Monday, November 10, 2008

spinach and garlic manicotti with red wine and thyme plum tomato sauce

simmered a diced sweet onion in a splash of canola oil until about half way to translucent, then added two or three cloves of crushed garlic, and three or four sprigs worth of fresh thyme, which had been removed from the stem and brutalized a bit, salt, and fresh cracked pepper. let the garlic and thyme cook until the garlic was tender, then added 3/4c. or so of some petite sirah that was left over from a few nights before, and let that cook down until it had reduced and was a little thick, then added a can of whole peeled plum tomatoes and a little water and let that cook down while the rest of the dish was prepared. after simmering for a bit, the chunks of tomatoes were crushed-up using a potato masher, leaving the sauce still quite chunky.

made the filling/binder by mixing a single egg with 1c. of cottage cheese, 1c. of shredded mozzarella, 1T. or so of raw crushed garlic, and salt and pepper.

made a pound or so of egg-heavy pasta dough (probably about 4c. of flour and 3 eggs, floured or watered until at the desired consistency), placed it in the refrigerator for 10-minutes or so (to make it easier to work with), then sliced and rolled it out into a few 8 to 10-inch rounds, about 1/8-inch thick. while rolled out on the floured cutting board, laid down a strip of the filling across each round, and a handful of raw baby spinach, rolled-up, and lined up in a bread pan, topped with the red wine and thyme sauce until all of the crevices were filled and about 1/2-inch covered the rolled up pasta, and then tossed the pans in a 400-degree oven for 20-minutes, plated, and topped with shredded mozzarella cheese.

corn and baby spinach salad with muddled garlic cilantro and lime dressing

made a dressing by muddling 1/2T. of crushed garlic, and a handful of chopped fresh cilantro leaves in the juice of a lime. mixed in 1T. of canola oil, making kind of a vinaigrette, then added a splash of white vinegar, salt, and pepper.

boiled a few ears of sweet corn until the kernels were tender, then sliced kernels from the cob.

put the dressing over baby spinach, diced tomato, cucumber, thin sliced red onion, and garbanzo beans.

tuna salad on wholewheat english muffin with baby spinach cottage cheese and pear salad

made some tuna salad with a little homemade mayonnaise, onion, garlic, mustard, pickles, salt and pepper. put it on some toasted whole wheat english muffins. served with some baby spinach, topped with cottage cheese and some slices of bosc pear.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

layered caprese salad with broiled portobello mushrooms fresh fire roasted red peppers and cilantro

tossed some thick slices of portobello mushroom in a mixture of canola oil, crushed salted garlic, and lemon juice, and placed them on a pan under the flame of the broiler for about 5-minutes per side, then stuck them in a bowl covered in tin foil to cool to room temperature while the rest of the salad was being prepared. took a healthy looking red pepper and charred the entire outside on the open flame of the stove until the outside was flaky and black, then placed in a sealed tupperware for 10-minutes, removed, sliced in quarters and removed seeds, wiped off charred skin, and sliced julienne style.

plated a bed of baby spinach, topped with the sliced fire roasted red pepper, then a few thin slices of fresh mozzarella, some of the broiled mushrooms, a layer of thinly sliced red tomato, a dash of fresh chopped cilantro, a few anchovies, and put a splash of balsamic over the top. served with a nice thick slice of spongy italian bread.

[note: anchovies kind of clashed, maybe if there were some fresh dilly beans on hand, those could be sliced julienne and put on top...something pickled or in a brine definitely...maybe a cured meat...who knows.]