Broccoli Rabe and Kalamata Olive Pesto

When I’m craving bitter greens, I turn to broccoli rabe, one of my favorite vegetables.  I think kalamata olives and broccoli rabe are such a great pairing.  One of my go-to meals to eat on a weeknight is Orecchiette with Broccoli Rabe and Kalamata Olives.   A little while back I made Kale Pesto which was a unique way to eat kale, so I did the same with my favorite bitter green.

Sweet and Tart Plum Jam

Making jam is not just a hobby for barefoot women in flower print dresses.  When making jam, I’m reminded of Diane Keaton’s character in Baby Boom, leaving the big city to make apple sauce in the country.  Jamming allows us to bring some country into our urban kitchens.  But if I’m gonna make jam, it has to be easy.  I’m not gonna order a bunch of pectin online or take a canning class.

BBQ Sides and Condiments

I started a brand new job this week at a company in Brooklyn that is doing some really cool things with locally farmed foods.  I am so excited that I finally found a place where I can merge my skills and my passion for food.  To celebrate, I decided to have a small BBQ celebration. I ended up cooking for about 12 hours straight in preparation.  When I start cooking, it’s hard to get me to stop.  I start rummaging through the fridge and cabinets looking for ingredients that I can turn into dishes.

Romesco Sauce (w/ Grilled Spring Onions)

Once again I found myself amongst friends and strangers scooping up romesco sauce with charred spring onions, stuffing them into my mouth with my bare hands and chasing them with gulps of bottomless rosé.  Yes, it was my second time at Back Forty West’s annual version of Calçotada, a Catalonian celebration of spring where a crap load of spring onions are blackened on a grill, dipped in romesco sauce and eaten in abundance.  

Eggplant Caponata

I opened the door to our apartment on Thursday night, Valentine’s night, to find fresh flowers, pumping music, and Alan in an apron behind a stack of cookbooks, making a huge dinner of Meatball Shop’s spicy pork meatballs with parmesan cream sauce and a huge side of Dumont’s Mac and Cheese.  My long day of working in a stuffy office and riding on screeching trains immediately rolled off my hunched back as he poured me a fresh glass of Prosecco.  I watched him submerge a bunch of fresh thyme into a pot of cream and helped him form tennis balls of ground pork which we tucked into a baking dish.  As dinner browned up in the oven, I discovered a package on the sideboard from my sister in LA;  it was a birthday gift of a hilarious card, a copy of Us Weekly (my favorite trashy magazine) and a gift card to one of my favorite clothing stores.  Yes, folks, it’s my birthday this week and I’ve been celebrating with many cooking adventures.

Basil Pesto

Besides songwriting, I never thought much about what I should do with my life.  When I put music on the back burner a few years ago, I started brainstorming career ideas.  For six months I was really excited about becoming a yoga instructor.  When that idea fizzled, I did research on starting an organizational consultant company.  Cleaning people's closets sounded boring so I moved on and started posting Craigslist ads for “songwriting instructor for children”.  After no replies, I drafted an outline for a self help book but realized that I would benefit more from reading one than writing one.

Fresh Peach Salsa

I just returned from Los Angeles where I visited my sister and took in the sights, sounds and calories of the sunny, palm filled city.  Our very first stop was In and Out Burger, LA's famous fast food burger joint, where I housed a Double Meat Animal Style.  Dinner that night was Rigatoni with sausage, English peas and ricotta at Little Dom’s in Los Feliz...

Simple Homemade Ricotta

Picture it, Long Island, 2012; three women sit at a dining room table under a crystal chandelier enjoying some sweet Sicilian stuffed crepes.  One of those women is me, the other two are my mom and aunt.  I’m frantically jotting down mental notes as they take turns blurting out ricotta-making tips; it’s like some recipe version of the Pyramid game show.

Marinated Olives and Celery

It’s a shame that so many people dislike olives.  I love all kinds.  I love the mild, pitted black olives that I would fit on each of my fingers when I was little, plucking each salty one off with my teeth.  I love the plump, firm green ones that I would devour at my aunt’s house at every holiday dinner.  I love the oily, pebble-sized assorted colored ones served in delicate white ceramic dishes at wine bars.  I also love the intense saltiness of Kalamata olives tossed with hot pasta and broccoli rabe.  Olives are salty, bitter, juicy and addictive. 

Herb, Olive and Caper Drizzle

Capers used to scare me because I thought they resembled alien pods, but now I appreciate these little pickled flower buds that burst with vinegar.  You still won’t catch me eating them out of the jar, but I think they add fabulous flavor to ham and gruyere sandwiches, sauces, and especially this Herb, Olive and Caper Drizzle.  This drizzle is great on crusty bread, fish, chicken, beef, roasted vegetables, eggs, you name it.

Slow Cook Cannellini Beans

REQUIRES 24 HOUR SOAKING, CHEESECLOTH AND 2 HOUR COOK TIME ...Wait!  Don’t go.  I know it looks daunting, but it’s fun and surprisingly easy to make a big pot of beans on a Sunday afternoon, especially when it will yield a multitude of meals.  There are so many things you can do with a pot of flavorful beans.  Think creamy beans on crunchy toast topped with a poached egg and fresh torn basil.  Imagine beans smashed into hot pasta, drizzled with olive oil and showered in a handful of fresh parsley.  How about beans blended into a creamy dip for chips and crudités?  Beans on rice, beans under shrimp, beans in soup, beans on a boat!  As for the 24 hour soaking? Take it from me, it’s necessary in order to rid the beans of their oligosaccharides, the stuff of gastrointestinal distress.  And even yours truly usually skips over recipes that include cheesecloth because I’m too lazy to locate and purchase any, but it’s really no big deal to go to your grocer’s sauce isle, look up and find a bag of it which will probably last you the rest of your life.  Now if only I could commit to buying parchment paper.

 

Mint and Black Pepper Strawberries

Pow!  Super fresh minty explosion.  Zing! Spicy black pepper hits the senses.  Zowee! Sweet, tangy, juicy strawberry goodness.  It might sound weird but it’s a delicious summer thrill. 

Tangy Napa Cabbage Salad

I wanted to start experimenting with cabbage since I never really work with it and I came up with this delicious salad.  The creaminess and tang from the yogurt, the acidity of the lime and the exotic flavors of green onion and cilantro all pair wonderfully with crunchy Napa cabbage.  You can adjust the amount of yogurt, green onions and cilantro to your liking.  As with all recipes, taste and tweak…you’re the chef!

Pulled Chicken on Pan Fried Corn Cakes with Pickled Radishes

I spend a frightening amount of time watching Diners, Drive Ins and Dives on the Food Network.  Visions of pulled pork, fresh tacos, salsas and things haunt me into the night.  This is my take on a “Triple D”, crave-worthy dish.  This recipe will leave you with extra pickled radishes to keep in the fridge and use as a topping on meals throughout the week.  You can make the chicken and the pickled radishes a day ahead to save time.  Or you can make just the chicken and prepare it the way you want (see IDEAS below for…well…ideas).  Enjoy!

Drunken Zucchini Capo-NOT-a

Caponata is traditionally made with eggplant, onions, olives and capers or some slight variation of those main ingredients which is why I call this Capo-NOT-a, because it’s not quite caponata but it has the same tomato and vinegar zing to it.  After work one day I looked in the fridge and saw celery and a zucchini sitting there.  I’m always looking for ways to use up leftover celery and I didn’t have many of the ingredients at home that are usually used in caponata, so I improvised!  Thankfully it worked.  This is a great version of caponata for people who don’t like eggplant or olives, which is many people surprisingly!  Be sure to check out the IDEAS section below for tips on ways to enjoy this stuff.

“So Much Parsley” Sauce

Did you ever make a dish that called for a few springs of parsley?  Did you let the rest of that parsley go bad and then throw it out because you’re like “what the heck am I gonna do with all this parsley”?  I have the same problem.  So here’s a recipe for a delicious and easy sauce that will do wonders for an ordinary piece of chicken, fish or meat (shown here over salmon, yum).

Spicy Carrot and Celery Slaw

Whenever I make a dish that calls for a couple carrots and a couple sticks of celery, I end up with a big leftover bag of celery and a big leftover bag of carrots in my fridge.  It‘s kind of annoying.  I’m forced to go buy ranch dressing and eat carrot and celery sticks for days.  So I figured out an interesting way to use these lonely veggies.  This slaw is a great side salad or exotic condiment for hot dogs, tacos, burgers, you name it.  I like things nice and spicy so I used a chili infused sesame oil, but you can use plain sesame oil if you don’t like spicy.