stuffed calamari

calamares rellenos. this was one of the best things my mother-in-law ever made. a fair amount of work, but well worth the effort. shopping for fish today, i saw these really big calamari, like 5-7 inches long. as soon as i saw them, i knew today would be a stuffed calamari day. it's almost impossible to stuff the ones you usually see, way too small. but when you find the big ones, it's time to stuff them.

this is not my mother-in-law's recipe. but this is what looked good at the market: sea scallops, nice orange sweet peppers, shallots, there's the basis for the stuffing. this recipe is for 4-5 large calamari, 2 entrees, or 4-5 1st plates

for the stuffing:
2 small or 1 medium orange peppers, diced. or whatever color looks good at the market
2 good sized shallots, diced
5-6 garlic cloves chopped (or to taste)
evoo to cover bottom of skillet
a handful of whole toasted pignoli
8 oz scallops, diced 1/4", left raw
2 tbs of smoked whitefish, just because i had it in the fridge
bread crumb, not much, like 1/3 cup max

for the sauce:
1-2 oz white wine to deglaze pan
1 cup fish stock, warmed
3/4 cup tomato sauce
packet tinta de calamares (or sepia, available from latienda.com)
pinch saffron
butter-flour mixture (beurre manié) to thicken sauce after calamari are cooked in oven, 1 tbs butter to 1 tbs flour mixed to a paste

sweat peppers, shallots, and garlic. you don't really want color on them, low and slow for 4-5 minutes. salt and pepper. remove from heat, put into mixing bowl. add scallops, whitefish, and pignoli. mix together. add breadcrumbs last, mix in a little at a time, until you get the right consistency, ie the liquid is absorbed. set stuffing aside.

preheat oven to 300 degrees. stuff the calamari. use an espresso spoon if you have to. get it all down in there. close with a toothpick.

in a big enough pan that you can put in the oven, 9-10 inches, heat a tbs evoo. add the stuffed calamari and saute on medium high heat for about 3 minutes on each side; they will get a little color on them. add the wine to deglaze the pan. after 2 minutes add the fish stock, back to a simmer, add the packet of squid ink and a pinch of saffron, add the tomato sauce, stir well and bring back to a simmer. total amount of liquid only needs to be about half-way up the stuffed calamari. not much more. we're braising, not boiling. when it is simmering, cover it and put it in the oven for 50 minutes.

after 50 minutes, take it out of the oven, remove the cooked calamari to a bowl and cover to keep warm. place the cooking pan with all the sauce back on the stove over medium high heat, and start to reduce and thicken. add the butter-flour mixture, and whisk it into the liquid well. simmer for about 12-14 minutes or so, and the sauce will reduce to a thick soupy mostly black liquid. that's what you want. when it has reduced to about 1/4 of the original volume, it's done. place the calamari back into the sauce to warm up for a few minutes. ready to serve.

served with wild rice, a spoonful of clementine-saffron allioli (from last week) and lots of black sauce for the bread. vinho verde. yes.

scallops wrapped in bacon with allioli

this is more about the allioli than the scallops. although the scallops on their own are pretty, pretty, pretty good. but the allioli - mayonnaise, finely chopped garlic, clementine (or orange) juice and saffron. wow, a revelation. not my recipe, just saw it on epicurious.com. sounded like something that would change up the routine scallops and bacon. not that there is anything wrong with them. we are talking fresh NJ sea scallops, local seafood, that are probably as fresh as the vigilant consumer can get. bought in point pleasant nj at one of those fish markets next to the river. i actually ate one raw, very very sweet and succulent, that's the word. so here it is. served for a first plate tonite, an appetizer really. 

8 sea scallops, as big as you can find them. these were actually a little on the small size, a quarter to a silver dollar in diameter.
4 strips of applewood-smoked bacon, or any other premium bacon of your choice.
4 heaping tbs of hellman's olive oil mayo
1 clove of garlic chopped very fine
juice from 1 clementine, or half a full size orange, maybe an oz or two
a pinch of saffron threads, crumbled in your fingers
a dash of evoo

make the allioli: at least an hour or two before you serve it, squeeze the juice from a clementine. add the crumbled saffron threads to the oj and stir. put in the microwave for 15 seconds only. no more. you just want the barest element of heat to help the saffron release its flavor and color. very important, no more then 15 seconds on the juice. set aside and let it steep for at least 15 minutes. add the chopped garlic to the mayo and mix thoroughly. add the oj/saffron mixture a spoon at a time. taste it as you go. when you have the right balance of garlic to mayo to oj and saffron, stop adding the juice. i didn't use all the juice. i think i added 4 spoons of it and then it was ready. set aside, in fact put it in the fridge to chill a bit.

with a very sharp knife, cut the bacon strips in half lengthwise, so you wind up with 8 slices. wrap each scallop and secure with a toothpick. season both sides with salt and pepper. 

when you are ready to cook the scallops, heat a 9 inch skillet over medium heat. film it with evoo. maybe a 1/2 teaspoon does it. you want the pan almost dry. when the pan is hot, add your scallops. they will cook about 4-5 minutes on the first side. a little less on the other. for a total cooking time of about 8-9 minutes. they should have a nice sear and be pretty brown when you turn them the first time.
                              

nice color after turning                                              

serve immediately with the allioli on the side. the sauce is what's different. nice addition.

brussels sprouts with gorgonzola & pancetta

make more than you think you'll need. they will be eaten. or you'll have leftovers for yourself. this recipe served 8, and there were still leftovers.

2 of those round containers of brussels sprouts, maybe a pound i guess
about 3 oz of pancetta diced (or bacon, or prosciutto, or salami, or pepperoni, or any other pork product)
sliced garlic, at least a couple of cloves, more if you like
evoo
about a half a cup of crumbled gorgonzola
1 oz or so of cream

in salted water, boil the sprouts til tender, maybe 5 minutes. drain and cool. cut off the bottoms and cut them in half. set aside. in a skillet, heat a little evoo, add the pancetta; after a couple of minutes add the garlic. cook on medium heat til the garlic is softened, maybe another 3 minutes. add the sprouts to the skillet, toss it all together, and cook for a couple of minutes. remove from heat, dump into a big mixing bowl, and set aside.

grease a roasting dish with butter or a little evoo, and preheat the oven to 375.

add the gorgonzola to the brussels sprouts and mix together. dump it all into the roasting dish. drizzle the cream over the top of everything, this will help to keep it all nice and moist. put it in the oven for about 15-20 minutes, until it is sizzling and the top has browned a bit. keep an eye on it.

let it cool for a minute before you serve it. even people who don't like brussels sprouts will enjoy this. served with roasted pork tenderloin.

Mushroom-Artichoke Casserole

this is not my recipe. first time i had this my sister-in-law donna made it, a long time ago. i've made it many times since.

1 or 2 small jars of marinated artichokes. 2 if you like it more “artichoke-y”, but 1 jar is ok too. Drain them in a colander, you don’t want that nasty cheap oil and vinegar they pack them in. If the chunks look too large, cut them in half if you want. Set aside.

About 24 oz of fresh mushrooms, whatever kind you like. You can mix different kinds too. Or not. It looks like a lot, but they shrink down. 24 oz would be probably 3 of the medium size containers. If you buy them already sliced, that’s fine too.

In a big enough skillet, heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil, then add the mushrooms. Add chopped garlic to taste if you like it. Or chopped shallots are good too. Sometimes I add a little pancetta or bacon or salami to the mushrooms while they are cooking. Pork = flavor. Cook the mushrooms on medium high until they have given up their water and they are done. It should be pretty dry when they are done.

In a mixing bowl, put the cooked mushrooms and the drained artichokes. Add maybe a half a cup of bread crumbs, more or less, and mix it. You don’t want too many bread crumbs, but you need some. After adding the bread crumbs, if it looks too dry, add a tablespoon or so of olive oil to the mix.

At this point you could eat it right away, as it will be warm. I think it’s better if you bake it in the oven though. So put the mixture in a Pyrex oven dish or something like that, and put a couple of pats of butter on the top, and cook it at 350 or so for maybe another 20-25 minutes.

Options: you can add anything you like to it: pignoli nuts, a little roasted or fresh red pepper, onion, whatever you have around that you want to use up.

rolled & tied pork tenderloin

so this is a copy mostly of a recipe i saw in some italian cookbook, and i remember making it for the first time for a new years eve dinner that we had here. back maybe 20 years ago or so. the stuffing or filling can be as changeable as whatever cold cuts and cheese you have in your house. first time i made this it was a large enough roll of meat - maybe it was beef - that i had a hard-boiled egg in the middle so when you cut the slices, everybody had a little sun in the middle of the meat. i believe that first recipe was probably in gourmet magazine. anyway i made it again and wrote it down in my notebook in september 2007. then i used mortadella, salami, and provolone. this time, tonight 2-20-10, i used smoked ham instead of the salami, plus the other two ingredients. in addition, i slathered the inside of the two butterflied tenderloins with grey poupon dijon mustard. just enough to flavor it, and add a little moisture. then a thin layer of mortadella, then the ham, then the provolone. then roll it up tight and tie it. refrigerate until 1 hour before cook time.

so to assemble the roll: two pork tenderloins, close to the same size and weight. remove the silverskin and trim the ends to match up. season with your house dry rub, all sides. refrigerate for a half a day at least. remove from fridge. butterfly from the side so that you wind up with a piece of meat about 8-9 inches long, about 4-5 inches wide, and about a half-inch or less thick. set the two tenderloins next to each other on a clean cutting board or counter. fit them together into a pretty even rectangle, with a slight overlap. cut your butcher's twine into 5 pieces each about 15 inches long. slide under the meat into 5 equidistant places. roll the meat as tight as you can, making sure to pick up the 2nd tenderloin half-way through. tie the first string in the middle, tight as you can. good time for a third hand. finish tying up the meat roll. cut horizontally into 5 pieces. each should have a string around the middle. the slices will be an inch or two thick. 

in your skillet, heat a small amount of evoo. when hot, add the slices you want to cook. you should hear a real good sizzle when you put them in the pan. if not, your pan isn't hot enough. heat the friggin pan! so after about 4 minutes of not moving the meat around, you should have a real good sear on the bottom; done so you can keep the melting cheese inside the meat. flip it over, another 3 minutes or so, still sizzling real good. then into your preheated 350 degree oven. set timer for 12-13 minutes. when it buzzes, take a look. if you think it needs another 2 minutes, put it back in. i would say 15 minutes maximum though. out of oven, to the plate. let it sit for a minimum of 5 minutes before you serve.

served with sauteed crimini mushrooms and piquillo pepper strips. and tempranillo. oh yeah

morcilla crostini

morcilla is a spanish black sausage. a rich earthy taste, made with onions and/or rice. this is a very easy to make tapa. cooked sausage on a slice of toasted crusty bread, garnished with a strip or two of piquillo pepper. the dijon allioli is optional but recommended.

4 morcilla sausages, casing removed
16 quarter- to half-inch slices of good bread, about 3" x 4", toasted
4 piquillo peppers, quartered lengthwise
a little evoo
salt & pepper
a little dijon allioli (see below) to spread on the toast

in a 9-10 inch non-stick skillet over medium heat, place the sausages into the pan and start breaking them up with a wooden spoon. as they start cooking they will continue to break up until you have a pretty fine mix of meat. you can lower the heat a bit once the morcilla is broken up. add a little evvo, maybe a tablespoon as it cooks, to keep it moist. continue cooking the morcilla for a total cooking time of about 5-6 minutes. that's it. take your toasted bread, spread a small amount of the allioli on each piece. use a big spoon to top each slice with some of the morcilla. top each one with a piece of the piquillo pepper. you're done. should be enough to make 16 pieces. enough for 8.

to make the allioli: in a small bowl, about 3 tbs of mayonnaise, about 1 tbs of dijon mustard, 1-2 garlic cloves finely chopped., a pinch of pimenton. mix well.

morcilla is a little hard to find. i get it from latienda.com. any good spanish food store will have it. day-old bread is fine too. enjoy.

from the notebook: jack shrimp

i wrote this into my first notebook with a date of 11/9/91. andrea, ron, barbara, and steve were here for dinner. i have gone back to this recipe many times since. it's basically the traditional spanish appetizer gambas al ajillo, with a shot or two of JD added. it's not very original, but it's easy, quick, and oh so good. a great first course. use medium to large shrimp, nothing too big or too small. at least 45 minutes before you cook them, you season the shrimp. even as much as 2-3 hours before you cook them you can season them, infusing flavor into the shrimp. another requirement is good crusty bread to sop up all the juices. and serve it hot right out of the pan; your guests should already be at the table when you start it. cooks pretty quickly. don't walk away while this is cooking.

ingredients for 4 :
1.5 to 2 lbs of shrimp, peeled & de-veined (or not, your call)
salt, pepper, spanish paprika (pimenton), ground cumin; a pretty heavy hand with all of it.
good spanish evoo
at least 4-5 cloves garlic chopped fine, more if you are a real garlic lover
an oz or two of jack daniels
chopped parsley
a big enough skillet or saute pan so that the shrimp are not much more than one layer deep. like 10" at least.

to season the shrimp: on a big piece of aluminum foil, spread out the shrimp in one layer. sprinkle all the seasonings all over the shrimp. pick up the ends of the aluminum foil and toss the shrimp around to coat all sides with the seasoning. or figure out your own way to get it done.

heat the skillet on medium heat. add about 4-5 tbs of evoo, might seem like a lot but it's pretty much all the liquid that will become your sauce. when the oil is shimmering, add the shrimp, making sure they are spread out into one layer, and be careful, they can splatter the oil. if your pan and oil were hot enough, within about a minute, you will need to be turning the shrimp to the other side. as soon as you turn them, add the garlic. it should all be sizzling pretty good, after another minute, give it all a good stir, or toss the pan. add the whiskey, being careful not to set yourself on fire. you can light a match and flambe it if you like, but either way, the alcohol will cook off or burn off just leaving the flavor. another minute and you're done. toss in the parsley and mix. so i would figure total cooking time is about 4 minutes. to serve, just plate it on a small dish, then go back and spoon out the remaining sauce. you should get at least a tablespoon of sauce on each serving. if not, increase the amount of evoo next time. don't forget the bread. i love this with ice-cold - like 20 minutes in the freezer cold - spanish or portugese white wine.

what can go wrong? if the garlic starts to brown, bad thing. add some olive oil and take the pan off the heat to slow it all down. the only other bad thing would be to cook the shrimp too long and dry them out.

the true essence of this dish comes from the spanish pimenton. if you don't have any, get some from la tienda.com, or probably gourmet stores will have it. comes 3 ways: sweet, bitter-sweet, and hot. if you like hot, go for it. it's not that hot. i like to mix in a little hot along with one of the other two.

three tortillas

 we love tortillas. three for the super bowl.
regular - potato, onion, and egg (bottom).
sweet potato, onion, and shrimp (right).
morcilla, onion, a little red pepper, and pignoli (left).






mmmmmmmmmm

Braising Chuck

perfect day to do this. snowing since last night, more to come today. this is a winter dish for sure. nothing like a 2nd rate cut of meat cooked for a long time in aromatics and liquid. we're talking chuck. your mother and grandmother might have made pot roast. same thing. this piece of meat that i had was almost 3 pounds, about an inch and a half thick. probably 4-5 separate muscles held together by the sinew and fascia in this one large piece of meat. really the only way to cook this and have it edible is by braising it.

so, mis en place:

sliced carrots, not too thin, about a cup, maybe a little more
3 medium onions, quartered
5-6 ribs of celery, including some of the leaves, in half inch pieces
4-6 shallots, outer skin removed, ends trimmed, but left whole
3-4 cloves of garlic, smashed
4 oz of pancetta, quarter to half inch cubes ( buy 1 slice about a half inch thick and cube it yourself)
3-4 oz of wine, whatever you've got leftover
about 3-4 tablespoons of simple tomato sauce (Classico works for me, or make your own)
2 cups of beef broth; i used a cube. if you have home made stock, great
about 2 tablespoons of dijon mustard
about 1 tablespoon of anchovy paste (yes anchovy paste)
about two tablespoons of dried herbs, i had oregano, basil, thyme, and parsley
salt and pepper
evoo

salt and pepper the meat both sides, bring to room temperature before you start.
in a big saute pan, one that has a lid and that can be used in the oven as well, heat about 2 tbs of evoo over med-high heat until it is shimmering. gently place the meat in the pan and brown both sides. once you place it, don't move it, just let it sit there and get a crust on it. take care not to splash yourself when you turn the meat. about 4-5 minutes each side. remove and reserve.
next the pancetta, lower the heat to medium-low and brown it, but this one you need to move around the pan a bit while it is rendering. after 4-5 minutes, or when it looks like cooked bacon, remove and reserve. leave the rendered fat in the pan.
now veggies: add the carrots, return heat to medium-high, toss to coat with the oil. cook about 2-3 minutes. then add the onions and celery, again toss to coat with the oil. cook another 4-5 minutes. salt and pepper. you want to hear the sizzle when this is cooking. if it's not sizzling, your pan is probably too low. after 4-5 minutes they will start to wilt.

make a space in the pan for the shallots and garlic. cook them moving them a little to get a little color on them, once they color a bit (2-3 minutes), mix them into the rest of the veggies in the pan. should be sizzling pretty good. now you are ready for the liquids.

add the wine, and scrape the bottom of the pan with a spatula or wooden spoon (deglazing the pan) to get up any brown bits that are stuck there. once you add the liquid, the sizzling will subside. after 2 minutes or so, add the tomato sauce, mix well. add the pancetta back in, mix well. the broth should be warm when you add it so you don't stop the cooking process. if it isn't warm, nuke it now for a minute. add about half the broth, about 1 cup. bring back to a simmer. make a little spot in the middle of the pan and add the anchovy paste, mix well to dissolve into the broth. add the mustard and herbs, ditto. mix together everything in the pan, give it all a good stir.

preheat oven to 300 degrees.

<  ready for the rest of the stock and then into the oven
 
place the chuck back into the saute pan, making a little valley in the veggies to accommodate the meat. pour in enough of the remaining broth so that liquid comes about halfway up the side of the meat, but not so it is completely covered. cover the pan and put in the oven for about 2.5 hours. about halfway through, you can turn the meat over if you like.

remove from oven, let it sit for 10-15 minutes before serving. the vegetables should still be in pretty good size pieces to compose your side dish for the meat. with all the delicious broth and juices left in the pan, you could reduce it and make a gravy, or serve the veggies and broth over some pasta or rice. i made some farfalle and put them right into the veggies and broth. really good. just don't throw the liquid away; there is so much flavor in there, you have to use it for something else. of course, a piece of bread works too. enjoy. with the half pound of pasta that i made, this would serve 4 people very well.

as far as time, seems like a lot, but not really. the prep took me about 30 minutes max. the steps prior to putting it in the oven took about 45 minutes. then you are done for almost three hours, except for making a little pasta or whatever at the end.

Bouillabaisse, kind of

French for a fish and vegetable stew. i had a bunch of vegetables in the crisper, and felt like eating some fish, so this is what came to mind. key flavors from fennel & saffron. probably lots of variations out there. this was mine. a long list of ingredients.

a medium onion, sliced
4 shallots, halved
a medium eggplant, in large chunks
a small zucchini, about quarter inch slices
half a bulb of fennel, sliced. save a few pieces of the fronds for the seasonings
a small container of mushrooms, washed, stems trimmed, but left whole
a red pepper, 1 inch pieces
about a cup and a half of fish or shrimp stock (i use a good quality cube dissolved in hot water)
about 3 tbs of tomato sauce
evoo
about a pound and a half of firm fish, monkfish is great, in big chunks, like an inch and a half or so
season with: a pinch of saffron, some of the fronds from the fennel top, about a tbs of chopped fresh mint, a good pinch of thyme, salt & pepper

prep all the vegetables, cut the fish into chunks, prepare the fish stock.
i used a 9" non stick skillet to get some color on the veggies first, one at a time, dumping them into a big bowl as they finished. then put it all together in a large saute pan with a lid.

so in the skillet, on medium high heat, with a liitle evoo, brown the eggplant, peppers, onions, shallots, mushrooms, zukes, one at a time. doesn't matter what order. keep the pan hot, use as little evoo as possible, you want color on them, but you don't want to completely cook them through in the skillet, otherwise you will have mush later on. when you are finished with the veggies, you should have a big bowl of them and basically no liquid. while you are standing there doing one veggie after another, that's a good time for a cocktail in between batches.

now in your big saute pan, heat a couple of tbs of evoo. put in 2-3 sliced garlic cloves. after a minute of sizzling, add the fish, stir to coat with the oil. after another minute, add the vegetables right on top. add the seasonings. make sure the pan is still hot. add enough fish stock to cover about half the depth of the contents. DON'T cover everything with stock; you're not making soup. add the tomato sauce. give the pan a good shake or stir to mix it all well. cover and simmer for about 5 minutes more. that's it. it only takes a few minutes to finish the fish and vegetables. remove from the heat, let it sit uncovered for a few minutes. then serve.

you could serve it with couscous, or rice i guess. i served it over some crusty bread in the bottom of my serving bowl. this would feed 4-5 people as a first course; 2 or 3 as a main dish.

Huevos Rotos

Literally, "broken eggs". Typical Spanish dish. Potatoes, a little meat, topped with an egg or two.

this is not my photograph; the credit is on the picture. but it is a pretty good representation of what i made.

slice a potato or two *(see note below)
slice a small onion
chorizo, morcilla, jamon, whatever you have
1 or 2 eggs per person
olive oil

in a skillet over medium heat, heat the olive oil, add the onion and sweat til it starts to get soft. add the potatoes, and some more olive oil. you want it wetter rather than drier. add your small bits of sausage or jamon, or even bacon or pancetta. saute until potatoes are done. when done, break your eggs on top of the mix. shake the pan so that the egg whites seep down into the potatoes and meat, taking care not to break the egg yolks just yet. to cook the eggs through, put the skillet under your pre-lit broiler for a few minutes.

when served, break the yolks which should still be runny, and let it seep down into everything. you will want a piece of bread to clean your plate. enjoy.

*Note on potatoes: rather than start from scratch - peeling potatoes, parboiling them first, and then slicing them - i like to use the partially cooked, ready-to-use Simply Potatoes, Homestyle Slices. They are available in your supermarket where the ready to eat meals are probably, not in the frozen food section. right out of the plastic bag and into the skillet. they need a lot of salt.

In Praise of Tri-Tip

just ate this cut of beef for supper tonight. wow, this is some really good stuff. you might have to look for it, hard. wegman's has it, that's where i've gotten it before. i've also bought it at whole foods, but you might have to ask. if you like beef, please try this. comes anywhere from 1.5 to 2 lbs. will serve 4 people pretty well. put my dry rub on it last night, into the plastic bag for 24 hours, cooked it tonight. nice cabernet from washington state, columbia valley. great combo.

in a small, ie 1 tsp, of olive oil, in a hot 9" skillet, brown both sides, put in oven preheated to 375. for my taste - rare - took about another 15 minutes in the oven. get a meat thermometer. i took it out when it registered 135 to 140. let it sit for 5-10 minutes before you slice it, like a london broil, thin and on the bias. very lean and so good.

Tapas

Sunday nite supper. I could eat tapas every day, twice a day. No doubt. There are an unlimited number of variations, so I would never get bored. We had a sampler tonight. Traditional stuff.






Some boquerones with garlic and parsley. If you think you don't like anchovies, try these. These are not your grandmother's anchovies. No hairy looking tiny bones. Very vinegar-y. That's what they are cured and packed in. On a crust of toasted bread, wow.

 Made some roasted vegetables for dinner the other night; leftovers are the best reason to make a tortilla. No not Mexican tortillas. Spanish tortillas: an omelet with any number of ingredients mixed in - the classic is with potatoes and onion. You can pretty much use what you want though. So I used my leftover veggies - eggplant, onion, fennel, and red pepper. Added a little potato to that to give it some more mass, 3 eggs, and 15 minutes later, you have a tortilla. I will write a separate post about making tortillas, soon.

Those are herbed goat cheese balls from Catalunya next to the tortilla.

Then some delectable Spanish sausages. Morcilla, a black sausage made pretty much everywhere in Spain, and chistorra sausage, originally from Navarre I think. It's a particular type of chorizo. Piquillo peppers are a natural accompaniment to these robust sausages.

Cut the morcilla in half, then in half again the long way, so you have 4 pieces. Heat them in a little olive oil for a few minutes, face down first. Then flip them over for a minute. Once you do, they will open up and expand; it's the rice in them I think. Place them on the bread, garnish with a sliver of Piquillo pepper. The toast is spread first with a little allioli: mayonnaise, fresh chopped garlic, and a touch of Dijon mustard. The chistorra is just cut into bite-size pieces, a couple of minutes in a skillet to warm, and a sliver of Piquillo on a toothpick. Doesn't get any easier than that.


Endless variations. Google 'tapas', and you are sure to find something you like. Beer, white or red wine, Cava, whatever you like will go with these small dishes. Enjoy.

best fried onions

2 medium yellow onions, or whatever you got
evoo
butter
9 inch non stick skillet

the idea is to sear and get a lot of color (flavor) on the onions before you add any fat. so put the pan on medium high heat for a couple of minutes, just empty. while the pan is heating, slice the onions in half vertically, then about 1/4 inch thick slices, not thin slices. with a small to medium onion, you'll have maybe 4 or 5 thick slices. place the slices into the skillet, taking care to keep their shape, don't let the rings separate just yet. salt them to taste.

it will start smelling like burning onion and smoke a little, but that's ok. after maybe two minutes, take a look and if the onion is pretty much completely browned, you're ready to flip them over. do it very carefully to keep their shape, you still don't want the rings separating, not yet. then another 2-3 minutes on your medium high heat and the bottoms should now be brown as well. when they are, now you add about a tablespoon or two of evoo. watch out, it will splatter a bit. shake it around; now you do want to separate the rings in the oil. cook for another 2-3 mins, flipping the pan to toss them a couple of times. the pan should wind up almost dry, hardly any liquid. just before you take them off the heat, add a tablespoon or two of butter and mix it through the onions. that's it. they should have a lot of burnt smoky onion flavor, but because the slices were thick enough, you still have that sweet, soft al dente mouth feel to them as well. over your favorite burger. enjoy.

creamed spinach

1 pkg frozen chopped spinach, nuked and drained
4 tbs butter
1 good sized shallot chopped
3-4 oz heavy or light cream, doesn't really matter
about 2 oz of crumbled goat cheese
fresh nutmeg, ground to taste

in a 9 inch saute pan, melt the butter, add the shallots and sweat, don't brown them.
when they are soft, add the cream and raise heat a little to reduce the cream a bit, a couple of minutes. while it's reducing, add the nutmeg.
after a few minutes of reducing, add the goat cheese, and stir to mix well. immediately add the chopped spinach and continue to mix, off the heat now.
when all mixed together well, salt and pepper to taste.
 so good, and very easy.

served with a simple oven roasted cod fillet. vinho verde. nice supper.

actually, you may want to double the recipe, because once you taste it, you will probably eat all of it before dinner is served. so if you double it, you may have enough left to serve 2 or 3 people.

roasted vegetables

supper last nite:
1 nice eggplant, cubed.
head of fennel, large dice.
1 sweet yellow pepper, large dice.
2 small onions, eighthed.
all in a big bowl, tossed with olive oil and salt and a little garlic powder.

preheat oven to 450.
dump it all in a shallow roasting pan.
put in hot oven, turn down to 400, set timer for 12 minutes.
after 12 minutes, toss veggies with a spatula to mix.
back in oven for another 10 minutes at 400.
remove. to be eaten warm or room temperature.

amazingly sweet. mmm.

leftovers the next morning in a 2 egg tortilla.
should have taken a photo. sorry, next time.