Pasta la vista, baby!

Pasta shows up on my dinner table at least once a week. It’s inexpensive, easy to make, is versatile AND is something all three of my kids will eat without complaining. Works for me!

One of my kids’ favorite variations is also kind of healthy (shhhh!) and asked for a lot at my house. Coined “Old Mom Pasta” by my kids, this simple dish of pasta, broccoli, olive oil and garlic is a quick and easy dinner, even on a busy night.

The “Old Mom” name is the name my kids call their grandmother – my mother – which is where this recipe comes from. She's not exactly thrilled with the moniker but she goes along with it. When my kids were young, they heard me calling my mother “mom.” At the age of 4,  my daughter started calling her “old mom,” to distinguish between my mother and me. I realize that, in the future, this one could come back to bite me, but meanwhile I have enjoyed being simply “mom” and am happy to give kudos to “old mom” for the popularity of “Old Mom Pasta.”

The preparation is simple. Heat a generous amount of olive oil in a large frying pan. The amount to use is up to you. You want to use enough so that when you add a pound of pasta to it, it will not be too dry. Start with 1/3 cup and add more if that doesn’t seem like enough.

Add minced garlic to the olive oil and simmer gently until the garlic just begins to brown slightly. Then add 2-3 cups of broccoli florets. The beauty of this dish is you can use fresh or frozen broccoli. Whatever you have on hand will be work great.

Stir the broccoli as it cooks, for approximately 10-15 minutes or until broccoli is crisp tender.

While the broccoli is cooking, prepare a package of your favorite pasta shape. I use rotini. When the pasta is done, drain and mix with the olive oil and broccoli. Serve with grated Romano cheese on the side and, if you want to spice it up, some crushed red pepper.

Ridiculously simple and insanely delicious!

A Succulent Side - Asparagus Salad

The unseasonably warm weather we’ve had in the DC metro area lately has brought summer flavors to my mind. The one taste I can’t shake is of a really delicious asparagus salad I had at a restaurant back in July.

The pleasure of eating this salad was so great that I developed an obsession with eating it! Not one to ignore my cravings, I decided to figure out how to concoct this taste sensation at home so I can indulge whenever I want.

Like any good recipe, this one starts with that winning, foolproof combination of olive oil and garlic. Simple, yet it always satisfies.

I start off by warming the olive oil, then adding minced garlic, which I simmer gently until it began to release its sweet fragrance. To that I add one Vidalia or sweet onion, which I slice very, very thinly. I sauté the onions until they are soft and just barely beginning to brown.

At that point, I push the onions off to one side of the frying pan and add a bunch of asparagus. As I toss and turn the asparagus, I make sure not to mix them in with the onions. When my asparagus starts to turn a darker green, I remove the onions from the pan.

I then deglaze my asparagus with a generous stream of soy sauce. I stir the asparagus around until the now sizzling soy sauce eventually evaporates off.

Once the soy sauce is evaporated, I put the asparagus on a plate and top it with the sautéed onions. As a final touch, I added a sprinkling of balsamic vinegar. The end result: crisp tender asparagus topped with soft, moist and flavorful sweet onions, and balanced by the soy and balsamic in a way that will send your taste buds popping like soy in a hot frying pan!

Sound simple? It’s phenomenal! Fast, easy, tasty. Enjoy!

Let's Rock(fish) and Roll!

When it comes to eating, sometimes one craving leads to another. Lately I’ve developed a serious hankering for grapefruit, which I have not really cared for in the past. I attribute this to the "7-year-itch" our taste buds seem to go through, changing our food likes and dislikes, sometimes dramatically.

My affection for grapefruit actually started about a year ago, when I had a crabmeat, avocado and grapefruit salad at a restaurant. It was extremely gratifying on a lot of different levels. The sweetness of crab combined nicely with the tart juiciness of the grapefruit and the creamy smoothness of the avocado. Yum! I decided I had to bring some variation of this deliciousness to my home table.

I originally thought I would use halibut, but I ended up with rockfish. Rockfish is actually striped bass and, I  discovered, the official fish of the state of Maryland. Who knew? Since I live in the DC Metro area, it’s local to me and was on special at my fish market.

I brushed two generous pieces of rockfish with melted butter, minced garlic, salt, and pepper, and baked at 375 for 30 minutes. I poured some white wine around (not on top of) the fish to keep it moist.

While that was baking, I peeled two grapefruits and removed the pith. This gets very juicy, so I recommend you do this over a bowl to catch all the juices. I combined the juicy, meaty grapefruit pieces with two peeled, cubed avocados. I drizzled that with a dressing of 1 Tbsp olive oil, 1 tsp balsamic vinegar, ½ tsp of raw sugar and some salt. 

The finished product: flavorful and flakey rockfish topped with a scoop of grapefruit avocado salad that boasts omega-3's and antioxidants all in one tasty dish.

And it didn’t end there! Two days later, I was feeling somewhat obligated to eat the leftover rockfish, when inspiration landed right in my lap. I love when that happens.

I had recently acquired a new Facebook friend named Dave. He's married to a college friend of mine, Pam. Dave is a total "food person" and he posts a lot about what he’s cooking. He posted a picture of some salmon BLT’s he made. Just thinking of the picture he posted was enough to get my mouth watering.  And that led me to two thoughts: First, why doesn't Dave have a food blog? And second…why not a rockfish BLT?

 

I used turkey bacon, since that was what I had in my fridge at the time, but whatever. The point is, a lightly toasted Kaiser roll, topped with warm rockfish, bacon, lettuce, tomato and mayo WORKS! Thanks Dave!

Hola, Quesadilla!

I love Mexican food. Love it! I could literally eat it every day. The spicy and crunchy nature of a taco, for example, satisfies the craving for heat, flavor and texture in a way few other foods can. I admit, when I'm eating Mexican it's usually at a restaurant. But I do make tacos and quesadillas.

Chicken quesadillas are a regular offering at my house. My version features red, yellow, and orange peppers, onions and just enough kick to get your taste buds dancing without rendering them numb. Of course, if you're someone who likes super, extra spicy, that's all adjustable in the seasoning.

I start with about one pound of chicken breasts, which I slice thinly and sauté in olive oil and garlic. To keep things juicy, but not soggy, I spray my pan with olive oil cooking spray, and then add a small amount of olive oil to that.

As soon as the chicken is cooked through, I add one sliced onion and sliced red, yellow and orange peppers to the pan. I cook that until the veggies are wilted but still somewhat crisp.  Limp veggies = soggy quesadillas.  Better to stop cooking sooner than later so your quesadillas retain a slight crunchiness.

At that point I add my seasoning. One tablespoon of chili powder, two tablespoons of Konriko Chipotle seasoning, and a few shakes of Tabasco is standard for me. Depending on who I'm feeding, I may adjust those ratios to make the quesadillas hotter or milder. A good rule of thumb is to start mild and increase the heat to your liking.

To assemble the quesadillas, put a layer of the chicken and veggies on a flour tortilla. Top with a handful of Mexican cheese and another tortilla. While you can cook these in a frying pan, this is a great time to drag out your Panini press if you have one. I rarely use mine for Panini's, but use it regularly for my quesadillas. It melts the cheese and toasts the tortillas quickly and there is no flipping required so all your filling stays where it's supposed to.

Once the quesadillas are slightly toasted, I cut them into four triangles and top with a little guacamole or salsa and dig in. Add chips, salsa and a margarita and you've got yourself a fiesta!

The dish on leftovers

The New Year is off to a good start for me, at least food wise. Nearly a week into 2012 and I'm feeling satisfied with what I've eaten so far and motivated to try some new things in the kitchen this year. But before I can get into all that, I have to figure out what to do with all my holiday leftovers.

The simple way to deal with leftovers is to reheat and eat whatever you originally made. I do that sometimes, but when I have something that lends itself to reinvention, I like to take that challenge in hopes of discovering something new and delicious.

Which brings me to my biggest leftover at the moment, a "genuine" Honey Baked Ham from the Honey Baked Ham store (www.honeybaked.com). This ham is delicious eaten right off the bone, heated up with some side dishes or piled onto rolls for sandwiches.The bone and some of the ham will be used  for a Fat Tuesday batch of red beans and rice come February. The rest is going into a ham and bean soup that is hearty, flavorful and good for you.

I started with a bag of 6 Bean Soup from The Women's Bean Project, ($5.75, www.thewomensbeanproject.com ) a nonprofit organization that helps women in need gain life and employment skills while working to produce gourmet food products. Learn more about the Women's Bean Project here http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/11/womens-bean-project-empowers_n_1200588.html?ref=denver-impact#s605473&title=Making_Jewelry

I didn't soak the beans overnight, which is recommended. Instead I followed alternate instructions on the package and microwaved the beans, covered with water, on high for 15 minutes. If you do this, make sure you use a good sized microwave-safe dish. Mine was a little small and the water overflowed all over the inside of my microwave. It was a mess, but the beans turned out okay.

I  dumped the beans into a crock pot, along with the seasoning packet that came with them and some garlic, and let the whole thing cook for about 6 hours on high. About 3 hours in, I added some onions, carrots, celery and of course, the ham. As a last minute addition, I chopped up some kale and tossed that in there too. A little salt and pepper and the result was an easy, inexpensive, and hearty dinner for a cold winter night!