Steak and potatoes (sort of)

So, Mrs. Elle and I ventured to the lovely and strange MR. MEATBALL store on Saturday morning. Along with 5 lbs of meatballs, I bought a package of frozen gnocchi. I was very excited to try it ASAP, so I dug out some old filet from the freezer and decided to serve the gnocchi with a tomato-vodka sauce. Fancy, right?

Here's the meat - salted/peppered/awaiting the grill (sort of strange shapes of filet)


And lovely homemade marinara sauce, warming up

AWAITING THE VODKA! And there we go (classy, eh?)

Meanwhile, I got the gnocchi percolating in salted water


Once tender, I added them to the sauce

Ooops, forgot to add some cream to the sauce - added that in


Then cheese, a big handful


And the steaks are ready, thanks Mr. R.


And there we go - with more carbs in the form of garlic bread (I can eat that morning, noon, and night). The steak looks a little crispy there, it got slightly blackened on the outside, but was fairly red inside.

The gnocchi were lovely. I want more now.

Paltry performance of pasta

So, I had mushrooms that were going to go off in short order and decided that the Thursday night meal would be some sort of mushroom pasta. R could get over the lack of meat. It only sort of worked out.

So, here's the star - my almost overripe (do mushrooms "ripen?") mushrooms - crimini in this case:


And some more of the lovely pasta Miss S sent us - mushrooms should go with wild mushroom pasta right?


My accoutrements for the pasta were garlic and thyme:


I put a small amount of oil in the pan and let the mushrooms sizzle away on fairly high heat


Then added the garlic and thyme and a knob of butter (yeah, I said it, KNOB):


Meanwhile, I cooked the pasta for about 5 minutes - and made sure to reserve some pasta water:

Into the pan with the pasta and pasta water and I stirred a LOT:


Parmesan cheese anyone?


And there we have it (ignore the giant garlic hunks on top) - it looks pretty and appetizing right?



Well, it smelled really good. But the taste was just off - I think maybe I just wasn't in the mood and the powerful mushroom taste of the pasta mixed with the seared mushroom taste from the mushrooms may have been a bit too much. There was a lot of woodsiness going on. I will not abandon this idea, but perhaps with a lighter pasta - and a more open mind towards the meal itself.

Pasta - MacGuyver style

We had leftover asparagus from Ladies Night. I had pasta I'd been dying to use from Miss S. We had ever-present bacon and summer basil on hand. A pasta dish was in the making.

First, I cooked up some bacon in my trusty pasta dish pan.


Here's the pasta in question - very exciting.


And a pile of summer basil. I'd have added more, but there were two very territorial bees on the basil plants and were ticked off when I started to pluck leaves. I left them be. Get it, I let the bee be? Am so witty.


I cooked up three chicken breasts in the lovely bacon fat.

And onions and garlic as well. In goes the leftover asparagus!


Then back in goes the chicken and the cooked pasta. I added 6 tbsp of half and half and about 2/3 c of pasta water.


Here's a misty picture of the pasta - I added in a handful of pecorino romano cheese at the end as well. Yay!


The dish was a bit salty - I imagine I was heavy handed at various stages. It had good flavor, though the bacon was a bit overwhelming. I may add some frozen peas when we eat the leftovers. The sweetness of the asparagus and peas will cut through the salt.

Mrs. L's nightmare dinner

Well, most of it wouldn't be a nightmare. With temps hovering around 90 and the humidity high as well, I decided to forgo the leftover spaghetti/meatballs and make a cool, refreshing pasta salad. Into the mixing bowl went chopped garden cucumber, cherry tomatoes, bell pepper, and green onions. I then added a pound of tri-colored farfalle (which had surprisingly noticeable spinach and/or tomato flavor in the red and green bow ties respectively). Splash on some reduced cal balsamic vinaigrette and you're good to go. Then, to the horror of Mrs. Elle, I threw in a bit of canned tuna to add some protein to the mix. Mr. R opted against tuna, and the tuna tasted really weird, so I might forgo it in the future too. But regardless, it is an easy and tasty summer dinner option.

Fancy schmancy dinner

R and I decided that we needed a fancy dinner on Saturday night. We often decide this. We had a hunk of tenderloin in the freezer and that fancy pasta from Miss S. We decided to join the two. But first, I had to make a bernaise sauce for the beef.

First, I took some vinegar, white wine, salt, pepper, tarragon leaves, and green onions (I didn't have a shallot! I thought this would work sort of!) and heated them until the liquids had reduced.
Meanwhile, the egg yolks and more tarragon chill out in the blender.
You let the reduced wine mixture cool slightly, then add it to the egg yolks. Then blitz the mixture and slowly add in some hot melted butter. That's your sauce.
Here are the lovely filets, waiting to be griddled.
And here is the lovely pasta and sauce of choice for the evening. We knew the steak would take less than 10 minutes, and ditto for the pasta, so we started cooking the pasta once the steak was done cooking, so the meat would have time to rest. I will warn that the pasta's direction indicated a 2 1/2 to 4 min cook time, and it really took closer to 5 minutes - I like it as al dente as the next person, but crunchy is pushing the line.
Resting...resting
Finalement. Steak...pasta...lovely marinara sauce....lovely bernaise (which R mixed with his pasta and said was delicious, randomly). R pointed out that the pasta looked like worms, which, of course, did me in on the pasta, but it was quite a delicious meal, worm-appearance notwithstanding.

Another gift of food!

On Friday afternoon, after a bizarre day at work, I arrived home to find this package on my steps. What could it be? It was strangely heavy and I wasn't really expecting anything, so I was perplexed.

I opened it and behold! The gift of pasta! How delightful! How exciting! Who sent this glorious gift?
Why Miss S in CO of course! It was a favorite of hers from her days living in a more easterly state. The box contained 5 pastas and 2 sauces from Rossi Pasta.

In case my schmall picture is hard to decipher, I got tomato basil garlic, wild mushroom, garlic, red wine, and spinach basil garlic pastas. And a jar of marinara and vodka sauces. I cannot wait to dive in!

Lenten post from a far away land...

While in NC over the weekend, I prepared a lovely Friday night in Lent meal for myself and my parents of crabcakes to start and dinner of mac 'n' cheese with roasted asparagus. They were a bit scared by all the picture taking, so I tried to limit myself to the highlights.

Crabcakes with easy remoulade sauce. I generally rely on the Barefoot Contessa recipe with some modifications, very small ones. Saute one red bell pepper, one red onion, several stalks of chopped celery in some olive oil. Add some Tabasco and worcestershire. Add Old Bay (if you don't have Old Bay, use a mix of cinnamon, paprika, celery salt, ground ginger), salt, and pepper. Set aside to cool. Once cool, add 1/2 pound shredded crab meat, 1/2 c mayo, 1/2 c fine breadcrumbs, 2 tsp Dijon, and 1 egg. Form into small patties - about 1 1/2 to 2 inches in diameter. Fry up in batches in olive oil. The best way to keep them intact is to put them in the pan and DO NOT TOUCH for at least 4 minutes. Four minutes per side will get them nice and crisp. For the sauce, mix 1/2 c mayo, a big dollop of sweet pickle relish, 1 tsp Dijon, salt, and pepper.Delish mac 'n' cheese. Grate gruyere and cheddar. Cook 1 lb pasta (I used pipettes, which were like smushed elbows), and remove from boiling water about a minute before al dente. Melt 3 tbsp butter, add 3 tbsp flour, add about 2 1/2 c milk, wait to thicken, add some salt, pepper, a TINY pinch of nutmeg (hmm) and a TON of your grated cheeses. Add this to drained pasta. Put in casserole. Top with breadcrumbs mixed with parmesan cheese. Bake for about 20 minutes at 375 degrees (or any moderate temp) until very bubbly and browned.Roasted asparagus - asparagus on baking sheet, drizzle of olive oil, salt, pepper, bake in oven for 10-15 minutes. I overdid it a bit, and they got a bit soft, and a bit salty, but if you keep an eye on them you are in for a treat.

Fancy dinner

R and I celebrated the new year with pork a bit early on Sunday. Miss L had suggested a lovely pork roulade type thing, so I decided to give 'er a whirl. The recipe basically called for you to pound out a butterflied pork tenderloin and fill it with a spinach mixture. I know I don't love spinach, so I made it a bit more breadcrumby/parmesan cheesy/herby than spinachy. Probably almost half and half. I also forgot the mustard in the middle. Oops. I did enjoy the pork, I will say. But sadly, I was again reminded that I just plain don't like spinach unless it is surrounded by lovely mayo/sourcream/Knorr veg soup mix or hot artichokes and cheese. I don't know why. I like most other vegetables. The sauce was nice...a bit thick...and I was a bit horrified by the heating of the mayonnaise, but it was good with the pork. And it helped cover up more of the ick spinach. :) And this is definitely a fab way to stretch a somewhat pricier cut of pork. Obviously a pork tenderloin isn't nearly as pricey as a beef tenderloin or other expensive cuts of meat, but being married to a devout meateater means you look for ways to really get your dollar's worth out of meat. I got two very hearty meals out of one tenderloin. And Daisy got the little end.

For the pasta, it was just a modified alfredo type dish. I cooked 2-3 strips of bacon in a high sided frying pan. Remove when crisp. Add about 3/4 c cream. I learned the hard way not to forget to turn the heat WAY DOWN or remove the pan from the heat for a bit. Splatters everywhere. I put in two heaping teaspoonfuls of prepared basil pesto. Ground in some peppers. Tossed in some freshly grated parm. Added in one pound of slightly undercooked linguine. Toss, toss, add more cheese, toss, toss, add a few handfuls of frozen peas, add the crumbled bacon, toss. Serve. It was quite good. I'll be eating the rest for lunch today.

Mr. R's Magical Birthday Celebration

Mr. R finally reached the ripe ol' age of 28 alongside me over the weekend.


We celebrated with the always lovely rigatoni with steak sauce and some vino. Thanks again Giada, for your fab recipe.




For dessert, a humongous square German chocolate cake. German chocolate is ok, but R prefers canned icing, and the canned icing smelled like a tanning bed. Or something equally skanky. Not that this has stopped me from eating it or anything so drastic as that mind you...

Happy 4th!

For our non-traditional Fourth of July feast, R and I prepared a sumptuous grilled ribeye smeared with garlic butter and pasta with a fresh tomato, basil, and roasted garlic sauce. Mmm.

The ribeye is v. easy. Mash together 1/2 stick of softened butter, 4 minced cloves of garlic, some salt, and pepper. Rub onto one lovely ribeye steak. Grill steak. Eat steak.

For the pasta. I used about 5 roma tomatoes and 3 plain old vine ripened round tomatoes. Peel by slicing a small x in the bottom of the tomato, and dipping in boiling water for about 30-60 seconds. Remove and place in ice water. Once cool to touch, remove peel, squeeze out seeds, and set aside for future use. Here is a naked tomato:


To make the sauce, I prepared 1 lb of spaghetti according to the package directions, but undercook by 1 minute. Meanwhile, I took one head of roasted garlic (plus a few minced garlic cloves, just in case it wasn't garlicky enough), about 2 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil, and 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes and heated over medium low heat until very very fragrant. I lightly chopped the naked tomatoes and added them. I let the mixture saute for about 10 minutes and then added about 1/3 c julienned basil. Add the slightly undercooked pasta into the saute mixture and toss for a few minutes until the pasta is fully al dente. Add in some parmesan and bob's your uncle.

We also had a random "cheese course" with some aged Gruyere and smoked "robust" blue cheese. We both tried the blue with the ribeye which was really very good. Mmm.

Stovetop Helper

R and I were plowing through some Hamburger Helper during the move until I got really grossed out by it. He thought he'd converted me to some sort of Helper wench, but that was only a temporary phase. I'm over it now. I did, however, decide to make him a Helper-esque meal that will last a few nights, since work may be hectic. Behold the stovetop Italian-style helper!

Soften two onions. Add a bell pepper if desired. Throw in a pound of ground beef. Several garlic cloves. Some wine, any wine. Large can of tomatoes. Some pasta sauce, leftover in the fridge. Some random pesto I had in the fridge. Random Italian-esque seasonings. Pepper, salt, etc. A pound of macaroni, that I had cooked in boiling, salted water for about 5 minutes. Some grated cheese, I think grana padano, which is similar to parmigiano reggiano, the ultimate Italian cheese, smelled the same at least, v. hard, VERY hard. I also tossed in some beef broth because it was getting a bit thick with all the macaroni. Voila.

Baked elbows

Hello all. Last night, I prepared some delish baked elbow mac. R called it fancy Hamburger Helper. Gourmet, even.

First, brown 1 lb of ground chuck and one chopped onion. Toss in some red pepper, salt, and black pepper. Meanwhile, prepare 1 lb of elbow macaroni or other short pasta, cooking a few minutes shy of al dente. In a large mixing bowl, mix 1 1/2 to 2 c marinara sauce*, 1 c ricotta, 1 c shredded Italian cheeses (usually a blend of mozzarella, asiago, parm, etc.), salt, pepper, and other seasonings, such as dried basil and oregano. Add the browned meat/onion mix and mix well, add in the pasta, mix well. Pour into a greased 9x13 casserole, top with more shredded cheese and some grated parm for good measure. Baked at 400 for 25 minutes, then crank on the broiler for 3-5 minutes to get the top nice and brown. Slam.




*Here's my chance to act like a Food Network chef - I store homemade marinara in the freezer, but if you don't have homemade, use your favorite store brand!