Veggie & Feta Pasta Salad

30 May 2013 2 Comments

by sparksfromthekitchen in Appetizer, Lunch, Main Dish, Salad, Side Dish Tags: , ,

I cannot believe Memorial Day Weekend has come and gone. It’s almost time for summer fruits and veggies again.

That being said this pasta salad is perfect for the warm weather.  There’s a ton of veggies, a bit of cheese and a great light vinaigrette. It can be made in advance and kept in the fridge too.  You can feel free to add other veggies too-maybe some red or yellow peppers, onions etc….

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Veggie & Feta Pasta Salad

Salad Ingredients:

  • 1/2 lb gemelli pasta
  • 1 pint cherry tomatoes
  • 1 cup chopped kalamata olives (pitted obviously)
  • 1 cucumber cut into 1/2 inch pieces
  • 1/4 cup feta cheese

Dressing Ingredients:

  • 1 tsp Dijon mustard
  • 1 tsp Italian seasoning
  • 1 large clove of garlic, put through press or mashed to a paste
  • 1/4 tsp kosher salt
  • 1/4 tsp white pepper
  • 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
  • 1/3-1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Instructions:

  1. Cook pasta in salted boiling water until al dente, drain and rinse with cold water.  Shake out as much of the water as possible.
  2. In a large mixing bowl combine all of the salad ingredients above and mix well to combine.
  3. In a small bowl whisk together all ingredients except the olive oil until evenly combined. Then, while whisking, add the olive oil and continue to whisk until emulsified.
  4. Pour dressing over salad, mix to evenly distribute the dressing, and serve or refrigerate until ready to serve.

Vidalia Onion Pie

28 May 2013 1 Comment

by sparksfromthekitchen in Lunch, Main Dish, Side Dish Tags: , ,

It’s Vidalia season again!! I picked up two of those beauties at my grocery store a few days ago and have been wondering what to make. While I did find a roasted Vidalia onion salad that sounded promising I wanted to somehow incorporate this month’s What’s Baking theme of Puff Pastry into it too. So I searched and searched and found a delicious sounding Vidalia Onion Pie recipe from Paula Deen. I haven’t ever made anything of hers but it looked like exactly what I was hoping for. A nice pie with crumbly bacon topping, sweet browned onions and (my idea) a flaky crispy crust-not the pie crust that Paula’s recipe called for.

Truth be told I was secretly thinking that the crust wouldn’t ever work right and I’d have to throw everything out. I’ve never switched out a puff pastry for a pie dough before but I thought if I pre-bake it that it will be just fine. And it was. It was glorious!! And surprisingly easy to make too!

It’s not a deep pie-only about an inch since I used a tart pan. It’s a very light custard type of filling-surprisingly light and the onions–OH THE ONIONS!!-beautifully sweet just like they should be.

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Vidalia Onion Pie

Ingredients:

  • 3 cups thinly sliced Vidalia onions (I used about 1 & 1/2 onions)
  • 3 tbsp butter
  • 1 sheet puff pastry (thawed if frozen-I like Pepperidge Farm)
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tbsp AP flour plus more for rolling out dough
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1 & 1/2 cups sour cream
  • 1 tsp kosher salt
  • 5 slices bacon, cooked to crispy and crumbled (4 for pie, 1 for dog 🙂

Instructions:

  1. Pre-heat oven to 350.
  2. Roll out the pastry until it’s thin enough to cover entire inside, sides and have a small amount hang over sides of tart pan.
  3. Lay pastry in pan and press all around to fill evenly. Using a fork poke holes in the dough on the base of the pan and in the edges around the outside. Cover the edges with 1 layer of foil and bake for about 15-20 minutes.
  4. While the pastry is baking prepare the onions. In a medium skillet over medium-high heat melt the butter and then add the onions. cook them until they’re lightly browned. Then remove from heat and set aside.
  5. In a small bowl beat the eggs and then add the flour and whisk to combine. Then add the milk sour cream, and salt. Whisk to combine.
  6. When the pastry is done spread the onions over the bottom of the pan and then pour the egg mixture over it. Sprinkle the bacon on top and bake for 30 minutes.
  7. Serve right away.

I only had about 1& 1/4 cups of sour cream. I subbed a new Greek Yogurt/Cream cheese mix that I had for the remaining 1/4 cup. It worked out fine.

It will help you a lot if you put the tart pan onto a cookie sheet for the duration of the recipe so you don’t run the risk of messing up the edges of the dough getting it in and out of the oven.

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Cara from The Boys Made Me Do It was the host of this month’s challenge. Check out all of the other dishes made here!

WB

Smashed & Baked Parmesan Potato

23 May 2013 Leave a comment

by sparksfromthekitchen in Side Dish Tags: ,

I really do like a good baked potato but they get pretty routine so I thought I’d change it up a bit.   I LOVE freshly grated  Parmesan cheese and put it on a lot of things-roasted broccoli, freshly popped pop corn-the list is endless. I always have a block in the fridge to use for whatever.  That ‘whatever’ happened to be the potato that night.  And it was absolutely delicious!! The soft inside of the potato, some crunchy outside bits from the baking and then the salty nutty Parmesan makes one awesome potato.  I would also consider topping with bacon pieces, chives etc..

Since it was just me eating dinner that night I only made one but you could make as many of these as you need.

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Smashed & Baked Parmesan Potato

Ingredients:

  • 1 russet potato
  • 3-5 pats butter (to taste/size)
  • 3-6 tbsp parmesan cheese, freshly grated (to taste/size)
  • salt & pepper

Instructions:

  1. Pre-heat oven with broiler.
  2. With a fork poke holes all over the potato and nuke in microwave for 5-8 minutes until fork tender.
  3. Place the potato in a small, foil-lined baking pan.  Smash it with a masher or meat tenderizer-flattening it but leaving it rugged and airy. 
  4. Place the pats of butter on top and then sprinkle with the Parmesan.
  5. Place under boiler, watching carefully, until cheese melts and the ends of the potato get crispy.
  6. Serve with additional grated cheese if desired.

Note: use a microplane to grate the cheese if you have one. If not use the grater that will give you the finest grate.

Fritatta di Saldiccia e Cipolle (Sausage & Onion Fritatta)

03 Apr 2013 3 Comments

by sparksfromthekitchen in Appetizer, Breakfast, Lunch, Main Dish, Side Dish Tags: , ,

I am a huge lover of public television-no commercials and the programming is so great.  I don’t know if it’s like this all over but I have a spin-off of one of my regular PBS channels called Create. It’s cooking, crafts, gardening and travel. It’s got great shows-Pepin, Child, America’s Test Kitchen and so on. If you ask me Food Network could learn a lot from them-such variety.

I’m getting off the point here. Nick Stellino is one of the chefs that has a show on the channel and he makes some yummy stuff. The fritatta below was inspired by him. Pretty easy and really tasty.  The onions cook for a while so they get nice and sweet.  This is delicious warm or great at room temperature the next day or reheated.

I served it with my delicious roasted broccoli.

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Fritatta di Saldiccia e Cipolle

Ingredients:

  • 6 tbsp olive oil
  • 4 onions, sliced
  • 1 scallion, sliced
  • 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
  • 1&1/2 tsp dried thyme
  • 1 tsp kosher salt
  • 1/2 tsp white pepper
  • 2 tsp garlic, chopped finely
  • 1 lb Italian Sausage (I used part sweet part hot) out of the casings
  • 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
  • 8 eggs
  • 1/4 cup freshly grated cheddar cheese

Instructions:

  1. Cook 3 tbsp oil in an oven-safe 12 inch non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. When it’s hot add the onions, red pepper flakes and thyme and stir well to combine. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook for 20 minutes, stirring every few minutes to avoid sticking.
  2. Pre-heat oven to 350F.
  3. While the onions are cooking brown the sausage. When it’s cooked put the sausage in a strainer to drain of excess fat.  Discard the fat and keep sausage on the side for use later.
  4. In a bowl beat the eggs with 1/2 tsp salt and set aside for use later.
  5. When the 20 minutes for the onions is up add 1/2 tsp of the salt, the pepper and 1 tsp of the garlic, reduce heat to low and cook for 20 more minutes stirring every few minutes again.   Then pour the mixture into a large bowl.  Wipe the pan clean.
  6. Add the cooked sausage and parsley to the onions and mix well. Then add the beaten egg mixture and the remaining garlic and mix well.
  7. In the pan wiped clean cook the 3 remaining tbsp of oil over medium-high heat. When it’s hot pour the contents of the bowl into the pan. Cook for 2 minutes then stir. Cook for another 5-7 minutes until just set then transfer to the oven and bake for 15 minutes then remove, sprinkle the cheese on the top, and return to the oven for another few minutes until cheese is melted and bubbly. Remove and allow to cool for a few minutes before cutting into wedges and serving.

Serves 4-6

I always worry about burning the hell out of my hand by grabbing the handle of the pan after it’s out of the oven and cooling so usually I keep the handle turned way in so that I can’t grab it. How I never thought to just put an oven mit over the handle before is beyond me.  Now I don’t have to worry (and yes those are margaritas on the oven mit :).

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Parmesan Quinoa

29 Mar 2013 4 Comments

by sparksfromthekitchen in Lunch, Main Dish, Side Dish Tags: ,

Parmesan Quinoa

For this month’s blog swap I was assigned Jenna’s blog. Wow she has some great recipes-go take a look! Bee sure to check out the other great recipies from the swap-just click the frog link below.

It was tough choosing only one from all of them but in the end I chose Parmesan Quinoa. I’m trying to learn new ways to serve this delicious little grain and, since I put Parmesan on basically everything, this was the natural choice.

In her recipe it calls for a miniscule 2 pinches of Parmesan. Sacrilege darling!! That’s far too little. I upped it quite a bit.

quinoa

Parmesan Quinoa

Ingredients

  •  1 cup uncooked quinoa
  • 2 cups fat free low sodium vegetable stock
  • ½ cup freshly grated parmesan

Instructions:

  1. Add the stock and quinoa to a medium sauce pan and place it over high heat.  Cook for a total of 12 minutes (it will be a little al dente which is how I like it. Cook it longer if you like it softer).
  2.  Remove from heat and drain. Stir in parmesan and serve.

Note: I buy quinoa that I don’t have to rinse so I omitted that step from the recipe.

Use a high-quality parmesan and a micro-plane to grate it.

Thank you Sarah from http://tasteofhomecooking.blogspot.com/ for hosting the swaps.



Sunny Outside Cafe Salad (a/k/a Quinoa Mediterranean Salad)

25 Mar 2013 Leave a comment

by sparksfromthekitchen in Appetizer, Lunch, Main Dish, Salad, Side Dish

On Thursday evening I stopped by my grocery store to pick up a few things that I need for the next week.   My Fairway has a great olive section with barrells full of different types-castelvetrano (I’ve visited there!!) , kalamata, pitted, unpitted etc.. but they also have sundried tomatoes, marinated artichokes and mushrooms. The list goes on and on. You get your own container and fill up on what you want.  Since they’re all the same price you can mix and match whatever you want in the same container.  I knew I was going to pick up some more quinoa and I felt like having a nice salad for dinner.  A mediterranean salad came to mind.  Sundried tomatoes, kalamata olives, feta and oh yes! I have about 2 cups of baby spinach in the fridge at home (I was supposed to use it earlier in the week but didn’t so I’ll be glad to use it up!!).

This turned out to be a delicious  briny, bright, super tasty concoction of many of my favorite flavors.  In my mind I was back sitting at this cafe in Siragusa, Sicily, where Husband and I visited in October 2010. Is this not the cutest place ever?

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I had a huge bowl of it for dinner and I had a large bit left over for lunch the next day.  I did not put the dressing on the left-overs but kept it in a small container until I was ready to eat.

I put some of my favorite ingredients in but if you don’t like kalamata take them out and put in black olives.  Play around with it! Perhaps different cheese (queso fresco would work) or adding artichokes or peppers. The amounts below are really just estimates. I didn’t measure as I was going.  I also made a basic viniagrette which worked really well with the other ingredients. Enjoy!!

salad

Quinoa Mediterranean Salad

Salad Ingredients

  • 1 cup dry quinoa, cooked as per package instructions, and cooled (yield about 2 cups). I like to use chicken stock instead of water.
  • 1/2-3/4 cup sundried tomatoes, chopped small
  • 1/3-1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives, chopped small
  • 4 cups baby spinach, stems removed, washed and chopped small
  • 1 peperoncini pepper, chopped small
  • 3ozs feta cheese, crumbled

Dressing Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
  • 1/4 tsp kosher salt
  • 1/4 tsp ground white pepper
  • 1/2-1 clove garlic, minced fine
  • 1 tsp italian seasoning (or combo of oregano, basil etc..)
  • 1 tsp honey (if needed)

**Note: If you’re omitting the cheese you don’t have to cool the quinoa in the ingredients list above. I cooled it because I didn’t want it to heat the feta. Feel free to eat it warm with everything else**

Instructions (really it can’t be any easier? I feel like I’m insulting you by even writing these):

  1. For the salad: add all ingredients in a large bowl and mix to combine.
  2. For the dressing: combine all ingredients in a small bowl, whisk well to combine. (I generally use a measuring cup and give it a few long whizzes with my immersion blender.) Taste. Add honey if needed. Whizz again.
  3. Pour dressing over the portion of the salad that you intend to eat right away.  Set the rest aside.

Double Roasted Potatoes

22 Mar 2013 2 Comments

by sparksfromthekitchen in Holiday, Side Dish Tags:

Typically potatoes are served for St. Patrick’s Day so I wanted to serve them but didn’t want to boil them or cook them with the corned beef.  Another recipe that caught my eye in my new book ‘Return to Tuscany’ is Luciano’s Roast Potatoes. They’re soaked then roasted then cooled then roasted again. An interesting way of cooking them-I usually just cook them once. The sentence in the recipe introduction said ‘…return them to the oven for another 15 minutes until hot and crispy on the outside’. YUM!! The flavor is great, they’re really easy to make.

I served them with these carrots and this great corned beef recipe.

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Double Roasted Potatoes

Ingredients

  • 2&1/4 potatoes, peeled and cut into walnut-sized chunks (size of the whole walnut, not the small halves that you eat)
  • 6 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
  • 4 sprigs fresh rosemary
  • 6 garlic cloves, unpeeled and lightly crushed
  • salt and freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 400F.
  2. Soak the potatoes in water for about 30 minutes. Drain then dry with a clean tea towel and put into a baking dish or roasting tin large enough to hold all of the potatoes and mix them around. Add the oil, rosemary and garlic and season with salt and pepper. Mix well with your hands. Cook for 30-40 minutes until potatoes are soft in the inside.
  3. Remove the potatoes from the oven and leave them to cool fo about 30 minutes.
  4. Toss again and return them to the oven and cook for another 15 until hot and crispy on the outside.

StPatsDayTable

Sformato of Carrots

21 Mar 2013 2 Comments

by sparksfromthekitchen in Holiday, Side Dish Tags:

Sformato of Carrots

Recently I went to my favorite bookstore armed with a gift certificate that my Grandmother gave me for Christmas. I love that they still give certificates (in the form of a greeting card) instead of impersonal plastic reusable cards. Book Revue is the ivory tower of indy bookstores. They have great guests pretty much every night giving talks or signing books, an amazing staff, an outstanding selection of new and used books all at great prices, and a wonderful coffee shop. They put Barnes and Noble to shame. I’m glad. If you’re in town stop by and support a local icon bookrevue.com.

Oops-got off the subject there. Anyway I went 2 weeks ago and browsed with a cappuccino 2 Saturday mornings ago and picked up the ‘Return to Tuscany’ cookbook. It accompanied a series on BBC which I wish I could have seen (but I believe it only aired in Britain, not on BBC America-what a shame). It’s full of great recipes. One that stood out to me was the Sformato of Carrots and the description that they author gave of the dish ‘It’s somewhere between a soufflé, a mash and a puree’. It intrigued me. So I decided that I would make the dish on St. Patrick’s Day instead of cooking the carrots with the corned beef.  I made this delicious corned beef and these great potatoes.

The author was right on with the description. It was light. It was fluffy. It was carroty. And it was pretty simple to boot. Give it a new try-it’s a great ‘something different’.

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Sformato of Carrots

Ingredients

  • 16ozs carrots, chopped
  • 2 egg whites
  • 1oz freshly grated parmesan or pecorino cheese

For the Bechamel Sauce

  • 1.5ozs unsalted butter, plus an extra knob
  • 4 tbsp AP flour
  • 7fl oz milk
  • Freshly grated nutmeg to taste
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 400F.
  2. Bring a pan of salted water to a boil and cook the carrots until tender.
  3. To make the Bechamel sauce melt the butter in a small pan, then stir in the flour and cook over a low heat for 1-2 minutes, stirring continuously to make a thick paste. Gradually add the milk, stirring well all the time, then increase the heat and continue to stir until the sauce thickens. Add salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste.
  4. Drain the carrots and mash them finely or puree in a food processor.
  5. Whisk the egg whites until they form very soft peaks.
  6. Stir the sauce and egg whites into the carrots and mix well. Pour into an oven-proof dish and bake for 10 minutes. Dot the top with a little more butter, scatter the cheese around the top and then bake for a further 10 minutes. The top will form a crust and the carrot will be light and delicious.

Celery Root and Mandarin Orange Salad

11 Mar 2013 1 Comment

by sparksfromthekitchen in Appetizer, Lunch, Main Dish, Salad, Side Dish Tags: , ,

Recently I was looking through my Jan/Feb 2013 issue of Cooking Light Magazine and came across a salad named ‘Celery Root & Arugala Salad’ with the heading ‘Love This Ugly Root Vegetable’. How can you resist a title like that?! It’s almost a challenge!! So I took the challenge. I knew that my store had celery root (also named celeriac) as I had seen it the week before and, since I hadn’t ever eaten it, I was curious. I’m so glad that I tried it! It takes a bit like celery, but a bit of a lighter taste, and has the consistancy of jicama. It’s crunchy, it’s tasty, it’s inexpensive. It would be great on tacos or salads or burgers etc…

The salad turned out great. I changed the name because I felt the oranges played a far more important role than the arugala. It’s so easy to make-just a few minutes of prep, a few minutes resting the ingredients in the dressing and voila! delicious!! This salad also keeps extremely well. I had left overs the next evening and everything was still good and crunchy and delicious so it’s a great salad to make to bring to work the next day for lunch. Isn’t that just gorgeous?

salad

Celery Root and Mandarin Orange Salad

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice  
  • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 cups matchstick-cut peeled celery root
  • 2 cups thinly diagonally sliced celery
  • 1/4 cup very thinly vertically sliced red onion
  • 3 cups satsuma or other mandarin orange sections cut into 3s (fresh not canned if possible)
  • 1 cup baby arugula 
  • 1/2 cup fresh parsley leaves

Instructions

  1. Combine extra-virgin olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and black pepper in a medium bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Add celery root, celery, and onion; toss to coat. Let celery root mixture stand 30 minutes. Add orange sections, arugula, and parsley; toss gently to combine.

If you’re not sure of what to look for at the store or what’s inside here you g.

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Adapted from Cooking Light Jan/Feb 2013 Issue.

Roasted Jewel Veggies

22 Feb 2013 Leave a comment

by sparksfromthekitchen in Holiday, Lunch, Side Dish Tags: , ,

I like doing my grocery shopping on Friday evening, on the way home from work.  My local Fairway Market is only about a mile away and is empty at that time so I have time to browse and pick up some fun stuff.  Last time I was there I noticed they had some really pretty maroon carrots. Next to those were golden beets.  Aren’t they gorgeous? I’d never had maroon carrots or golden beets either at home or out. I was curious how they tasted and really-they’re gorgeous!! They are delicious and pretty and just a nice change all around. I started wondering what a carrot soup made with the maroons would look like-or carrot cake. Might be fun.

I couldn’t name this post just ‘roasted veggies’. They’re too colorful for that.

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So I brought them home and peeled them and cut them up and put them on a cookie sheet with foil to roast.  Watch out-the maroon carrots’ juice stains. Wear an apron.

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What came out of the oven was a veritable stained glass window of veggies. So pretty and DELICIOUS!!

Roasted Jewel Veggies

Ingredients:

  • 1 bunch golden beets, peeled and cut into 1/4 inch rounds then halved
  • 1 bunch maroon carrots, peeled and cut into 1/4 inch rounds
  • 1 bunch regular carrots, peeled and cut into 1/4 inch rounds
  • extra virgin olive oil
  • fleur de sel
  • freshly ground white pepper

Instructions:

  1. Pre-heat oven to 400.
  2. Line a cookie sheet with foil.
  3. Lay the veggies on the foil, drizzle with olive, sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste and roast for about 15 minutes.

I had to include this photo because it’s just really pretty. Look at that carrot streaked with orange-just gorgeous.

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