Graduation and birthday dinner

I've been absent for a while. I was working during the whole month, and did not have enough time to cook something special, only repeat performances to get by. I also had some technical problems with the blog, because, as it seems, I needed to install a new program. Now I hope everything will be alright and that the technical difficulties are solved so that I will be able to resume my blog. I have to admit that I am very proud of myself, since I was able to solve these problems on my own, and that to start with, I taught myself how to use a computer.

During my absence we had a couple of graduations and birthdays in the family. We decided to have a nice big family dinner and celebration this week-end for the graduates and the birthday girls. Maha is going to college, Sarah to middle school, Salma is nine and Sophie just turned one. So I needed to think of an easy menu, easy to prepare and easy for the children to accept. In such situations I usually build my menu around a popular dish. In this case it's a leg of lamb. I know that everybody likes it. I will add a chicken dish, preferably something easy for the children to handle, meaning, no skin, no bones, just bites of chicken for them to eat, even with their fingers (in big gatherings I cannot control every one!!). Then I'll introduce some veggies that they usually don't have at home: this is how you set your trap. You give them a sense of security with familiar foods, then you lure them to the Brussels sprouts!! It worked, the veggies were a hit.

                                                  

YELLOW RICE WITH CHICKEN CUBES

When you need to make a dish that should serve a large number of people, you better go with chicken: it's easy to prepare in advance, to have it diced, so that you can serve it on a large platter and at the same time it can be like finger food. Also look for a way to cook it in one single process, no frying, and make sure that you go for a recipe that will please all tastes and ages. This is why I opted for this dish. Yellow rice is the only carb on the table, and the chicken will be well seasoned to give a new twist to the dish and keep it from being boring. Of course it's not that easy: we don't eat spicy or hot foods, so I have to find the right balance between the spices I'm going to use. So I stood in front of the spice rack, and here is what I came up with. 

You'll need (for a crowd of about 10 people):

8 chicken thighs, skinless and boneless

4 half breasts, skinless and boneless

2 to 3 tbsp frozen onion/garlic mixture

1 and 1/2 tbsp garam masala (Indian spices)

1 tsp curry powder

1/4 tsp nutmeg

2 to 3 tbsp lemon juice

2 heaping tbsp plain yogurt (I use Greek yogurt, it's creamier)

Salt and pepper to taste (I use Adobo seasoning)

Rinse and pat dry the chicken pieces. Remove all the visible fat from the chicken and cut them  into 1 inch cubes. Put the chicken pieces in a big bowl, add the onion/garlic mixture, all the spices and the lemon juice and mix well. Add the yogurt, mix to coat all the chicken pieces. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours to overnight. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees, line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and arrange the chicken pieces on it in one layer. Cook for about 20 minutes, then turn once and return the chicken to the oven for another 10 to 15 minutes. You'll know that the chicken is cooked when you'll notice that the liquid in the baking sheet is almost all gone and the chicken pieces are well browned. Serve over the yellow rice (recipe found in previous blogs).

                                       

NOTE: You can use only thighs, you'll notice that they are juicier and will never dry even if you overcook them.

Going to work? Brown bag your lunch.

I recently went back to work. While our building is going through massive reconstruction and renovation, the cafeteria space is reduced to a small counter selling coffee, tea, a large refrigerator for water and drinks and a small counter with one or two choices of hot dishes and a display refrigerator with pastries, sandwiches and wraps, and some salads. I've tried the salads: they are mainly little sad Caesar salads with slices of chicken, cooked, but God only knows how, and drowned in some kind of heavy creamy dressing. The hot dishes are not much better: the choices are limited, either fish or chicken, and they are always the same. Kinda makes you think: are these the same dishes that were here last week? Confronted with this situation I decided to take matters into my own hands and bring my own lunch. At the beginning my husband was very skeptical, but when he saw what I was going to have for lunch, he immediately was on board with the idea. Who wouldn't? He was having roast beef, smoked salmon, home made turkey sandwiches with just a smear of mustard, no mayo, just as he likes them. I was having my own delicious salads, and I was sure that they were not sitting on a shelf for days before I got to eat them. The best thing about brown bagging your own lunch is that you know for sure that you are eating good food, fresh food, and on top of that you are using the leftovers in your kitchen, so you don't have to worry about serving them again to a resentful crowd. We have established by now that in our house leftovers are not considered food, and unless I manage to completely change their appearance and maybe the consistence, nobody will eat them, and if mom is kind enough to accept them, she does it just because she loves me. My husband, on the other hand, insists that he does, love me of course, but not to the point of eating leftovers. The idea is to mainly use what you have at hand to create delicious meals that you can easily carry along with you. They shouldn't, in principle, need re-heating, an elaborate container, or add-ons. They should simply be a one dish meal, a nutritious one that would keep you going through the rest of the working day.

Today we'll start with a couple of nutritious salads, no sandwiches please, we're trying to limit the intake of carbs.

FAST AND EASY SALAD

                                                  
                                                     

This salad is the easiest one you can whip up in seconds. You don't need a recipe for it, you simply look into your fridge, check out what you have and with a little imagination create a delicious combination that will keep you satisfied until you come back home and start dinner. To make this salad, I used the last piece of leg of lamb I had from the other day, some rice from Chinese take out and some fresh ingredients I always have at hand. You'll need:

1/2 cup cooked brown rice

1 large endive

2  small cucumbers

1/4 cup Pecorino Romano cheese cut in small dice

1 cup diced cooked meat (I used roasted leg of lamb, about the size of a deck of cards)

1 tbsp canola oil

Salt and pepper to taste

5 or 6 black Kalamata olives

In a medium bowl, put the brown rice and add the cheese and meat cubes. Slice the endive in 3/4 inch rounds, peel and slice the cucumbers and add them to the bowl. Drizzle with the oil, sprinkle some salt and pepper. I would start with 1/2 tbsp oil first and add more if needed. Also make sure that you don't add too much salt from the start, the cheese may be enough. Mix well then transfer to the carrying container. Add the black olives, and you're done. How easy was that?

SHRIMP AND BEANS SALAD

                                                         

I made this salad for the whole family and took some with me for lunch. It still follows the same principle of using what you have in the kitchen, it also helps with your spring cleaning of the freezer and pantry. I used the last leftover brown rice I had, but any cooked rice will be fine. You'll need:

1 (15.5 oz) can each: black beans and chick peas

1 (15.25 oz) can corn

1 (6 oz) can black olives, pitted

2 to 3 cups small cooked shrimp (100 count)

1/2 small container of Chinese brown rice

2 celery stalks

2 tbsp very finely chopped red onion, or to taste

2 tbsp canola oil

2 to 3 tbsp lemon juice

Salt and pepper

Finely chop the celery. Drain, rinse and drain the beans, drain the corn, and put them with the celery in a large bowl. Slice the olives into fine rings, add them to the bowl. Thaw the shrimp, make sure it's completely drained and add to the bowl. Work the brown rice with a fork to break up any possible lumps and add to the bowl. Sprinkle the chopped red onions. I used only 2 tbsp, you may put more if you like, everything should be to your taste. Add the lemon juice, the oil and salt and pepper. Mix well, cover and refrigerate. Serve in small bowls, and fill up a container to take with you to work. You don't need crackers, toast or anything else, all the nutrition you need is in the bowl.

Still "Springing".

To complete the picture of our spread for Sham El Nessim, I still have to give you three more recipes: one of them is my secret recipe for lamb, the other two are very easy: cooked orzo and feta dip.

FETA DIP

                                              

This is one of the most popular dips or cheese dishes we used to have growing up. Even without a party, feta and tomatoes is a favorite with everyone, as a late supper in summer or as a dish you can nibble on while watching TV.  It's very easy to make, no cooking needed. Just get some good feta cheese, chop some tomatoes, drizzle with some good oil, mix and you're done. If you really want a recipe, here it is. You'll need:

1 lb french feta
2 to 3 large tomatoes for slicing
Olive oil, just enough to incorporate the cheese and tomatoes
Fresh or dried mint leaves

In a large bowl, crumble the feta with your fingers. Finely chop the tomatoes. No need to squeeze them to remove the seeds, I use the whole tomato. Add the tomatoes to the bowl and mix with a fork pressing slightly to mash the two ingredients together. Drizzle some oil on the mixture and stir to incorporate. The idea is to get a rather smooth mixture with red dots. Don't add too much oil, or it will separate. If you are using fresh mint leaves, roll them together and finely chop them in a chifonnade, then sprinkle them over the cheese. For dried mint, put a tsp between your palms, crush them over the dish and make sure you keep the stems or the leftovers in your hand and discard them. Serve with toasted pita triangles, or make small vessels from slices of English cucumber and fill them with the mixture. You can make wheels or boats. It will be fun. Just cut the cucumber, spoon out some of it to make space for the feta mixture and fill it. You can also use some toasted slices of baguette, or separate some endives leaves and fill them with the cheese.

                                                

COOKED ORZO

                                                  

                                        
This is the easiest side dish ever. All you need to do is to brown some orzo in a drop of oil, then add stock to barely cover it. Bring to a boil covered, then reduce the heat and let cook. When the liquid is almost all absorbed, add some more, but not too much. It will be easier to keep adding liquid until the orzo is done than to have a mushy pasta. Check for seasoning, cover and let it finish cooking undisturbed. If you want to make it fancier, just add some frozen peas at the end, toss, cover and remove from heat.

MY SECRET RECIPE FOR LAMB

Well, I guess it's time for me to give you my secret recipe for lamb. As I told you before I never ate lamb, but my husband loves it. I remember that two or three weeks after we got married, he came home with a whole leg of lamb for me to cook. Needless to say that after the first moments of horror, I started to seriously think about a way to deal with it. First thing to do is to trim all the visible fat, even the small pieces hidden inside the meat. So I did. Then we have to season it. At the time, I had no clue on what to do, just some vague idea about how my grandma used to cook meat. So I knew that I had to use some chopped onion and garlic and spices. But which ones? As far as I was concerned, my main problem with lamb is that I remember from my childhood that I didn't like how it smelled. Probably because of the quality of the lamb, or mutton, they used to have back then. Still, the problem must be solved. And spices are the solution: I stood in front of my spice rack looking for a solution. It was not so hard to find. You'll need:

1 whole leg of lamb, boneless or bone in 
3 tbsp frozen onion/garlic mixture
1 tsp each: cinnamon, ground clove, mild paprika
A pinch of nutmeg
5 to 6 cloves
3 garlic cloves
2 or 3 bay leaves
3 to 4 tbsp of plain yogurt
Salt and pepper

In a small bowl mix the onion/garlic with the spices and salt and pepper. After you remove all the fat from the lamb, rub the mixture all over it. Let stand. Slice the garlic cloves lengthwise. With the tip of the knife make small slits in the meat, insert a slice of garlic and a whole clove in each one. Rub the whole thing with the yogurt, and add the bay leaves. The cloves and garlic will give it a delicious aroma, not garlicky at all, and the yogurt will replace all the fat we just trimmed without being heavy. Put the lamb in a baking dish and cover with foil. Marinate in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours to overnight. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. When you take the meat out of the refrigerator let it stand for 15 minutes and then put in the oven still covered. Remove the foil after 30 minutes and let cook undisturbed. After about 40 minutes, turn the meat in its pan to let it brown on the other side. We like our meat well done, so I keep it until the meat thermometer reaches 170 degrees. For medium rare it should read 145 or 150 degrees.
Remove the lamb from the oven and let stand, covered with foil for 15 minutes, then slice and serve. You can use the liquid that remains in the pan to make a gravy, just make sure that you remove the bay leaves, cook it for a couple of minutes to reduce, place in a small bowl and serve it on the side.

                                           

                                   

Spring Into Spring

A whole year has gone by, and Spring is here again.. at least officially: Monday is Sham El Nessim, and we are ready for Spring. As for the weather, I'm really not sure yet: things are really going crazy in New York, in one day we can have four seasons, some of them simultaneously. Yesterday when I went out the sun was shining, but two blocks away it rained! Luckily the sun came back immediately. But no matter what the weather is doing, we are going to have our Spring party. This year I'm having some friends over. I'll start the preparations a bit earlier, so that everything will be ready by the time they come and I'll be completely free to enjoy my time with my friends. The secret here is to chose menu items that can be prepared in advance, and most importantly to make an exhaustive list of the things you have to do: put down the elements and procedures for each dish, the time when you should do it, and the serving dish you are going to use. If you have limited kitchen space like me, you have to think of everything, especially the serving dishes to be able to locate them and bring them out instead of wandering around the house while your friends are at the door. Stick the to do list on the refrigerator door and let's go to work. First thing to do is go shopping: this time stick to the list of items you need for your party, other items for the house can be bought on another trip to the store, next week.  My menu this year is as follows: Boussara, Herrings, White fish salad, Smoked salmon, Taramasalata, Mixed salad, Baba Ghannough, colored eggs, Feta dip, Leg of lamb, Orzo, and a new dish that I never cooked before: Keshk. Of course there will be toasted pita triangles and some cut veggies for the dips. I'll also have a spread of nuts and lupini to go with the drinks, although many of the dips can also be served from the start with the drinks. For dessert I bought a Tiramisu cake and some ice cream. Most of these items can be bought ready made, mainly the taramasalata, and the only thing to do is to plate them, or maybe tweak them to our taste.

KESHK
      

                                                       

This is an ancient Egyptian dish. Ancient because it's very common in Upper Egypt, and this region has kept many of the ancient traditions alive, especially when it comes to food. Some of the dishes of the region are completely lost in other parts of the country, or have gone through so many transformations and changes that you can hardly recognize them any more. So this dish has an original form, the one made in the villages of Upper Egypt, and the one I tried, the one we know in the cities, which is more simplified. The original recipe uses almost the same ingredients, but requires a longer cooking time, since it calls for drying out the ingredients formed in small balls in the sun for days, then cooking them in stock to rehydrate them. I recently learned that a similar dish is popular in Lebanon, but instead of drying the ingredients formed into balls, they are spread and dried until they become like a powder, then again cooked and rehydrated. Of course we, city dwellers, cannot afford all these cooking techniques, and tend to simplify the procedures. I never cooked this dish myself, it's my sister who used to make it for mom. I've been thinking about it lately mainly because I know that mom loves it and I never cook it for her, so I tried making it last week, just to make sure how it will turn out. Since I had no recipe for it and the one I found used the old techniques and the dried ingredients, I tried my best to remember how I saw them cook it back then. It turned out to be quite easy. You'll need:

2 cups plain yogurt (I used Greek yogurt)

4 tsp flour (I actually use a regular plastic tsp and put 4 heaping tsp)

1 cup skim milk

1 cup stock, more if needed

A pinch of nutmeg

Caramelized onions for garnish

In a heat resistant bowl mix the yogurt and the flour early in the morning and leave it on the kitchen counter or, if you happen to have the oven on, put it near the oven to let the heat speed up the process. (Don't cook it just yet). After 3 to 4 hours, pour the yogurt mixture into a nonstick skillet and start cooking it over medium high heat.  You'll immediately smell a strong yogurt, or sour, smell, don't worry, just keep stirring with a whisk. Slowly add the milk while stirring to prevent any lumps from forming. Then start adding the stock. By then the smell would have completely disappeared, and you should not have any lumps in the skillet. Use a heat resistant spatula and keep stirring making a big 8 in the skillet to be sure that there are no parts of the liquid that are not stirred. In 9 to 10 minutes the mixture will become thick, and the flour fully cooked. Add the nutmeg, stir and taste to check the seasoning. The consistency of the mixture should be like the one of a custard before setting in. Pour the mixture into a shallow serving dish, let stand until it firms. Thinly slice an onion, caramelize it by cooking it in a tsp or more of oil until browned. Sprinkle the onions over the keshk and serve.  

NOTE: I served the smoked salmon on a platter with finely chopped red onions and capers on the side so that everyone would prepare it to his taste, I made a mixed salad with lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes and added chopped cilantro (it gives it a special kick) and a can of chick peas. Someone put the taramasalata on the dining table instead of outside in the living room, it didn't matter, we were hungry and we did enjoy it. You can find the recipes for the boussara and white fish salad in a previous blog, the one for Sham El Nessim last year.

     Taramasalata

White fish Salad

Spring cleaning meals.

You would expect these meals to be just some sandwiches made hastily to serve while cleaning the house for the new season. No. No way. Cleaning or no cleaning, our family expects to have a good meal on the table. So, yes, these meals are the result of the review and cleaning of my kitchen just before I embark on the mission of restocking the pantry and the freezer. So it's a kind of "Spring cleaning" for the freezer and the pantry to use whatever has been lying there for a while, so that you can start making a list of what items you'll need to buy next.

First I started with the freezer: I had a bag of lamb cubes and two pouches of chicken breasts that I had transferred from the big freezer in the basement to the kitchen freezer. They need to be used asap.

INDIAN STYLE LAMB CUBES

                                           

                                                                                                                                             

These cubes of lamb were leftover from a whole boneless leg of lamb that I had cubed and cooked. They were about 1 lb, in 1 1/2 inch cubes. I defrosted them, and thought of a new way to cook them. I needed something different, mainly because we've had leg of lamb in so many different ways from shish kebab to a whole leg roasted in the oven, or grilled. I looked around the kitchen to get some inspiration, and.. voila: I found a can of coconut milk that I had bought thinking that I would use it in some curry or Indian dish.. Hmmm, Indian you say? Maybe that's what we need: an Indian flavor. That day I was cooking okra and freek, so an Indian inspired meat dish will be perfect. The best side effect: I finally figured out how much meat I should cook for the three of us so that we don't have any leftovers.You'll need:

1 lb lamb (I used a little less than that)

1 tbsp frozen onion/garlic mixture

A pinch of each: ground clove, curry and cinnamon

2 tbsp plain yogurt

A splash of tomato sauce

1/2 (13.5 oz) can  of coconut milk

A handful of raisins

Salt and pepper

Chopped parsley

Remove all visible fat from the lamb and cut it in small cubes, less than 1 inch, bite size pieces.

In a bowl mix the lamb cubes with the onion/garlic mixture and the spices. Add the yogurt and mix well to coat. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. (In the mean time I cooked the other dishes). In a nonstick pan with a cover, cook the lamb cubes on medium high heat until they are well browned on all sides. Add some water, bring to a boil, then cover and let cook on low heat. When all the liquid is absorbed, add the tomato sauce, some more water and let cook until almost done. Add  the raisins, the coconut milk and keep cooking until fork tender. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve over freek.

                                               

CHICKEN WITH PEAS AND VERMICELLI

                                                

I found another item in the pantry that I had to use before restocking: vermicelli pasta. I had some chicken breasts and I found half a bag of frozen peas in the freezer. That's a no brainer: these are the perfect ingredients for a chicken dish, the kind we prefer, a one dish meal. You'll need:

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (4 pieces)

2 tbs frozen onion/garlic mixture

8 baby carrots

2 tbsp lemon juice

3 handfuls of vermicelli pasta

1 tbsp oil

 A dash of Worcestershire sauce

Chicken stock, or water

Rinse the chicken, pat dry and cut in thin strips. Marinate the chicken in the onion mixture, plus salt and pepper and lemon juice for 30 minutes. While it marinates cut the carrots and pulverize them in the food processor. Cook the chicken in a nonstick skillet until all its liquid is absorbed and it's lightly browned. Remove the chicken to a plate. Add the oil to the skillet and start cooking the vermicelli stirring frequently until it becomes golden brown. Add the carrots, stir for a couple of minutes and then add stock. It should barely cover the pasta. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and cover the skillet. Let simmer until all the liquid is absorbed, check the pasta, if it still needs some more liquid, add it, and let cook until the vermicelli are done. Add the peas, return the chicken to the skillet and the splash of Worcestershire sauce. Stir to combine for 1 or 2 minutes. Serve. You may sprinkle the dish with some toasted pine nuts, almonds or cashews.

                                              

Jumpstart your spring: Have a salad.

Weather in New York is really crazy these days: the temperature goes from the upper seventies to the forties in one day, leaving us unable to determine how to dress and what to eat. Well, I decided to dress in very light layers, and devised a solution for the second problem: I'll have a salad. Not only it's healthy and refreshing, a salad, for lunch or even dinner, is the best way to smooth over these crazy bouts of temperature, giving you a bright outlook, a fresh vision of the world, even if the weather outside is going crazy, from sunshine to rain.

After all it's very comforting to feel that there is something constant in this life: if it's not going to get reasonable out there, at least inside, spring is coming on time!

Another upside for salads: you can brown bag the leftovers and take them with you to work for a healthy lunch.

BLACK EYE PEAS SALAD

                                                             
I've been thinking of cooking some black eyed beans for a while, so today I took out the jar of beans from the pantry and declared that I was going to cook them two ways: in a salad and in tomato sauce. My husband immediately said:"I'll only have the salad". So salad it is. I had already measured 3 cups, picked them and put them in water to soak overnight. Still, no problem it will be a huge salad! You'll need:

3 cups of dry black eye peas
3 to 4 celery stalks
A handful of baby carrots (about 8 to 10)
1/2 medium red onion
2 tbsp lemon juice
3 tbsp canola oil
3 tbsp cumin (more to taste)
Salt and pepper

As with every dry beans, pick the beans to make sure that there are no small stones or any foreign object, rinse them several times and soak them overnight in water.The next day, drain the beans and rinse them one more time, then boil them in salted water. You may need to add more water to the pot until the beans are fork tender. While the beans are cooking, chop the red onion in the food processor. I don't like to see, or bite into big chunks of onion, so I tend to pulverize the onion. Then chop the carrots and add them to the processor until you get small dots of carrot. Finely chop the celery stalks. Put everything in a large bowl. When the beans are done, drain them and let them cool for a while. Add the beans to the bowl, mix with the chopped vegetables. You can add the seasonings directly to the bowl and mix (that's what I usually do), or if you prefer, prepare the dressing in a separate small bowl by mixing the oil, the lemon juice, the cumin and salt and pepper together, then add them to the salad and mix. Adjust seasoning and serve with a mixed green salad, or just a mixed salad (lettuce, cucumber and tomato).

                                                          
CELERY ROOT SALAD

I love this salad, but it's been a while since I made it. The reason is very simple, and a bit silly: I can't seem to find the appropriate blade for my food processor to grate the celery root!
But this time I decided to go manual, after all our grandmas did not have a food processor and they made it anyway, at least I guess. So, I brought out the box grater and started to work, hoping that it would not make a big difference. Actually it didn't. You'll notice that this is not really your typical salad, it has a different flavor, and Oriental flavor because I like to add to it a pinch of curry powder and some raisins. It makes you go "Hmmm, what's that flavor?". You' ll need:

1 whole celery root
7 or 8 baby carrots
2 celery stalks
1/2 small red onion
A handful of raisins
1 tsp mustard
2 tbsp mayo
A pinch of curry powder
1tsp lemon juice

Peel the celery root (sorry I didn't take a picture of it beforehand) and cut it in 4. Grate the pieces on the large side of a box grater, or if you didn't lose the blades of your food processor, go ahead and grate it in small strips, the thickness of the fine spaghetti. In the food processor pulverize the onion, then the carrots. Transfer everything into a large bowl, then add finely chopped celery and the raisins. In a small bowl mix the mayo with the mustard. In this particular case I prefer to have them in a different bowl, so that I can add just as much as I need to my salad, not more. Drizzle the lemon juice over the mixture. Sprinkle the curry over the shredded vegetables, add the dressing tbsp by tbsp, mixing constantly to incorporate. Check the seasoning to see if you need to add some salt and/or pepper. Sometimes the mayo/mustard mixture is enough. Serve the salad in a bowl made of a leaf of iceberg lettuce or radicchio.

                                                                
And for dessert:

MIXED BERRIES AND GRAPE SALAD

This is the easiest dessert you can make. I like to tweak the recipe, so instead of just mixing berries, I add to them some grapes. It's so easy you don't need a recipe for it. Just get some blueberries, blackberries, raspberries and strawberries to your taste. I like to rinse them, drain them and put them in a bowl. Of course you have to hull the strawberries and, if they are very large, cut them the size of the other berries. Also cut a bunch or so of seedless green and red grapes, lengthwise and add them to the bowl. Add 2 tbsp sugar and a tsp of lemon juice. Mix everything carefully so that you don't break the berries. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours to allow the berries to macerate in their juices. Serve as is, or, if you really want to make it fancy, serve topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

                                              

In a rut? Go for pasta.

Sometimes you really don't have the energy nor the willingness to really cook anything. You come back from work after an exhausting day, you don't even want to think about food, or any other chore for that matters. You ask your family if they have something special in mind. They either come up with elaborate menus or, worse, they simply tell you "Oh, anything is fine!" Of course they don't realize that "anything is fine" is really not fine at all. But you have to feed your family, and if mine is any indication, you have to be creative and always give them something they'll like. In these cases your best bet is pasta.

Growing up "Italian", this was our "passe par tout" solution, a meal that doesn't need much, a meal that you can whip up with what you have at hand, and you'll never run out of options or variety. You're sure that you'll get a different dish every time: just boil some pasta, make a sauce, toss and enjoy. At that time we didn't name our pasta: it was simply pasta, or the kind of pasta used, with this or that. Our pasta was never arrabiata, or of any other name.  It's only when I got older and started going out to restaurants that I realized that what I've been eating anonymously for years, actually had a name!

PASTA PUTTANESCA

                                                 

If you know what this word means, you can imagine that no nun would ever serve this kind of pasta to the students in her school. Nor mammina would call this sauce by that name and serve it to us. So, for years and years this was always pasta (penne or spaghetti) with sauce and olives. Now that we are all grownups we can call it what we want!

I came across many recipes for this dish, some really from scratch using fresh tomatoes, some using canned tomatoes. It doesn't matter. My pasta is usually made with what I have around, sometimes with fresh tomatoes, or canned tomatoes, sometimes with both. Actually this is what I used for the dish today: I had 3 fresh tomatoes that became too soft to use in a salad, and a leftover cup of crushed tomatoes that I had used yesterday in another dish. They'll do just fine. Before we start I have to tell you 2 things: the original recipe uses a pinch, or more, of red pepper flakes. I don't. We don't eat hot food at all, but you can add them to your taste. Also, if you are going to use fresh tomatoes, the original rule is that you drop them in salted boiling water for just a couple of minutes to be able to peel them. Then you should seed the tomatoes before using them in the sauce. To tell you the truth, I didn't do that. Why? I had crushed tomatoes, which have peel and seeds, so I just beat the fresh tomatoes in the blender and used them. You'll need:

3 large tomatoes

1 cup crushed tomatoes (both can be substituted with whole canned tomatoes)

1 (6oz) can black olives, pitted

3 tsp capers, drained

3 garlic cloves mashed and finely chopped

1 (2 oz) can anchovies

3/4 box of penne (I used 3 and 1/2 handfuls of penne). You can also use spaghetti

3 tbsp grated Parmigiano cheese

1 tsp olive oil

Drain the anchovies and finely chop them. Cook the anchovies in the tsp oil in a large skillet, then add the garlic and cook for a couple of minutes. Work the fresh tomatoes in a blender, add them with the crushed tomatoes to the anchovies in the skillet. Let them cook on medium heat until the oil comes to the surface. In the mean time, cook the pasta according to the package direction, until al dente. Chop the olives in quarters lenghtwise and add them to the sauce. Add the capers and turn off the heat. Add the cheese and mix well. I used the cheese to replace the red hot pepper flakes. If you are using them, make sure to add them with the garlic, at the very beginning so that they can infuse their flavor to the sauce. Drain the pasta and add it to the sauce. Toss and serve. You can also sprinkle some chopped parsley on top. You may have noticed that I didn't add any salt to the sauce. We're using anchovies, olives and cheese in the sauce, and cooked the pasta in salted water, so you'll not need to add any extra salt.  

BAKED TORTELLINI

                                                      

This kind of pasta causes a huge dilemma in our house: mom loves it, but my husband doesn't. For him pasta is always penne, and sometimes spaghetti. Nothing else. So today I thought that maybe if I cooked it this way he may be tempted to try it. It worked in a way: he had a taste, said that "it was OK, no, no, it was good", he said, but he then had another helping from the moussaka I had served. But don't be discouraged by his opinions: we love it, and also some friends and family who tasted it, loved it too. It's a nice departure from the regular pasta dish, and with the added cheese it is really satisfying and delicious. Also when you cook it in the oven, it gives you a sense of accomplishment: when you get the dish out of the oven, you feel that you have made something difficult, while in reality it was so easy to make.

As usual I always make it with what I have around, and the quantities are always approximate: I buy a big bag of tortellini and keep it in the freezer to use cup by cup as needed. I also tweak the recipe to accommodate the ingredients I have at hand. I also like to add some green element to the dish, usually it's green peas.  Remember the whole idea is to make things easier for you, not to add to the shopping list or to the difficulties in our lives. Besides, I discovered that even with the same ingredients, you'll never cook the same dish the same way twice: there will always be something different every time you cook it. So why not make it deliberate and feel free to tweak as much as you can without feeling guilty? You'll need:

1 and 1/2 lb tortellini

1/2 bag frozen peas, about 2 cups

1 (2oz) can anchovies

1 (14 oz) tomato sauce

6 oz mascarpone cheese

1 and 1/2 cup grated Parmigiano

1/2 bloc Queso Blanco (or ricotta salata, or mozzarella)

Chopped parsley

I always have a bloc or two of Queso Blanco. It's a white cheese, a bit similar to feta, but firmer and less creamy. Its saltiness is just right, you can eat it as is, or use it in a cooked dish. It usually comes in 4 inch blocs, in packages of two.

Add the tortellini to a big pot of salted boiling water. When they start popping to the surface, add the frozen peas. In a non stick skillet, cook the anchovies for a couple of minutes until melted. Add the tomato sauce and cook on medium heat for about 6 to 7 minutes. Remove the sauce from heat and start adding the mascarpone cheese and stir to dissolve. Add the Parmigiano and stir to incorporate. Drain the tortellini and add them to the sauce. Stir to combine. Transfer to an oven proof dish, or if you used a skillet that goes from stove to oven (this is what I actually used), slice the Queso Blanco in thin slices and arrange them over the pasta to cover it. Bake in a 375 degrees oven until the cheese is melted. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve.

TIP: You can cook the dish on the stove: just cover the skillet and cook on very low heat until the cheese is melted.