Homemade Cheese and Ravioli

I made homemade ricotta cheese. Not my invention, it was by way of Smitten Kitchen, http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/06/fresh-ricotta-and-red-onion-pizza/ who got it from Michael Chiarello, by way of the New York Times. I never said I was original.

It was easy, and it worked! And then we had to make ravioli. Which were amazing even though I totally cheated and used wonton skins instead of homemade pasta. I had an offer from a friend to teach me how to make homemade pasta (you know who you are - I want that pasta-making lesson one of these days!). I stuffed the ravioli with ricotta, thawed and squeezed frozen spinach, and chopped prosciutto. This is similar to a Giada recipe, http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/prosciutto-ravioli-recipe/index.html but I served them with marinara sauce instead.

I made extra and put them in the freezer. Let's hope they don't explode when I try to cook them!

Good Soup/Bad Soup

I've been trying to come up with a reason to tell you about a recent, minor kitchen disaster, and my hero Mark Bittman gave me a good one in the New York Times this week. He describes a soup he had in Tuscany which was excellent but not something that he or an experienced cook would have come up with spontaneously. I happened to have all the ingredients on hand, so I made it for lunch today. The picture is a bit blurry, but that's it above. Delicious, fresh-tasting and easy. Now for the not-so successful soup...

A couple weeks ago, I was totally uninspired and not in a cooking mood. I got out the LAST can of Campbell's Tomato Soup, and proceeded to pour in 1/2 a can of water and 1/2 can of milk. After it heated up a bit, I noticed that it had nasty looking clumps in it. The milk was spoiled. NO SOUP FOR YOU!!!!

Pretty Healthy but Really Good Snack Cake

The first time I made this cake I was inspired by the overripe bananas on the counter. It seemed like this cake would be better than the typical banana bread recipe. "Better" doesn't even begin to describe how good this cake is!
The source is King Arthur Flour: Whole Grain Baking. The Banana Crunch Cake recipe uses oat flour (conveniently made of oats chopped to flour in your food processor), whole wheat flour, yogurt, nuts, and optional chocolate chips. You then mix a topping of oats, brown sugar, and more nuts. I used less sugar than the recipe calls for; judge this by your audience. It's a wonderful cake, warm or cold. No need for ice cream or whipped cream, it's that delicious on its own, but you can justify eating it for breakfast. I call that a winner.

Asian Chicken Pasta Salad

I wanted to make a salad with leftover Hainanese chicken (from the always-wonderful Mark Bittman: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/17/dining/17mini.html ). You must make this chicken. The only thing I do differently than Mark is for the sauce I use a few dashes of toasted sesame oil, a couple Tablespoons soy sauce, chopped scallions, and some water to mellow it out.

I read several recipes on food blogs for ideas, and then I made it with the ingredients I had on hand. It turned out to be really good. And it always feels nice and healthy to eat a salad!

salad:

leftover shredded Hainanese chicken

cooked whole wheat spaghetti

shredded carrots

shredded red cabbage

shredded celery

dressing:

1/4 cup soy sauce

1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

1 teaspoon chopped ginger

1 teaspoon chopped garlic

2 Tablespoons water

Toss pasta, chicken and vegetables in a bowl. Bell peppers, cucumber, scallions, etc. would also be great.

Combine the dressing ingredients in a mini-chopper or blender, pour over salad and toss to combine.

I didn't crop the photo so you could see just a small part of the mess I make in the kitchen. Poor Dan!

Something different

One day, during the daily what's-for-dinner discussion, I was drawing a complete blank. I was so sick of my own cooking I couldn't stand it. Everything I cook tastes exactly the same, I thought.

Then I looked through one of my favorite cookbooks, 5 Spices, 50 Dishes by Ruta Kahate. This book is amazing in the way that it makes Indian food accessible for someone who would never be able to cook it intuitively, like me.

I had some ground lamb in the freezer, so when I paged through to the recipe for Lamb Meatballs in a Spicy Malabari Curry, I knew I had found my dish. I served this with brown basmati rice and Simple Cabbage Stir Fry from the same book. Incredible, and it was so good we didn't have any leftovers. Buy this book.

I'm back

I got a bit out of my routine in February, and I guess it took me all of March to get over it! Bad blogger!

I made some delicious turkey lasagne for company one night, so here it is:

2 pounds ground turkey (I use the all white meat kind)

1 teaspoon dried Italian herbs

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup dry white wine

1/2 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes

olive oil

2 boxes no boil lasagne noodles

3 cups basic tomato sauce

1 pound mozzarella, shredded

2 cups whole milk

4 Tablespoons butter

1/4 cup flour

1 cup grated parmesan or romano cheese

Preheat oven to 375 F. Combine turkey, garlic, herbs and wine; let sit for 10 minutes. Brown turkey in olive oil and combine with tomato sauce. Make bechamel by heating butter, whisking in flour, cook 2 minutes without browning. Add milk and whisk until bubbling and thickened. Spread a little tomato/turkey sauce on bottom of baking dish, top with lasagne noodles. Don't worry if there is a little space, the noodles will expand as they cook. Put more tomato sauce on noodles, sprinkle with mozzarella and grated cheese. Pour over 1/3 of bechamel. Top with 2 more layers of noodles, tomato sauce, cheeses, then bechamel, topping all with whatever cheese is left. Bake 45 minutes to one hour, until hot, bubbly and browned. Let rest for 10 minutes before cutting.

Who Needs Beef...

...when you have venison in the freezer? Don't get me wrong, I like beef too but venison is a healthier and more economical option (especially if you hunt AND butcher). Last night we ate Venison Loin Cutlets with Mushrooms and Onions in Brandy Cream Sauce (thus negating the lowfat quality of the deermeat). And doesn't that description sound like a restaurant menu? Sorry the pictures show meat/mushrooms separately from the sauce. We were too hungry to take pictures when it was all done and plated.

Vension Loin Cutlets with Mushrooms and Onions in Brandy Cream Sauce (Serves 2)

1/2 large yellow onion, chopped

1/2 pound white mushrooms, sliced

EV olive oil

3/4 pound venison loin cutlets

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

salt & fresh black pepper

1/2 cup brandy

1 cup beef stock

1/2 cup heavy cream

Cook onions in oil until golden but not completely soft. Add mushrooms and cook until slightly browned and tender; remove to a bowl. While vegetables are cooking, season cutlets with salt and pepper and dredge in flour. Reheat pan with more oil, and cook cutlets in batches until browned but not cooked through. When all cutlets are browned, deglaze pan with brandy and boil until reduced to a small amount of very syrupy liquid. Add beef stock and boil again until reduced by half. Reduce heat to low and add venison. Simmer for 2-4 minutes until meat is cooked to desired doneness. (I served this medium-well to well, and it was excellent but it was also good when tasted just on the rare side of medium.) Remove meat with a slotted spoon and add to bowl with vegetables. Add cream to sauce and simmer for 2-3 minutes until sauce is desired consistency. Pour sauce over meat and vegetables. I served this with mashed potatoes, peas, and green beans.