Monday, May 19, 2014

Penne for Your Thoughts (except I used Farfalle, but whatever)

It looks and feels like spring finally! The sun! The flowers! The generic Benadryl!  Anyway, I've been craving slightly lighter fare these days and thought a lovely pasta salad would be a good way to usher myself into the new season...

Recipes  #18 and #19: Roasted Beet / Goat Cheese Pasta Salad and Sage Walnut Pesto
Choice of libation: Pellegrino with lemon.  I am not above day drinking, but if, at 11:00 am on a Monday, the lady at the convenience store looks at you with concern and says, "Oh.  Are you okay? You look very tired," it's probably a good idea to hold off.
Choice of music: India. Arie's Acoustic Soul - Special Edition. Did you know that there are like 37 versions of the songs "Video" and "Brown Skin"? Me neither.

Roasting beets can take a long time, so I did that first, while I prepped the pesto.  I read somewhere that when you wrap beets in foil, it's not really roasting, it's steaming the beets, so I drizzled them with olive oil and sea salt before putting them in the oven in a baking pan, hoping to bring out a deeper flavour.*

So the original recipe called for a spinach pesto, but the website also had an idea for a sage and walnut pesto, so I went for that instead. Because I was feeling contrary.

I like things that take less than 5 minutes to make: place first five ingredients in food processor, pulse, add next two ingredients, pulse, done.  

Spring colours*!

Ah, but I do enjoy the international food section at grocery stores.  Especially when they play what they consider "ethnic music" above you. Want pasta? Here is some quivery Italian guitar instrumentals to inspire you!

Remember those beets from before? After I roasted them with balsamic and olive oil and onions, I clumsily chopped and peeled them. Then my hands and white cutting board looked like I had just committed a terrible crime. Sorry, no picture.  What a wasted opportunity.  Dang it.

On the up side, I just found this new filter on my camera.  

 After mixing the beets, onions, sun-dried tomatoes and basil, it was time to dump the pesto in, mix and let it chill for an hour in the fridge. Which sucked because I wanted to eat the salad immediately. And I hadn't even mixed in the goat cheese!

Um.  I just now tasted this and proclaimed, "I AM AWESOME AND WILL EAT THIS EVERYDAY, FOREVER." Though I do have a tendency to exaggerate sometimes, you will want to try this.



*it has come to my attention that people (NAMELY MY HUSBAND) were concerned that I didn't know the proper American spelling of words like color and flavor because I've been adding the letter "u" to them.  Please know that I recognize how most people in the United States spell those words. I just like to be fancy.  Especially when I'm drunk.  Which is usually my condition when I'm writing this blog. As you were.  


stolen (and changed a bit) from...
littleleopardbook.com

WALNUT SAGE PESTO
1 cup fresh sage
1 cup fresh Italian parsley
4 cloves garlic (crushed)
½ tsp black pepper
1 cup walnuts
½ cup olive oil
1 lemon (juiced)
¼ cup water

Begin by adding the sage and parsley to a food processor.
Next, add the garlic, black pepper and walnuts.
Puree in the food processor for 15 seconds then add the lemon juice.
Turn the food processor back on and add the olive oil through the pour spout at the top.
Next, add the water while continuing to puree an additional 30-60 seconds or until all ingredients are combined.

ROASTED BEET AND GOAT CHEESE PASTA SALAD
3 medium beets (peeled and quartered)
1 tbsp Enzo Olive Oil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
½ red onion (diced)
1 cup uncooked pasta (I recommend macaroni, penne or small shells)
¼ cup sun dried tomatoes (chopped)
¼ cup fresh basil (chopped)
1 cup spinach pesto
¼ cup goat cheese (crumbled)

Preheat the oven to 450°.
Place the beets in a baking pan with the olive oil, sea salt and balsamic vinegar.
Add the diced red onion, then place in the oven for 45-60 minutes.
Remove from the oven, open the foil and allow the beets to cool 10-15 minutes.
Cook the pasta according to package directions.
Drain the cooked pasta, place in a large mixing bowl then add the sun dried tomatoes and basil. Chop the roasted beets, then add the beets and onions.
Add the spinach pesto.
Mix well then place in the refrigerator to chill for one hour.
Add the goat cheese before serving.




Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Bacon Jam?! I Hardly Know Her! (...I'm so tired)


I have two excuses why this blog post is late /  looks weird
1.  The camera on my phone broke so I now have to use the camera on Chad's phone, except I don't really know how to use the flash on it, so now everything just looks like it is in a Lifetime Television for Women 90's romance movie.
2. I'm in sleep-deprived tech week and have been eating those Starbucks pretentious lunchables for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Oh you guys. Stop crying. I've missed you, too.

Recipe #17: Onion Bacon Marmalade
Choice of libation:  Dewar's White Label scotch - I figured while making a manly condiment, I figured I needed a manly drink.  Also, SPOILER ALERT, this came in handy later.
Choice of music:  Chad was watching The Challenge on MTV. I'm sorry. That is a terrible show. And coming from someone who watches Lifetime movies that is saying something.

Hm.  So the first batch of bacon didn't go over so well.  I took one for the team and ate the really burned ones, but I wasn't really off to a great start.


Ah yes, that's better. Look at that beautiful color. And now the whole place smells like bacon.  Which is usually the goal. 


So I didn't read the recipe very carefully (remember? tech week?) and didn't realize it said "apple cider." I thought it needed "apple cider vinegar." After dumping the first cup in, I realized my mistake and ladled out as much of the liquid as I could.  While we didn't have apple cider, we did have scotch.  So.

While waiting for the onions to soften, I used the cutting board as a cover and chopped the bacon into tiny pieces.  I may not be able to read a recipe correctly, but I am at least efficient.

At this point, the kitchen is smelling amazing -- bacon still permeates but now the sweet onion and whiskey smells may be forever in our walls.  I am not mad at it.

You may be wondering why all of a sudden it looks like this wasn't taken from a camera phone.  That is because Chad left the house before I could take a picture of the end result so this a picture of what the onion bacon marmalade is SUPPOSED to look like. It did actually look like this. I promise.  

What does one do with onion bacon marmalade?  Good question!  I topped my macaroni and cheese with it.  That was pretty good, but in which case I should have added extra bacon, for a crunchier texture.

What ended up being a very good idea was making a meatloaf and folding a cup of the marmalade into the the ground meat along with herbs, goat cheese, tomato paste and bread crumbs. And then adding another layer of marmalade on top of the meat loaf as a sort of glaze. Because.  Yum.

stolen from
patiodaddybbq.com
4 lbs Yellow onions, halved and sliced to 1/4" (I used sweet onions)
4 slices Thick bacon (personally, I would have gone with at least 6 or 8 slices)
2 cups Apple cider (though as mentioned before, I used scotch and if I did this recipe again, I would probably want to use whiskey again, except next time, maybe a nice bourbon)
1/4 cup Sherry vinegar (white wine vinegar is fine)
1/4 cup Brown sugar
10 sprigs Thyme, stripped from the stem (about 2 Tbsp)
1 Tbsp Kosher salt
2 tsp Black pepper


Heat a Dutch oven or large heavy sauce pan over medium-high heat.

Cook the bacon until it's just crisp, then remove the slices and set aside, leaving all of the rendered fat in the pan.

Add the onions and salt to the pan, reduce the heat to medium, cover, and cook until the onions soften (about 15 minutes).

Chop the bacon fine and add it and the remaining ingredients to the pan. Cook uncovered until the liquid is reduced to almost nothing, stirring occasionally (about an hour).

Reduce the heat to low and continue cooking until the onions are a rich medium brown color, stirring frequently (about 10 minutes). If it starts looking too dry, add water 1/4 cup at a time.

Remove from the heat, set aside, and let cool.

(Makes about four cups)