Green Fettucini

Tonight's fettucini meal was a combination of two recipes - one from a class I took at the Chopping Block, another from a magazine. I have to say, the result is quite delectable.

The final result.

The ingredients include . . .

• a bunch of asparagus
• a bunch of green onions
• Italian parsley
• basil, . . .

• 2 cups peas
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 10-12 ounce package of spinach (or whole wheat) fettuccine
• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• 3 ounces prosciutto
• 1 lemon
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1/4 cup grated parmigiano reggianno (or any other parmesan-like cheese)

• Cut the asparagus on an angle in one inch pieces,
• thinly slice the white and light green parts of the onion,
• thinly slice the dark green parts of the onion (keep separate from the white/light green part),
• cut the prosciutto about 1/2 inch square pieces (I cut off the fat and throw it out),
• zest about 1 tablespoon of lemon,
• juice 3 tablespoons from the lemon,
• mince the garlic,
• chiffonade about five good size leaves of basil (about 1/4 cup),
• chop 1/4 cup of Italian parsley

Cook the prosciutto over medium heat until crisp.

While cooking the prosciutto, start boiling water to cook the pasta according to the package. Keep it al dente. The pasta will continue to cook when mixed with the other ingredients before serving.

Drain the prosciutto on a paper towel.

In the same pan, for about 2 to 3 minutes, cook the asparagus. Then add the peas, white and light green parts of the onion, and garlic and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes.

In a large bowl, combine the pasta, vegetables, parmigianno regianno, lemon juice, lemon zest, parsley and basil. Finish off with the crispy prosciutto.

You can serve four adults with this meal. If they are really, really hungry, perhaps you can add some good crusty French bread and/or a salad.

Enjoy!

Spring in My Corner of Chicago

Springtime this year has been beautiful. Today the sky may not have be blue, but the trees and flowers were beautiful and I couldn't resist heading outside to look and photograph them, sun or no sun. My mom, a flower as well, joined me on this jaunt. I hope you enjoy as much as I did, for Spring seems like youth - fleeting.

Are these weeds or flowers, I don't know and I don't care. They are pleasing to my eyes either way, and I don't have to take care of the lawn.

This tree is on some historic tree registry in Chicago. I love feeling the bark and pulling the 100 years of energy from it. I don't think it works!

I end with the prettiest flower of all.

Camping - Skewerless Shish Kabobs

This weekend I rendez vous-ed with my parents for a little Airstreaming.

Upon my Friday evening arrival, my parents had picked up my Airstream and set it up - they spoil me so and I love it!

Dinner that night was this beautiful salad prepared by my mom, and burgers on the grill by my dad.

What a nice place to dine. Do I look relaxed already?

The next day was a relaxing one - at least for me and my mom. My dad was tinkering around the site all day. How he does love to tinker. Perhaps that is one of the reasons why everything my parents own is in such tip top shape.

tinkering . . .

more tinkering . . .

a bike ride

and then some more tinkering.

While my dad was tinkering, my mom and I were enjoying the day via our LaFuma's, a good book, good conversation, and I think I did sneak in a snooze.

Dinner that evening was skewerless shish kabob - one of my parent's regular camping meals.

The main ingredients . . . thick cut bacon, five quartered plum tomatoes with the wet seed middles removed, one container of whole mushrooms cut in half, one red onion cut into eighths, one green pepper and two red peppers (because I like red ones more than green) cut into about one inch square pieces, and anything else that sounds good to throw in.

Sprinkle the veggies with olive oil (not too much), salt and pepper.

Cook the bacon until almost done before adding to the veggies for grilling.

Grill the veggies in one of those holey grilling pans until done to your liking.

My mom pan fried the potatoes and onions - I never get tired of this dish. It's better than french fries.

Oops . . . this picture doesn't belong here . . .

But it's too cute to delete. That's my dad and youngest niece Hannah dressed as a mime for her French class restaurant at one of her school events. Oh la la, tu est adorable!

We dined under a blue sky

next to the fire

and it was delicious! Food always taste better when made outside. Why is that?

The only thing missing is a loaf of a good crusty french bread with cold butter.

And after a good meal, a good walk.

Lasagna

Today it's lasagna!

This lasagna recipe seems to have been in my repertoire for eons. My oldest sister Teresa gave it to me at lease 15 years ago. It's a wonderful stand-by for entertaining because it can be made days before the event, frozen, and then reheated to a higher level of perfection. And the best part . . . the cook is freed from the kitchen and available to participate in the engaging conversation around the table. The only problem is when you realize you've used it with all your dinner party friends and that it will be a long long long time before you can pull out again.

This picture shows the goal.

This picture shows my inspiration - my beautiful bella niece Sarah. My heart is singing an aria as I look at this photo!!

Not so much when I look at this photo. My heart is singing, but more a song like The Bare Necessities.

In case you're wondering, my fashion is an Eet Smakelijk apron with shearling slippers designed by Who Knows.

My hair style is the ever classic pon-ya tail-ya.

There are three sets of ingredients for this recipe.

First, the meat section - 1 pound of Italian sausage. My favorite is Whole Food's spicy Italian sausage. However, when cooking for others, if I'm not sure as to their spicy tolerance, I use half spicy and half regular Italian sausage. I once tried Andoullie - no ma-goo-sta! The flavor conflicted and overpowered the recipe.

Brown the sausage and drain the fat.

The next set of ingredients is for the sauce.

• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon basil
• dash of garlic powder
• 1 12-ounce can of tomato paste
• 1 large can of diced tomatoes

Mix all the sauce ingredients with the sausage and simmer for 30 minutes.

Notice that I have only used one pan so far. Nice!

The next set of ingredients is for the cheese layer and the noodles.

• One box of no bake noodles (makes this process much easier)
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese (The type shown in the picture doesn't seem to have any ill effect on the final result and it's easier and more cost effective than fresh Parmesan)
• 1 large carton of cottage cheese (I use a low-fat version.)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 pound shredded mozzarella (I use shredded for ease of assembly.)

Beat the eggs then add all the ingredients listed above except the noodles and mozzarella.

It should look like this beautiful clumpy creamy concoction.

Now it's time to assemble in a 9 by 13 pan.

First layer - noodles . . .

Second layer - cheese mixture . . .

Third layer - a sprinkling of mozzarella . . .

Fourth layer - sauce.

Repeat two more times.

Note to self - make more sauce!

I always seem to run out of sauce! I should change this recipe by increasing the sauce by a half.

When I run short on sauce by placing too much in the middle layers, I check the refrigerator for the ever stand by jar sauce that can be used to embellish the top.

Thank the god of food emergencies, there was.

Voila!

Why I like this recipe:

• It makes my taste buds sing.
• It's relatively easy to make.
• It doesn't require unusual ingredients.
• It doesn't require costly ingredients.
• It doesn't require too many dishes, so it doesn't require a lot of clean up.
• It freezes well so it's an excellent dinner-party-with-a-non-exhausted-host meal.
• It makes my taste bud sing!

This is a mini version. Just as tasty!!! Size doesn't matter, right?

This recipe was for made for my friends, the sisters (can you tell?) Kristin, Cindy and Linda. Fortunately, Cindy and Linda were stranded for about a week in Chicago due to the volcano that grounded flights to their home country of Norway. Too bad for Norway, good for Chicago, home of their youth.