Grandma's Kitchen Table

Thirty Minute Thursdays: Tagliatelle al Ragu Veloce (Tagliatelle with a Quick and Simple Meat Sauce)

      This week for the thirty-fourth recipe I've made for Thirty Minute Thursdays, cooking our way through Giuliano Hazan's Thirty Minute Pasta book I made Tagliatelle al Ragu Veloce (Tagliatelle with a Quick and Simple Meat Sauce), on page 156. 

      The ingredient list:  onion, olive oil, butter, tomatoes, ground chuck, salt, tagliatelle (or pappardelle or rigatoni or shells), and Parmigiano-Reggiano. 

      This is basically noodles and meat sauce, but with a little extra kick with the fresh tomatoes and onion sauteed into it.  It's nice to have a pasta sauce with meat on a weeknight as it incorporates all the food groups into one quick, easy meal.  My regular meat sauce takes hours on the stovetop and is truly wonderful with a depth that you can't get with just a quick sauce like this.  That said, this is a very nice sauce as the fresh tomatoes retain some of their firmness and body so it gives the sauce a lovely fresh taste.  Definitely a repeat. 

      Here's Margaret's entry this week.  If you like the looks and sounds of it, buy the book as I am a believer in encouraging people to support the authors who put together these fabulous books by buying a copy, so you won't find the recipes posted from this book here.  (Buy it, the recipes are easy, the ingredients are easy to locate, it's not pricey, and there are photos of almost all the recipes.)

Wednesday with Donna Hay - Brown-Buttered Beans

      Our fourth recipe here at Wednesday with Donna Hay was chosen by Gaye and is Brown-Buttered Beans.  These are easy and quick to make and are a delicious combination of flavors. 

      Ingredients:  green beans, butter, pine nuts, lemon, freshly ground black pepper.      

      While Gaye is in Australia and fresh green beans are probably lovely there this time of year being summer and all, the best I could come up with in the way of fresh green beans were ones that were rather more developed than we like, sort of with over-developed beans in the center and not all that appealing, so this recipe is a great way to make these sorts of beans more tasty. 

      Start with the best beans you can get obviously and then with the addition of the nuttiness of the browned butter, the extra buttery nuttiness of the pine nuts, and the bright pop of the lemon and pepper, you end up with a very tasty side vegetable for dinner.  I can't wait to try this with the nice new green beans in the late spring, early summer. 

      I really like having new recipes that are easy and quick for side vegetables, so it is great to find one that makes the most of fresh green beans this time of year, kind of like roasting tomatoes this time of year as the ones in the stores have very little real tomato flavor.  This is definitely a repeat. 

      Gaye's post on these is here.  Next week, we are making a Puffed Cheese Omlette, so if you would like to make it, here is the recipe.

Modern Baker: Coconut Pecan Chocolate Chunk Bars

      The 78th recipe I made from The Modern Baker by Nick Malgieri, was the one for Coconut Pecan Chocolate Chunk Bars, on page 277.  (We are not publishing recipes from the book, so if you like what you see, buy the book and bake along with or without us).

      The ingredient list for the bars:  butter, sugar, salt, baking powder, all-purpose flour, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla, coconut, pecans, and chocolate.
      These bars remind me of the Seven Layer Bars that I have been making forever and a day...you know, the ones that we make all in one pan by layering in the ingredients and baking.  That said, these are much better than those (according to my sources) and not that much more effort.  Might have to change it up and make some of each as you can't beat the others for convenience and if these taste better to the guys, that's a good sell as well.  Chocolate, Pecans, Coconut...butter, sugar, vanilla...it's so easy to get their attention.  Definitely a repeat. 

      If you would like to bake along or be a part of the Modern Baker group, you will find all that, plus a tab to link to the blogs posting, with the blogroll here.

Sunday's Snippets

(1st photo:  From the sidelines cheering on the team, Ian and Matt are on either side of the gray hooded swimmer.)

(2nd photo: The final Victory Cheer after winning the meet, both boys and girls were victorious...Matt is center toward the back but facing camera with a bare chest...he's tall so one can easily find him most of the time.)

READING:  Tackling my stack of bits and pieces I've marked and set aside to read.  It was growing deep.
SWIMMING NEWS:  Before I get to this week, let me just say that Steve was selected as Big Ten Freshman of the Week the week before, so here's the info on all that, congrats to Steve! The swim meet this weekend was finally a home meet...the guys had not had a home meet since October, so we were very happy to be able to cheer from the sidelines in our home pool...against Purdue.  For the first time, BTN aired a live dual meet, so that was exciting as well.  Lots of huge cameras, etc., and they break for commercials, interesting at a swim meet. We watched it when we got home and it was fun seeing them all on camera swimming, etc.  It was also senior recognition day with the banquet at night, so that was a bit of extra fun as well...we stayed the night as Boomington was iced over from the time we hit town until the time we left the next day, which made for some interesting navigational issues, both in the car and on foot.  Matt's times were okay, he did get to swim on the A Relay again (and he had the fastest time of the four guys swimming it, so that was a good high note for him).  It was just a very enjoyable time with the meet and getting to spend time with Matt and his friends at the banquet.  Here's the recap of the racing.  Matt swam the 50 Freestyle (7th place), 100 Freestyle (6th place), 200 Freestyle (6th place) and the second position in the 400 Free A Relay.  Not all the results are posted there, but you can find them here.  He's doing nicely for his freshman year.
(Photo:  Ian, Steve, Tyler (one of the seniors), and Matt at the Senior Recognition Banquet Saturday night.)
COOKING BYTES:  Determined to finish that Bread Baker's Apprentice book, I think I have maybe half a dozen to go yet. 
FAV NEW FIND:  Last week was final bid week for the sororities so it was fun finding out where all Matt's friends and the GCHS friends pledged.  IU Swimmers aren't allowed to pledge fraternities or sororities so Matt wasn't involved in any of that...just as well, he has enough going on with the swimming and school. 
FAV THIS PAST WEEK:  The swim meet and getting to spend a couple of days in Hooville. 
WEEK IN REVIEW:  We went from lovely temperatures to horribly cold ones, not my favorite thing, but now there is promise of other bearable ones on the horizon and for that I am rejoicing.  How far off is spring?  It was a good week to stay inside and read in front of the fire after work. 
LOOKING FORWARD TO:  At the Eiteljorg, a film series called The Urban Indian:  click here for the schedule for the remaining ones.  This is what's happening at the ISO this coming week: Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2, here is the calendar for it. 

BBA: Vienna Bread

      The thirty-ninth Bread Baker's Apprentice challenge (from the book by the same name authored by Peter Reinhart) is Vienna Bread, and is found on pages 261-264.  I made a half portion of this bread, which was one loaf, I should have made the whole recipe of 2 loaves (and had one to keep on hand in the freezer) as Vienna Bread is one of our very favorites for grilled cheese sandwiches, and this recipe was excellent.   

      The ingredients:  bread flour, sugar, barley malt powder, salt, instant yeast, egg, butter, and water. 

      This is a two-day bread: one hour and fifteen minutes to make a pate fermentee on the first day (one hour of that is a rising time), and another approximately six hours for the assembly, rising times, forming, and baking on the second day. (Really, most of it is rising time, so this is a great bread to make when you are going to be home or out running errands as you can time the rises between other things you are doing, so don't let that 6 hour bit throw you.)
      I managed to again talk Margaret into baking it with me as it is always more enjoyable to be baking along with someone else and she and I are determined to finish the book together. 

      This bread is excellent for eating out of hand, just a really great flavor to it, and it crisps up nicely for grilled cheese sandwiches, definitely a keeper, and definitely one that I will make time and again. 

      (Note:  Please forgive the photo as I forgot to make the slashes in the bread before it went into the oven, so the outside looks rather plain and dull...that, however, does not affect the taste in the least, so when I bake this again, I will sneak in here and change the picture to a more lovely version of the outside of it, but for now I wanted to get this posted and did not have time to again bake a loaf for photo ops.) 

      You can visit the main group and marvel the breads.  I'm getting there...Slow and Steady.  Our next challenge:  White Bread found on pages 265-267.

CEiMB: Balsamic Chicken with Baby Spinach and Couscous; Broccoli with Toasted Garlic

     This week for CEiMB, I chose to make two recipes:  the Balsamic Chicken with Baby Spinach and Couscous on page 205 (and online here) and Broccoli with Toasted Garlic on page 249 (and online here) of Ellie Krieger's book, The Food You Crave. 

      The ingredient list for the chicken recipe:  olive oil, chicken breasts, salt, pepper, garlic, fresh spinach, balsamic vinegar, chicken broth, canned tomatoes, and couscous. 

      The ingredient list for the broccoli recipe:  broccoli, olive oil, garlic, salt, and pepper.  

      Time to give another shout out to one of my favorite cooking "help" sites called Eat Your Books.  This site allows you to key in all your own cookbooks and access the recipes in them according to author, book title, or ingredient.  I have had a membership in it for a year now and cannot tell you how many times I go to it each week and how much money it has saved me by quickly finding recipes in my books for me to use up ingredients that I have a portion of that needed to be used up.  This week I had a half a can of tomatoes, a half a bag of spinach, some broccoli, and 2 chicken breasts. 

      I listed my ingredients and the generator kicked up lots of choices.  I settled on this one in a matter of minutes and dinner was on the table in less than a half hour.  Delicious, every single forkful, and lots of Vitamin C as someone (not me) is still trying to kick the end of a cold.

     Definitely a repeat.  To check out other Ellie recipes, you can find the CEiMB blogroll here.    

 

Thirty Minute Thursdays: Fettuccine alle Zucchine e Zafferano (Fettuccine with Zucchini in a Saffron Cream Sauce)

      This week for the thirty-third recipe I've made for Thirty Minute Thursdays, cooking our way through Giuliano Hazan's Thirty Minute Pasta book I made Fettuccine alle Zucchine e Zafferano (Fettuccine with Zucchini in a Saffron Cream Sauce), on page 82. 

      The ingredient list:  heavy cream, saffron, onion, butter, zucchini, salt, pepper, fettuccine, and Parmigiano-Reggiano. 

      I was originally going to keep this recipe as you see it in the top photo, a nice little side dish.  When I realized that I had chicken and mushrooms in the frig, and  that I could use them to make a main dish, I went in that direction for dinner.
      This is one of my favorite aspects of this book, each recipe can stand on its own or you can survey what you have on hand and make it go in numerous other directions.  I just love that. 

      This was a nice dinner, easy to put together, and we have all the food groups represented in one dish.  All of it delicious, that saffron sauce gave it all a very special taste and depth.  Definitely a repeat. 

      Here's Peggy's post for the week.

      If you like the looks and sounds of it, buy the book as I am a believer in encouraging people to support the authors who put together these fabulous books by buying a copy, so you won't find the recipes posted from this book here.  (Buy it, the recipes are easy, the ingredients are easy to locate, it's not pricey, and there are photos of almost all the recipes.)

Modern Baker: Caramel Crumb Bars

      The 77th recipe I made from The Modern Baker by Nick Malgieri, was the one for Caramel Crumb Bars, on page 276.  (We are not publishing recipes from the book, so if you like what you see, buy the book and bake along with or without us).

      The ingredient list for the bars:  butter, sugar, salt, vanilla, all-purpose flour, corn syrup, dark brown sugar, and sweetened condensed milk. 

      The others were raving about this recipe so I moved it up on my list of ones to get to sooner rather than later.  Good decision.  The crust and topping are extremely easy to make, and the caramel center goes together easily following the recipe instructions. 

      These are wonderful, nice and crunchy on the outsides with that creamy gooey caramel center.   Definitely a repeat.   

      Here are posts from others who made them:  Phyl, Margaret, Renee, and Abby.  If you would like to bake along or be a part of the Modern Baker group, you will find all that, plus a tab to link to the blogs posting, with the blogroll here.

Wednesday with Donna Hay - Sticky Chicken Parcels

      Our third recipe here at Wednesday with Donna Hay was chosen by me and is Sticky Chicken Parcels.  These are easy to make, contain easy to find ingredients (you could easily change up the combination of veggies), and are delicious, a lovely combination of flavors. 

      Ingredients for the parcels:  chicken breasts (thighs would work nicely as well), soy sauce, plum sauce, garlic, carrot, red bell pepper, leek, ginger, baby corn, basil and butter. 

      Other than the taste, of course, my favorite thing about this recipe is that the packets are made as a little parchment parcels so you can assemble the parcels all ahead of time, place them in the refrigerator, and pull them out when it is time to bake them.  They bake for about 20-25 minutes and would be perfect for busy nights or for times when you are cooking dinner for others and don't want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen away from your guests.
      I served them with rice as the recipe suggested, and a small salad.  Definitely a repeat. 

      Gaye's post on these is here.  Next week, we are making Brown-buttered Beans, so if you would like to make them, here is the recipe.

IHCC: Tessa Kiros - Finnish Meatballs with Allspice, Sour Cream, and Lingonberries

 

      The theme for the 14th week of Tessa Kiros' recipes at I Heart Cooking Club was "Winter Wonderland"  More precisely, this is what was on the IHCC site for the week:  "now is the time for some serious comfort food." When I was searching for my recipe for this theme, I figured Tessa's Finnish background would surely net me a wonderful wintery type dish since Finland is often associated with thoughts of the winter season. 

      I came upon this Finnish Meatballs with Allspice, Sour Cream, and Lingonberries recipe and searched no further.  Meatballs are just a great way to serve up a little protein and depending on the saucing and spicing, they never get boring as there are so many things you can do with them.  And, of course, the guys here love meatballs.  I had made Swedish Meatballs before so I was curious how these would be different as many of the ingredients are the same.  Basically, they are the same thing. 

      These were easy to make (they go together very quickly, as does the sauce). I was a little skeptical of enjoying the additional berry sauce with the meat like this, but it works, it's really good so don't leave it out.  I like how she recommended serving just a bit on the side like this as that way you can just have a little in the bites you want and leave it out of the bites you don't.  Win. Win. 

      The recipe recommended serving it with boiled potatoes, but I had been wanting to try these little Fried Smashed Potatoes from Giada deLaurentiis, so I opted for those and a side of broccoli instead.  Good choices, Mark was very happy with the whole meal, and I would definitely make this and eat again as well.  This is definitely a repeat! 

Finnish Meatballs with Allspice, Sour Cream, and Lingonberries
Serves 4-6

(Recipe from Tessa Kiros in

Falling Cloudberries)

Ingredients:
3 slices of white bread
2/3 cup of milk
2-1/4 pounds mixed ground pork and beef
1 large egg
1 red onion, finely chopped
1 teaspoons ground allspice
4-1/2 Tablespoons butter
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 Tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 cup sour cream
Lingonberry or Cranberry Jam (to serve)

Soak the bread in the milk in a large bowl for about 30 minutes, or until it has absorbed all the milk and is very soft.  Add the meat, egg, onion, allspice, and season with salt and pepper.  Knead together well with your hands, then form into small balls about the size of walnuts, rolling them between your palms so that they are compact and won't fall apart when cooking.

Heat 2-1/2 Tablespoons of the butter with the olive oil in a nonstick skillet.  Fry the meatballs in batches, turning them once during cooking.  (You will have to work quite quickly and take care not to burn the butter and oil.   If necessary, wipe out the skillet between batches and start again with a little less butter and oil.)  Transfer the cooked meatballs to heavy-bottomed saucepan with any onion that is on the bottom of the skillet and continue with the next batch.

Sprinkle the four into the skillet and mix with a wooden spoon until it is smooth.  Add the remaining butter and let it melt.  Continue cooking, stirring almost continuously, until it is a golden color.  Remove the pan from the heat and very slowly pour in 2 cups of hot water, standing back a bit.   Mix in quickly, then return the pan to the heat.  Stir in the sour cream and mix well, then carefully pour over the meatballs.  Season lightly with salt and pepper and cook, covered, over very low heat for 10-15 minutes, until you have a thick, creamy sauce with soft meatballs to serve with berry jam and boiled potatoes.