A Better Cacio E Pepe

Cacio E Pepe the Roman dish made with warm pasta, cheese (usually Romano), plenty of cracked black pepper and pasta cooking water stirred quickly together until the cheese melts into a sauce is a dinner-time staple around here. Tonight I took the usual recipe one better and added a small knob of butter, some crushed red peppers and a splash of olive oil to the pot as I stirred the drained pasta. It's not exactly the Eternal City's staple dish but it made for a pretty comforting Sunday supper with a wink to Roman tradition.

Leftovers

Yesterday's fajita leftovers become tonight's quesadillas. Cheese and onion with a "dip" of drunken beans.

Homestyle Mexi-Cal

Kind of unusual for us. But the package of Hearst Ranch beef in our freezer said "Fajita Strips" so I figured I'd give it a try. I marinated the meat in beer, tabasco, molasses, soy sauce, worcestershire sauce, garlic, S&P, and let it sit for a couple hours. When it came time for dinner I quickly sauteed the meat and in a separate pan a combination of onions, peppers, garlic, jalapenos, and corn I had in the fridge.
Tortillas and meat for dinner? You have to serve beans. I didn't have time to soak dried beans so I started a pan with bacon cooking in a bit of olive oil,with onions, oregano and chopped garlic. I added in canned pinto beans (drained), pickled jalapeno peppers and a good quantity of beer, water, and olive oil and let the beans simmer down for more than an hour to reduce the sauce to a creamy, flavorful mix.
The front yard is overflowing with cucumbers so a quick cooling side I chopped up peeled cukes and radishes and dressed them with crumbled feta cheese, white vinegar, chopped cilantro and olive oil.
I love rice, so any excuse to add it to a meal works well for me. Today I went for an sort of Mexican style starting with fresh chorizo sausage in a pan with olive oil then added in chopped red peppers, onions, and garlic. Next the rice went in. I stirred around until the grains were coated with the oils and then added in one large chopped tomato. After a few seconds for the tomatoes to start breaking down I added in chicken broth (for us it was four cups for 2 cups of rice) and brought the liquid to a boil. Then I covered the pan and let the rice simmer for 20 minutes. Just before serving I fluffed the rice with a fork and stirred in some fresh cilantro and oregano.

Not quite Mexican, not quite Californian, just dinner.

Eat Dessert First

Sometimes it's nice to post dessert first.

This is one of my favorite cakes to make. I call it California Upside Down Cake. I start by melting 4 TBS of butter in a heavy duty baking pan (mine is a 10 inch), then I sprinkle on 3/4 cup of brown sugar, followed by (off heat) concentric circles of stone fruits. Tonight was a mixture of green plums, nectarines, and a peach. The fruit is covered with a batter of 1 cup each butter and sugar creamed together then moistened with 2 egg yolks. Into the wet ingredients I add in a mixture of 1 cup flour, 1/2 cup almond flour, 2 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt alternating with 1 cup of milk. In a separate bowl I beat the two egg whites to soft peaks and fold them into the assembled batter to lighten the cake. Once the batter is in the pan the cake bakes for 55 minutes at 350º.

The flavor of our state in an easy delicious cake.

Garganelli With Kale

Garganelli, a specialty of Bologna, are little tubes of egg pasta rolled from squares (not pressed through a die like penne) so there is a little flap of dough that crosses over -- more ridges to grab the sauce.

I started the water boiling and then set out to find ingredients for a sauce. We had two nice bunches of Tuscan kale so I chopped those up and started them in a pan with hot olive oil, a couple of cloves of garlic and dried red peppers. I added about 1/2 cup of white wine and covered the pan to let the kale cook down. There was just the end of some dried chorizo in the fridge so I cubed that and added it to the pan. After about 8 minutes I added in a drained can of garbanzo beans and let the kale keep cooking for a couple minutes covered and then for a few minutes without the lid.

I tossed the drained pasta with parmesan cheese, the kale mixture, and a bit of the pasta cooking water before serving.

The chewy, rich egg pasta was the perfect backdrop for the bitter kale, fruity olive oil, and spicy flavorful chorizo. I rarely make egg pasta but this dish was such a hit with me we may see it more often around here.

Cauliflower Pizza

Quick easy pizza night. I thinly sliced fresh cauliflower and tossed t with S&P, crushed red peppers, oregano and olive oil. The dressed vegetable covered the waiting rolled crust. I covered the cauliflower with thin strips of prosciutto, a dusting of grated parmesan and thinly sliced rounds of fresh mozzarella. Crispy, delicious, ready in a flash.

Fregola

I'm on another quest to clean out the freezer and make dinners using up the ingredients I've already stored. That way I can store new and maybe more exciting foodstuffs for future meals. So, instead of stopping for a couple pounds of clams for dinner I dug deep and pulled out a package of wild boar sausage.

Since I was sort of dreaming of clams with fregola, I decided to stick with the small toasted pasta and basically substitute browned sausage for the clams. I started by sautéing chopped red onion in olive oil, along with a couple cloves of garlic and some diced hot peppers from our garden. After a couple minutes I tossed in the sliced sausage links and let them brown in the hot oil. I added in two chopped tomatoes and let them cook down for about 3 minutes before adding in 1 cup each of wine, water, chicken broth, and fregola. I brought the liquid up to a boil, covered the pan and let the pasta simmer for about 25 minutes until very tender.

Since the sausage was a bit more French/Alsatian perhaps than Italian (there is something a bit sweet in the mixture, maybe cranberry or currant or apple), I decided to top James' dinner with a dollop of tangy, washed rind Delice de Bourgogne cheese and a sprinkle of fresh parsley.