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.

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.

Recreating the best…

My boy is a man of routine. Whether its the morning (coffee with cream in-hand, reading the New York Post with one eye as the other watches a Fox & Friends segment), noon (meal of tuna fish and chicken noodle soup) or evening (unwinding in our enclosed patio while previewing that evening’s sports contest) he knows what he likes and he likes what he knows.

We often frequent the same restaurants and through doing so have become friendly with the wait staff and bartenders. A favorite restaurant of ours is Carrabba’s Italian Grill – it’s consistent and hearty, not to mention reasonably priced and we always have a great time with the personable staff. Now, this says a lot. My boy’s parents have an Italian restaurant their own (best thin-crust pie around) therefore, finding a decent Italian chain restaurant (with good non-Ragu tomato sauce) can be a somewhat daunting task for my connoisseur.

Speaking of daunting tasks, last night he asked me to recreate a signature dish of Carrabba’s (which happens his fave) the Insalata Johnny Rocco. I knew I could not bear to break his satisfying routine of chowing down on this healthy dish. It would ruin the whole night! (Okay – perhaps that was just a little overdramatic…)

Hello, pre-game jitters. I had to bring my A-game and I had to put on my thick skin.

But every time I prepare a meal, I cheesily say to myself “how can a meal made from love garner any critisism at all?!” Ha! Then I come back down to the reality of living with an Italian son who was brought up on homemade “gravy” [sic - sauce] and chicken parm with fresh motz. (But he truly is wonderful and heck, I’ve become a better cook for it, as well!)

Alas, thanks to an Acme sale on seafood and some staple items from our farmers market – last night’s [very, very simple and frugal] dinner tasted elegant and was met with success!

Enjoy! The NJ version of the Insalata Johnny Rocco!

4 c. mixed baby greens
1/2 lb. both jumbo shrimp (peeled) and scallops
2 T. minced garlic
3/4 c. roasted red peppers (sliced long)
1/2 c. kalamata olives
2 T. olive oil
Fresh shaved Parmesan cheese (optional)
Ken’s Healthy Options Olive Oil and Vinegar dressing

In large skillet, heat 2T olive oil and 1 1/2 T minced garlic. When fragrant, add shrimp and scallops. Cook for 2 minutes on each side (or until shrimp is pink and scallops are semi-firm). Set aside.

In large bowl, toss together greens, roasted red peppers and olives. Add in cooked shrimp and scallops. Toss together with 1/4 c. Ken’s dressing (more or less to taste). Top with Parmesan cheese, if desired.

Feeds two – if for the main course, four – if serving as a side. This would go great with a nice steak!

Oh, and if the taste wasn’t enough for you – check out how low-fat this tasty dressing is, too!

Now let me tell ya ’bout the Berds and the Bees…

No, there is no typo in this headline.  Believe you me, I would be the first with the red pen in-hand if it was.  “Berd and Bee” recently set up shop at Red Bank’s trusty Farmer’s Market.  This stand was way different than any of the other crafty places. 

It was fresh and funky. 
It was vintage yet original. 
It smelled delicious and I knew I was where I wanted to be.

There were handmade pillows and hand molded candles.  Everything had the same feel to it.  (Great branding effort.) 

I picked up an apple shaped natural beeswax candle.  They say that smell is the sense with the closest link to memory and as I took a whiff,  I was transported back to second grade.  The day’s art lesson included candle making.  With clumsy 10-year-olds, candle making did not consist of dipping hot wax, but a plastic wick and a sheet of beeswax. I remember rolling up my sheet and then unrolling it because my fingers couldn’t roll it quite tight enough.  Once the wick was sticking out exactly one inch on top and the bottom was as flat as can be, I was so proud to present my creation to Mom after school that day. That crooked, lovely, lopsided candle still sits atop her bureau.  Time for a vintage-y update.

A neatly wrapped package and $12 bucks later, I am yet again proud to show her my find!

(Check out all their stuff – they’re trying to move some inventory before leaving this fall for Graduate school at the Savannah College of Art and Design!)

 

 

 

When the boy is away…

…the adventurous cook in me will play.

Despite how many times I tell my bf that experimentation is the ultimate form of confidence in the kitchen, he insists on “sticking to the recipe”.  He is so dead against it, that I wonder if he secretly think’s I’ll suddenly turn Hyde? 

Anyhow, since the Mets are home tonight (he’s in that insane northbound Parkway traffic right about now) and I’m flying solo – I can stray from our staples of chicken piccata, chicken and shrimp francese and chicken Parmesan (see a pattern here?!) and cook outside the skillet, if you will.

A new, quite odd, combination that has been working for me as of late is sauteed zucchini and marinated mushrooms.  Just like a forward who is on a hot streak, I will pass the ball to this combo to carry the load of tonight’s entree.  SLAM DUNK!

Ingredients:
1 medium green zucchini^ (sliced in thin rounds)
1 medium yellow zucchini^ (sliced in thin rounds)
1 c. marinated mushrooms^
2 T. olive oil
1 clove garlic
2 c. tomato gravy (I used leftovers from earlier in the week…as a sidenote, my bf’s strong Italian heritage gives him the ability to sniff out a canned gravy a mile away, so I dare not use any other than homemade.)
crushed red pepper (for a lil’ kick put a full T.)
2 c. cooked whole wheat pasta
parmesean cheese – to taste

Directions:
In skillet on medium, heat olive oil, garlic and red pepper.  Cook just enough so the oil is becoming infused with the flavors, and garlic is just beginning to get brown. Add in sliced zucchini and stir until slightly brown on each side.  Add marinated mushrooms and gravy and cover.  Stir every 2 minutes until sauce is bubbly and zucchini is mushy.  Combine with cooked pasta in serving dish.  Serve with Parmesan cheese, if desired.

*One thing I always like to point out when cooking pasta is to salt the water.  As Rachael Ray advises, it’s the only time to flavor the pasta – and if using whole wheat, it really makes a difference!

^ Indicates Jersey Fresh item from RB FaMa

What are we [NOT] buying at the Farmer’s Market…

A funny lil sketch to go along with my OBSESSION with the Red Bank Farmer’s Market, courtesy of [who else] but The Onion:

Support local!

Red Bank has a tremendous farmers market on Sunday mornings which just happens to be within walking distance from my place.

Every Sunday, I grab my reusable shopping bag and stroll on over, stopping to pick up a newspaper on the way.  There are the usual finds:   pickles and olives (use the leftover juice for a strong, dirty martini), hummus and guacamole from Key Ingredient Market, just-baked whole wheat bread, a bunch of wildflowers and the freshest veggies around.

Some of the best finds; however, are the recipes that the stands put out to supplement their spread.  This week, I picked up the perfect recipe for the season, named, fittingly, “Summer Salad”.

Ingredients:
1 yellow squash
1 green squash
1 head of lettuce
1/4 c. cilantro
1/4 c. EVOO + extra
2-3 garlic cloves, chopped
salt & pepper to taste

Steps:
Slice squash and sprinkle with salt & pepper.  Set aside.  Chop garlic and place in pan with a few tablespoons of EVOO.  Warm golic on medium head.  Add squash and sautee. 

Chop cilantro and add remainder of olive oil to compose dressing.  (Add two tablespoons of balsamic vinegar, if desired.)

Arrange sauteed squash on top of washed lettuce and drizzle dressing over entire salad.  (from Grossman Farms)

Enjoy!  Light and summery!

(One addition I made was to add 1/2 c. marinated mushrooms.  Gave it just a bit more flavor and texture.)