Broccolo, broccoli, what’s it to ya?

Before dating an Italian American, boy was my pronunciation of certain cuisine way off. It’s still not that great – it’s a strenuous thought process before ordering calamari (think, gal-a-maa, NOT cal-a-mar-ee). This side bar has little to do with my recipe today other than the fact that true blooded Italians know the veggie that inspired this dish as broccolo, rather than the traditional nomenclature of broccoli. And you know what I say to that?

Please, sir, may I have another?

Broccoli soup.
Broccoli with cheese.
Chicken and broccoli.
Broccoli and cavatelli (cav-a-teel).

Whatever kind broccoli you’re selling, I’ll take some more.

This dish is semi-homemade, sans Sandra Lee. Our farmer’s market has a stand that sells homemade frozen raviolis in every flavor imaginable. Think lobster, pumpkin, squash, three-cheese and, yep, you guessed it broccoli and mozzarella (or just mutz, if you please).

Boil some water, pop those babies in and by the time they’re floating – they’re ready to eat. You could just drizzle some olive oil and garlic over OR you could take a walk on the wild side and chance a broccoli overload with a creamy broccoli sauce.

If you chose the latter (woo hoo!) here’s a great recipe to try.

Broccoli Cream Sauce

3 T extra virgin olive oil
1 T minced garlic
1/4 C chopped yellow onion
1 1/2 C chopped broccoli (fresh or frozen – if frozen, one 8 oz. box will do)
1 1/2 C milk (I like to use 1%, just adds a little fat to it and fat = flava flav!)
Flour
Salt and pepper to taste

In large skillet, heat olive oil, garlic and yellow onion until onion is soft. Add in chopped broccoli and cook until desired tenderness is reached. (I cooked it until about al dente, but you may cook for a longer or shorter period of time if you please.)

Slowly wisk in milk, mixing all ingredients together. Heat until a boil. Now, when I made this, I needed about 1 T flour just to thicken up the sauce a bit. You may need more or less, depending on how much liquid your broccoli contained. Use salt and pepper to taste.

Enjoy! Although I used this over a broccoli and mozzarella ravioli, it would be good over angel hair or any pasta or risotto. (In fact, I was dipping break in it for the taste test! Yummy!)

I was a bit worried that the broccoli flavor would be a bit overwhelming, but the garlic and onion infused broccoli sauce really accented the broccoli from within the ravioli “meat” – which otherwise might have been lost with a traditional Alfredo or tomato sauce.

Tailgate appetizers…

However self-serving these recipes may be, touting the freshness of the Whole Foods market (to which I agree and besides, they are, after all, posted on their website), these appetizers are out-of-this-world.  One is better than the next and I can’t wait to try a new one each week.  It is, after all, football season!

http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/search-results.php?recipeTypeId=1

A day off for working citizens…

Happy Labor Day, my fellow working class!

Enjoy this day off! I hope you spend it with friends and family and those you love!

(Which reminds me…110 days until our Disney vacation!)

Something old, something re-new…

Okay, so perhaps that’s not exactly how the saying goes. But you certainly know how this goes:  splurging on a gorgeous dress or a pair of designer shoes for a special occasion can be risky - you may only wear it once maybe twice before you get sick of it, too many people see it, it gets ruined.  More often than not, those cheap-as-dirt Payless Shoes or TJ Maxx clearance items are the ones being brought to the tailor or cobbler so you can get more mileage out of them.

Hence, the case of my formal wear for Betsy’s wedding this weekend.  Last spring, my boy was in a wedding and I was meeting some of his friends for the first time.  I ended up finding this steal-of-a-deal black dress at Marshalls – you guessed it – on clearance for $15.00.  Yes, you read that correctly:  $15.00.  It was a bit dressier than a LBD (little black dress) so it wasn’t versatile enough to be my staple item, but it was ideal for this occasion: perfect length, gathered at the top, “flowey” on the bottom, this dress was made for me.

Well, here we are – 16 months later, and I am yet again, bringing that sexy little number out of the closet.  Best thing of all – it’s a whole new social scene.  For all anyone knows, this is a brand new dress.  (Except, of course, for you who I’m sharing my dirty little secret with.)

Who would win in a fight – a wine snob or a beer snob?

The new thing, so I hear, is beer pairing. Quite frankly, I’m a bit confused with all of this. The websites are too complex – with terms such as “Vienna lager” and “Weizen or best bitter“. Which is ok – I guess I shouldn’t hate too much as there’s probably a community who that language coheres to. I’m not well-versed in beer-speak but enjoy to throw a few back, so, why not, for the amateurs out there, break it down a bit.

Give us examples – a bock style beer such as Samuel Adams Winter Blend or a craft wheat beer with a citrus hint such as a Blue Moon. Perhaps these aren’t the most sophisticated blends – but is there a “beer pairing for dummies” out there? (With pictures?)

All this beer talk has me reminiscing. Around the corner, by the train station, there is this fabulous little restaurant called the “Organic Beer Garden” with – you guessed it – certified organic beer. So yummy! With a multitude of flavors and ABV’s ranging from 4.0% (for the light-weights) to 9.5% (for those who can hold their own), these beverages go with anything. My favorite pair, although some may argue unconventional, is the Samuel Smith (England) organic cider (ABV 5.0%) with a soft shell crab sandwich.

You want the kicker? Owner Dieter Bornemann wanted to thank his customers and celebrate his anniversary of citizenship in this great nation of the US of A by offering a buy one get one FREE special on all entrees! (It was supposed to stop in July – but I still saw signs around town promoting this deal – so, heck, next time you go in, be sure to ask if its still valid!)

SoGo, short for sooooooo goooood…

There are just some foods that when you eat them, you feel so fit inside. So healthy. So ready to take on the world.

You feel sogo [sic - so good] inside.

SoGo Sushi can’t be beat. (On a side note – there’s a really hip bar/lounge/sushi bar/restuarant right across the street and it is so hard to eat there because I feel like a cheater.) But honestly – SoGo’s menu [dare I say it again?] cannot be beat.

SoGo is a family-run sushi restaurant, the size of a walk-in closet. No dining in, no deliveries. Take-out only. The fish is the freshest and the rice only comes in the brown variety – you know, the kind that’s good for your digestive system.

The draw is the brown rice – it’s heartier, nutier, and just better for you. Not to mention, the chef is innovative and there are always new rolls on the wall’s chalkboard. The restaurant website states “brown rice is not traditionally used for sushi in Japan, but since it’s a healthy whole grain, SoGo has decided to bend the rules”. And boy, am I glad they did.

Sangria – fresh, fruity, flavorful, frisky, fun…

Nothing like a glass of chilled love potion, ahem, sangria, on a muggy, summer evening.

Want a four-ingredient recipe? Well, here’s a visual recipe card…follow along:

(one bottle – 750 mL)

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(2 cups your choice flavor)

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(2 liter bottle)

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(enough to make 2 cups – drain all liquid)
*also, to make the presentation prettier, you can slice up some citrus-y fruit such as limes, lemons and/or oranges

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(lets just say that this recipe has been known to have a baby-making effect on some people…)

Food A to Z…

Each year, Rachael Ray magazine publishes a “Food A to Z” guide, where the Rachael and her army of editors and editorial assistants put together the hippest, hottest, trendiest, most useful (or not so) tidbits of information in alphabetical order.  While some are helpful, others are interesting…some are brow-raising and others are just useless, I wanted to highlight two that really hit home for me.

E:  “in this economy”  Are you tired of hearing that as we are?  Everyone’s tightening their belts - we get it. 
To combat this rough economy, the webmaster on rachaelraymag.com conveniently created a new page, aptly titled:  $10 Spot – for family dinners that cost 10 bucks or less.  Pretty cool, right?  But honestly, my friend Camille said it best “I don’t mind spending money on good food.”  And I must agree with her. 

Whether its Wegmen’s or Whole Foods (or even Acme’s Wild Harvest organic line), I would rather spend an extra $10 on a cartfull of healthy groceries than hitting up the $5.99 fried chicken dinner special at the deli counter or frozen convenience foods filled with preservatives.  As with most things, it’s all about choices.

M:  music.  Keep yourself company in the kitchen (even when you’re alone) with playlists.
Music to chop to:  The First Cut is the Deepest – Sheryl Crow
                                     Cuts Like a Knife – Bryan Adams
                                     Into the Groove – Madonna
Music to stir to:    Daydreaming – Corrine Bailey Rae
                                    Five Minutes More – Frank Sinatra
                                    Stop and Stare – OneRepublic
Music to grill to:  Don’t Stand So Close to Me – The Police
                                    Not Dark Yet – Bob Dylan
                                    Burn – The Cringe

Bravo, RR, bravo!  Not only was this a set list full of quality, yet eclectic, artists, but tongue-in-cheek too!  I love it!  Download these tunes and start movin’ and groovin’ in your own kitch!

P.S. – Happy Birthday, Rach!

Chocolate and trail mix? Count me in…

Who loves chocolate?  Raise your hand!
Who loves trail mix?  Raise your hand!
Who loves fruit?  Raise your hand!

Were you just “raising the roof” after reading those questions?  Let’s float out the idea of pulling all three together f0r a match made in heaven.  Would you be on board?

Well…Frankie beat us to it.  Who is this man with a delicious idea, you may ask?  Well Frankie is actually Claudia Frankenberg, valedictorian of the prestigious New York Restaurant School.  After quite an extensive career in the food and beverage industry and years spent pairing foods in the most exquisite of restaurants, Claudia found that the most delightful combination, not to mention her favorite, that of dried fruit and chocolate, was not very prominent in US retail.  So, Claudia took matters into her own hands and started up Frankie’s with the hope to inspire fellow foodies to fall in love with this combination. 

How could we not.

Check these babies out:

 

 

…I wonder if you could, for argument’s sake, buy some molds and chocolate at the local Michael’s store, some fruit from the farmers market and make your own?  I’m usually all for copycat recipes, but in this case let’s support this recently launched business (December, 2008) that supports its local charities!

Okay – so now the big questions is – when is and who’s hosting our next girls get-together?  I need an excuse to order some of these and they seem a perfect accompaniment to a bottle of wine.

MYOD (make your own dinner)…

Make your own dinner is a technique I often like to try – without being too much of a pain in the butt to the wait staff.  As I’ve mentioned before, Carrabba’s is a favorite joint of ours and while dining, I tend to rotate between a few staple, never-fail items on their menu.  Sometimes I make a meal out of appetizers, like their delectable crab cakes that are served with a creamy red pepper sauce.  Although, tasty, the sauce is somewhat overwhelming – accounting for over 3/4 of the plate – and every time I always think how divine this would be over pasta.  Thing is – I like to stay away from the white flour kind. 

Well, today was my lucky day – I just happened to glance at the very bottom of the ’summer’ menu where it boasted a pasta primavera containing whole wheat spaghetti.  Slam dunk!

I was able to order a side dish of whole wheat spaghetti (plain), smother it with the red pepper gravy and top with the two crab cakes.  Wow.  After swirling a fork-full of the pasta, the crispy crab was a great complement to spear at the end.  Our lovely waitress, admitted that the one downfall of working for a chain, rather than an independently owned restaurant, was the fact that all “specials” have to be brought down from corporate rather than coming from the cook’s creativity. 

What a bummer because this would be a great summer seafood special!