Make Way for the Queen of Improvisation...

As I type this blog, I am being blinded by the sun while trying to watch football (but of course, not the Bills game because it's nowhere to be found!) on my TV that is poorly positioned in relation to my window. Despite these trivial annoyances, I do have a lot to be grateful for like being able to burn over 250 calories while playing DDR today, or having two available washers on a Sunday in a dorm, or eating a delicious meal inspired by Everyday Italian.

My use of the word "inspired" is not merely a way to diversify my word usage. Today's dish probably came out much differently than what Giada would have intended it to be. It was from the "Everyday Entrees" chapter in the "Everyday Grills and Sautees" section. It's name? Grilled Seafood Salad. I will point out that it is a Seafood salad and that no specific seafood is mentioned in its title, therefore, I feel less guilty in having to change its contents. It went a little something like this:

I started by making the dressing in a different method than I had ever used before. I heated some EVOO (the real thing, NOT the spray) in a pan then added some chopped garlic and herbs. The recipe calls for fresh parsley (which I have plenty of thanks to my mother's bountiful herb garden), marjoram, and thyme. I didn't even have the dried variety of the last two and didn't really see the purpose in spending money on them when all I needed was some fraction of a teaspoon of each. As I was about to proceed minus two herbs, I decided to look at the ingredients of my Italian Seasoning. Alas! It contained both marjoram AND thyme and even some oregano for good measure. Crisis averted.

I sauteed all of this for about 30 seconds just to emulsify all the flavors, then removed it from the heat and let it cool. As it cooled, I plugged in the George Foreman and moved on to the seafood portion.

The seafood called for in this recipe is scallops and squid. My problem was not with trying either of these (I am a big fan of calamari and have been meaning to try scallops anyway), but in finding them without spending an arm and a leg. My good friend Katie was kind enough to give me a lift to Wal-Mart the other night so I could pick up some other things I needed, so I decided to look there for the seafood as well. Unfortunately, neither was anywhere to be found. But as luck would have it, I still had some frozen shrimp back at my room and decided this seafood would do just fine. I once again had to go through the trauma that is peeling shrimp (one of the legs got stuck on my finger and literally made me shudder) and dried them as well.

Once my dressing was room temperature, I whisked in some lemon juice, salt, and pepper. I then dipped each shrimp in the dressing then placed them on the hot grill. Shrimp doesn't take long at all to cook, so from this point on, it became similar to an episode of "Chopped" since I hadn't thought to take any of my other ingredients out from the fridge or prepare them in any way.

First, I had to peel then chop a carrot. The recipe said to cut the carrot into two inch long, thin strips which was difficult to do quickly and without losing a finger. I escaped that task unscathed. Next, I had to chop half a yellow bell pepper in the same manner. This was slightly easier, but still time consuming for safety purposes. Once again, I made it through. I had my half cup of cannelini beans stored in the fridge having used the other half in a previous dish so I dumped the rest of those and the now chopped veggies into the remaining dressing. I tossed them all together to evenly coat them.

At this point, my shrimp were ready to be flipped, and then it was time to start assembling. Giada's salad uses arugula leaves and some radicchio. Well, Wal-Mart also failed to carry either of these produce items. However, I had a bag a Spring Mix salad back at home and was able to substitute this instead (I'm pretty sure there was a bit of radicchio in the mix which was a bonus). I placed some of the salad on my dish then topped it with the veggie and bean mixture. I then placed the hot shrimp on top of this.

As I've mentioned before, the George Foreman grill allows the "fat" of your food drip off the grill and into this little collection tray. Seeing as shrimp really don't have any fat to drip off of them, all that ended up in the drip tray was some excess dressing. I decided not to waste a drop of it and drizzled it on top of the salad.

It's difficult to see all the elements of the salad in the picture above because this was post-tossing to get the dressing throughout it. However, it was amazing and quite filling. It was extremely flavorful and balanced. I was actually very proud that I didn't overdo any of the potentially strong seasonings! My shrimp wasn't over cooked at all and there was plenty of dressing to go around without leaving a pool of it at the bottom of the plate. Personally, I love when there's a hot (temperature-wise) element in salads so this was right up my alley. Another successful recipe!

The next day of cooking will be this coming Thursday when I go for another stuffed vegetable recipe in the "Everyday Contorni" chapter: Stuffed Tomatoes!! I can't wait!

Success is Delicious...

Tonight was my second time making a Giada recipe and it was much better than my first. As i stated in a previous entry, I'm going chapter by chapter in Everyday Italian so tonight was

chapter Two: Everyday Sauces. The chapter opens with Marinara sauce! Giada explains that traditional marinara sauce is not the same as you would get with your mozzarella sticks at Applebee's (OK...she didn't use those words exactly, but you get the point), instead it's very light and is full of vegetables. Who knew?

And what was more exciting about tonight? I had dinner guests!! My best friends Katie and Matt joined me for dinner tonight so I had to put my game face on for this one.

In addition to trying a new recipe tonight, I tried a new gadget: the electric frying pan. This thing is fantastic. I did NOT have to Rachael Ray my way up the stairs AND my apartment now smells of wonderful Italian cooking which reminds me of home. The only time I had to leave the room was to make the pasta since we don't have any hot plates or burners. We'll work on that.

Now onto the sauce! I began with half a cup of EVOO. I heated this in the pan then added two cloves or garlic and two onions, each finely chopped. At this point, one of my roommates sat down in the living room and told me "It smells like deliciousness in here." I knew I was on the right track at that point. As these cooked, I chopped two stalks of celery. I then had to peel and chop two carrots. For the third time since living here, I attempted to peel a vegetable and forgot to take the plastic covering off the peeler. Of course, my first reaction was that the peeler had somehow lost all sharpness, and then I looked down and discovered my mistake. I am the reason that they make those plastic safety guards.

Anyhow, once chopped, I added the two veggies to the pan along with some salt and pepper. The recipe calls for half a teaspoon of each, and I thought about actually pulling out the measuring spoons to be exact, and then I realized I'm Italian and measuring really doesn't matter.

As you're reading this, you're probably thinking "wow, this all seems to be going pretty smoothly," right? Well, mostly right. I'm the "clean-as-you-cook" type so as the veggies cooked, I wanted to clean up everything that I no longer needed to use. I reached for the cutting board, looked to the left of it, and found an onion that was perfectly in tact. Then it hit me. I had only added ONE onion to the sauce. Quickly, I peeled the onion, and chopped it (this onion did NOT want to be peeled and did NOT want to be finely chopped. It put up quite the fight. I did win in the end though, seeing as I am the superior being in this scenario) then let it cook up with the rest of the pan.

Onto obstacle number two. I had two cans of stewed tomatoes that I needed to be opened and added to the sauce. The recipe calls for two 32 ounce cans of crushed tomatoes, but Aldi didn't have crushed tomatoes, and I couldn't pass up the deal of 49 cents for each can of stewed tomatoes. I figured they really couldn't be that different. Now as I've mentioned before, my can opener is a pain. You know those times when you want a child to come with you somewhere and you grab them by the hand and they turn into the "boneless child" and just kind of collapse into the ground? Well that's what my can opener does. You sink it into the can and think it's all going to be fine, then as you crank the handle, it gives up and just ruins the can shredding the label in the process. After much effort and elbow grease (I think I may have even broke a sweat), I got the two cans open and added them to the pan.

The next step in the recipe is to let the sauce simmer for an hour. I decided this was the opportune time to clean up. After I was done, I glanced over at the sauce and noticed it still hadn't thickened yet. It also wasn't very red (but it was very colorful and pretty. I'm starting to sound like Ina Garten, how bad can that be?). I decided to let it cook more as I rinsed the cans from the tomatoes. I looked down, and discovered why the sauce wasn't looking quite right. The recipe calls for two 32 ounce cans of tomatoes. I used two 14.5 ounce cans of tomatoes. I taste-tested it and it did taste good, but hardly like marinara sauce should. I stood there at a loss, wondering what I would tell my dinner guests. I promised them marinara sauce, not vegetable stew and my concoction was definitely resembling the latter.

It was then that I remembered that my mother (thank God for her!) had bought me a ginormous, yes ginormous, can of tomato puree. The sauce was saved!! I added about a cup of the puree along with some Italian seasoning (in place of the bay leaves that I don't have) and let the sauce cook more. I also finished cleaning up and because my can opener hates me and cuts jagged edges on my cans, I cut my thumb in the process of cleaning the cans.

Once the sauce was almost done simmering, I decided to head upstairs to cook the angel hair pasta that I was going to serve with the sauce. I once again forgot how long it takes for a pot of water to boil on an electric stove. I sat there for what seemed like forever waiting for it to boil. However, contrary to popular belief, I watched that pot the entire time, and it DID eventually boil. And they say a watched pot never boils...

Angel hair pasta cooks up in no time, so I had no trouble with that...other than the fact that I can't measure how much pasta to cook and ended up making much more than needed. Matt and Katie arrived shortly after the pasta was done and we all ate at my kitchen table. I'm pretty sure that's the first time it's been used. And it did force me to clear the table before they came over. Did I mention that our kitchen and living room area still isn't completely unpacked?

Both Katie and Matt told me the meal was great and after eating, our friend Savannah came over and bonded with us. The night ended with Savannah going back to her friend's room and the three of us watching My Best Friend's Girl over in Matt's room. Funny movie, but definitely not one to watch with your parents.

As usual, it was a fantastic night overall, and there are PLENTY of leftovers for those nights when I don't have time to cook. I have a tournament this weekend, so there won't be anything new (or any Domino's thank GOD) till Monday. But check back then when I conquer my third recipe: Lemon Spaghetti! Yum-O :)