Holy Tricolore!

Hello all, sorry for such a late update today. I made and ate this recipe at approximately 5 p.m., then was pulled into about a billion different directions causing my update to be about five hours late. Oops!

We start off our eighth cycle through Everyday Italian in the "Tricolore" section of the "Everyday Antipasti" chapter. As the name implies, "tricolore" refers to three colors, specifically the three colors of the Italian flag; red, white and green. How might one take the colors of the flag and translate them into a dish? Why by using tomatoes, cheese, and basil of course! Honestly, could it get any better? I think not.

Tonight's recipe was called "Panino Alla Margherita." Obviously, it was a panini. But, I would like to call mine the poor man's version of the panini. For starters, I was supposed to use "rustic white bread." In my attempt to save my own money and use the abundance of declining dining dollars I have here at school, I went shopping at the campus convenience store which is hardly any sort of specialty store. Instead, I bought some stone ground whole wheat bread (equally delicious, possibly more flavor).

On top of one of these bread slices I was supposed to place a slice of fresh mozzarella cheese. Though sometimes the sub line has fresh mozzarella displayed with the various salads offered in our convenience store, it did not have any, to my knowledge, this week. Luckily, I happened to have some light string cheese in my fridge that I was willing to use in its place. I sliced up my string cheese and placed it on the bread.

This is topped with some salt and pepper (which I of course had), and some fresh basil leaves. If I had asked for fresh basil leaves on campus, they would have laughed in my face. Dried basil took its place. Definitely not the same, but it worked just fine.

Next I placed two slices of tomato on the sandwich. I actually was able to scrounge up half a tomato from Katie's house (Lawn Ave, I owe you) and it's a good thing too. I was about to replace it with either tomato paste of crushed tomatoes. DEFINITELY not the same.

I seasoned this with more salt and pepper then placed the other piece of bread on top. The recipe then asks you to brush each side of the sandwich with oil. I opted for the EVOO spray, just as good AND fat-free.

You're supposed to cook the panini on a griddle or grill pan. I really didn't feel like lugging the George Foreman out just for a sandwich, so i just cooked it in a pan. Sure, it didn't have pretty grill marks, but it DID have a pretty golden brown color.

This was really quick and easy to make and very flavorful despite my many substitutions. The bread was nice and crispy, and the cheese was just melted enough to hold the sandwich together. The warm tomato was the star of the show. When you heat a tomato, it seriously brings about flavors that you didn't know it had. The basil enhances the flavor even more.

Did I mention that this was healthier than your average panini? Well it was. And it's the closest thing I've had to grilled cheese in a long time (and to be honest, it was way better than any grilled cheese I've ever made). I give this one two thumbs up.

All this talk of red, white and green definitely had me in Jersey Shore mode (sorry Alyssa Milano, I know you would take offense to that). I didn't fist pump, but I did think of Pauly D and his DJ equipment covered in the Italian flag. I tried to find of clip of this, but it was a situation.

All right I swear I'm done with the Jersey Shore references. Good night!

Eggs-ellent

Sorry, I couldn't resist the corny title. You know me. Welcome readers to the SEVENTH cycle through Everyday Italian! Considering my field hockey jersey number is seven, this cycle is set to be one of the best yet. I've looked ahead to the recipes, and we're all (but especially me) in for a treat!

As you can probably deduce from the title, I made the last recipe from the "Everyday Antipasti" "Everyday Frittatas" section. Tonight's dish was Frittata with Asparagus, Tomato, and Fontina Cheese. Mmmmmm!!!!

Brace yourselves for some major improvisation coming up. To make my frittata, I first whisked together some eggs, evaporated milk (in place of heavy cream), salt, and pepper. Easy.

I then heated some EVOO spray in a pan and sauteed some asparagus for about two minutes. I never thought to saute asparagus. In my mind it's always been something you either roast or steam. You learn something new everyday.

As that was cooking, I had to seed and dice a tomato. Confession: I don't know how to seed a tomato. Rather than looking up this somewhat vital task, I took matters into my own hands. I mean, it obviously meant to remove the seeds in some way, right? I started by trying to maneuver my knife through the seedy parts of the tomato, but found this rather tedious and frustrating. Just as I was about to throw the seeds in with my diced tomato, I realized that the seeds fall out on their own pretty much once you start dicing. Dear Giada, you may want to make this a side note. Just a suggestion.

I added the tomato to the pan and then sauteed that for about two minutes. As it cooked, I ate the tomato remains. When I was younger and didn't eat anything other than bread, butter, or pasta, I always saw my mom pop tomatoes like they were candy. Seeing as I hated anything that had any nutritional value at the time (aside from broccoli heads), I found this disgusting. Being older and wiser, I now fully understand how someone could do this. I could easily eat an entire container of cherry or grape tomatoes or just slice up a normal sized one and eat it as is. And I would not feel bad about it.

Once the tomato had been thoroughly sauteed, I poured the egg mixture over the contents of the pan. Next, I was supposed to top it with some fontina cheese. I used the same logic as the previous entry with the mascarpone cheese and decided not to buy fontina for just one recipe. Instead, I used some Garlic and Herb Laughing Cow cheese (which, of course, is also a healthier alternative). I personally think it was better than the fontina would have been.

I cover the pan then let it cook another two minutes. Now comes the tricky part. As you may know from my last frittata recipe, you are supposed to stick the entire pan under the broiler to finish cooking it. My pans certainly are not "oven-safe" and they most definitely will not fit into a toaster oven (which has a handy-dandy broil feature). Ergo, I carefully transferred the half-cooked frittata to the little baking sheet, then cooked it over the broiler. As you can see in the above picture, it was far from perfect or pretty. But it did cook all the way through and brown rather nicely!

I must say, this frittata came out much better than my last. Everything was cooked all the way through, and to be honest, I liked the ingredients in this one better than the last. It was moist and full of flavor from the tomato and the hints of cheese here and there were nice surprises.

Who said you can't cook frittata in a toaster oven? Don't challenge a college student, they WILL prove you wrong. I will be cooking once again tomorrow night with a new sauce (it's one of my personal favorites...and will have to be cooked off-campus...dun dun dun). Check back tomorrow!!

P.S. For half the original recipe with my healthier alternatives, this recipe was only 6 WW points!! Hence why I have a boatload of frittata on my plate :)

Trial & Error

Today was a day of learning. Not only in cooking, but in life. It was my first day of classes and it started off pretty well. I had plenty of time to get ready in the morning, I put together a great outfit, and made it to all my classes with more than enough time. I met up with Katie for lunch again and we dined al fresco seeing as it was a beautiful day.

I had to go to the field house during my lunch break to get into my practice clothes, then went to my 2 p.m. class then straight to the turf for practice. Being that it was the first practice after preseason, our team was beat. We really didn't have much spark left in us. However, since we didn't lock the shed Saturday night and forgot to bring a bunch of equipment to the high school clinic yesterday, we had to run a timed mile on the spot. Lesson learned: Make sure the little things are taken care of.

For me, practice was terrible. I couldn't seem to do anything right, and if I did do something right, I didn't know because I wasn't told so. There were moments when I focused solely on field hockey and it seemed as though I improved, but those were few and far between. Lesson learned: Concentrate on one thing at a time.

Oh yeah, and did I mention that it rained during practice like it has all throughout preseason? I can't tell you how sick I am of being outside in the rain. However, lesson learned: There's no sense in complaining about things that we can't control.

When I got back to my dorm, not only was I hungry, but I was relieved because it was time to cook and that is what I look forward to all day! As I mentioned in my previous post, I wanted to make something with chicken and eggplant. Not to toot my own horn, but I definitely need to give myself an A for creativity tonight. What is pictured above may not be the prettiest of dishes, but it was sure delicious.

Let me first start by saying I went in and out of my room at least five times to grab something I forgot before heading down to the kitchen. Hot start, right?

I started by peeling a huge clove of garlic and cutting a tomato in half. I seasoned both with salt and pepper and a teaspoon of EVOO, and let them roast in the oven at 450 degrees. I then cut the end off the eggplant and peeled it while a big pot of water was set to boil. My intention was to create a faux pasta out of the eggplant, so I used my vegetable peeler (which is pink) to create some eggplant "ribbons." This was much easier in theory. Eggplant should come with a warning that reads: "If you intend to peel this, it WILL take you an eternity." As I got down to the middle of the eggplant, I halved it and then just cut thin strips to save some time.

Once the water came to a boil, I added some salt and tossed in the eggplant ribbons to cook. Next, I chopped some garlic and heated it in a pan with another teaspoon of olive oil. I then cut my chicken into smaller pieces and seasoned it with salt and pepper. Once the pan was hot enough, I added in the chicken.

At this time, the tomato and garlic clove in the oven were perfectly roasted. I pulled them out of the oven, let them cool, then put them into a glass bowl. Now this next part is not my original idea, therefore, I will now give my mother MORE credit. I smashed the tomato halves and garlic together to create a light sauce for my dish. Note to self for next time: add some basil too!

I then put the boiled eggplant into a strainer (which is also pink) once it was nice and soft. As that sat, I continued to cook the chicken. Chicken is another thing that should come with a warning that should read: "If you do not properly defrost this, it WILL be tough and you WILL have a difficult time checking to see if it is completely cooked." I had thought about putting the chicken in the fridge this morning while I was getting things together, but never followed through since I was trying to do ten things at once. Lesson learned: Concentrate on one thing at a time.

Once everything was ready, I put the eggplant on the plate, added the chicken, then topped it with the sauce. I gathered all my supplies and pulled a major Rachael Ray back upstairs to my room (I'm pretty sure I could give her a run for her money. She only carries all her ingredients from the fridge or pantry to the counter. I carry all of mine up and down two flights of stairs). As I walked back, I looked down at my dish and noticed a lot of water collecting along the sides. I knew I hadn't added too much oil to anything, then realized I didn't fully drain the eggplant. Lesson learned: Make sure the little things are taken care of.

The dish turned out very well overall after I drained the watery-ness out of it. The sauce turned out great and the eggplant was perfectly al dente. We'll work on the chicken for next time.

After a long and stressful day, my food therapy and writing therapy were exactly what I needed. I now must get ahead on my reading for classes so I will have time in the future for MORE cooking and writing :)

Update: I forgot to mention that I did add a bit of parmesan cheese to the sauce. Just in case anyone wanted to try it for themselves!