The weekend started with me seeking a more simple and healthful choice for Friday Night Dinner. Inspired by a conversation I had earlier last week with Stai about "naked" food. She described a steamed vegetable dish that added only a few lemon squirts, a coupla black pepper grinds, and a splash of olive oil. So basic and fresh, and alive and delicious.
I love loud flavor; I love spicy, I love sharp, I love sweet. Often subtlety gets lost in the mix. I forget that sometimes an asparagus can just be an asparagus. So I baked salmon fillets with a drizzle of olive oil, a few shakes of salt and a coupla grinds of pepper, and half a lemon. Roasted a tray of baby potatoes in a drop of olive oil, a bit of paprika, and a tsp. of salt. And steamed some asparagus. It was pretty well recieved. Dessert was a loose interpretation of this "naked" theme. I had some leftover pound cake cubes, upon which I spooned some fresh slightly sweet (1 tbp. sugar) whipped cream, and sliced some red ripe strawberries on top. Also well recieved.
This morning I escaped for a few hours to the local mall, to scope out a pretty decently sized Chocolate Show. For good measure and complete girlie indulgence, I picked up a cool pair of cork-soled summer wedgies on crazy sale. There were a few memorable nibbles, Olivier Kita had a luscious passionfruit truffle. Sweet Muse Brownies were also a standout, soft and deeply chocolatey. Her dark chocolate brownie was split 5 ways- and greedily snarfed down all 'round. Usually I try to talk to the brave and hardworking entrepreneurs that literally stand behind their products, to find out their stories. How they got to selling their creations- usually quitting their jobs, and working harder than ever. Some are all business, but often you strike up a conversation with someone who loves what they do and are proud of what they do. I want to learn from these people, suck up all their experience. Lately I've been thinking about some new truffle flavors, I guess I do this when Spring finally arrives. I've also been thinking about putting more effort into "marketing" them. But that's the part I find hardest.
Dinner was an adapted Everyday Food recipe; Rigatoni with a quick and good homemade sauce, a dollop of part skim ricotta and a flicker of torn basil, chopped kalamata olives entirely optional. Kiddles and Hub licked their platters clean, more or less. After dinner we went outside ( me and kidlette and Munch) rode bikes, and took pictures of the budding trees in the gray fog. Good weekend.
rigatoni with tomato sauce and ricotta
In a med. heavy saucepan saute 3-4 cloves of finely chopped garlic in 1 tbsp. olive oil until golden. Add 2 14 oz. cans of tomato sauce, 1/2 tsp. dried parsley, 1 tsp. basil, 1 tsp. sugar, 1 tbsp. red wine vinegar, a couple of grinds of black pepper and a pinch of salt, and 2 tbsp. tomato paste. Stir, reduce heat, cover and simmer as you boil pasta. When pasta is ready, divide between bowls, ladle sauce over pasta. Shred 3-4 fresh basil leaves over sauce, place small scoops of part skim ricotta in the center, garnish with chopped kalamata olives if desire, stir and dig in.
I love loud flavor; I love spicy, I love sharp, I love sweet. Often subtlety gets lost in the mix. I forget that sometimes an asparagus can just be an asparagus. So I baked salmon fillets with a drizzle of olive oil, a few shakes of salt and a coupla grinds of pepper, and half a lemon. Roasted a tray of baby potatoes in a drop of olive oil, a bit of paprika, and a tsp. of salt. And steamed some asparagus. It was pretty well recieved. Dessert was a loose interpretation of this "naked" theme. I had some leftover pound cake cubes, upon which I spooned some fresh slightly sweet (1 tbp. sugar) whipped cream, and sliced some red ripe strawberries on top. Also well recieved.
This morning I escaped for a few hours to the local mall, to scope out a pretty decently sized Chocolate Show. For good measure and complete girlie indulgence, I picked up a cool pair of cork-soled summer wedgies on crazy sale. There were a few memorable nibbles, Olivier Kita had a luscious passionfruit truffle. Sweet Muse Brownies were also a standout, soft and deeply chocolatey. Her dark chocolate brownie was split 5 ways- and greedily snarfed down all 'round. Usually I try to talk to the brave and hardworking entrepreneurs that literally stand behind their products, to find out their stories. How they got to selling their creations- usually quitting their jobs, and working harder than ever. Some are all business, but often you strike up a conversation with someone who loves what they do and are proud of what they do. I want to learn from these people, suck up all their experience. Lately I've been thinking about some new truffle flavors, I guess I do this when Spring finally arrives. I've also been thinking about putting more effort into "marketing" them. But that's the part I find hardest.
Dinner was an adapted Everyday Food recipe; Rigatoni with a quick and good homemade sauce, a dollop of part skim ricotta and a flicker of torn basil, chopped kalamata olives entirely optional. Kiddles and Hub licked their platters clean, more or less. After dinner we went outside ( me and kidlette and Munch) rode bikes, and took pictures of the budding trees in the gray fog. Good weekend.
rigatoni with tomato sauce and ricotta
In a med. heavy saucepan saute 3-4 cloves of finely chopped garlic in 1 tbsp. olive oil until golden. Add 2 14 oz. cans of tomato sauce, 1/2 tsp. dried parsley, 1 tsp. basil, 1 tsp. sugar, 1 tbsp. red wine vinegar, a couple of grinds of black pepper and a pinch of salt, and 2 tbsp. tomato paste. Stir, reduce heat, cover and simmer as you boil pasta. When pasta is ready, divide between bowls, ladle sauce over pasta. Shred 3-4 fresh basil leaves over sauce, place small scoops of part skim ricotta in the center, garnish with chopped kalamata olives if desire, stir and dig in.
1 comment:
I love the idea of "Naked" cooking. Fewer ingredients and simplicity are the best!
Post a Comment