polenta pizza

this recipe is not only a great way to give a little variation to a classic (and one that i turn to fairly often…) it’s also a great alternative for someone who is gluten-free to still get a pizza experience.

first, make polenta with 1/2 cup milk, 2 1/2 cups water (i also added tablespoon of butter because the recipe calls for whole milk and i only had skim) and one cup of cornmeal.

spoon it into a oiled cookie sheet

and smooth with a spatula.

sprinkle with salt and pepper and let cool, then refrigerate for at least an hour, up to overnight.

when you’re ready for dinner, you bake it for 20 minutes, then layer on the bacon, onions, cheese and greens (see notes below).

then back in the oven for a couple minutes to get everything warm and the cheese gooey.

couple notes… i would have liked my polenta layer a little thicker. the first slice i tried to take out ended up as a pile.

so next time i will probably double that piece of the recipe. although i do have to say, overnight, the polenta “set” more, so the leftovers were even more pizza-y. (and he didn’t care about the pile anyway… he was too busy raving about the taste.)

instead of plain spinach that is called for, i used “greens for sauteing” from olivia’s organics. (this is my favorite brand of pre-packaged greens.) it’s a mix of baby collards, kale, spinach, chards, which make for more complex flavor than plain spinach.

we (i should say, HE) doubled the amount of bacon, and i used goat cheese crumbles instead of gorgonzola, which isn’t my favorite.

overall, i’ll definitely use this technique again with a few adjustments.

turkey lasagne

i didn’t use a recipe, but here are some notes from the test kitchen.

1. i found ground dark meat turkey at whole foods, which was spectacular. it had great flavor and added depth to the dish. i can’t wait to make meatballs with it, too.

2. i put a pinch of garam masala in the turkey when i cooked it – with carrots, onion, mushrooms and a can of tomato sauce – to give a little more complexity.

3. one egg in the ricotta filling helps it firm up, two makes it rock hard.

4. three key words: parmesan bread crumbs. they create a great crispy topping that adds texture to an otherwise pretty mushy dish. (and those are sliced mozzarella balls on top, too, for the necessary goo factor!)

mussels with tomatoes, bacon and wheatberries

i pretty much made this recipe up as i went along and had to make several corrections mid-course. so i won’t confuse you with the exact steps i took, but in general, i started by cooking up about a cup and a half of wheatberries. they are my new favorite grain and i love them because they have so much attitude and texture.

you want a ratio of 1 to 3, wheatberries:water. bring to a boil, then simmer until done. they should be edible, of course, but they don’t get soft like rice or pasta. they have TOOTH!

then i sauteed one onion (chopped), a clove of garlic (minced) and about 1/3 of a pound of bacon (cut into cubes). next i added one finely chopped tomato…

and cooked it on low heat for awhile, covered so the onion and tomatoes would make good juice.

next, i stirred in the cooked wheatberries,

added a few glugs of whatever wine i had sitting around (it was a rose, but i don’t think color would matter to the recipe too much), a handful of torn basil leaves, and 2 pounds of mussels. make sure you rinse them well under cold water and sort of jostle them together to loosen any sand or dirt.

continue cooking with the lid on – shaking the pot every couple minutes – until the mussels open up wide.

serve with wine and crusty bread for sopping up juices!

this dish was simple and easy to make (once i figured out how i was going to do it) – and a huge hit in my house (blame it on the bacon).

nutella pasta

i was quite naughty the other night:

the key is flaky salt on top.

wow.

lemon-oregano roasted chicken

for some people, cooking is a stressful chore that they do their best to avoid. while i admit there are busy days when i get home from work and the last thing in the world i want to do is cook dinner, for the most part, cooking for me is happy and relaxing.

so when i needed a new place to feel a little more homey, what better to turn to than a roast chicken? and lucky for me, it’s cool enough in boston even in the summer that i didn’t melt into a puddle of sweat running the oven at 325 for two hours!

i started with a five-pound roaster from whole foods (there is one close! and a trader joe’s! happy pig.) and rubbed it all over with the zest of one lemon, salt, pepper and olive oil.

i also stuffed his cavity with half an onion, half a lemon and some fresh oregano (use whatever herb you like) and scattered the rest around him in my tajine.

into the oven at 325 degrees with the tajine top on.

after about an hour, it was starting to look (and smell!) done, but still looked so pale.

i turned the oven up to 375 and put it back in for about another hour without the top.

that’s more like it!

served with kashi grain blend, brocolini and some crazy-good lemony gravy he made with the drippings and gizzards.

home is where the tummy is.

marinated tomato pasta

when i was home visiting my mum recently, i was looking at some magazines she had around and the picture on the cover of the newest martha stewart was so summery and delicious-looking, i insisted we make it for dinner that very evening.

my picture isn’t quite as artistic, but the dish was easy and delicious and my mother declared it “a keeper.”

basically, you let your tomatoes mellow out in garlic olive oil, crispy garlic chips, lemon zest, capers, salt, pepper and basil for 30 minutes or so before tossing with warm pasta.

couple things… use really colorful heirloom tomatoes! they are so pretty and flavorful. next, i suggest setting aside half the garlic chips and topping the pasta with them right before serving to add a little texture. also, the dish is best served at room temp.

the really surprising-in-a-good-way element to the dish is the lemon. you don’t generally expect that with tomatoes, but it really worked.

although with these ingredients,

how could you really go wrong??

note: i tried to find this recipe online to link to it, but couldn’t find it anywhere at first. then, even though the magazine i used at my mom’s was the august 2011 edition – and this was the COVER SHOT – i came across this: here is the recipe from back in september 2008. exactly the same, just with lobster. do you think martha is running out of new ideas?

herby pesto salad

i got the inspiration for this salad from a cookbook they were selling at urban outfitters. needless to say, i didn’t buy the cookbook, but i did recreate the salad.

it was so colorful and healthy and fresh-looking!

i started by boiling and cutting a bag of small potatoes

blanching and halving some french (thin) green beans

and halving some small tomatoes.

the original salad called for jarred pesto sauce, but i wanted something without nuts (he’s allergic) and fresher tasting. so in a food processor i chopped a handful of basil leaves, two handfuls of flat-leaf parsley, three small garlic cloves, some lemon zest, salt, pepper and a splash of olive oil.

once it’s all chopped and mixed, keep mixing and adding oil until you have a salad-dressing consistency. pour over salad and toss.

then add feta crumbles and toss lightly.

the parsley and lemon in the pesto work really well with the feta and keep the whole thing light and springy.

asparagus tangle

as seen on the today show.

i just had to make this because it’s called a “tangle.” how fun is that!? sort of like the mandy moore movie, but without the funny horse.

anyway, start by peeling your asparagus – i used white and green – into many ribbons.

you do end up wasting a lot of asparagus, though… see in the top corner (below)? i couldn’t get the peeler close enough to the counter, so the middle sections were too thick to use and too thin to keep peeling.

i think if you used one of those fancy y-shaped peelers (that i don’t have) you’d waste less, though. (i did save these and roast them later to go with another dinner.)

anyway, did i mention that you don’t cook the asparagus here? i’ve never thought of eating raw asparagus, and when i tried it, it was bitter… hmm. two strikes.

then you make a dressing of the juice of half a lemon, about a tablespoon of anchovy paste, pepper (no salt!), a small squeeze of agave (or a pinch of sugar) and some olive oil.

dress the salad – i’m sorry, the tangle – early because the lemon juice (acid) “cooks” it a little. or at least softens it.

and gets rid of the bitterness!

in fact, it was delicious, fresh-tasting, unusual and healthy.

i served it with sliced boiled potatoes with olive oil and salt, and shrimp tossed in olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder and crushed red pepper and then sauteed. makes quite a pretty pile on the plate!

sweet and sour chicken with couscous

this recipe was described as “tongue-tingling,” and let me tell you – it was! and delicious, too. plus i got to use my tajine, which is always a bonus.

you start by heating a dutch oven (or tajine!) over medium high heat, and sauteing 1 large diced onion and 4 thinly sliced garlic cloves.

then add 24 ounces of chicken pieces (i used thighs), 1/2 orange juice (it says fresh. yeah right), 1/4 red wine vinegar, 3 tablespoons dried currents (i used golden raisins instead, that i chopped to make them current-sized), 1 tablespoon sugar and 8 jarred peperoncini.

i had never tried peperoncini before, but wow are they tasty! a little spicy, a little tangy. mmm. i recently added some leftover ones (they keep in a jar in the fridge forever) to a pot of lentils with great success.

anyway, S&P your chicken,

bring mixture to a simmer, cover, and cook until chicken is done – about 20 minutes.

serve over israeli couscous (or regular couscous or pasta or pieces of super crunchy toasted french bread, even!)

this recipe gets at least four out of five stars. and so easy.

[i’d give credit to the magazine my mum tore it out of, but i can’t tell from the clipping… don’t sue me!!]

eggs in hell

i saw this one-skillet dinner on a blog somewhere ages ago, and i haven’t been able to get it out of my head. so on a recent unseasonably cold, windy, rainy evening, i decided it was the perfect thing for dinner.

luckily, we had a loaf of the crustiest bread in the freezer which heated up wonderfully.

for this recipe, you need a cast iron skillet or similar that can go from stove-top to oven. speaking of oven, preheat to 325 degrees.

start by sauteing half a chopped onion and some garlic in a little olive oil until translucent. to add more flavor, i added a dollop of anchovy paste and one of tomato paste.

i also added about a cup and a half of frozen chopped spinach, which wasn’t in the original recipe, but i found it in the freezer.

then i added a large can of crushed tomatoes with basil (i would have used chopped fresh basil if i had it), a pinch of crushed red pepper (or more if you can handle it), a splash of worcestershire sauce and some agave. (if you don’t have agave, a teaspoon of sugar will work.)

then i cracked four eggs on to the tomato sauce and put the skillet into the oven.

it took longer than i expected… 20 minutes or so? and remember that eggs cooked this way look different than you’d expect. the best way to determine if they are done to your taste is to shake the skillet. (and of course, they’ll keep cooking once you take it out of the oven.)

salt and pepper the eggs when they come out.

i recommend serving trough-style with a super crusty loaf of bread.

this would also be a great comfort-food dinner for one if you used a smaller pan and fewer eggs…