Lamb For Dinner

Following my friend Shylah's advice I finally went to a local farmer's market yesterday morning.

Needless to say I could have bought half of what I saw and even more needless to say I could not afford doing that. So I settled for a jar of strawberry preserve that was probably the best I have ever tasted in my life and a piece or lamb that cost me an arm and a leg.

Lamb is pretty expensive over here and not that common either, from what I see. That was the reason why, when I saw this vendor selling frozen goat and lamb meat I told myself I had to have some. So I bought this lamb rack that turned out to not even be the cut of meat I expected it to be or at least it hadn't been prepared so to have the bones sticking out like a crown as I am used to see. But I did not dare touching it, so I cooked it the way it was.

Let me tell you that lamb is not exactly in my area of expertise, I probably only cooked it a couple times back when I was in Italy and so I was a little nervous. I did not want to waste that money making something that might not come out right.

I went to work that afternoon with that piece of lamb in mind. As soon as I came home I started working on it. I followed a recipe by Michele, a chef friend of mind that I probably mentioned before as he is the person who taught me a lot of what I know about food and cooking.


I was pretty pleased with the result. If nothing else, Nicholas, my 3-year-old son, ate without fussing. That equals to "pretty darn good dinner" on my scale!

You Asked For It: Dani's Pizza Is Back!

(pizza with eggplants, cherry tomatoes, smoked muenster cheese)


For all those who missed the previous ones, here is another chance to learn how to make delicious pizza at home.

Let me show you how I make my dough and how I get my thin crust.
Let me share with you a few ideas for different toppings, always made with fresh ingredients and herbs.

Thursday, June 11th, 6:00 pm
HOME-MADE PIZZA LIKE YOU NEVER HAD IT BEFORE!

Confirm your participation before june 9th!

SIMPLY Italian!

Who said that making a whole, tasty Italian dinner from scratch for your friends and family is a difficult task?

I definitely believe the opposite!

Come to my house on

Thursday May 21st at 6pm

Learn how to put one on the table (appetizer, pasta plate, entrée and side dish)
with very little effort and great enjoyment!



RSVP required by May 19th.

Calzone

I don't know why it took me so long to start making calzone for my family. It must be because I tend to do what I like myself and I have never been a calzone fan.

Vince, my husband, loves it instead, so I have started to make this more often. Does not take much to make people happy, sometimes :)







I made this one for him with his fav stuffing: tomato and cheese of course, to which I added some mushrooms, bell peppers and sausage.

Not bad, not bad at all...even if I made my usual flat pizza with cherry tomatoes and good mozzarella for myself instead! Old habits are hard to break ;-)

Bread and Cheese: Back to the Roots of "Good"

I like most foods. There is not much that is edible and that normally appears on our table that I cannot eat with enjoyment. Sometimes, though, food can send me to heaven and this was the case with this marvellous, delicius goat cheese that we found almost by chance at Central Market. Whoever the company which produces it is (it's called Cypress Grove Chevre and I must admit that I had never heard of them, I had to look them up), thank you for your work! Together with a slice of crusty bread and a glass of wine this cheese was a moment of serious pleasure to me.

The cheese is called Humboldt Fog® and it's a creamy and tangy cheese, to which I did not add any honey, fruit or anything. I am minimalist when it comes to flavors, semplicity is the golden rule, especially if I am the only one enjoying it.

All this has little to do with cooking, but it has lots to do with the pleasure of eating something good and my personal appreciation for hard work and attention for quality in the food market, so I thought I would share it nevertheless.

Recycling

Like many people (at least Italians) my age, I was brought up with a dogma: you NEVER throw away food, unless of course it's not edible for health reasons.

I guess I used to be a good girl back then and listened carefully, because I learned my lesson so well that it now feels like there is an invisible hand stopping me from going anywhere near the trashcan whenever I have some food left from a meal, even if the thought of eating it again really does not appeal to me.

I actually have a problem to begin with: to be completely honest with you, the princess in me hates leftovers in general. I really do not like to reheat food that had been prepared for another occasion. With very few exceptions like some slow cooked stews or similar that I must admit actually taste better the next days or so.
Therefore I have developed a skill which I call the art of recycling. I always try to cook just as much as it is needed for the meal but whenever even that is not enough and the leftovers are unavoidable, I come up with all kinds of ways to hide the origin of the new dish.
Remember the "fegato alla veneziana" I told you we had the other night? I added a couple anchovies and some capers to what was left of that and made a tasty pate' for crostini. Yummy antipasto, right?

I am not saying whatever the new creation is, it is always going to be better than the original recipe, but at least it's different! And in certain case I get appreciable results.

So, be welcome pate', polpette, flans, stuffed vegetables, sauces and anything that can multiply ways of eating whatever we bought. In these hard times it makes a lot of sense to me on the wallet side too!

Back To The Kitchen

It's been a lifetime, I know. Not only have I been away from this blog: I must say that I have not spent a lot of time in my own kitchen either, lately.

There are a few reasons for this, some more practical (got a job!), others basically mood-related (I had a few issues going on, not all of them pleasant).

But I guess you know you are healing from being sick when you start being hungry again, right? Well, I'm really hungry for this blog and for some real food too, now, so be warned: I am back! :-)

P.S.: fegato alla veneziana con polenta for dinner last night. Shouldn't this be considered a good sign?