Stuffed Bell Peppers

Stuffed Bell Peppers

onion, diced

bell pepper (the tops), diced

S & P

garlic, minced

ground beef

tomatoes, chopped

parsley

flour

water

mozzarella, shredded

Directions

Preheat oven to 350.

Saute onion and bell pepper in a bit of olive oil, with salt and pepper, until soft.

Add garlic, saute briefly.

Add ground beef, cook until no longer pink. Drain fat.

Add tomatoes and parsley. Saute a few minutes.

Mix a bit of flour (1 Tbsp) with some water (2 Tbsp.)

Add flour mixture and cook until thickened.

Remove from heat.

Stir in some mozzarella.

Place stuffed bell peppers in small enough baking dish to keep them nestled together and upright.

Bake for about 45 - 50 mins.

Grilled Shrimp with Saffron Risotto

Grilled Shrimp

1 lb. Shrimp, peeled & deveined

Basil infused Olive Oil (or regular EVOO)

Lemon infused White Balsamic vinegar (or any vinegar you like)

garlic, minced

parsley, chopped

dried onion

Habanero, minced

S & P

Marinate for an hour, or up to 4.

Skewer the shrimp to aid in flipping them

Grill 2-3 mins. each side

Saffron Risotto

I found this rice mix in a local gourmet shop.  Product of Italy. Only thing in it was the rice, dried carrot, onion, garlic, and saffron.

Started it by heating some olive oil and adding the rice mix, getting it good and hot, but not quite toasted.

I added a bit of white wine and let it simmer out.  Then cooked it the traditional way, adding chicken broth in scant amounts until absorbed. Repeating, until the rice is just done.  I stirred in a cup of thawed frozen peas just towards the end.  Right before serving I stirred in a bit of butter.

Plated with the shrimp and fresh parsley.

Mmmm! The grilled shrimp was a sort of farewell to summer grilling, while the risotto was a welcoming of the coming months of warming comfort foods like soups and oven casseroles :)

Tilapia Piccata

Tilapia Piccata

Derived from the classic chicken picatta, this dish works so well because the fish works perfectly with the buttery lemon sauce, piqued with the briny capers.

Ingredients

2 tilapia fillets

salt 

pepper

cayenne pepper (optional)

flour

 1T olive oil

1T butter

1/4C white wine

1/2C chicken stock

lemon juice, from 1/2 a lemon

lemon slices, from the other half

1 or 2T capers

1T dijon mustard

1T flour (reserve some from dredging), stirred with 1T cold water

2 or 3T butter

2 or 3T fresh parsley, chopped

Directions

Preheat oven to 250 degrees.

Heat olive oil and butter in skillet - med. high heat.

Season fish with salt, pepper, and cayenne (if using).  Dredge in flour.

Shake off excess flour and cook fish about 2 minutes on each side.

Remove fish from pan to baking pan and keep warm in the oven.

Deglaze the pan with the white wine.  Add broth, lemon juice, lemon slices, capers, dijon, and flour mixture.  Whisk together and bring to a simmer.  Simmer until sauce begins to thicken.  Stir in butter until smooth and cook until sauce is thickened and silky.

Just before serving, stir in the parsley.

Serve fish, spoon sauce on top.

Serve with rice, angel hair pasta, or as I did...

Orzo pasta with fresh diced tomatoes, olives, and lemon juice

Gabby's Pyramid of Sweets

Chocolate glazed - Chocolate Chip Muffins

Got Tomatoes?...

 Homemade Tomato Sauce

Got Tomatoes?... Well, I did...plenty! Right from the garden.

San Marzanos & Romas (Italian Plum tomato) - the absolute best tomatoes for sauce because they have less water content, and less seeds and gel.

http://www.sanmarzanotomatoes.org/

http://www.foodsubs.com/Tomtom.html

There's nothing like homemade sauce made from fresh tomatoes.  I had been on vacation for a while, so I had quite a backlog of tomatoes by the time I finally had time to think about doing something with them.  My choices were pretty much making the sauce now or slicing and freezing them and doing something with them later.  But that adds water content, which you really don't want in your sauce - you have to cook it out to get a nice thick sauce that will coat well.  So I had some time and decided to tackle it now.  It's really pretty simple, just a bit time consuming if you've got a lot of tomatoes like this.  Still worth it, because then you've got enough to enjoy for many times, and many ways.  It will store in the fridge for up to 2 weeks, or freezes well too.  You could even go the full route and process them in canning jars to last even longer right in the pantry.

Here's how I did it...

Wash them, pick off the stems, and slit the bottoms

Have a large pot of rapidly boiling water and an ice bath ready.

A spider or other hand held strainer works well for moving the tomatoes in and out of each.

You'll be best off working in smaller batches.  This will give you better control of how long each of them are they're actually in the water.  Cook them too long and it can really get messy removing the seeds.

You only want them in the boiling water for no more than 30 secs.  And they don't need much longer than that in the ice bath either.  Remove from the ice bath to a collander to drain.

Now the skins just peel right off...

Cut the top off...

Slice them in half...

Working over a scrap bowl, using your thumbs, just push out the seeds and gel.  Don't worry, that's not where all the flavor is.  If there is any firm piece of stem section, remove that too.

Finally!

Now just coarsely chop them - we'll puree them later.

 So here's about 8 cups of skinned, seeded, chopped homegrown tomatoes :)

And here's the cast of characters...actually I chose not to use any Sherry or wine.  The garlic and herbs (parsley, oregano, and basil) are from the garden as well. 

Here's a close up of the real stars...  

Basil infused EVOO, and Sicilian Lemon infused White Balsamic Vinegar.

Ingredients

(I don't really measure, so these are approx. - adjust to your liking)
Makes about 2 qts.

1-1/2 C onion, diced
1 T olive oil
S & P
Crushed red pepper flakes (optional)

3 T garlic, minced

2 T fresh oregano, minced

2 T fresh parsley, minced

3 T fresh basil, minced

8 C chopped tomatoes

1 T sugar

2 T infused olive oil, or any EVOO

2 T infused balsamic, or any balsamic 

1 T salt (start with less, work up to taste)

Directions

Heat a bit of olive oil in a large, heavy bottomed pot.  Saute the onion with a bit of S & P, and red pepper flakes (if using).  

When soft, add the garlic and herbs, and saute until fragrant - just about a minute.

Add the tomatoes, sugar, EVOO, balsamic, and salt. Bring to a simmer and let it cook for about half an hour.

Taste it.  What does it need?  Adjust salt, sweetness, acidity.  Let things cook a bit after adjusting, before tasting again.  When things are just about right, get out your immersion blender stick and buzz it to a nice sauce consistency.  You can leave it as chunky as you like, or blend it down as silky smooth as you like.  I kind of like something in between.  Here's what mine looked like after I buzzed it.

Now if it's still a little thin, maybe you can even taste a watery-ness...Just let it simmer on the back burner until its the way you like.  I like it to nicely coat a wooden spoon.
Keep tasting and adjusting till it's just perfect.  If you're not sure what it needs, you might want to ladle a little into a small bowl to taste and play with it, without affecting the whole batch.

I ladled mine into canning jars.  As I said, they can be kept in the refrigerator for up to two weeks, or they can be frozen.  I've even frozen them right in these canning jars.  And they make a nice gift.  Just be sure the recipient knows they've not been processed and cannot just be kept in the pantry.

bon appetit!