Smokey Walnut Spinach Pesto

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dinner, easy meal, food, foodie, garlic, gouda, pasta, pesto, postaday2011, quick & easy, quick meal, recipe, side dish, spinach, walnut

Exhausted tonight, I needed something that was quick to make for dinner. The fridge and pantry were sparse and I had some fresh spinach that needed to be used. Pesto it is! After all, pesto doesn’t have to be pine nuts and basil.

Smokey Walnut Spinach Pesto

Ingredients:
1 lb. linguini, 1/2 c. olive oil, 1/2 c. walnuts (toasted), 1/2 c. smoked gouda, 2 c. fresh baby spinach, 1 clove of garlic, lemon zest, fresh ground sea salt, fresh cracked black pepper

Directions:
In food processor blend together ingredients. Cook pasta according to package directions. Pour sauce over fresh hot pasta and toss to coat. Sprinkle with fresh grated cheese and serve.

I’m hoping to bake again tomorrow… What are your Friday plans?

Sausage & Watercress Penne

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dinner, easy dinner, easy meal, easy recipe, food, foodie, lunch, meal, pasta, penne, postaday2011, quick & easy, quick and easy, quick recipe, recipe, sausage, watercress, yellow pepper

A tasty heap of comfort food is the perfect way to end the day…

Sausage & Watercress Penne

Ingredients:
1 lb. ground turkey sausage, 1 lb. penne, 3 c. chopped watercress, 1/2 shallot (minced), 2 diced yellow bell peppers, 1/2 c. dry white wine, fresh ground sea salt

Directions:
Cook penne according to package. Drop sausage by the spoonful into pan of shallow water and simmer until meat is done (water should be gone, if not drain water). Remove sausage from pan then add wine and deglaze pan.  Toss peppers, shallots and watercress in pan and simmer. Sprinkle with fresh ground sea salt. Return sausage to pan. Pour over pasta and garnish with freshly grated pecorino romano.

*I actually use turkey breakfast sausage for this recipe. I prefer the flavor of breakfast sausage over the other varieties…
*Some people use only the watercress leaves, I roughly chop the leaves and stems alike, it adds to the texture.

What are your weekend plans?

Braised Pork Loin

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braised pork loin, braising, dinner, easy cooking, easy dinner, easy meal, easy recipe, meat, pork, pork loin, postaday2011, recipe

Hubster’s Sixth Course was Braised Pork Loin…

Braised Pork Loin

Ingredients:
Tied pork loin, 1 bottle wine, 1 minced shallot, 2 Tbsp. olive oil, 4 bay leaves

Directions:
Warm olive oil in large pot and brown shallot. Add pork loin to pan and brown for about two minutes on each sides. Add bay leaves and wine to pot, bring to boil. Cover and reduce heat, allow to simmer for 2 1/2 hours. Slice meat and serve hot.

*You can use beer, juice, apple cider, wine, really any liquid to braise your pork loin. Experiment with a few different fluids and see what tastes you prefer.

How do you like your pork loin?

Basmati Pistachio Rice

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basmati, easy meal, easy recipe, Indian cooking, Indian cuisine, Indian food, pistachio, postaday2011, quick & easy, recipe, rice, side dishes, vegan, vegetarian

As a side dish I was going to make plain basmati rice and daal. However, when I looked in my pantry there were no lentils. I had to quickly change my plans to create a lightly flavored rice.

Basmati Pistachio Rice

Ingredients:
2 c. water, 1 c. basmati rice, 1 c. pistachios, 2 bay leaves, 1 small piece of cinnamon stick, 2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

Directions:
Bring water, olive oil and bay leaves to boil. Add rice and cinnamon stick, cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer for about 20 minutes. Let stand for 5 minutes. Remove cinnamon stick and bay leaves. Fluff rice and stir in pistachios. Serve hot.

Serve as a side dish with curried vegetables.

What quick substitutions have you had to make recently?

Puff Pancake with Pear, Pomegranate & Dark Chocolate Drizzle

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breakfast, brunch, easy meal, food, foodie, fruit, gourmet, gourmet pancake, pancake, pears, pomegranate, pomegranate seeds, postaday2011, puff pancake, quick meal, recipe

Yesterday we had our first snow day of the year… Yay, I got to make and have brunch on a weekday!

Pears are one of my favorite fruits, so are pomegranates… so it’s about time I paired (no pun intended) them. Since last week I made flat pancakes (AKA: crêpes), this week it was time to make big puffy ones. That’s right, not just fluffy, but also puffy! I baked my puff pancake in a glass pie dish, since my cast-iron skillet is somewhere in storage (I’m wary about using my stainless steel skillet in the oven…).

Puff Pancake with Pear, Pomegranate & Dark Chocolate Drizzle

Puff Pancake Ingredients:
1/4 c. butter softened, 1/2 c. flour, 1/2 c. milk, 1/4 c. light brown sugar, 2 eggs, 1 tsp. almond extract, 1/8 tsp. fresh ground sea salt

Puff Pancake Directions:
Preheat oven to 425ºF. Mix together flour, salt and nutmeg and set aside. Mix together milk, eggs, sugar and extract. Slowly mix flour mixture to milk mixture. Let dough set. In oven, melt butter in pie dish. With pot holders remove from oven and coat dish with melted butter. Pour batter into hot pan and allow to sit for 2 minutes. Return dish to oven and bake for about 15 minutes. Remove from oven and add toppings. Slice to serve.

Toppings:
Top with your favorite seasonal fruits, whipped cream, dark chocolate drizzle, or a dusting of confectioner’s sugar.
*I chose diced red and Anjou pears, pomegranate seeds, dark chocolate drizzle and a bit of fresh whipped cream.

Plain Puff Pancake

I decided serve  my puff pancake with crispy oven-baked turkey bacon. The smokey salty flavor balances well with the sweetness of the puff pancake. The crispy and chewy texture of the bacon also plays well against the soft and puffy pancake.

*If you use vanilla extract instead of almond extract, add a pinch or nutmeg.

What did you do yesterday?

Steak & Pepper Strips

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beef, cooking, cooking with wine, dinner, easy dish, easy meal, food, foodie, lunch, meat, peppers, postaday2011, quick dinner, recipe, steak

Since I’m pesco-pollo vegetarian, Hubster was overdue for some red meat (of course when we go out to eat, he usually orders chicken). Other than the venison I refuse to cook make him prepare himself, It’s been a few months since he’s had red meat for dinner. So I made this quick and easy steak dinner for him.

Hubster's Steak & Pepper Strips

 

Ingredients:
thin cut steak, 1 yellow pepper, 1 orange pepper, 1 green pepper, 1 red pepper, 1 shallot, white wine, extra virgin olive oil, fresh cracked black pepper, fresh ground sea salt

Directions:
Rub both sides of steak with olive oil and season with salt & pepper, let set at room temperature for 20 minutes. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Cut steak in long thin strips. Slice peppers and shallots and toss in with steak. Transfer to baking tray and drizzle with white wine. Bake until strips are done to your liking. Hubster’s took about 10  minutes.

Hubster thought the baked pear and butternut squash I made last night was the perfect accompaniment to this steak. That’s the first time he’s actually complimented the pairing of side dishes with the main course. Could it be that he’s learning about food?..

What is something you prepare for your sweetie, that you don’t consume?

Shrimp & Corn Chowder

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chowder, corn, dinner, easy dinner, easy meal, food, foodie, lunch, one pot meal, one pot recipe, postaday2011, quick dinner, quick meal, recipe, rivels, seafood, shrimp, soup, supper, sweet corn

Every restaurant has a different variation of this recipe, some appease my palate more than others. Hubster doesn’t like  seafood or soup and he’s avoiding creamy foods now, so this was the perfect recipe for me to indulge myself. Afterall, I had some leftover shrimp from New Year’s Eve and some leftover champagne (which I used in place of the white wine). So New Year’s Day, I whipped up a batch, here’s my version of Shrimp & Corn Chowder.

Shrimp & Corn Chowder

Ingredients:
1/2 lb. shrimp, 2 Tbs. butter, 1 Tbsp. Old Bay seasoning, 1/4 tsp. celery seed, 1 chopped red bell pepper, 10 oz. sweet corn kernels, 4 c. soup stock, 1 c. white wine, 2 c. heavy cream, 1 tsp. fresh chopped parsley, rivels, 1 Tbsp. cornstarch

Directions:
Melt butter in soup pot over medium heat. Saute shrimp and add Old Bay, cook until done. Remove shrimp from pot and add chopped peppers, sauté until softened. Add white wine and simmer. Add stock and corn, bring to a boil. Return shrimp to pot (you can leave them whole, but I prefer them chopped). Add cream and stir throughly. Drop in rivels, boil for 5 minutes stirring constantly. Mix 2 Tbsp. of the broth with 1 Tbsp. of cornstarch and then return mixture to soup. Reduce heat and simmer until thickened.

What warms you up on a cold winter night?