Zucchini Pasta

Well, I'm back to cooking, although not so much back to blogging. The camera that I thought had dead batteries was just plain dead. It was a point and shoot that had major focus issues, so it probably isn't a huge loss, but it does mean that I'm left without my own pictures until I can get a new camera. I would simply go out and buy another point and shoot, since they are pretty reasonable these days, but Z's photography lessons have made me really want a DSLR (plus, if I get a camera body, we can share lenses - once we have enough to actually share).

OK - now onto cooking...

I'm not sure exactly what she was looking for, but Z found a recipe for "zucchini pasta" (here) that looked really good. The recipe was very straightforward, and ended up tasting quite good.

picture stolen from NY Times

I made a few modifications to the recipe (sauteing the garlic in the oil before cooking the zucchini added some great flavor), and served it with a little grilled chicken breast. The zucchini strips from the outside were much better than those from the middle (they congealed like regular pasta that had been overcooked).

Zucchini Pasta
Modified from NY Times

Ingredients:
1 pound zucchini (or a combination of yellow and green zucchini)
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
diced mixed vegetables (mushrooms, carrot, peppers)
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
freshly grated Parmesan, for serving

Directions:

• Using a vegetable peeler, cut the zucchini into lengthwise ribbons, rotating with each ribbon. Stop before you reach the seeds at the core of the zucchini.
• Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high hear and saute garlic and vegetables until al dente
  
• Remove vegetables, retaining oil (add more if needed)
• Cook the zucchini with a pinch of salt for two to three minutes, being cafeful to retain the crispness of the "pasta."
  
• Toss with other vegetables and add freshly ground pepper to taste.
  
• Quickly remove pasta from heat and serve with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

NOTE: This was the first time my Parmesan didn't come from a green can. While I didn't grate it myself, I have to say that even pseudo-fresh is a lot better than green can cheese!

Albondigas

Well, after three weeks in Texas, I finally have a working stove. I've done lots of grilling, toaster oven cooking, and no-cook eating (i.e., salad and fruit). But, finally, on Tuesday, I was able to cook a proper meal. What did I pick? Something fairly easy that I could adjust for a single serving size (OK, I ended up with 3 servings).

I made albondigas, which, according to my recipe, are meatballs in a garlic-tomato sauce. The recipe is actually for appetizer/tapas-type meatballs, but I ended up making them to put over pasta. Z and I did make these once for appetizers when we had a small party a few years ago, but they also worked very well over pasta. If you should make them for a party, you can make them early and then keep them warm/heat them up in a small crock pot to save last-minute rushing on food prep).


The recipe starts with making the meatballs and pan frying them in a heavy skillet (I used the lovely cast iron one you see below)

Notice how shiny and new the stove looks

The cooking of the meatballs is then finished in the sauce. (eeek! passive voice alert).


While normally, you'd serve them tapas style with toothpicks, I served mine over pasta.


This weekend, a group of us went to a local wine and tapas place that had albondigas on the menu. Theirs had jalepeño peppers in them as well, and were served in a marsala sauce, which I found to be a very tasty variation.

Albondigas

Ingredients:
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 large bell pepper, finely chopped
Olive oil
2 lbs ground beef
1/2 lb ground pork
2/3 cup bread crumbs
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tbsp cilantro

For the sauce:
4 large garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp olive oil
1 can (33 oz) diced tomatoes
1 tsp dried oregano
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

• Cook onion and pepper in olive oil until soft, let cool
  
• Combine onions/peppers, ground meat, bread crumbs, salt, nutmeg, & cilantro
• Make small meatball (1 - 1-1/2 inch diameter)
• Pan fry in olive oil in a pre-heated skillet. Remove when browned.

• For the sauce, briefly saute garlic in olive oil
• Add remaining ingredients, including meatballs and bring to a simmer
• Simmer for 30-minutes, or until meatballs are done and sauce has thickened.
• Season sauce with salt and pepper to taste.
  

Salsa!

Sam recently posted her salsa recipe, and as she said, the recipe is a very rough guideline and open to a lot of improvisation. This time was the closest I've ever made it to her actual recipe. In the summer, typically go to the farmer's market and get whatever tomatoes and hot peppers look best that week (I don't like tomatoes unless they're ripe). Sometimes this means heirloom tomatoes (very sweet and juicy), sometimes I roast the hot peppers (poblano peppers seem to work well in this regard), sometimes I add in bell peppers, etc. Black beans and/or corn are also nice additions. Here is this week's attempt:

and a close up...

looks pretty good, eh? I heap this stuff on my tortilla chips - a lot more than I can say for store-bought salsa. The recipe below reflects what I did this time...

Sam's Salsa
Ingredients:
4 medium tomatoes, seeded
2 cloves garlic
1/2 red onion
1 serrano pepper, seeded
1 jalepeño pepper, seeded
juice of one lime
Fresh basil leaves
Fresh ground pepper and Kosher salt, to taste

Directions:
Chop ingredients, and combine. Chill for at least an hour to let flavors co-mingle.

Herbed Focaccia Bread

A few weeks ago, Sam invited us over for a BBQ, and suggested I bring homemade bread. Now, for something like a BBQ, I figured a "finger food" would be best, and when it comes to bread-themed finger foods, slices of focaccia seemed to fit the bill.

The focaccia recipe is a variation on my pizza recipe (both adapted from the Bread Bible). The pizza recipe is HERE. For making the focaccia, I typically start the dough with about 2+ cups of water and add the other ingredients to match with this. Then, after I've had the dough rise in a bowl for 90-minutes, I shape it into (relatively thick) rounds or into a large rectangle (on a lightly greased jelly roll or similar shallow baking pan sprinkled with corn meal).

I then cover it again to let rise about 40 more minutes. Then, using my fingers, I poke indentations throughout the dough and spread an oil and herb mixture on using a spoon. The bread then bakes for 20-25 minutes at 400 (for small rounds or up to 40 minutes for a larger rectangle). As soon as it is done, I sprinkle it with kosher salt.

For the oil, which is the real flavor of the bread, I mix a third of a cup (or so) of olive oil and add in freshly chopped garlic (2 cloves) and rosemary (2 sprigs), but you can easily adapt this to suit your tastes (I've sometimes used basil, thinly sliced red onions, etc.). I typically prepare the oil when the dough is rising the first time so that the oil will be saturated with flavor. The finished produce looks something like this:


Sliced into smallish pieces, this makes great finger food, and it is full of flavor. It is one of my favorite things to bring to pot luck dinners or when having guests over for appetizers/wine.