The Cupboard Is Bare

It might be the emptiest our kitchen has ever been. Coming back from my trip I opened the fridge. Echo . . . prosciutto, cheese, left over white wine, and a half bottle of heavy cream lingering from last week's dessert.
Prosciutto cream sauce. I started a pan with a bit of olive oil and a bit of butter and sautéed half an onion, finely chopped and a couple cloves of garlic. When the onions we just translucent I tossed in the prosciutto and gave that a few minutes to start to crisp up. Next I deglazed the pan with some of that white wine and then added the cream and let everything cook down to a sauce while the pasta boiled.
Pretty simple, but pretty delicious.
I've gotta go shopping.

Cream "Poached" Eggs

Not quite coddled and not quite poached, these are, quite frankly, eggs of my own invention. Delicate and creamy with salty bits of prosciutto. In a small non-stick pan I sautéed bits of prosciutto followed by a handful of fresh spinach in olive oil and butter over medium heat. Next I cracked in two yard fresh eggs. I covered the eggs with a handful of shredded peppered cheddar cheese and a healthy drizzle of fresh cream. After a sprinkle of salt I covered the pan and let it simmer away (medium low heat) for about 5 minutes until the whites of the eggs were just set and the cheese melted. Much easier than boiling water and vinegar these almost poached eggs will be topping salads (with just water and olive oil in the cooking pan) and English muffins around here from now on.

Pretty Quick Spaghetti Dinner

An uncooked pasta sauce -- briefly tossed with the hot, drained spaghetti is a great way to get dinner on the table in a hurry. Tonight I chopped up fresh dandelion, braised artichokes leftover from the other night's dinner, prosciutto and fresh mozzarella then sprinkled on minced garlic, crushed red peppers, shredded parmesan. All of that was combined with the hot spaghetti (just drained) in the cooking pot along with about 1/3 cup of pasta cooking water and plenty of cracked black pepper. I gave it all a good stir over just a tiny bit of heat until the parmesan and the water made a creamy coating for the noodles. Next time I'll toss in the mozzarella last minute -- it got a little clumpy, but otherwise pretty successful.

Baked Eggs

James loves potatoes. He loves ham. He loves béchamel sauce -- although I'm not sure he knows that.

We have a steady supply of eggs. I put all those things together in a French style egg gratin.

I sautéed some onions in butter and then laid them in the bottom of my baking dish. Next I took parboiled potatoes, sliced them and popped them in a pan with plenty of butter until they were cooked through and laid them on top of the onions -- dotting the pan with bits of prosciutto as I layered. The next level was thick slices of hard boiled eggs. I covered it all with a creamy white béchamel sauce (equal parts butter and flour, thinned with milk and seasoned with salt, pepper, and a hint of nutmeg). I guess I should call it Mornay sauce since I added in a good sized handful of grated Gruyère cheese but by any name it's a rich, creamy, delicious white sauce. I sprinkled the top with a bit more grated cheese and popped the casserole into a 400º oven until bubbling (about 10 minutes) then I switched to the broiler for about 5 minutes until the top was bubbly and browned.

Not exactly a lo-cal dinner, but hearty and warm and perfect for dipping with crisp toasts.

Just In Time

A few minutes after the pasta cooks, this super simple diner is ready to serve. I sautéed garlic, fennel seed, chiles, and oregano in a good quantity of olive oil, added chopped prosciutto and turned off the heat. When the pasta was drained I added the aromatics along with chopped radicchio, baby arugula, S&P, and chopped burrata cheese. I gave it a few stirs until the cheese was just barely melted and our improvised warm pasta salad was ready to serve.

Colorful and quick.

Cotoletta alla Milanese

Cotoletta, paillard, scallop, wienerschnitzel . . . whatever you call it these lightly breaded crispy slivers of meat (often veal but ours was chicken) are ready in a flash and just the thing for a light summer dinner.

I butterflied a chicken breast and pounded it to about 1/4 inch thickness. I briefly dipped the chicken in beaten egg (seasoned) and then in a combination of panko bread crumbs (for extra crunch) and grated parmesan cheese (S&P of course). The trick to the crispy exterior is all in the pan. Heat a good quantity of olive oil over medium heat until the surface just shimmers, then add a TB or so of butter. When the butter has melted and just starts to foam, lay in the breaded cutlet and let it cook over medium heat until nicely browned and crisp on one side (3 -4 minutes). Flip the meat, with a spatula or tongs, and cook the other side until golden brown -- about 3 minutes.

To finish and garnish our one dish dinner I mixed up an arugula and parsley salad with shaved parmesan cheese and "grilled" figs. Usually for this salad I would toss the halved figs on the grates of the grill but since I was only using one skillet I gave the figs a turn in a thin slick of olive oil (before I cooked the chicken, the figs don't need to be warm), over high heat until they just started to soften and crisp on the edges. I tossed the salad ingredients with a light rosemary vinaigrette (2 TB olive oil, 2 TB balsamic vinegar, 2 TB chopped rosemary, S&P), and topped the crisp cotoletta with thin slices of prosciutto and a tangle of the fresh bitter and sweet salad.

"If you save that last little piece for me, I'll eat it tomorrow," James said while clearing the plates. Success!

What Shari Had For Dinner-- Saturday Guest

The big man hasn't been in much of a mood to venture out, so when our friend asked if we wanted to have dinner we decided to whip something up at home. Since I was in the middle of extracting honey and getting ready to leave early the next morning I opted for easy dishes that don't need a lot of cook's attention.

For appetizers I looked into the fridge and came up with a winner -- James says it's THE new house party dish. Rosemary crackers (I would have toasted up some crostini but if I have to be honest about it I burned them and didn't have enough bread to try again and still have some for dinner) spread with fresh ricotta, topped with a thin slice of prosciutto and half a fresh fig, and drizzled with S&P, balsamic vinegar, fruity olive oil, and chopped mint. Super easy and delicious.

For dinner a tomatoey mixed seafood stew cooked up with diced fennel, celery, and dry white wine. On the side a simple salad of radicchio and parsley with tangy anchovy dressing and crusty, old fashioned garlic bread for dipping.

And for dessert a puff pastry apple tart. I had some Trader Joe's all butter puff pastry in the freezer (one of those thing you buy for a rainy day that takes a long time to come). After the dough was thawed (just took 10 minutes) cut into neat circles and chilled (for 30 minutes in the fridge) I layered on thinly sliced apples, sprinkled about 1 TB of sugar and drizzled with a couple tsps of sugar. Bake for 25 - 30 minutes at 400º, serve with ice cream.

Hopefully the memory of Saturday night dinner will keep Himself going while I'm out of town and he's living the bachelor life of trader Joe's pizza and Wendy's drive through.