Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays!

It is now technically Christmas day, and like the child I am at heart, I'm too excited to sleep (feel free to imagine that being said like the kid on the Disney commercials). I apologize for again not having a picture of my this post's dish, but by the time I realized I hadn't taken a picture, it was too late. I did have the opportunity to share this dish with others which is one of the main reasons I cook. Not only do I love eating food, I love being able to share it with others and see people enjoy something that I created. Cooking also makes me feel productive. But enough about my love for cooking. It's now time for me to explain the easiest dish of my project so far.

I made another dessert on Wednesday called Marinated Strawberries over Pound Cake. I used a store-bought pound cake seeing as Giada did not include a recipe for one. If there isn't a recipe for it, I do not feel obligated to make it. All I had to do was take two cups of strawberries and have them sit at room temperature in 1/3 cup of balsamic vinegar for 20 minutes, then add some sugar to sweeten it up. Then you spoon it over a slice of pound cake and top it with some whipped cream (there were instructions for whipped cream, but I will admit to taking a shortcut here and just using Cool Whip, sorry!).

I thought this was a pretty unconventional combinations and wasn't sure what to expect from it. It turns out that marinating strawberries in vinegar makes them quite tart on their own, but on top of pound cake with some whipped topping, it's delicious and balanced. It was incredibly easy and painless as well so I highly recommend it if you're in need of something simple.

Surprisingly, I didn't do much cooking today for Christmas Eve. My mom took on most of the duties today. I did make some ricotta cheese cookies though the other day and used a REAL vanilla bean for the first time ever. I felt like a real chef splitting the bean and scraping all the vanilla guts out. I even got fancy and created a glaze for the cookies but heating some powdered sugar, milk, Karo syrup, and the "shells" of the vanilla beans (I don't know if they're actually considered shells, but I'm not too sure what else to call them).

That's all I have for right now. I start the next cycle through the book sometime next week unless I get super ambitious on Saturday, but odds are I will be maxed out on everything foo-related by then. Check back soon for more though!

P.S. I got a juicer for Christmas so adding FRESH lemon to recipes will be exponentially easier now. I also received another GINORMOUS cookbook so once I'm through with my Everyday Italian project, this blog shall live on!! Feel free to thank Caitlin for all this good news :)

Verdure al Forno

...I believe it's an old, old wooden ship....or perhaps a vegetable dish. Couldn't resist the opportunity for an Anchorman quote. The title of this post is also the title of the dish for tonight, Verdure al Forno. According to Giada, this means "vegetables in the oven," though the only vegetable used is zucchini. She also gives permission to use any vegetable you want. Thankfully, since I'm home for break, I didn't have to substitute. I did later on in the dish as you will now see.

First, I preheated the oven to 350 degrees, then started cutting up five zucchini. The recipe says to cut them into one-inch-thick slices crosswise. I thought this would be far too thick and take forever to cook (leave it to me to always be questioning the recipe). So I cut my slices to about half-inch thick, but forgot about the whole "crosswise" part. I should have cut the zucchini on a diagonal, but it wouldn't be a dish made by me without some mishap and so I had perfectly straight zucchini slices. This didn't change the dish too much, but the slices weren't able to really overlap like I think they should have.

I then sprayed a baking dish with some EVOO spray, and put a layer of zucchini slices down. I seasoned it with salt and pepper, then poured on 1/3 cup of milk. The recipe says to use heavy cream, which I did have and it was NOT past due, but I wanted to add my usual healthy twist. A good swap for heavy cream is usually some fat-free evaporated milk. Luckily, my pantry had some. I shook it well as recommended on the can, opened it up, and stood face-to-face with something that should NOT be called milk. It was this terrible beige color. For all I know, it was supposed to be that color, but after seeing the date on it that read somewhere around August 2009, I ditched it real quick. Skim milk did the job just fine.

Like I said, I poured on some milk, then layered some mozzarella cheese and Parmesan cheese. On top of that I sprinkled some bread crumbs. I repeated this layering process two more times and then let it bake for about 40 minutes or so (actually, it was probably longer). Meanwhile, my mother made some delicious shrimp and scallop scampi over some angel hair. This was my first time eating scallops and that was another successful food tasting. As long as a food doesn't resemble tuna in anyway, I'm almost guaranteed to like it.

The Verdure al Forno was very good, the dish cooked properly and all the way through (it's amazing what an actual oven that can close when a baking dish is placed in it can do). The skim milk made the sauce a bit thinner than what it normally would be, but it was equally as tasty. My family and I agreed that if the zucchini had been sliced thinner (perhaps by a mandolin...the slicer, not the instrument), it would have been even better.

A random lesson learned today: I DO need coffee in order to function properly. I didn't make any for some unknown reason this morning and was sitting around watching football and could not stop yawning or falling in and out of sleep. I couldn't figure it out for the life of me since I honestly did not do anything strenuous today (wrapping presents doesn't really knock me out). I then realized, I had not had my coffee this morning and ran to the kitchen to make some. I didn't exactly spring to life after, but I suddenly became a much more functional human. In conclusion, I'm addicted to coffee. And I have no shame.

I will be making another dessert, this time for my girls, on Wednesday meaning I will have completed ANOTHER cycle through Everyday Italian! How crazy is that?? Until next time, I bid you good eating (sorry Alton Brown).

Steak N Shake

It's FINALLY winter break!!!!! It's relieving to be on break with no school work or projects or mandatory reading. It gives me plenty of time to cook! Tonight was the first time I made a Giada meal in a real kitchen. What a luxury :) Having counter space, an actual stove, all the necessary ingredients, and a dishwasher was the best...thing...EVER.

Tonight I ventured once again into the "Everyday Grills and Sautes" sections of the "Everyday Entrees" with Seared Rib-Eye Steak with Arugula-Roasted Pepper Salad. Cue the mouths watering.

First, I cut up the red peppers, seasoned them with salt, pepper, and EVOO spray, and roasted them in the oven. Giada recommends using her recipe for Roasted Red Peppers, but I have yet to reach that part of the book, so I did things my way (but what else is new?). Next, I prepared the steaks.

This was my first time making steak, and thankfully this recipe was simple enough for me not to mess up my first time (not to mention, with everything provided for me in my own home kitchen, I'm not really set up for disaster). I seasoned the steaks with salt, pepper, and EVOO as well and placed them in a heated pan. I cooked the steaks on each side for a little over five minutes each. Giada recommends not touching the steaks at all as they cook. This was easy to do considering I had to work on the rest of the meal. I was also cooking some macaroni and cheese for my niece (but of course, I didn't make the stuff from the box. I cooked some pasta then stirred in some milk, Parmesan, and mozzarella. I am so far from the average college student).

As the steaks cooked, I was making the pasta as I said, watching the peppers in the oven, and making the dressing for the salad. I started with some actual EVOO (shocker, I know) and balsamic vinegar. To this I added some salt and pepper. Once the steaks were done cooking, I removed them from the heat and let them rest for about 10 minutes. This is so the juices and settle within the meat to keep it nice and juicy. If you were to cut it right after cooking it, all the juices would spill out. And it wouldn't taste nearly as good.

I poured the steak juices from the pan into the dressing and whisked it all together. Now, for the assembly! I placed some arugula on each plate, then some of the roasted peppers on top of that. When the meat was done resting, I cut it into about 1 1/2 inch thick pieces and placed that on top of the salad along with some dressing.

Pretty simple, right? It was also very tasty. I was quite proud of my first steak dish. Had I attempted this at school, I feel as though it may not have gone as smoothly. Something would have been over-cooked, the would have forgotten an ingredient (as it is, I was supposed to put grated Parmesan on top of this, but it didn't really need it in my opinion), or some other catastrophe. Not to mention, when I cooked a type of steak in room (coughTUNAcough), it didn't go over so well.

My next day of cooking will be on Saturday when I attempt another vegetable dish. For now, I have an SNL Christmas special to watch and some crossword puzzles to show whose boss. You stay classy faithful readers :)

P.S. I forgot to take a picture of this lovely meal tonight (yes, I ate it too quickly) so please enjoy this random picture above.

More Lasagna I Say!!

Tonight was quite the successful dinner if I do say so myself. I made Classic Italian Lasagna...with a few tweaks of course. But it did come out great! We had a roommate dinner tonight and the lasagna was my contribution and THIS is how I did it.

I started by cooking the lasagna noodles. Fortunately I had a pot that was big enough to fit the noodles (believe me, this was a big concern. I was actually thinking about it all day). I had to cook them until ALMOST al dente, or approximately six minutes. I went for the six minutes because I'm not really sure what point is close enough to al dente. After they were at this point, I drained them, rinsed them with cold water, and covered them with a damp paper towel. Giada says to cook them in the water with some vegetable oil so they don't stick together, but my mother told me long ago not to do that since NOTHING will stick to them afterward. Lasagna has a hard enough time staying together, I didn't want to make it anymore difficult.

After the pasta had been transferred to a different bowl, I used my colander to strain my spinach. Spinach is a pain to strain (no rhyme intended). I had to push out the water by using another bowl on top of it which dirtied another dish. Anyway, next, I browned the ground beef.

Whenever I have to defrost a frozen item, I try to be a good little chef and put it in the fridge to thaw. However, this takes an eternity. So my meat was still slightly frozen when I threw it in the hot pan. This concerned me a bit, but hot pans have a way of defrosting things quite quickly, and all was fine.

The next step after the meat was browned was mixing the ricotta with some eggs. This step would have been less difficult if I had used a bigger bowl. I had to whisk the mixture VERY carefully rather than my usual vigorous method.

And now, for the assembly!! The lasagna was supposed to be assembled in a 13 x 9 pan, but I only have an 8 x 8. Needless to say, this was a tightly packed lasagna. I started by putting some marinara sauce (which I had made the night before. It may have been my best batch yet) in the bottom of a dish that was sprayed with canola spray. I then put about four noodles over this. Next came the ricotta mixture topped with the spinach. After that I layered more noodles and topped that with the ground beef and more marinara sauce. Then came some mozzarella cheese and more noodles topped with the last of the marinara. The very top was more mozzarella and a bit of Parmesan.

I brought this concoction up to the kitchen (because after the raw potato casserole incident, I wasn't about to take any chances) and baked it for about 45 minutes. Some other residents shared the oven and I think they had some sort of lasagna too. The kitchen smelled like melted mozzarella and you really can't go wrong with that.

After it was done, I brought it back down to the room to serve with some salad and appetizers. I definitely enjoyed it and my roommate told me it was really good. Not too bad for my first shot at making lasagna!

I probably won't be cooking for the first part of next week since I have finals and I don't want to buy too much food before going on Christmas break. I will try to make up for lost time once I'm home the second part of the week (and this time, I promise I WILL actually cook while home!) Check back in about a week :)

Cause We Need a Little Salsa, Right This Very Minute...

Yes, it is the Christmas season, and it's a night to try another one of Giada's "Everyday Sauces!" Tonight, I made Salsa All'amatriciana. I wish I knew how to pronounce that, but I won't be taking Italian next semester, therefore we may never know (actually I probably will find out eventually). This is a tomato-based sauce that was different than what I'm used to. It was a little like marinara, but also chunky like a meat sauce. Allow me to explain:

First, I sprayed a pan with some EVOO spray and heated it over medium heat. I then added some diced pancetta. This was my first time working with and eating pancetta. I've always been told that it's the Italian version of bacon, but you know me, I didn't believe anyone. I saw Rachael Ray and Giada herself use it on Food Network and was told I would like it, but I would respond with "no. It's ham. I hate ham." True, I do despise ham. It's right up there with tuna, it sets off my gag reflex. But, as with most other foods that I have strong aversions to, everyone was right about pancetta. It is Italian bacon. Whenever my idols cooked with it on TV, they talked about how they wish you could smell it as it cooked. I now understand why. The stuff is fantastic.

I cooked the pancetta for about eight minutes (in this time, it began to start foaming as if it were rabid pancetta). I then added some finely chopped onion and cooked that until it was tender. That took about five minutes. After that, I threw in some minced garlic and crushed red pepper. Giada says to cook this until it becomes fragrant or for about 30 seconds. I actually counted it out because it was difficult to smell it over the pancetta. But I wasn't one to complain. Our kitchen smelled great!

Next I added some tomato puree as well as some salt and pepper. You then lower the heat and let the sauce thicken for about 15 minutes. During this time, I boiled some water, made some perfectly al dente spaghetti, and caught up with the Kardashians (this is not something I'm proud of, but I'm just being honest).

After draining the pasta, I stirred some Parmesan cheese into the sauce. I then put it on top of the pasta and dug in! Like I said before, it was like a marinara sauce in how tomato-y it was and with the combination of onions and garlic. But the pancetta gave it a few chunks like a meat sauce. It was a nice balance between the two. Definitely something I would make again (I made two servings of the sauce so I could eat the leftovers tomorrow night. I'm sure they will be even better tomorrow!).

I'm sure by now you're wondering what's with the picture of the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree at the top of the post. For starters, it's there because I don't know how to post pictures in the middle of my posts where they are most relevant. Second, it's there because I saw it in person this weekend in NYC!! I had an amazing time in the city with my best friend Katie and, as always, was sure to eat some exceptional food. I had some Honky Tonk pancakes at the Brownstone Diner (these were pancakes with peanut butter chips in them and were topped with slices of bananas), had my first slice of actual NYC pizza (and what are the odds that Ray's Pizza had my favorite: mushrooms and black olives), and had some Cuban food as well. On top of all that, I got a lot of Christmas shopping done and was able to experience the city without the hassle of being on a school trip :)

Anyhow, I will be cooking again on Thursday night and my dish will be part of a larger meal to be shared with my roommates. One of them just graduated this past weekend and will be leaving us after this semester (that's a scary thought considering I only have two semesters left after this one). Check back then for more food fun!

A Man Walks Into a Pub with a Squid...

Let's get right into it. Tonight's dish was from the "Everyday Seafood" chapter of "Everyday Antipasti" and was none other than Fried Calamari!! YUM. I first tried calamari at my grandparent's wedding anniversary back when I was in middle school and have been in love with it ever since. But, of course, being the health nut that I am, I simply could not fry my dish tonight. Believe me, I really wanted to. Especially because I have never fried something without the help of a commercial deep fryer. But I knew I would pay for it tomorrow morning when I would have cement legs on my morning run.

Therefore, I made Faux-Fried Calamari. Hungry Girl does this to her recipes all the time. Rather than frying the food, she bakes it. She also coats it in crushed up Fiber One cereal (honestly, don't knock it till you try it), but that seemed way to "un-Italian" for a recipe out of Everyday Italian.

I started by preheating the handy-dandy toaster oven to 400 degrees. I then took my defrosted squid bodies out of the refrigerator. Though I love eating calamari, handling it while raw is a completely different story. When squid are live, I have a terrible irrational fear of them. The thought of one of their tentacles latching on to my arm with their little suction cups makes me shudder (in fact, I just did as I typed that). Thankfully, the squid that I had bought did not come with tentacles. I feel many tears would have been shed if I had had to handle those.

What you may not know unless you've worked with squid before, is that raw squid has and absolutely disgusting texture. When the bodies were frozen, it was perfectly fine to touch them. But once they had defrosted, my God they were the most slimy, gummy things you have ever touched. I DEFINITELY shuddered when I first picked one up. I also made this weird noise that was a gross between nervous laughter and surprise. Thankfully, this was early in the morning and everyone was asleep.

I cut the bodies into half-inch thick rings, then worked on their coating. In Giada's recipe, she simply dredges them in flour and parsley, then sticks them in the oil to fry away. Considering I was baking these, I wanted a little more coating. At first, I followed the recipe by dredging them in flour and parsley. Then, I tossed them in some bread crumbs. Unfortunately, having been coated in flour first, the bread crumbs didn't really stick too well. I skipped them flour on a few rings just as an experiment.

I then baked the calamari for about 20 minutes. Giada's recipe recommends using her Marinara Sauce to dip them in, but I didn't have the time to make any tonight or last night. Therefore, I made a poor man's version. I took some tomato paste and watered it down to a sauce consistency and it was just fine.

Once the calamari were done, I gave it a taste, and was satisfied. It was definitely not the fried calamari that I was used to, but it was still very good. I dipped them in the sauce which was good, but I actually preferred them without it! The sauce overpowered the squid flavor (which is not as horrifying as it sounds. It's quite good). The coating was just enough to give it some crunch without filling my arteries with fattening oil :)

Overall, I think I could perfect THIS version of Giada's appetizer with a little more work, but it went well for my first time around! I'm now off to make some ricotta cookies as a gift for a friend (my cooking skills are really all I have to offer on a college student budget). Wish me luck with this new recipe!