Penne with Uncooked Tomato Sauce

Penne with Uncooked Tomato Sauce
from "Modern Italian Cooking" by Biba Caggiano

1 1/2 pounds juicy ripe tomatoes
12-15 basil leaves, shredded into small pieces
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 Tbs rinsed and dried capers
2 anchovy fillets, finely chopped
1/4 cup freshy grated pecorino, or 2-3 ounces mozzarella diced (I like the mozzarella)
1/4 cup olive oil
Salt & pepper

1 lb penne

Peel, seed & dice tomatoes.** Put the tomatoes in a colander to drain off the excess juices. Put the drained tomatoes in a large bowl that can later fit the pasta. Add all the other ingredients and season lightly with salt & pepper. Cover bowl & leave at room temperature for 2 hours.

Cook the penne until pasta is tender. Drain the pasta well and add it to the sauce in the bowl. Mix well and serve at once.

**I puree whole ones in a food mill which sort of removes the seeds & skins. I've also pureed whole high-quality canned ones, but I also think you could just skip the peeling & seeding of fresh ones. Both ways I've done it have been delicious.

To peel tomatoes, stick them in boiling water until skin splits, no more than 2 minutes, transfer to cold water to cool & then peel them.

Kari's Asian Salmon Tacos

1 lb salmon filet
corn tortillas

Slaw:
3 cups Cabbage, shredded fine (just shave it off with a knife)
1/3 bell pepper, sliced thin or diced small
1/4 c cilantro, chopped
1 green onion, chopped
Shredded carrots (optional)
diced hot chili (Optional - serrano, jalepeno, your choice)

2 Tbs rice wine (or white wine) vinegar
1/8 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp sugar

Sauce:
1/3 cup mayo
1 tsp grated ginger (or finely chopped)
1 tsp soy sauce
1 1/2 Tbs Lime Juice

1. Combine slaw vegetables. Whisk vinegar, sesame oil & sugar together, drizzle over slaw, toss to combine. Set aside.

2. Whisk together sauce ingredients in a small bowl. Set aside.

3. Grill or pan fry the salmon filet until cooked to your liking. Warm corn tortillas one at a time in a small pan over med-high heat. (Don't buy mission, guerro is the best grocery brand tortilla I've found)

4. Put chunks of fish in tortilla, top with slaw & sauce. Enjoy!

Lemon Tart

"The Perfect Lemon Tart"
from Lucious Lemon Desserts by Lori Longbotham (an excellent cookbook)
needs aproximately 4 large lemons, 5 if they are on the small side

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
2 T finely grated lemon zest
1 3/4 c all purpose flour
1 1/4 c sugar
2 pinches of salt
6 large eggs
1 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 c whipping cream

1. Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat oven to 350. Have ready an 11-inch tart pan, preferably with a removable bottom.

2. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat, add 1 Tbs. of the zest and let stand for 5 minutes. Whisk together the flour, 1/4 cup sugar and a pinch of salt in a medium bowl. Pour in the butter mixture in a fine stream, stirring with a fork, and continue stirring until the dough begins to come together when a small bit is pressed between your fingers. Transfer the mixture to the tart pan and press it with your fingertips evenly up the side and into the bottom. Bake for 20 minutes or until the crust is light golden brown. Cool on a wire rack while making the filling.

3. Process the remaining 1 cup sugar and 1 Tbs zest in a food prcessor until the zest is finely ground. (I always skip this part)

4. Whisk together the eggs, the sugar and zest mixtures, the lemon juice, and another pinch of salt in a medium bowl until smooth.

5. Beat the cream with an electric mixer on medium-high speed in a medium bowl just until it forms soft peaks. (Do not over-whip! Keep the peaks soft!) Whisk the cream into the egg mixture just until blended.

6. Place a baking sheet in the oven, place the crust on the baking sheet, and pour the filling into the still warm crust. (be very careful not to spill the filling.) Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the filling is just set in the center. Let the pie cool on a wire rack.

7. Just before serving, generously sift confectioners' sugar over the tart. Cut into wedges and serve.

Comments in Italics are mine, not the authors. : )

Molten Chocolate Cakes

Molten Chocolate Cakes
Courtesy of "Everday Food" by Martha Stewart, December 2003

4 T unsalted butter at room temperature
1/3 c granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1/3 c flour
1/4 tsp Salt
8 oz bittersweet choclate, melted

1) Preheat oven to 400. Generously butter 4 cups of a standard muffin tin. dust with granulated sugar and tap out excess. Set aside.

2) In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter and granulated sugar until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. With mixer on low speed, beat in flour and salt until just combined. Beat in chocolate (do not overmix). Divide batter evenly among prepared muffin cups.

3) Place muffin tin on a baking sheet; bake just until tops of cake no longer jiggle when pan is lightly shaken, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from oven; let stand 10 minutes.

4) To serve, turn out cakes and place on serving plates, top sides up. Dust with confectioners' suger and serve with whipped cream if desired.

Hot Chocolate

This is hot chocolate how I always dreamed it could be - lots of chocolate, rich & smooth but with less sugar than mixes. Reprinted from "It must have been something I ate" by Jeffrey Steingarten.

Chocolat Chaud

2 1/4 cups whole milk

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup (generous) sugar

1 - 100 gm bar (3 1/2 ounces) dark bittersweet chocolate, Scharffen Berger, Valrhona or Lindt (see note) finely sliced with a serrated breadknife

1/4cup cocoa powder, loosely packed, preferabley Valrhona

In a 2 quart saucepan, stir together the milk, water and sugar. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Add the chopped chocolate and the cocoa and bring to a boil again, whisking until the chocolate and cocoa are dissolved and the mixture has thickened. Reduce the heat to very low.

Blend for 5 minutes with an immersion mixer or whirl the hot chocolate in a standard blender for half a minute, until thick and foamy. Yield: Four 6-ounce cups of hot chocolate

Note: I use a dark chocolate containing close to 70 percent cocoa, though Lindt bittersweet also works just fine. The Mayans and the Aztecs considered the froth the best part. Today, 30 seconds with a blender accomplishes what a half hour of beating did long ago.

Summer Crab Fettucine

My new favorite crab fettucine dish that is lighter than the one I listed previously. Ingredients are aproximate, I just invented & threw this together a couple times when we were given some whole crabs and I want to be sure to remember what I did.

Summer Crab Fettucine

serves 2

As much fresh dungeness crab as you have or can afford, picked out of the shell

1 cup of heavy cream

1 lemon

parmesan

2-3 roma tomatoes

6 kalamata olives, pitted

1/2 cup fresh basil leaves

1 clove garlic

olive oil

Start cooking the pasta immediately because this dish comes together fast.

Core & take the seeds/pulp out of the roma tomatoes. Chop into 1/2 inch pieces & place in a bowl. Slice kalamata olives in half and add to tomatoes. Roll several basil leaves lengthwise and slice the opposite direction into very fine strips. (rolling them just makes it easier to cut evenly) Add shredded basil to the bowl, sprinkle with a little salt, drizzle with a little olive oil and add a finely minced or pressed garlic clove. (garlic optional) Stir everything together.

In a 12 inch frying pan, warm the heavy cream over medium heat. Add the crabmeat and heat Zest the lemon into the cream & crab mixture & remove from heat.

Pour crab/cream mixture over pasta & top with some of the the tomato mixture. Drizzle generously with lemon juice, scatter some fresh ground pepper & toss on some parmesan in a carefree manner. Enjoy with a glass of white wine.

Grilled Fajitas

This has been a favorite this summer, its quick and is all done on the grill.

Grilled Steak Fajitas

From "America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook"
serves two

1 lb Flank Steak
2 red bell peppers
1 large sweet onion
1 Avacado, scooped out & sliced
1 Lime
1 package tortilas
Sour cream & salsa (optional)
Cheddar cheese (optional)

Latin Spice Rub (makes enough to coat 2 lbs flank steak)
2 T cumin
2 T chili powder
1 T coriander
1 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

Combine spice rub ingredients and generously rub on all sides of the flank steak. Slice onion through the "equator" into 1/2 inch thick rings. Keep the slices together and carefully thread horizontally onto a skewer so that the skewer keeps all the rings together. You should fit about 2 slices per skewer. Brush with vegetable oil

Cut the top & bottom off the bell peppers. Pull out the core & seeds, then make one cut lengthwise. Carefully flatten the pepper so you have one flat long piece of bell pepper. Brush with vegetable oil.

Heat grill to medium high & grill veggies & meat for aprox 10 minutes or until cooked through. The bell pepper will blacken some which is ok.

Slice the flank steak and drizzle with lime juice. Warm tortillas briefly on the grill and serve with grilled onions, peppers, steak & avacado slices.