Off for a couple weeks!

Well I’m off to Argentina in just a few minutes, literally, out the door!  ah! Can’t wait!  So I will not be posting for the next 2 weeks and will see you all March 1st when I get back with lots of stories about food to share hopefully!  While I’m gone I made my husband a couple frozen dinners to enjoy: Martha Stewart’s Veggie Lasagna, Enchiladas and Bittman’s Pizza Crusts (we’ll see if he even bothers with those, haha).  I have a funny photo of the OCD freezer and the directions I printed out for each dinner, but I just don’t have the time to download them right now.  All the best!  And see you in March! Adios!

Fishs Eddy Glasses and Rancho Gordo Beans!

I’m late on posting this, but last week my friend Nicole sent me a couple Fishs Eddy glasses and Rancho Gordo Beans and corn kernels! I’m really excited to jump on the Rancho Gordo beanwagon!  But I’m going to have to wait until I get back from Argentina!  I leave on Friday and will be gone for 2 weeks!  ah!  So excited!  In the meantime I am trying to get some frozen meals prepared for the hubby, my valentines gift that will keep on giving while I’m away. Will hopefully posts those before I leave!

I seriously love this glass! It is always by my side (as you can see with all the dirty fingerprints all over it).  Thank you Nicole!!!

Tortellini with Brown Butter and Fried Sage Leaves

This past week I have seen brown butter recipes a couple times, here and here.  And since I was looking for something “quick n easy” Thursday night, I went with the week’s trend.  This was great, very buttery, very rich and very quick! And I loved serving the sage leaves fried like this, such a neat presentation!

Tortellini with Brown Butter and Sage

from Serious Eats

- serves 2 -

Ingredients

1/2 pound dry pasta or two servings of frozen tortellini
3 to 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/3 cup sage leaves, about 10 to 15, left whole or thinly sliced
1 tablespoon lemon juice, or to taste
Freshly grated black pepper
Salt to taste
Freshly grated Parmesan (optional)

Procedure

1. Bring a pot of water to a boil; add salt. Cook the pasta or tortellini according to package instructions, then drain.

2. In a small skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Continue cooking until the butter begins to brown, keeping a very close watch to ensure it doesn’t burn. Keep in mind that the temperature will continue to rise even off the heat. When the butter is nearing completion, add the sage leaves to crisp in the hot fat. Remove from heat and add the lemon juice to halt the cooking, plus a pinch of salt (unless you’re using salted butter).

3. Toss the drained pasta into the skillet, coating well with the sauce. Finish with black pepper and Parmesan, if desired. Serve immediately.

Galumpkis

Not too many photos of these stuffed cabbage rolls since it was a very sloppy presentation, but the flavor was there!  Galumpkis are sorta like Greek Dolmades, they use cabbage leaves for wrapping instead of grape leaves and have a tomato sauce instead of the avgolemono (egg-lemon sauce).  I was originally thinking that I would just braise the cabbage, but Tuesday night was really snowy cold and I wanted something hearty so I looked up a stuffed cabbage recipe and found this one from Tyler Florence.  Since I had most of the ingredients (minus the ground pork) and the reviews were so positive, I decided to go with it.  The cabbage turned out too small and I didn’t have enough leaves to roll up all the stuffing so I ended up sprinkling the rest of it over the pan and covering it with the sauce.  It turned out super tasty and we had leftovers forever.  Great snowy evening dinner!

Baked Eggs in Ramekins with Collard Greens

Last weekend I made this recipe for “Oeufs en Cocotte” out of Julia Child’s “Mastering the Art of French Cooking”.  It was a perfect, decadent weekend brunch meal, I didn’t need to really eat the rest of the day.

I sauteed some chopped collard greens in bacon grease for the base of the ramekins and then sprinkled the fried bacon on top for a crunchy garnish.

• Preheat the oven to 375F
• Butter or grease ramekins
• Add 1 Tbsp of cream (and any other base ingredients like collard greens, spinach, chard, etc)
• Set the ramekins in a pan filled with 3/4 inch of boiling water and wait for cream to warm up
• Break an egg (or two) into the ramekins and add a splash of cream
• Set the pan in the oven until the white is just set, but the egg is still jiggly, 7-10 minutes (mine took about 10 min)
• Salt and pepper and serve immediately!

We had toasted whole wheat challah slices for dipping on the side.  It was so rich and dreamy.  Next time I will probably scale back on the cream, make it slightly healthier…

Winter Share Pick-Up: Jan 31

IN THE SHARE

• Green Cabbage – Landisdale Farms, Jonestown, PA
• Yellow Onions – Tuscarora Organic Growers, PA
• Empire Apples – Kauffman’s Fruit Farm, PA
• Carrots – Elm Tree Organics, Lancaster County, PA
• Blue Potatoes – Elm Tree Organics, Lancaster County, PA
• Potato Pierogi – Antonia’s Pierogi, Philadelphia, PA
• Cheese – Garlic Cheddar, LeRaysville Cheese Factory, LeRaysville, PA
• Dairy: 1 dozen eggs AND 2 Pequea Valley Yogurts
• Chorizo – Country Time Farms, Princeton, NJ
• Granola – Metropolitan Bakery

Also, up top, you can see the two bags of whole wheat flour and Pennsylvania white pastry flour I got through Four Worlds Bakery last week (along with a Whole Wheat Challah and a mini Rosemary Olive Levain).  The loaves were delicious and we enjoyed them immensely smeared with the last of the Amish butter from the Greengrow pick-up a couple weeks ago.  YUM!

Cheddar-Topped Shepherd’s Pie

I’m back!  Well, my computer is back from the repair shop! And I am sorely overdo on posts.  Though my computer was out of commission, my trusty camera has been by my side documenting what we have been eating this past week.  Thus I will be posting a few of these meals over the next couple days.

I made this shepherd’s pie last week and it was awesome! And of course easy and very wintery. I had been eyeing this recipe in the October issue of Everyday Food for a while now and finally got around to making it.  What really drew me to this specific recipe was that it did not call for Worcestershire sauce, which I just didn’t have in my cupboard.  Next time maybe I will be better prepared, so that I can make this recipe the “real” way.

From Martha Stewart (with a video!)

Ingredients

Serves 8 (I halved this recipe and baked it in a square pan)

• 2 pounds baking potatoes (about 4), peeled and thinly sliced
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil, such as safflower
• 6 medium carrots, halved lengthwise, quartered if large, and thinly sliced
• 6 celery stalks, thinly sliced
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• 2 pounds ground beef chuck
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 1/2 cups shredded sharp white cheddar (6 ounces)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450. Place potatoes in a large saucepan, and cover by 1 inch with salted water. Bring to a boil; reduce to a simmer. Cook until potatoes are easily pierced with the tip of a paring knife, 15 to 20 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, heat oil in a 5-quart Dutch oven or heavy pot over medium-high. Add carrots, celery, onion, and thyme. Cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are tender, 8 to 10 minutes. Add flour and tomato paste; cook, stirring, 1 minute. Add beef; cook, stirring occasionally, until no longer pink, 6 to 8 minutes. Add 1 cup water; bring to a boil, and simmer 1 minute. Set beef filling aside.
3. Drain potatoes; return to pan. Cook over medium, stirring, until liquid has evaporated and a thin film covers bottom of pan, about 1 minute. Remove pan from heat; add milk and 1 cup cheese. Mash until smooth; season cheddar-potato topping with salt and pepper.
4. Pour beef filling into a 13-by-9-inch baking dish. Drop dollops of topping over filling; spread to edges with a spatula. Using a fork, make decorative peaks; sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup cheese. Bake until topping is browned and filling is bubbling rapidly, about 20 minutes (if topping and filling were chilled, increase to 35 minutes). Let stand 5 minutes before serving.