Archive for the ‘Recipes’ Category
ingredients have been gathered...
D. and L. came over for dinner last night, and I made a vegan meal with ratatouille, grilled portobello mushroom and couscous. Ratatouille is a provençal vegetable stew made famous by the Disney animation movie, and generally consists of eggplants, zucchini, onions, bell peppers and tomatoes. There are many, many different versions and ways as there are cooks in the kitchen. The recipe for refined and layered version made in the movie Ratatouille is by Thomas Keller of French Laundry and Per Se fame, and is actually not ratatouille but something called Confit Byaldi. Last night, I made a general, easy recipe combining lots of different recipes.
voilà, the transformation
- 1 eggplant (about 1lb)
- 2 zucchini
- 1 yellow squash
- 2 red onions
- 3 small bell peppers
- 4-5 firm but ripe tomatoes (1 1/2 lb)
- 6 garlic cloves
- 4 tbs chopped parsley
- bouquet garni (thyme and parsley)
- lots of good olive oil
- Slice eggplants, squash and zucchinis 1/4″ inch thick. (I prefer lengthwise, but rounds are fine) Sprinkle salt and put them aside for 30 minutes in a colander to sweat.
- Meanwhile, slice all the vegetable lengthwise. Remove seeds from tomatoes before slicing (and if you want to get fancy, remove skin as well).
- Wipe moisture off eggplants and zucchinis with paper towel, and saute them (both sides) in olive oil in batches until they are golden. Set aside.
- Saute onions until they are slightly wilted in olive oil. Add bell peppers. Saute until they are soft (10 minutes). Add garlic. Season with salt and pepper. Add tomato slices and bouquet garni. Cover and cook about 10 minutes in low heat. Uncover and reduce liquid.
- You can add zucchinis and eggplants and mix them altogether, or if you have patience, layer them with bell pepper and tomato mixture. Take out 2/3 of bell pepper. Layer eggplants and zucchini. Sprinkle parsley. Layer bell pepper then eggplant. Sprinkle parsley. Top it with bell pepper/tomato mixture. Sprinkle with remaining parsley.
- Cook uncovered until only 1/2 cup sauce remains occasionally basting the vegetables.
- Serve it over cooked coucous and grilled portobello mushroom. To grill the mushroom, remove stems. Clean the cap with damp paper towel. Splash some olive oil and put the smooth side down first on a hot grill pan. Sprinkle the underside of the cap with chopped garlic, parsley, lemon zest and olive oil. Flip to finish cooking.
Appetizer: artichoke heart, green olives and walnut tapenade with garlic toast
Tags: couscous, eggplant, vegan
Posted in Recipes | 1 Comment »
One of the fastest dinner you can have is seafood pasta. I am very picky about Italian restaurants because most places cannot match what you can whip up in your own kitchen. Unless I am in an amazingly good splurge worthy places, I usually find the sauce too watery and pasta over-cooked. You can avoid all that by making this at home. For 2 people with healthy appetites.
- 3/4 Lbs deveined shrimps with shells on
- 5 cloves of garlic
- pinch of red pepper flakes
- 14 oz can of San Marzano tomato
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- several sprigs of parsley
- 0.5 Lb spaghettini or linguini
- 1/4 cup white wine
Bring large pot of water for pasta to a boil while preparing the sauce. Thinly slice the garlic. Heat the olive oil in a deep sauté pan and add garlic and red pepper flakes. When garlic is golden brown, add the tomato and most of the parsley. Reserve some parsley and chop finely. Break up the tomato and reduce heat and reduce the sauce. When sauce looks pretty dry, add white wine. Reduce the sauce a little bit and add the shrimps. Meanwhile cook the pasta according to the package direction. When pasta is al dente, use the tong to transfer cooked pasta to the sauce. Heat the pasta and sauce together a couple of minutes. Serve in a warm bowl with additional drizzle of olive oil, squirt of lemon and sprinkle of parsley.
Tags: pasta, shrimp
Posted in Recipes | No Comments »
Ramp, also known as spring onions, ramson, wild leeks, wild garlic, and, in French, ail sauvage and ail des bois, is an early spring vegetable with a strong garlicky odor and a pronounced onion flavor. You can find the ramp in farmer’s markets. There’s nothing like ramp to signal the arrival of spring, and I made a risotto with some sweet Italian sausage. Recipe adapted from epicurious.com. The recipe is supposed to be for 4 people, but Ben and I polished it off pretty easily, and Ben could have eaten some more. Also original recipe indicates 3 cups of stock, but the rice was not ready when 3 cups of stock was used up. I ended up using 4 cups.
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter
1/2 pound hot Italian sausages, casings removed
12 ramps, trimmed; bulbs and slender stems sliced, green tops thinly sliced
1 cup arborio rice
1/2 cup dry white wine
4 cups (or more) low-salt chicken broth
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese plus additional for passing
Melt butter in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add sausage. Cook until no longer pink, breaking up with spoon, about 5 minutes. Add sliced ramp bulbs and stems. Saut´ until almost tender, about 2 minutes. Add rice and stir 1 minute. Add vermouth. Simmer until liquid is absorbed, about 1 minute. Add 4 cups chicken broth, 1 cup at a time, simmering until almost absorbed before next addition and stirring often. Continue cooking until rice is just tender and risotto is creamy, adding more broth if dry and stirring often, about 18 minutes. Mix in green tops and 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese. Season risotto to taste with salt and pepper. Serve, passing additional grated cheese separately.
Tags: ramp, risotto, sausage
Posted in Recipes | No Comments »
Pages
Archives
Categories
- Art review (4)
- Event (4)
- Recipes (17)
- Restaurants (8)
- Theater (3)
Kira Greene – Blog is proudly powered by WordPress 3.0.1 Entries (RSS) Comments (RSS).