Month: January 2012

Making up for Lost Time

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Last night David pointed out that our weekend lacked veggies. Pizza toppings don’t count? 🙂 So tonight I’m making up for lost time with roasted cauliflower and vegetarian minestrone.

The cauliflower is pretty tasty. I tossed the florets with olive oil, salt, and pepper and baked it at 425 degrees for about 15 minutes. A sprinkle of parmesan finished things off.

The soup mixture comes from my mother-in-law. Basically you sauté onions, add the mix plus water and a can of diced tomatoes. I love that it’s all natural and healthy, but offers the convenience of being stored in the pantry. Check out Sierra Soups.

Life-changing Chevre and Other Goat Cheese Discoveries

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Last night I sampled some fancy – but very easy – food, inspired by the NASFT’s Winter Fancy Food Show. I’ll share my favorites from Food Fete here, starting with a life-changing chevre called “Rivers Edge,” from Three Ring Farm in Oregon.

For once, those of us who play it safe with goat cheese don’t have to feel slighted. This chevre is smoky, rich and smooth. I can’t wait to pair it with an Old Vine Zin!

I also enjoyed sampling harder, crystallized goat cheeses and chatting with a gentleman from Tumalo Farms, a gourmet goat cheese producer in Bend, Oregon. PS – Do yourself a favor, and check out the adorable, cuddly goats on their homepage.

There will be Breadcrumbs

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I’m always in search of fresh, handmade pappardelle, so when I found it at Bi-Rite Market, I was excited to get to work on a new recipe. With leeks on hand, I searched around and found this recipe.

I enjoyed the process of cleaning and prepping the leeks – they’re such a gorgeous color. And the rosemary smelled delightful.

But things took a turn for the worse when I (ignored the recipe) and dumped the entire breadcrumb mixture into the finished pasta. Those thick, buttery ribbons got lost in the sandy coating.

Lesson learned: treat breadcrumbs like salt, unless you’re making Mac & cheese or gratin.

Lazy Friday Night Pulled Pork

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Normally we have pizza on Friday nights, but we’ve yet to find a place that will deliver to Redwood Shores (minus Roundtable which is always a half hour late or more). So tonight, I was a lazy gourmet.

I started with one can of diced tomatoes in a large saucepan, with three cloves of garlic, brought to a boil. Next I added 3/4 bottle of old chardonnay (hey, why not it’s Friday after all).

In went the pork, and I covered and simmered it on medium for about 30 minutes. Meanwhile I cooked the rice in the rice cooker. When the pork was done. I shredded it with forks and returned it to it’s sauce.

Serving the pork in bowls over rice with plenty of broth added lots of juiciness and a decent amount of flavor. Et voila.