It’s starting to taste like summer! Our first ‘car pie’ of the year, from Pepe’s, of course.
Frank Pepe’s!
Shrimp and polenta
Several things went wrong in the making of this dish, but it came out nicely in the end.
I’m not convinced that the oven-roasted tomatoes were worth the time, in this particular case. I think you could just as easily broil the tomatoes with the shrimp and get a better result. Or you could skip the tomatoes.
I began by broiling the shrimp on a bed of spinach. The spinach burned immediately and smelled like a rotten half-smoked joint (or something like that). I promptly removed the spinach to the trash.
Which leaves us with the shrimp and polenta… which came out great! If you skip all the nonsense above, both recipes are also quick and easy.
• Easy Broiled Shrimp •
9 jumbo shrimp (16-20/lb) peeled and deveined
2 tablespoons olive oil plus more for pan
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon chopped, flat-leaf parsley
Heat broiler. Lightly coat a baking tray with olive oil. Combine 2 tablespoons olive oil, garlic, paprika and salt in a medium bowl. Add shrimp to oil mixture and stir to coat well. Lay shrimp on baking tray with some space between them. Broil for 1-2 minutes, flip and broil the second side until done. Remove cooked shrimp to a bowl, add parsley, stir to combine, and serve over soft polenta.
• Soft Polenta •
adapted from Lidia Bastianich
3 cups water
1 teaspoon Better Than Bouillon
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup fine cornmeal
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
Combine water, Better Than Bouillon, salt and olive oil in a medium saucepan and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to very low. Add corn meal to water, very slowly, sprinkling it in with your hand while whisking constantly with the other hand. Adding the corn meal should take a full minute or two. Once all of the corn meal is added, continue cooking over very low heat for five minutes. Add butter and stir until melted. Serve right away.
Welcome home ravioli, two ways
Shane welcomed us home with cheese ravioli two ways. With Faux Penne alla Vodka Sauce, for Rose. And with sage butter and cheese, for us. Thanks Shaney, we missed you.
San Francisco!
We’re just back from a delightful mom and daughter trip to San Francisco. We visited with dear friends and even got to see Rose’s aunt and cousin who happened to be over from Ireland.
Most of our time was spent with my friend Rachel, who I’ve known since first grade, her husband Rob and their son Frankie, and my friend Elana of the dairy and nut-free food blog Unbelieveable And Yet, her husband & son.
The best part of the trip was the company, we had some pretty good meals too.
Among the highlights are: Gaspare’s Pizza, pretty good pie and great classic Italian-American decor. Elana’s baked eggplant, perfectly tender and brown. Shredded and massaged kale salad, which we had more than once (recipe soon). Rachel’s amazing garlic bread (so buttery), I’m not even a garlic bread person but I was sold. Dungeness crab (cakes and sandwiches) & oysters (raw and po-boy) and amazing old-school ambiance, at Nick’s Rockaway Beach.
(click on the photos for slide show view, and description)
Going away dinner
In the midst of last-minute errands and packing & parking stress, I managed to pull together a decent meal. Chicken with White Wine & Lemon and a loose interpretation of this wonderful salad. Rose made a sandwich with her chicken and some butter. Whatever works.
I won’t be posting while away. Check back in a week or so to hear all about our ‘ladies’ trip to San Francisco!
Steak & cake
Today is my favorite husband’s birthday. Alright, my only husband, but still.
We had the smallest of parties, with his favorite meal, steak frites, followed by his favorite cake, Inside-Out German Chocolate. Rose was excited as can be for her dad’s big day, and helped out by decorating the cake with loads of sprinkles and a “2” candle, and fancifying the table with paper snowflakes.
The oven fries were from this recipe (as usual). For veggies, we had simple brussels sprouts (Rose’s favorite), and an arugula and pea frond salad with cilantro and Rita’s dressing.
I haven’t made Inside-Out German Chocolate Cake* for several years. It’s ridiculously decadent and wonderful. A sticky-sweet, gooey coconut & pecan filling is sandwiched between two thin brownies and covered in thick, rich ganache. It’s almost more of a torte than a cake, but we’re not complaining.
*Cake Note: The recipe doesn’t tell you that you need to coat the cake in several layers of ganache, letting each one set in between coats. Put the cake on a rack set in a baking tray, pour over just enough ganache to coat the top and sides, let it sit for half an hour or so and repeat until the ganache is all used up. There will be a lot left in the baking tray, which you can scoop up and store to eat later, over ice cream or with a spoon.
Family conference night
We had our family conference tonight, which is our school’s version of a parent-teacher conference. Afterwards we grabbed a few slices at Pizza Park, where they make a very decent pie.
Be sure to check back tomorrow for cake & steak!
St. Patrick’s Day
My mom always made an all-green meal on St. Patricks Day. I’m pretty sure her objective was to annoy my dad. I like to keep up the tradition because it’s fun (and not really to annoy my husband, or my dad).
On the menu tonight: Spinach ravioli with pesto, a green salad with pea shoots (because they look a bit like shamrocks), green seltzer and Guiness.
Last minute flounder
We were all very involved in our projects this evening. I was working, Shane was watching TV (or sleeping), and Rose was drawing the solar system. Next thing we knew, it was nearly 7:00 and we hadn’t discussed dinner. (I’m not counting the several times during the day, that Shane said “Nina, what are we doing for dinner?” and I replied “I don’t know.”)
Fortunately, we have a bunch of flounder filets in the freezer. Ours was a very loose interpretation of Oven-Roasted Flounder with Bok Choy Cilantro and Lime, which is from Bon Appetit’s Fast Easy Fresh. The fish worked well over rice, with a simple salad, and the sauce is delicious. I’m going to try the complete recipe this summer, when we start getting lots of bok choy in our csa box.
Rose ate everything on her plate and said “Actually, I really love this meal,” which is pretty much a five-star review, in my book.
Mint-Tastic sundae
There was an art auction at my daughter Rose’s school this evening. I decided to meet her at school, and kick around with her for a few hours until the auction started. Maybe we would pick up an early dinner and be well nourished, and in a good mood for the event.
What I did instead, was to skip her after school snack, drag her around the Upper East Side on foot, and then take her to Dylan’s Candy Bar for an ice cream sundae that was bigger than her head. Genius, right?
About an hour after the sundae, she became quite irritable. By the time we got home from the auction she was starving, and it was already well past our usual dinner time.
I got out my dinner-emergency big guns. Frozen ravioli with Faux Penne alla Vodka sauce. Rose started eating before I even got dinner on her plate, and then had seconds. She never has seconds. Maybe I am a genius.
