My darling daughter, Marissa, requested I post some yummy and easy sides. How about an outline – sort of a guide on how to make quick improvisational sides anytime you want? I made this dish with what I had on hand in my produce drawers. You begin by gathering your hard vegetables together; such as onion, carrots, celery, bell peppers, fennel, parsnips, squash, etc. Clean and chop.

Next, pull out your soft vegetables; things as spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes, leftover cooked potatoes, etc., and prep them. Sauté the hard vegetables together until soft, add in the soft veggies, and season, that’s all there is to it! You can add in other items too, such as canned drained beans, chickpeas, frozen corn, chopped olives, or artichoke hearts…getting the idea?

Once you have the vegetables cooked, use them in pasta, salads, quesadillas, wraps, or on their own as a nutritious, colorful side dish.  I like to keep a small bowl on hand to add to scrambled eggs for a quick, satisfying, and “no-brainer” breakfast. (because who wants to think too hard in the morning?)

Here, I am adding them to some brown rice as a side. Instead of the rice, mix it up by serving on top of couscous or quinoa. Also pictured at the bottom, I’ve chilled the rice and veggie mixture, and formed it into patties (mix in a tablespoon or two of sour cream, mayonnaise, beaten egg, crème fraîche, or soft cream cheese to help bind the mixture, if needed). Bread the patty with a mixture of Parmesan cheese and panko, chill the breaded rice cakes for a couple of hours, then cook in a little olive oil, to brown and crisp them, and serve on their own or with a bit of hot marinara sauce. Versatile, right?

[Read more →]

Until about two weeks ago, I had never heard of arancini, but since then I’ve been exposed to it on two separate occasions. The first was when I stumbled upon a blog and arancini was the featured recipe that day. The second was just the other night while assisting Chef Giuseppe Mazzocchi for his cooking class at Les Gourmettes. Giuseppe is a charming man who is from Tuscany and made the most wonderful risotto (He also pronounces my name “Leyenda”, which I love!). He mentioned to the class that any extra risotto could be used to make arancini… turns out arancini are fried rice balls filled with sauce, mozzarella, and/or peas. The names come from the shape, which resembles an orange. The Italian word for orange is arancia and arancini means “little oranges”.  You can even make a dessert arancini filled with chocolate and use a sweet version of risotto – YUM!

Giuseppe told us that in Tuscany they prefer either Carnaroli or Vialone Nano rice to the Arborio rice that Americans generally use for risotto.  All three are short-grain rice, but the first two produce a creamier risotto and each grain holds its shape better than Arborio. You should be able to find all three at an Italian market or deli, and locally at A.J.’s. Even though each class had 16 students, there was so much risotto left that I was able to make 48 arancini, 44 of which I now have in my freezer! I’m providing you with Giuseppe’s risotto recipe, but any risotto will do. Even some you bring home in a “doggy bag” from a dinner out some evening.  It is imperative to make the arancini with cold risotto, so leftovers are perfect.

[Read more →]

Two of the most “frequently asked questions” I get when I’m entertaining or teaching a cooking class, “Do you eat like this every night!?”… and… “What kind of things do you make for weeknight dinners?”  The answers: “No, I only eat like this when I’m entertaining or teaching a class.” and “The sort of things I make for weeknight dinners are dishes that come together without having to make a special trip to the grocery store!”

This pasta is exactly that sort of dish. If you were to drop by my house and look in my fridge, you’d always find things like fresh spinach, romaine or mixed greens, basil, citrus, and bell peppers. And my freezer is never without IQF (individually quick frozen) shrimp, scallops, and chicken breasts. The pantry is stocked to the brim; a variety of pasta, jars of olives, artichokes, sun-dried tomatoes, capers, and the list goes on. When your kitchen is stocked in this way, the possibilities are endless and you’re always able to make a meal without the trip to the store.

I know exactly what you’re saying to yourself now…”Sure, the possibilities are endless… for you, because you can just ‘make up a recipe’ without a cookbook.” And that is true, but I’m going to turn you on to a website where you can just plug in one of the ten ingredients you have on hand, and magically dozens of recipes will appear so that you can make with what you have!  In fact, I went there and put in all the ingredients from this pasta recipe and it came up with 88 different recipes for me!  Sounds awesome, doesn’t it!?! CLICK HERE for that link. Next, be ready to cook that way, by going to my Basic Pantry  (just CLICK HERE) and stock up, so you can create something new “at the drop of a dime” too.

P.S. This pasta is a great vegetarian dish, just leave out the shrimp!

P.S.S. The live TV shoot yesterday went swimmingly, if you would like to view it, go to the “In The News” page up at the top-left of this page and choose the Valley Dish – Ravioli Lasagna post.

[Read more →]

Our fabulous friends, Jeff and Jen Markett who live in Illinois, first introduced us to the Italian condiment giardiniera (pronounced: jar-din-air-a) a few years ago. In the Chicago area, giardiniera is commonly used as a topping on Italian beef sandwiches. Giardiniera is made with serrano and bell peppers, celery, onions, capers, green olives, and pimento in olive oil and vinegar.

The word giardiniera in Italian translates to “female gardener.”  It can be found at an Italian deli and some grocery stores. For locals, I found it in the Italian specialty area of the pasta aisle at Safeway. It is sold mild or hot and as a finely minced relish and as a chunky mixture. I purchased both the mild chunky and the hot relish and mixed them together, but you can use either one. I did not make my own giardiniera this time, but I’m including a recipe, if you have the time (3-day marinating time!) or in case can’t find it in your area.

[Read more →]

Although I use and like mayonnaise, I am not a fan of it in potato salads, coleslaw, and such. It’s just too heavy and kind of just sits there and globs altogether. This salad is light, tangy, and fresh-tasting – so much better than that big mayo-mass of stuff served at picnics, and it’s safe to leave out in “the weather” too!

Just add some shredded chicken to this and you’ll have yourself a main-dish salad supper (use purchased rotisserie chicken or roast a chicken breast, or two, alongside the potatoes). Other great add-ins include; thin red onion slices, chopped Kalamata olives, cherry tomato halves, minced parsley, chopped sun-dried tomato, etc. Or switch out the cheese; maybe some shaved smoked Gouda, Parmesan, or Manchego. How about pecans, almonds, or hazelnuts in place of the walnuts? You get the idea, make it our own and be sure to let me know how you mixed it up!
[Read more →]

I don’t know if you’ve figured it out yet, but I LOVE soup!  Honestly, I could have soup for dinner five nights a week and be as happy as a clam. You’ll find that just about all of my previous soup recipes call for chicken stock or broth (not sure what the difference is between broth and stock? Click HERE to find out). But now that I’m working towards the goal of eating more vegetarian, more often – I will be using vegetable stock, more often. Of course, vegetarians already know to substitute vegetable broth in any recipe, soup or otherwise, that calls for chicken broth. I will be going back and putting that option into all my previous soup recipes posted here and then listing them in the new “Vegetarian” category on The Recipe Index, for those of us who may need a little reminding.  You can purchase vegetable broth in boxes or cans beside the chicken, beef, and fish broths, or make your own. My favorite recipe for a rich roasted vegetable broth is posted here, right below the soup recipe.

Since not everyone in my house in on-board with my goal, I do have added the option to place some chopped smoked salmon on top of the soup as a garnish. It is pretty darn tasty that way, so do as you please.
[Read more →]

My various citrus trees are producing pounds upon pounds of citrus. The oranges, lemons, and grapefruit are being picked and eaten or used in cooking daily. The limes, blood oranges, and Meyer lemons aren’t quite ready yet, and I’m grateful for that, I can’t keep up as it is! So don’t be surprised to see citrus popping up in just about every post from here on out, for months to come.

To kick it off here is a quick and light salad using another couple of favorites; avocado and fennel. The fennel bulb, fronds (leaves), and seeds are used in cooking. The bulb is a crisp, root vegetable and may be sauteed, roasted, stewed, braised, grilled, or eaten raw.  The fronds are delicately flavored and look very similar in shape to dill. The seeds are used either fresh or can be found dried in the spice aisle. The hollow stems are tough and stringy and are usually discarded or used in making vegetable stock. Fennel pollen is actually the most potent form of fennel but is very expensive and difficult to find. Fennel grows like a weed, so be sure to cultivate the pollen yourself, if you grow fennel in your garden, it is amazing! For this salad, we’re using the bulb and a few of the fronds, as garnish. If you can not find, or do not want to pay the price for, blood oranges or Meyer lemons, use regular oranges and lemons instead.

[Read more →]

Ahh, to be able to eat and live a vegetarian lifestyle! It is something I often think about, but in the middle of the thought process, the answer is always, “Yeah, I don’t think so!”  I’m Irish, I’m a meat and potatoes girl, a carnivore at heart. There aren’t many meats I haven’t or wouldn’t eat. My daughter, Marissa, was vegetarian for a couple of years, back in high school, and what a pain it was, for me – the mom, the cook! But in reality, I would love to give it a try – so to that end, my goal this year is to eat “vegetarian” at least one meal a day (not that hard, when you count in breakfast!) and to make dinner, that one meal a day, at least twice a week. To that end, a new “Vegetarian” category has been added to The Recipe Index on the left.

On the Tip Index, at the left, there is already a listing and link for “roasting peppers” plus there are additional pictures here. So if you need a refresher on the process, check out the previous listing on the Tip Index.
[Read more →]

We all have certain foods we have never liked and do our best to avoid.  Carrots are one of those foods for me. I really don’t care for them raw and I despise them cooked! I go out of my way to pick them out of soups and stews and obviously don’t serve them as a side vegetable at home.

So imagine my shock when I discovered that I loved them in their nearly purest form in a creamy soup!

I first encountered a version of this soup when asked to make a triple batch for a Jacques Pepin book signing. I had planned on just having my husband, Dave, be the soup tester since he loves raw carrots. Loves them so much that the palms of his hands actually turned orange after eating too many raw carrots over a short period.

He tasted it and said it was good and the seasoning was balanced, but feeling the need to try it myself before serving it to Jacques, himself, and to the students at the signing, I took the tiniest little taste.

I could not believe it was cooked carrots I was eating. What makes this soup so great is the addition of sesame oil, it is the perfect complement to the carrots. I served this as a first course on Christmas Eve this year and served it as soup shooters for two separate Christmas parties we hosted last year.

I used the frozen turkey stock I made for Thanksgiving, so the picture below shows the frozen solid, ziplock-shaped, form in the pan with the carrot, melting over high heat. No need to thaw ahead of time, just drop it in the pot and go!
[Read more →]

This is our traditional Thanksgiving soup. Back in the day, I went all “Martha” and hollowed out miniature pumpkins and served the soup in those. Hey, it only took about 4 or 5 hours to cut and hollow out 8 of those little guys! I am thankful that I eventually recovered my mind and my sanity and purchased and now use darling orange and green ceramic pumpkin bowls instead!

Butternut squash can be difficult to cut, but luckily many stores (including Costco and Trader Joe’s) sell packages of already peeled and cubed squash. If you can’t find them, look at the “Tip Index” on this site and learn how to correctly (and safely) cut butternut squash.  Save the oil the sage leaves are fried in to use in place of olive oil for just about any Thanksgiving recipe, especially those that have herbs included in them or to saute vegetables.
[Read more →]