Sausage and Peppers Cous Cous

I usually keep a package of chicken sausage in my fridge for those nights when I get home late but still want a home cooked meal.  They stay fresh for a while and come in all sorts of fun flavors like jalapeno, the variety residing in my fridge this week.  If you've ever seen an episode of The Jersey Shore where they cook family meal, you know sausage and peppers is a classic dish.  Using that as my inspiration, I whipped up a batch to serve over Israeli cous cous.

I chopped up an onion and a bell pepper and threw them in a pan.  No oil or anything.  Once it starts crackling - which it will do soon without oil/butter - toss in a little white wine and some garlic and keep going til it cooks out and the veggies are tender.  When the wine is almost gone, add the sliced sausage.  It's already cooked so it just needs to warm up.  Your cous cous should be cooked by now so put in a drop of oil so it doesn't clump up and toss in some grated parm or pecorino.  Use whichever cheese you have on hand.  I'm assuming you have some sort of grate-able Italian cheese in your fridge at all times because you're not a heathen.  The cheese adds some flavor and the wine that you cooked the veggies in does the rest and the whole thing comes together in about 20 minutes.   I can't believe that anything inspired by the Jersey Shore was a success.  What is this world coming to?

3 on Thursday

I am so happy to have a short week this week as we head into Memorial Day weekend.  Today is my last day of work before a day of playtime around the city.  Then it's off to Savannah for 8 days of fun and relaxation with family and friends.

I recently prepared a sauce that requires you to deglaze the pan with a little wine.  I followed my Mom's rule of thumb when cooking with alcohol: one for the sauce, two for the chef.  I must admit, it made cooking even more fun.

I loved seeing a bundle of herbs instead of flowers on the tables at Pala.  Just as fragrant and more fitting for the rustic setting.

I finally went to Spin, the ping pong club owned by Susan Sarandon in the Kips Bay area.  Turns out they have great happy hour deals for both drinks and ping pong, which makes this a far more interesting after work activity than a bar night.  Side note: though it's a great activity for drinkers, it's a family friendly sport so I saw several father/son duos while we were there.  Every one of those 8-year-old boys was better at ping pong than I was.

What a Difference a Little Smoke Makes

The caprese salad is a tried and true favorite.  It's just as easy to make for one as it is to make for 100 and so simple that if you can find someone who messes up the recipe I will give you some sort of reward.

The most common way of spicing up this simple salad is by using heirloom tomatoes (which I also used), but I would like to suggest something else: smoked mozzarella.  The second I took off the wrapper, my kitchen smelled like fresh wood chips.  You can't throw mozzarella on the grill, but this comes close.  This cheese has a deeper flavor than the regular mozz and is less of a blank canvas than it's non-smoked brother so it can't be paired with just anything.  I say brother because I find mozzarella to be a manly cheese.  This is as opposed to, say, chevre, who is a total chick.

Anyway, this tiny change isn't anything crazy, but it did wake up my Monday a bit by saying "hey taste buds, I know you were expecting the other guy but surprise!  It's-a me, Mario!"

See those pieces that look like portobellos?  That brown coloring is alllll smoke, baby.

Pala

By the time I made it to the restaurant on Thursday, Steph had already put in an order for pizza at Pala, a place she stumbled into before instructing me to abandon our original restaurant plan and meet her there.  She had ordered the spinach pizza, which was topped with a sweet cherry tomato sauce, perfectly browned mozzarella, and ricotta that turned into a creamy sauce when warmed by the pizza.  The crust was not to thick, not too thin - the Goldilocks of crusts.

 

Creamy Leek, Mushroom, and Almond Pasta

Creamy = unhealthy.  You don't read this blog to get beaten over the head with the obvious.  But wait - not so fast!  This pasta sauce is creamy without any cream thanks to healthy almond milk.  I followed this recipe and the sauce came out silky and delicious.  The almond milk and leeks make it slightly sweet but then the mushrooms and spinach give it depth.  I bulked up the spinach and mushroom levels because I like my pasta veggie-heavy.  And of course I used more cheese than the recipe's creator did because, well, I'm human.

I had no idea I could achieve a creamy sauce like this by using almond milk and a little corn starch.  I was concerned it would taste like hippy dippy commune food - all peace and love and wheat grass.  But I absolutely loved it.  And at only 40 calories per cup, I will love it in just about every pasta dish I make from now on.  Oh and since it's lactose free, all you lactards with sensitive tummy wummies (read in baby voice) can enjoy heaps of this stuff.  Go nuts.  Or, more precisely, go almonds.

Cuban Sandwiches

I am a major supporter of sandwiches.  Like Secretary of their fan club type of supporter.  So when I found out last week was National Sandwich Week, a celebration was non-negotiable.  But what type of sandwich should I make?  Sure there was plenty of inspiration on the Pinterest board I devoted entirely to sandwiches, but the right sandwich was simple and commonplace enough that it had not even been pinned: The Cuban.

Though it is a sandwich I've had many a time, it's not one I've ever made myself.  Most of this sandwich requires nothing more than a trip to the deli counter: ham, Swiss cheese, pickles, and mustard.  But then there is the one ingredient that makes it distinctly Cuban: roast pork.  This is when it gets tricky.  You can't just buy roast pork.  You have to make it yourself which takes this sandwich out of the "on-the-fly" category.  You have to actually do some pre-planning.

So pre-plan I did.  Roast pork is actually easy to make if you set aside a couple hours.  First, whip up a quick marinade of half a cup of olive oil, diced onion (1/4 of the onion should work), 4 cloves of garlic, the juice of 1-2 limes, and oregano (fresh or dried - I used dried).  That should do you for about 4 pounds of bone-in pork shoulder.  Let it marinate for 2-3 hours then stick it in the oven at 325 for about an hour and a half to two hours.  I'm still figuring out the timing on this so just cut into it til it looks right.

Once the pork is cooked and sliced, start assembling your sandwiches.  If I ever use mustard (rare) it's the dijon or stone ground kind, but plain old yellow works best here so slap some on the top half of a portugese roll.  Then start building: pork, ham, dill pickles, and Swiss cheese.  At that point, I know your sandwich will look and smell delicious but if you try to eat it, I will slap your hand away.  Seriously, don't even try to take a bite - it's so much better once it's pressed, so heat up the grill pan and get something heavy (like a skillet topped with a can of beans) to press down the sandwiches.  The result: Miami without the plane ticket.

3 on Thursday

I'm settling into a good mix of activities and downtime lately.  I actually don't have anything planned this weekend (a first!) so I think it may be time to check out a restaurant or two.

I recently tore up the town at a bachelorette party for my friend Ashley and her sister did a wonderful job of setting everything up.  She made place cards out of champagne corks and customized champagne glasses for each of us.  You can't see it, but the champagne glasses have a groove for your thumb which makes them slightly more klutz-proof.  You can find them here where - bonus - they are made of plastic and are therefore roof-friendly for your upcoming summer soirées.  If your group is too timid or - dare I say it - old for penis paraphernalia, candy necklaces are a great accessory for a bachelorette bash. 

For the last four years I have been mentoring a high school girl from an under-served school.  What started out as a jerky series of interactions has turned into a relationship full of sharing.  I am so proud that Tiara is not only going to college but that she has earned a scholarship to boot.  Our last official meeting was last week and at the close we formed a web where all of the pairs shared their favorite experiences.  It didn't matter that nobody really opened up during this activity.  The more significant moment was when Tiara gave me a big hug before leaving the meeting. 

I have stood in front of this door just about every day for the last year and never realized it was there.  There are plenty of unused subway stations and secret pathways below the city streets of New York.  I like to think this is a gateway to one of them.