I recently bought a Rosemary plant and I killed it already. I wish I could grown herbs as I have always been interested in them.
This information and recipe is from The New Pasta Cookbook by Johanne Glynn.
"Pasta flavored with fresh herbs makes a wonderful base for light, fresh sauces. Herbs and vegetables that are in season at the same time, like basil and asparagus in this recipe, often make perfect partners and require little else to flavor the dish. Along with the taste, the attractive apperance of green herbs through the pasta is reason enough to serve it with just melted butter and grated cheese. Try basil pasta with a cold sauce made from fresh ripe tomatoes, or fettuccine flavored with fresh sage coated with a creamy Gorgonzola sauce."
Fresh Herb Fettuccine With Smoked Salmon And Asparagus
Pasta:
1-2/3 cups all-purpose flour
pinch salt
2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh parsley
2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh basil
2 eggs
Sauce:
3/4 pound fresh asparagus spears, trimmed, peeled and halved
2 tablespoons butter
5 oz. sliced smoked salmon, cut into strips
1 cup cream
freshly ground black pepper
1. To prepare pasta: Pile flour and salt on a work surface and make a well in the center. Add hervs and eggs and begin to incorporate into the flour, using a fork. When you have loosely coherent dough, use you hands and knead it, adding a little flour or water if necessary, until it is smooth and elastic. Knead for a least 6 minutes and then let stand, coverd with plastic wrap or a damp cloth, for 30 minutes.
2. Divide the dough into two and roll each half out into a thin, even sheet using a rolling pin or a hand-cranked pasta machine. Let stand, covered, for ten minutes. before cutting the sheet into fettuccine. Set aside. Cover only if the pasta will have time to dry out and crack before cooking.
3. To prepare sauce: In a large saucepan of boiling water put the bottom halves of the asparagus; boil for a minute before adding the tops and continue to cook until tender. Remove with a slotted spoon and rinse under cold water. Drain, and when cool enough to handle, cut each half in half again, discarding any woody sections. Top up the pan of water and bring back to the boil. Add fettuccine.
4. In a large fryring pan melt butter and add smoked salmon. Saute gently for 30 seconds before adding cream. Increase the heat a little and cook to thicken, then add black pepper generously and toss in asparagus.
5. When pasta is al dente, drain and transer to the pan with sauce. Toss, then serve with freshly grated Parmesan and the pepper mill. Serves 4.
Lemons A Country Garden Cookbook- Pappardelle with Lemon and Asparagus
This recipe is from one of the books my husband bought the other day- Lemons A Country Garden Cookbook by Christopher Idone. It is full of lovely photos of lemons in various settings and the recipe photos are very attractive also. It feature lemon recipes from every dinner course. This recipe seems like a delicious Spring meal. Lemons are so versatile I wish I had planted a tree in my yard years ago. Instead I have an orange tree that never produces anything but sucker shoots and a half dead miniature grapefruit tree.
Pappardelle with Lemon and Asparagus
"No peeling, no fuss. When pencil asparagus are available at the market, this makes for an easy pasta supper."
1 pound pencil-thin asparagus, approximately 32 asparagus
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup heavy cream
1 pound fresh or dried pappardele
2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
Zest of 1 lemon, cut into julienne
Grated Parmesan cheese for serving
Cutting on the diagonal, trim the tough ends of the asparagus. Cut the asparagus into 3 or4 even pieces on the diagonal. In a nonreactive kettle of lightly salted boiling water, cook the asparagus for 2 minutes or until just crisp. Save water for pasta. Blanch in cold running water and drain.
In a sauce pan over medium heat, melt the butter and cream. Allow to cook at low simmer.
Cook the pappardelle in the kettle of salted boiling water until al dente and drain well. While the pasta is boiling, heat the oil in a large skillet and add the blanched asparagus. Add the hot cream mixture and fold in the lemon juice. Season with pepper. Add the drained pasta to the sauce and toss well. Divide among 4 or 5 warm soup plates and sprinkle with juilienned zest. Serve with grated Parmesan cheese. Serves 4 to 5.
Hunt's Simple Meals For Busy Days- Festive Skillet Chicken
This recipe is from Hunt's Simple Meals For Busy Days. This is a great little cookbook with 65 recipes that you would actually make, no unusual ingredients, just foods you are likely to have on hand. Of course they all call for Hunt's tomato products.
Festive Skillet Chicken
2-1/2 to 3 pounds meaty chicken pieces
1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
2 tablespoon oil
1 14-1/2 oz. can Hunt's Choice-Cut Diced Tomatoes
1 4 oz. can diced green chili peppers, drained
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup sliced ripe olives
2 tablespoons snipped fresh cilantro
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
2 to 3 cups hot cooked rice
Rinse chicken; pat dry with paper towels. Combine flour, the 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, and the chili powder in a paper or plastic bag. Shake chicken, a few pieces at a time, in flour mixture until well coated. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook chicken in the hot oil about 10 minutes or until chicken is lightly browned, turning to brown evenly. Drain off fat.
Meanwhile, combine undrained tomatoes, chili peppers, green pepper, onion, olives cilantro, and the 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder in a small mixing bowl, mix well. Pour tomato mixture over chicken in skillet. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, covered, about 40 minutes or until chicken is tender and no longer pink. Serve over hot cooked rice. Serves 6 to 8.
Festive Skillet Chicken
2-1/2 to 3 pounds meaty chicken pieces
1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
2 tablespoon oil
1 14-1/2 oz. can Hunt's Choice-Cut Diced Tomatoes
1 4 oz. can diced green chili peppers, drained
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup sliced ripe olives
2 tablespoons snipped fresh cilantro
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
2 to 3 cups hot cooked rice
Rinse chicken; pat dry with paper towels. Combine flour, the 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, and the chili powder in a paper or plastic bag. Shake chicken, a few pieces at a time, in flour mixture until well coated. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook chicken in the hot oil about 10 minutes or until chicken is lightly browned, turning to brown evenly. Drain off fat.
Meanwhile, combine undrained tomatoes, chili peppers, green pepper, onion, olives cilantro, and the 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder in a small mixing bowl, mix well. Pour tomato mixture over chicken in skillet. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, covered, about 40 minutes or until chicken is tender and no longer pink. Serve over hot cooked rice. Serves 6 to 8.
The Garden Variety Cookbook More Than 500 Vegetables and Fruit Recipes for Nonvegetarians
The other day I discovered another thrift store in my area, of course I picked up a few books. One was The Garden Variety Cookbook More Than 500 Vegetables and Fruit Recipes for Nonvegetarians. As promised it has a lot of ideas I have not seen before. Here is a recipe for carrots that is like a hot carrot salad:
Carrots With Raisins
1 tablespoons mild, light-flavored olive oil
1-1/4 pounds carrots, sliced
1/2 tablespoon brown sugar
1/2 cup seedless raisins
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon curry powder.
Steam the carrots until almost tender. Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Saute the carrots for 2 minutes. Sprinkle Brown sugar over carrots and add raisins. Stir-fry for 2 minutes. Combine remaining ingredients. Stir into carrot mixture in skillet.
Here is their Fruit Tart recipe:
Fresh Fruit Tart
1 cup granola
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup regular stick margarine, containing less than 2 grams of saturated fat per tablespoon, melted
1/4 skim or low-fat milk
5 cups sliced fresh fruit ( see possibilities below)
1 cup nonfat or low-fat plain yogurt
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine granola, crumbs, cinnamon, sugar, margarine, and milk and blend.
3. Press the mixture onto bottom and sides of a 9-inch pie pan and bake for 25 minutes.
4. Remove from oven and cool for 20 minutes. Fill shell with sliced fruit. Top with the yogurt around edge.
5. Chill for several hours before serving.
Fruit Possibilities
Blueberries and peaches
Strawberries
Apricots and blackberries
Nectarines and raspberries
Cooking The RealAge Way- Smoked Mozzarella and Veggie-Stuffed Pizza
Cooking the RealAge Way is another book I picked up the other day. I have participated in the RealAge program quizzes online but I didn't really pay that much attention to see if they were also promoting a book. Guess I didn't pay attention because the RealAge program questions really make your bad eating and exercising habits stand out and I have plenty of those.
Anyway I like this book because it is divided into seasonal sections and breakfast, lunch and dinner. The recipes also have a lot of variations and substitutions you can make. Here is a recipe for a healthful pizza.
Smoked Mozzarella and Veggie-Stuffed Pizza- "one huge slice has less than 300 calories but plenty of lycopene and potassium, making your RealAge younger by 10.0 days"
1 pound fresh, cut stir-fry vegetables (packaged or from the salad bar), such as broccoli, zucchini, mushrooms, red onion, bell peppers and julienned carrots
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup tomato paste
2 tablespoon olive relish, olive paste, tapenade or olivada
2 tablespoon sun-dried tomato bits
1 (12-inch or 10 oz.) prepared thin pizza crust, such as Boboli
1/4 cup chopped mixed green herbs such as chives, thyme, parsley and basil
1/2 cup (2 oz.) finely shredded smoked mozzarella cheese
Heat oven to 425 degrees. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high he4at until hot. Coat with cooking oil spray; add vegetables. Stir-fry 3 to 4 minutes or until vegetables are crisp-tender. Salt and pepper to taste. Combine tomato paste, olive relish, and sun-dried tomato bits. Spread over pizza crust; top with cooked vegetables, herbs, and cheese, in that order. Bake the pizza directly on the oven rack for approximately 10 minutes, or until crust is golden brown and cheese melts.
Anyway I like this book because it is divided into seasonal sections and breakfast, lunch and dinner. The recipes also have a lot of variations and substitutions you can make. Here is a recipe for a healthful pizza.
Smoked Mozzarella and Veggie-Stuffed Pizza- "one huge slice has less than 300 calories but plenty of lycopene and potassium, making your RealAge younger by 10.0 days"
1 pound fresh, cut stir-fry vegetables (packaged or from the salad bar), such as broccoli, zucchini, mushrooms, red onion, bell peppers and julienned carrots
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup tomato paste
2 tablespoon olive relish, olive paste, tapenade or olivada
2 tablespoon sun-dried tomato bits
1 (12-inch or 10 oz.) prepared thin pizza crust, such as Boboli
1/4 cup chopped mixed green herbs such as chives, thyme, parsley and basil
1/2 cup (2 oz.) finely shredded smoked mozzarella cheese
Heat oven to 425 degrees. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high he4at until hot. Coat with cooking oil spray; add vegetables. Stir-fry 3 to 4 minutes or until vegetables are crisp-tender. Salt and pepper to taste. Combine tomato paste, olive relish, and sun-dried tomato bits. Spread over pizza crust; top with cooked vegetables, herbs, and cheese, in that order. Bake the pizza directly on the oven rack for approximately 10 minutes, or until crust is golden brown and cheese melts.
Cooking With Three Ingredients- Chocolate Flan
My latest acquisition from Paperbackswap is Cooking With Three Ingredients by Andrew Schloss. Most of the recipes included some type of premade sauce as a way to get around having too many ingredients. But this recipe caught my eye as being different. This is what he says about it. "This is a miraculous recipe. As it bakes, the chocolate in the milk sinks to the bottom, which becomes the top once the flan is inverted for serving. The result is a shimmering milk chocolate discus, glazed in caramel and lacquered with dark chocolate."
Chocolate Flan
1 cup sugar
1 quart chocolate milk
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Heat the sugar in a heavy saucepan over medium-high heat. After 2 minutes, start stirring and continue stirring until the sugar melts into a pale golden caramel, about 2 minutes longer. Watch carefully to make sure it doesn't burn. Immediately pour the caramel into a 9-inch round baking dish. Carefully tilt the dish so that the caramel covers the bottom of the dish in a thin even sheet. Work quickly because the caramel will stop flowing if it cools. Set aside.
2. Add the chocolate milk to the sauce pan. Any caramel clinging to the pan will immediately solidify. Heat the milk to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Any solid caramel will melt into the milk. Stir the hot milk slowly into the eggs, mixing constantly. Pour the custard into the caramel-lined dish and set in a larger pan of water.
3. Bake for 1 hour, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out with just a speck of custard clinging to it. Cool on a cooling rack to room temperature and refrigerate for several hours until thoroughly chilled.
4. To serve, run a knife around the perimeter of the custard and cover with a large rimmed tray. Invert onto the tray. Shake lightly to release the custard. When the custard drops, lift off the dish, allowing the caramel sauce to run over the top of the flan and down onto the tray. Serve the flan in slices with a bit of sauce spooned on top. Serves 8.
Chocolate Flan
1 cup sugar
1 quart chocolate milk
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Heat the sugar in a heavy saucepan over medium-high heat. After 2 minutes, start stirring and continue stirring until the sugar melts into a pale golden caramel, about 2 minutes longer. Watch carefully to make sure it doesn't burn. Immediately pour the caramel into a 9-inch round baking dish. Carefully tilt the dish so that the caramel covers the bottom of the dish in a thin even sheet. Work quickly because the caramel will stop flowing if it cools. Set aside.
2. Add the chocolate milk to the sauce pan. Any caramel clinging to the pan will immediately solidify. Heat the milk to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Any solid caramel will melt into the milk. Stir the hot milk slowly into the eggs, mixing constantly. Pour the custard into the caramel-lined dish and set in a larger pan of water.
3. Bake for 1 hour, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out with just a speck of custard clinging to it. Cool on a cooling rack to room temperature and refrigerate for several hours until thoroughly chilled.
4. To serve, run a knife around the perimeter of the custard and cover with a large rimmed tray. Invert onto the tray. Shake lightly to release the custard. When the custard drops, lift off the dish, allowing the caramel sauce to run over the top of the flan and down onto the tray. Serve the flan in slices with a bit of sauce spooned on top. Serves 8.
Duncan Hines Deliciously Simple Desserts- Lemon Chiffon Cake
Not too long ago on another of my blogs I did a post about chiffon cakes. They seem like a lot of trouble to make. Today I came across a way to make an angel food cake mix into a lemon chiffon cake. It is from Duncan Hines Deliciously Simple Desserts, a Favorite Brand Name Recipe booklet.
Lemon Chiffon Cake
1 package Duncan Hines Angel Food Cake Mix
1 cup water
3 eggs
2/4 cup Crisco oil
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoons grated lemon peel
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Frosting
1 container (16 oz.) Duncan Hines Vanilla Layer Cake Frosting
2 teaspoon butter, melted
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
Lemon slices, for garnish
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. For cake, combine egg white mixture (blue "A" packet) from mix and water in large bowl. Beat at low speed with electric mixer for 1 minutes. Beat at high speed for 5 to 10 minutes or until stiff peaks form; set aside.
Combine cake flour mixture (red "B" packet) from mix, eggs, oil, flour, 1 tablespoon lemon peel and vanilla extract in large bowl. Beat at low speed until blended. Beat at medium speed for 3 minutes. Fold in reserved beaten egg white mixture. Pour into ungreased 10-inch tube pan. Run knife through batter to remove air bubbles. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 to 55 or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool following package direction.
For frosting, combine vanilla frosting, melted butter and 2 teaspoon lemon peel in medium bowl. Stir until thoroughly blended. Frost sides and top of cake. Garnish with lemon slices.
Lemon Chiffon Cake
1 package Duncan Hines Angel Food Cake Mix
1 cup water
3 eggs
2/4 cup Crisco oil
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoons grated lemon peel
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Frosting
1 container (16 oz.) Duncan Hines Vanilla Layer Cake Frosting
2 teaspoon butter, melted
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
Lemon slices, for garnish
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. For cake, combine egg white mixture (blue "A" packet) from mix and water in large bowl. Beat at low speed with electric mixer for 1 minutes. Beat at high speed for 5 to 10 minutes or until stiff peaks form; set aside.
Combine cake flour mixture (red "B" packet) from mix, eggs, oil, flour, 1 tablespoon lemon peel and vanilla extract in large bowl. Beat at low speed until blended. Beat at medium speed for 3 minutes. Fold in reserved beaten egg white mixture. Pour into ungreased 10-inch tube pan. Run knife through batter to remove air bubbles. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 to 55 or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool following package direction.
For frosting, combine vanilla frosting, melted butter and 2 teaspoon lemon peel in medium bowl. Stir until thoroughly blended. Frost sides and top of cake. Garnish with lemon slices.
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