Just Plain Steak

Everyone needs an easy night now and then. I took a couple steaks out of the freezer. I coated the steaks in crushed peppercorns (black, red and green) and smoked salt and placed them on a hot iron skillet to sear on all sides (about six minutes total). The steaks finished in a 500º oven for about five minutes. Although I generally don't like smoked salt just sprinkled on food, as a crust on a steak or added to a pot of beans it adds a welcome depth of flavor -- a little bit of campfire, in a good way.

Broccoli Telefono

"Honey, if I put on some water can we have spaghetti?" James called from the kitchen.

I had just walked in from work and started to type up some notes from the day -- forgetting, for a moment all about dinner.

The water was already boiling when I popped up so I decided on a quick broccoli sauce (I had a bag of florets in the fridge). I dropped the spaghetti into the salted, boiling water and when it had four minutes left to cook added in the broccoli. I saved about a cup of the pasta cooking liquid and put the drained spaghetti (with the broccoli) back into the cooking pot along with a large handful of shredded pecorino cheese, lots of cracked black pepper, about 1/2 cup of the cooking water and a good sized knob of butter. I gave everything a good stir combining the broccoli (and breaking it up a bit) and the cheese into a light sauce. Somehow I felt a little extra cheese might be right and I added some cubed, fresh mozzarella to the pot and let it melt and form the long chewy strands the Italians call "al telfono."

Grilled Pork Chops

A week or so back I put some pork chops with a buttermilk marinade in the freezer for a future meal. Today I defrosted the package and heated up the grill for James' dinner.

After I drained the chops from the buttermilk (the marinade had onions and hot sauce and garlic in addition to buttermilk) and coated them in a mixture of panko bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, oregano, and S&P. The breading on grilled food may be unusual but I find with pork chops that can easily dry out it helps protect the meat and keep it nice and juicy. All it takes is five minutes on each side over a medium hot fire. On the side I served lemon roasted potatoes and a frisée salad with crispy radishes, roasted asparagus, and tangy sheep's milk cheese.

Mortadella Pizza

I don't know why I never thought of it before. I love mortadella, the Italian smoked bologna studded with pistachio nuts. I love buffalo mozzarella. Mortadella pizza, what have I been waiting for?

I spread the crust thin and topped it with a drizzle of olive oil and rounds of fresh mozzarella followed by wide slices of the delicious smoked bologna (how did I come to love Mortadella I never eat American bologna) and a dusting of parmesan cheese. I sprinkled the top with chopped garlic and fresh thyme leaves and popped our dinner pizza in the oven for 17 minutes.

Really, what have I been waiting for?

Sort Of So So

Some nights, though I am embarrassed to admit it, dinner is just okay.

"It's still better than what anybody else is having," James will cheerfully say. My ego likes to think he is right, but I'm not so sure. I found this recipe on-line while looking for ideas of what to make with fregola, the Sardinian toasted and rolled pasta specialty that is often slow cooked like risotto. I wanted to do something new and found this potato and fregola soup recipe. Pancetta, onions, celery, carrot, leeks, potatoes and fregola, I actually pretty much followed the recipe except for adding some diced zucchini -- and a bit of butter and a dash balsamic when the soup seemed a little bland. But still, it was just okay.

Trader Joe's Strikes Again

I like to think I am too grass-fed, seasonal, locavore, food snob to be seduced by Trader Joe's. But I am not. Okay, we buy our meat on-line, get our fruits and vegetables either from our garden or the farmer's market, and cheese is now a regular gourmet affair (except for fresh mozzarella and the occasional tub of shredded parmesan I grab from Trader Joe's). It hardly confirms my food pedigree but I kinda love TJ's. It helps to stock the kitchen with -- dare I say it, convenience foods. Ingredients perfect for dinner in a hurry.

I had a class to dash out to a class and so I needed something quick cooking for James' dinner. I turned to a package of arugula and parmesan ravioli (cooks in four minutes) I found in the TJ's cold case. I topped it with a make-ahead ragú of mixed mushrooms. First I soaked some dry morels I happened to have in hot water for about 30 minutes. Next I sauteed sliced mushrooms (a mix of cremini and oyster I found at the farmer's market) and chopped rosemary in olive oil. After about five minutes I added a chopped onion and minced garlic and continued to cook for about three minutes more. When the onion was soft and the mushrooms were just getting a bit brown, I added in the drained and chopped morels, 1 cup of red wine, and 1 cup of the mushroom soaking liquid along with S&P and let the mixture simmer for about 5 minutes until the mushrooms were soft and flavorful. I finished the sauce with a knob of butter.

Once I drained the ravioli I added them to the pan with the sauce along with about 1/2 cup of pasta cooking water and a handful of parmesan cheese. I gave everything a couple gentle turns over very low heat and dinner was ready to serve.

More Clams

We eat a lot of clams. Whenever I feel like I haven't been very nice to James. Or he does something particularly thoughtful. I generally think I should make clams for dinner. I'm not even sure James likes clams as much as I think he does, but still I present them as a recurring special treat -- and I never like to serve them the same way twice.

Tonight I stared off with diced bacon. The meat crisped in the pan in a little olive oil and rendered out some tasty fat. Next I added in chopped garlic, crushed red chiles, sprigs of thyme, chopped parsley, chopped chervil, one cup of white wine and diced home-grown potatoes. I covered the pan and let the potatoes simmer (maybe a bit more than simmer) for about 5 minutes and then added in the washed clams and a good sized (dare I say it almost a stick) of butter. I turned the heat up to high and let the clams steam, covered, for about another 6 minutes (these were small clams). After the clams were opened I let the sauce boil just a bit longer (I should have done this after removing the clams but with the potatoes and bacon it was just too busy in there) to thicken up.

I served up this latest clam recipe with lots of crusty bread to soak up the deliciously buttery sauce.