Steak Pappardelle

Maybe you've been to a wedding and brought home half a filet or you might have splurged and cooked a big steak or chop to last a few days.  The things you can do with that gorgeous hunk wrapped up in the fridge are precious and myriad.  Of course you could make one of these...

Steak Cobb Salad

• steak and fried eggs with toast and jelly
• steak sandwich with cheddar and sour cream horseradish sauce
• steak-filled omelet
• Philly steak sandwich
• hash 
• pepper steak
• steak and mushrooms on toast
• stir fry and rice
• steak and blue cheese grits, or
• Alyce's Steak Cobb Salad
• Alyce's Homemade Potato Chip-Steak Salad
• your favorite

Alyce's Homemade Potato Chip-Steak Salad with Blue Cheese

In fact, there are those that feel the things you later make out of that leftover jewel are most likely the best thing of all. (Maybe we should call them something besides leftovers.) My friend Chris' husband, Dave, is like that.  Leftovers are treasures, gold in the fridge.  For instance, I adore pork tenderloin. But I think I'm most happy to make it just knowing I'll have lean pork fajitas or a dish I make where I sauté onions, garlic, and mushrooms with rosemary and then add some broth and cream for a sauce to serve over rice. That dish needs a name.

On Sunday nights, we don't truly cook.  Not from scratch. I work Sundays and by Sunday night....you get it.




 Dinner is wine and cheese.  Leftovers thrown in a pan. Frozen chili heated. A quick one-pan wonder.  It's our night to watch a movie with tv trays or "Downton Abbey" (when in season) or, like now, "The Newsroom."

Greens Pasta--Pantry Meal

I topped mine with some teeny squash from my neighbor.

Once in a while a pantry meal is in order.  If you filled your pantry with things like whole wheat pasta, garlic,  olives, and olive oil...and if you have some fresh greens (arugula, spinach, etc) and even a piece of gratable cheese in the frig, you have dinner.  And you have a luscious dinner.  Good enough for you and, if you had a hankering, this is nice enough to share.  It'll stand up to a nice big red wine.  Did I mention it's vegetarian?   I've rewritten this little ditty with a few changes and also to make it sound as easy as it is, but the idea comes from Andrea Immer's (now Robinson) EVERYDAY DINING WITH WINE, and a lovely cookbook it is.  Thanks, Andrea!

Greens Pasta  2 servings

Cook up 1/2 pound whole wheat pasta (I like Whole Foods 365 brand best; it's tasty--) according to package directions.  Don't over cook it.  While it's cooking, saute in a large deep skillet 1-2 chopped clove(s) of garlic in 1 T of olive oil.  When the pasta it done, using tongs, transfer it to the skillet with the olive oil.  Toss well.  Add a couple of tablespoons of the pasta water. Add 1 cup of fresh spinach, chopped kale, spinach, or any greens you have.  Throw in a pinch of crushed red pepper.  Stir in a bit of grated cheese* and top with a last drizzle of olive oil, lots of black pepper, a good dose of salt and chopped olives, if you have them or like them.  Toss one last time and serve hot.  A bit of grated lemon zest is another addition you can consider--even at the table.

*Skip cheese for Vegan option

     Why not add those chopped, leftover vegetables you have from last night's dinner?   Or saute a few fresh ones like I did.
 

Here's what the T-Tiny squash looked like before I cooked it.  Pencil for scale.

Thanks, Wendy!

Add a good book and a candle and enjoy the meal.

 Have fun cooking and taking care of yourself,

 Alyce

Ratatouille (Not the Movie)

Ah, summer.

I loved the movie.
Also "The Big Night"
And "Babette's Feast"
Try them.   Food movies.  Ah.

I love the real deal better.   If you become a devoted cook, your world will revolve around the seasons.  Stews in winter.  Apple pie in the fall.  Berries in the spring.  And...
High summer: Tons of vegetables at their peak.

Tomatoes
Zucchini
Eggplant
Peppers
Garlic just  harvested

If you don't know ratatouille (the real deal), here's a definition from dictionary.reference.com:

 ra·ta·touille
   [rat-uh-too-ee, -twee; Fr. ra-ta-too-y^uh]  

noun

a vegetable stew of Provence, typically consisting of eggplant, zucchini, onions, green peppers, tomatoes, and garlic, served hot or cold.

My basil, yellow zucchini, and Japanese egglant in the bath together.

I am unsure if I would call it a "stew."  I'm thinking a melange suits my ratatouille better.  This mixture of great vegetables, some cooked separately and some together (all mixed in the end) is, like much cooking, a totally personal dish.  While it can be a side dish, a main, served over pasta (rice, cous cous), or in an omelet, it can contain various proportions (depending on your garden/taste or market) of the vegetables mentioned above.  It can have more or less (I like more) garlic.  It can have crushed red pepper.  Fewer tomatoes.

The vegetables could be grilled, then mixed.  Or sautéed in the typical way.  I have, in a pinch, frozen it and brought it out in late fall so we can close our eyes and drum up summer days.  Tell me how you make and use yours?   For a solo cook, this is perfect.  You can share with a vegan friend, keep some for tomorrow, cut the recipe in half, or do it all and throw containers in the freezer for lunches. Here's a starter recipe:

Pasta out of the Frig and Pantry

Boil the pasta, chop and cook whatever veg.  Dinner for one is served.

 As a young cook, I would marvel at my mother's ability to walk into a kitchen and come out with something good to eat.   While this doesn't sound like such a feat (there are many accomplished cooks in the world), she managed it when there didn't appear to be any food (that I could see) in there.  Well, of course there were milk, eggs and cheese in the frig.   In fact, there were often fresh eggs from her hens. There were root vegetables on the counter.  The deep freeze held fish she and my dad had caught and cartons of last summer's vegetables.  In the closet were shelves brimming with quart jars of canned tomatoes,  4oz jars of crab apple jelly, various sized containers of figs, as well as odds and ends -- batches of canning she'd done when someone had brought her half a bushel of something or other about to go bad.

Mom and nephew Michael

Last year, I read and reviewed a book called Lunch in Paris; A Love Story with Recipes  by Elizabeth Bard (the paperback version has come out recently), which is a memoir about an American  woman who falls in love with (eventually marries) a Frenchman named Gwendal.  Full of sweet, not-too-long-ago stories, each vignette ends with a recipe. One I  particularly liked:  Gwendal (who cooked for just himself often) was notorious for rummaging in the frig and coming up with a tasty pasta dish. All this when it looked like there was simply nothing to eat and a run for take-out must be attempted no matter the weather or time.

I tried my hand at Gwendal's pasta (blogged it once) and continue to do so because it quickly morphs into my pasta and will soon be yours.  See what you think. You, too, can learn to look around, grab a few things, and cook your dinner out of what you have.  Just like my mom or Gwendal.  Julia Child would say, "Have the courage of your convictions..."  and go for it.

Pasta Marinara

"Life is a combination of magic and pasta."
Federico Fellini

   Every cook needs a marinara in her pocket and in her heart.  This isn't grandma's 12-hour simmered sauce; it's quick, fresher and more adaptable.  It's what you can make for just yourself on a day when you haven't been to the store and need comfort food.  It can be a spicy sauce with the addition of a bit of dried red pepper.  Blend with tortellini and grilled Italian sausage for the night you have a friend to dinner.  Keep it in the freezer in small batches and defrost  in the microwave to dress up a bit of cold, roasted chicken or to stir into some rice dried almost beyond saving. Spoon a little over fried eggs and top with cheese to make a couple of eggs feel more like a real meal.  It makes the dinner if you have a celebration and the bucks for some grilled tuna (see below).  Ladle it into a pasta bowl over and/or under the tuna and add some orzo stirred up with sauteed spinach and garlic or onions.   The options are multitude and all are happy. 

Tuna Marinara with Sauteed Spinach and Onions

 Pasta Marinara serves 2   --  easily doubles

• 1/2 pound  whole wheat linguine or your choice of pasta shape (I like Whole Foods 365 brand best)
• 1 tablespoon butter (use olive oil for vegan version)
• 1/3 cup onion, minced
• 1 stalk celery, minced
• 1-2 tablespoons minced carrot, optional  (Don't overdo the carrot; it'll ruin the sauce.)
• 1 28-oz can whole tomatoes (I like Cento, but it can be pricey.)
• Pinch of sugar
• 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, minced
•  1/4 teaspoon Kosher salt and 1/8 t freshly ground pepper or more to taste

1.   Heat large skillet or a 3-quart pot with butter/oil over medium heat.  Add onion, celery and carrot (if you're using it) and cook about 10 minutes.  Add tomatoes, stir and break up by pressing down with a  large fork or a potato masher. Add parsley and a bit of salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes, stirring regularly. Taste and adjust seasonings (add a tiny bit more salt, sugar or pepper, if needed)
2. Meantime, bring 6 quarts well-salted and peppered water to boil in a large soup pot.
3. When at a rolling boil, add pasta and cook about 11 minutes til al dente (Just a bit of resistance when you bite into it.)  Drain, return to pot and keep warm (cover if you need to)
4. Place a serving of pasta on each of two plates (or in pasta bowls) and top with sauce.  Add cheese (or basil) if you like it.  Unless you're terribly hungry, you'll have some sauce for tomorrow's breakfast eggs or to spike up a simple soup.

Solo Cook's Notes:  You could also

• add a pinch of dried red pepper 
• add a pinch of dried red pepper and a few shrimp at end of cooking
• add a tsp of minced garlic to the sauce
• top finished dish with some fresh basil  
• saute a few scallops and eat with a bit of this sauce
• dust with freshly-grated Parmesan cheese 
• give the dish a big extra grind of black pepper for garnish
• make a double or triple batch  and freeze some in plastic or glass freezer containers. 

Cherry Tomato Chicken Pasta with Basil

With rotini.

As cooks, we sometimes wake up with something special on our minds.
Something that just keeps going round and round and, until we make that dish, we just can't do anything.
No one should get in our way then.  No how.
Then we go to the grocery store.
Are way-laid by a point of entrance display of, say, raspberries.  Or avocados.  Or, in this case,
CHERRY TOMATOES.
I had every intention of making a Splendid Table newsletter dish called something like "Sicilian Chicken."
Until I saw cherry tomatoes

10 PINTS FOR $10

And my world went spinning until I could figure out and make  (a large detour from Sicilian Chicken)

Cherry Tomato Chicken Pasta with Basil
  Serves 4 or 2 very hungry people.  Can divide in half to cook only 2 portions

Here with linguine.

• 3 pints cherry tomatoes*  (Can use 6-8 Roma tomatoes, chopped, too)
• 2 tablespoons plus 2t olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus a little extra for chicken
• 1/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper, ditto
• 5 cloves garlic
• 1 small red onion, sliced
• 8 oz sliced mushrooms* (optional)
• Pinch of crushed red pepper*
• 1/4 cup white wine or chicken broth
• 1/4 cup kalamata olives, chopped* (optional)
• 1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, chopped very finely*
• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts*
• 3/4 pound whole wheat linguine or other pasta
• 10-12 fresh basil leaves (or 1-2T dried)*
• 4 tablespoons gruyere or Parmesan cheese, grated, optional*

*To purchase if not in pantry.

1. Put a 10qt pot of salted and peppered water (2/3 full) for linguine to boil.  Add a few leaves of fresh basil if you have them.  Lower heat a little and leave water ready for pasta as you make the sauce
2. In a deep, 12 or 14" saute pan (skillet/fry pan) or a good-sized (3qt+)saucepan,  heat 2T olive oil over heat and add tomatoes, salt and pepper.  Cook 10 minutes until tomatoes begin to pop, stirring often.  Add garlic, onion, mushrooms, dried red pepper, wine, olives and rosemary.   Continue to cook for another 10 minutes as tomatoes begin to fall apart.  Stir regularly.
3. Heat another saute or grill pan and add 2t olive oil. (See Solo Cook's Note below.)  Salt and pepper chicken breasts and grill very briefly, about 1 minute on each side.  Lower heat under tomato sauce and add the chicken to the  sauce.  Cover and cook at a low simmer for about 12 minutes.
4. Bring pasta water back to a rolling boil and add linguine.   Let covered chicken in sauce sit 10  minutes.   Test pasta for doneness (there should be a little resistance to your teeth)  and pour out into colander in sink.
5.  Divide the pasta into four pasta bowls and top each with a piece of chicken and a good serving of the tomato sauce.
6. Garnish with torn fresh basil leaves, if using, and a dusting of fresh ground pepper.  Sprinkle with cheese, if desired.

Options:  Add some finely chopped zucchini to the tomatoes.

Solo Cook's Notes:  If you don't have the required pans, cook the chicken first and set aside, covered, to keep warm until the sauce is done in the large saute (skillet).  Then add the chicken.

Wine:  We liked a not-so-rough chianti with this dish.  Don't buy the bottom of the barrel, literally.  Go up one notch to a chianti classico for a tish more smoothness in your mouth and in your stomach.

Note:  additional photos added 11/7/12

Have fun cooking and taking care of yourself,
Alyce
Note:  Originally posted at http://www.moretimeatthetable.blogspot.com on May 2, 2010