Plush and Plump Pearl Couscous

Dear Friends,

         When good buddies turn you on to something special, well, you just have to share the wealth. Eileen, who has been a truly loving friend for many many years, just happens to be a great cook. She also has been a vegetarian long before it became vogue and has this uncanny ability to throw together ingredients to create meals that are masterpieces. I will surely feature her dishes on this blog but today I just want to let you know that she served me Israeli Pearl Couscous and it completely converted me over to these sweet delicacies of toasted semolina. The rich flavor and the pleasing eye appeal perks up any dish. You can serve it in many ways with many types of sauces or just keep it simple. But whatever you do, give it a try and it will undoubtedly make you smile and give you energy. 

Enjoy,

jude

PS I added some pictures to give you updates on the kitchen. Yes, the twenty year wait was worth it. It is looking good and I am fortunate to have wonderful craftspeople to work with. But more on them later.

Jones and Tom framing windows and readying for the counter

My brother in law does a great job on tile

 Tom putting together the puzzle template for countertop

Dave finishing up cabinets

Giving Thanks and a few tweaked recipes

Shiitake mushrooms and sliced almonds

Dear Friends,

      My thanksgiving without a kitchen was a treat. And I am not being sarcastic. While no turkey graced my absent oven, I was fortunate to be able to dine with my good friends who always have room at their table for me. The fun thing about celebrating with other families is the experience of trying new dishes. We had brine turkey and steamed turkey, we had rustic garlic potatoes and family style mashed, we had green beans with shiitake mushrooms, we had carrots with pistachios, we had maple glazed butternut squash, we had amazing roasted chestnut stuffing. we had homemade cranberry sauce, and we had an amazing dessert table of ginger pumpkin pie, apple pie, and berry pie with a lemony cream topping. Just writing about it makes me want to relive the evening. All this and good friends. How lucky can one woman get!

       But I wanted leftovers so  the next day, oh I can not believe this myself,  I fried a turkey. My electricians convinced me to give it a go. They loaned me a fryer and even the oil because I was not about to spend $35.00 on peanut oil. I made all the side dishes on my trusty two burner stove and a crock pot. As the saying goes, there is a first for everything but I am not so sure about a second. Although it tasted great, the cost and danger of splashing oil may discourage me from doing turkey this way again. But also as the saying goes, one never knows what the future holds.

Enjoy and let's start getting excited about the holidays. Lots of good recipes to try.

jude

PS. The food pics are from Jan's Thanksgiving, not my Friday Fiasco. 

Just add a bit of butter and some pistachios

Recipes can be found at Better Homes and Gardens

http://www.bhg.com/recipe/vegetables/rustic-garlic-mashed-potatoes/

the biggest squash I ever grew.

Fast and Funky Pasta Fagioli

Dear Friends,

              Life without a kitchen is beginning to wear on me. My house is topsy turvy and my patience is thinning. The floors are sanded, stained and urethaned and I my eyes sting from the strong smell. I much prefer the more agreeable scent of a savory soup simmering away on my temporary two burner cook top. So I proceed to locate my large pot and pull it out of one of the many boxes I now live among. Keeping with my Italian theme while reading "Under The Tuscan Sun"for the second time around, I find my scribbled recipe for Italian Pasta Fagioli and give thanks because I have all the ingredients I need, saving me from running the five miles into town. It takes me no time at all to throw this soup together and the result is magnificent. The air is suddenly fragrant again and I am smiling once more. I take a deep breath and say thank you.

Enjoy,

jude

My temp kitchen area.

INGREDIENTS:

1 tablespoon olive oil 2 stalks celery, chopped 1 onion, chopped 3 cloves garlic, minced 2 teaspoons dried parsley 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

salt to taste 1 (14.5 ounce) can veggie or chicken broth 2 medium tomatoes, peeled and chopped 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce 1/2 cup uncooked pasta 1 (15 ounce) can cannellini beans, with liquid

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Cook celery, onion, garlic, parsley, Italian seasoning, red pepper flakes, and salt in the hot oil until onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in chicken broth, tomatoes and tomato sauce, and simmer on low for 15 to 20 minutes.
2.	Add pasta and cook 10 minutes, until pasta is tender.
3.	Add undrained beans and mix well. Heat through. Serve with grated Parmesan cheese sprinkled on top.

Add undrained beans and mix well. Heat through. Serve with grated Parmesan cheese sprinkled on top.

Blade and Jones doing a great job. 

Waiting to dry

                             

My grandson waiting to be old enough to try some of Divvy's recipes

Pasticchio Co'funghi aka Mushroom Lasagna

Pasticchio Co'funghi

Mushroom Lasagna

Dear Friends,

First, you have to love mushrooms as much as me. Second, stop thinking about whatever you are considering making tonight and try this recipe. It is out of this world delicious.

I will be on my Tuscan kick for a while as I continue to journey through my book Under the Tuscan Sun.  It has inspired me to cook again even though my kitchen is torn apart and I am dependent on a two burner portable stove. I borrowed the use of my neighbor’s oven to bake the lasagna.

This particular lasagna utilizes different types of mushrooms and gives lasagna an entirely new spin, bringing a bit of romantic Tuscany to your table! The 9x13 inch baking dish recipe serves six to eight but in my gluttonous fashion ate a third of that by myself. So beware, it is that good.

Preheat oven 400 degrees

Spray or rub oil on the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish

                                                               Pasticchio Co'funghi

Mushroom Lasagna

Saute in a large skillet with 3-4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil for three minutes over medium heat, stirring often:

            1 tablespoon minced garlic ( 3 cloves)

            2 tablespoons  finely chopped onion

            2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh Italian parsley

Add and saute until very soft about five to seven minutes:

            2 pounds fresh mixed mushrooms, sliced (any mixture of shiitake, oyster, white buttons,                                                     

               cremini

            1/2 cup dried porcini mushrooms if you like–soaked in warm water for 30 minutes

                   salt lightly

You can add 1/2 cup dry white wine at this point to the mushrooms for flavor. If you do be sure to sauté until liquid has almost reduced completely.

 

Bechamel Sauce – also known as white sauce –

            4 tablespoons butter

            ¼ cup flour

            2 cups milk ( I used low fat) or cream

            salt and pepper

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add flour and whisk gently until mixed together and a paste is formed.  Add milk or cream, salt, and pepper. Stir constantly until mixture thickens, about six to ten minutes.

           

Have ready:    

            2/3 cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese

            2 Thin 9 x 13 Fresh Lasagna Sheets work best 

     ( you can make three layers if you wish but I like less noodles)

Grease 13-by-9-inch ovenproof dish with butter or olive oil. Dust with some of the cheese. Line the bottom of the dish with a lasagna noodle, spoon the mushroom filling mixture over the noodle, and sprinkle with rest of cheese. Top with the other noodle and sprinkle the top with a bit of Pecorino  Romano cheese, a sprinkle of black pepper and fresh parsley. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes but peek at it often. When done, the top should look slightly brown and crispy. Remove the lasagna from the oven and allow it to sit for 10 to 15 minutes before serving.

 Godere,

Jude

Baby, Kitchen and Cauliflower

Dear Friends,

My grandson and me

       My trip to San Francisco was remarkable. I left home as a mother and returned a grandmother. Meghan gave birth to the most beautiful baby boy in the world. It was a rough beginning but mother and baby are doing well and I will let Meg update you on her being a new mom. The days flew by when I was there and I amazed myself how well I adapted to my new role. However that is not what I want to talk about this week.
   



 I want to let you know that finally I am renovating the kitchen. It needed an update. The original house we built in 1981 and finished it in 1984. That's right it took three years and in the meantime I lived across the street in a one room cabin with no running water or electricity but with a newborn baby. No one can I say I do not have endurance. But I digress.


     Of all the rooms in my home, the kitchen is where I spend most of my time.  It is my heaven on earth.  So the prospect of redesigning was exciting. Keeping in mind cost, comfort, and compatibility to my lifestyle, I set about researching. That was the easy beginning. The choices, the decisions, and yes the " how do I survive without a kitchen" that came later were far  more challenging. But the hardest challenge I faced was food and appetite. The first few weeks I had little desire to eat among sawdust and clutter.
      My friends saved me by delivering meals. I am grateful they are such great cooks. I missed cooking though and borrowed the coolest little two burner stove from Johanna. M first simple meal back to normalcy was steelhead trout, salad with chopped apple and balsamic vinaigrette, winter squash, and the star of the evening Cauliflower. Gloria shared this simple recipe and now I will share it with  you.                           

 One head of Cauliflower
a teaspoon of cumin
a teaspoon of coriander
a teaspoon of turmeric
2 TBS EVOO
1Tablespoon of water


 1.Saute all the seasonings dry in a pan for a few minutes until they burst into a sweet aroma
 2.Add the water and cauliflower and cover to steam until water evaporates
 3. Add EVOO  and saute on low heat until cauliflower is cooked. Stir often

That's it and it is delicious. Enjoy and Thank you Gloria. Did I tell you I ate the entire head? It was a small one:) Oh and I cooked all this on the small two burner.

Until I cook again.
Jude