice or whole tomatoes cut up or squished
1.5 tomato cans of water - this is probably 3-4 cups
~ 4 cups cooked black beans (I had a "2lb" plastic tub worth of cooked black beans that I had previously cooked and froze)
small can of tomato paste
1 cup of corn (I used frozen)
~1-2 tsp of ground cumin
~2 tsp chili powder
~1 tsp dried oregano
~2 tsp salt or to taste
~1/2 tsp ground black pepper or to taste

1. Heat the olive oil in a soup pot/dutch oven add in the onions and garlic saute until soft.
2. Add in the carrots, celery, and sweet potatoes, cover, and simmer for a bit while the carrots soften.
3. Add the remaining ingredients and stir to combine.
4. Bring to a boil and reduce to simmer until the sweet potatoes and carrots are soft ~20-30 min depending on how frozen the beans might be.

I served this with corn bread, since that is my favorite accompaniment to chili!