Tag: quick

Pasta with Fresh Pesto

January 31, 2012February 1, 2017

So last week I was in tech and then the run of a show. I had to make really quick dinners because by the time I got done nannying or doing whatever I was doing, I usually had only an hour to cook and eat before heading out to the theater. I pulled out the Alice Waters cookbook and looked for something incredibly quick and delicious. I came across a recipe for fresh pesto (which takes like no time at all to make), and immediately got very excited. Many years ago, a friend of mine named Sierra studied abroad in Italy. When she returned she came over to our house and made us fresh pesto, and man, there is nothing like pasta with fresh pesto. So, with that delicious meal in mind, I set out on my own pesto expedition.

Pasta with Fresh Pesto

Ingredients

1 lb dry pasta
1 garlic clove
salt
1/4 cup lightly toasted pine nuts
1/4 cup (or more) freshly grated parmesan cheese
1 cup lightly packed basil
1/2 cup olive oil

Instructions

First, you’ll want to boil a big old pot of water that has been abundantly salted. While that’s boiling, you can get started on the pesto. Now the cookbook said to use a mortar and pestle but a) who has those anymore and b) why use those when you have a food processor? If you don’t have a food processor, then I suggest you return to the mortar/pestle technique.

In your food processor, combine garlic and salt, pulse. Then add the pine nuts, pulse again until finely minced. Now add in the cheese, pulse again. Ready for the green? Coursely chop your basil, and add it to the food processor, and… you guessed it… pulse! Now add your olive oil and pulse again.

While you’ve been doing all this pesto stuff, hopefully you’ve not forgotten about cooking your pasta. The recipe in the book said to reserve 1 cup of pasta water and add it along with the pesto, but I did not do this… Mostly because I didn’t read the recipe (STUPID ANNIE. You should always ALWAYS read through a recipe completely before you make it). I think I just figured pasta + pesto = delicious, what else could you possibly need to do? Anyway, it all still worked out just fine. As I was saying, cook your pasta, strain it (reserving pasta water if you’d like), and put it back in the pot with the pesto. Mix it up and serve with a light dusting of parmesan cheese.

Soy Glazed Salmon and Asparagus with Miso

December 11, 2011January 31, 2017

The other day Jonah and I were feeling up to cooking a big fancy meal. I picked the menu: Soy Glazed Salmon, Eggplant with Miso, served with rice. We got to the store and they didn’t have eggplant though, so I picked up some asparagus instead. Not sure why. But it was the right decision. This salmon is so unbelievably easy. Boil some delicious stuff in a put, put it on a hunk of fish, cook it, put on more stuff, and then eat it. Oh my goodness.

While Jonah was making the salmon, I had to find a new recipe. Lucky for me, I types in “asparagus with miso” and I quickly found a delicious recipe on…Oprah.com. I adjusted ingredients based on what we had as well as some of the eggplant recipes I’d read.

This meal was honestly one of the easiest, most delicious meals I’ve had. I have a tendency when I cook fish to put too much sauce or whatever on it so that it doesn’t really tasted like fish anymore. This salmon still tasted like salmon, but with a little kick of salty and sweet, it was perfect. And the asparagus had little charred bits (which I love) and was a little sweet, a little spicy, and a little tart. They tasted delicious together too. I highly recommend cooking this meal when you want to impress but don’t want to do too much work.

Soy Glazed Salmon with Miso Asparagus

Ingredients

Soy Glazed Salmon

1 lb salmon
1/8 cup soy sauce
1/8 cup maple syrup

Miso Asparagus

1/8 cup miso paste
1-2 clove garlic , minced
1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger (I didn’t have fresh ginger, so I used about half a teaspoon of powdered ginger, I’m sure more than that would be good too)
2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
1 pinch red pepper flakes
1/2 tablespoon sugar (to make it caramelize a little bit)
1 tablespoon mirin
3/4 pounds asparagus , bottoms trimmed
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
Pinch of salt

Instructions

Soy Glazed Salmon

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. The recipe (from the Gourmet Today cookbook which we got on sale at Powell’s for $15) says to line a broiler pan with foil and then oil the broiler rack. We don’t have those things, so we just used an oiled pyrex baking dish, which worked just fine.

Bring the soy sauce and maple syrup to a boil in a small saucepan over medium heat, uncovered, and boil until it reduces to a little more than half (of what you originally had). Put salmon skin-side-down in the dish or on the pan or whatever and pat dry. Set some of the glaze aside for later, and brush the salmon generously with the remaining glaze. Let stand for 5 minutes, then brush again with glaze. Roast the salmon for 10 minutes in the oven. Turn on broiler, brush salmon with glaze again and broil close to the heat (think 6 inches or so, no need to be terribly exact) until cooked through, 3-5 minutes. Once you take the salmon out of the oven, you can brush on the remaining glaze.

Miso Asparagus

Preheat broiler. In a small bowl, combine all ingredients EXCEPT asparagus, olive oil, and salt. Stir well and set aside. On a baking sheet, toss asparagus with olive oil and salt. Cook close to heat (about 6 inches) for about 3 minutes (if you like softer asparagus, like me, cook for 4 minutes), then remove from oven. Spread miso mixture over the asparagus and place back under broiler for 3-5 minutes.

Pizza Pizza

December 6, 2011January 22, 2017

Sometimes we don’t have time to make elaborate, fancy meals. I assume it’s the same for everyone out there. There are days when you want to eat something really delicious, but you just don’t have the time or energy. Enter: Pizza. A lot of grocery stores have pre-made pizza dough. And not the kind that are already in discs in plastic bags, the kind that is still in a gooey ball. Sometimes you can ask for it at the deli counter (like at Market of Choice) or sometimes it’s in the refrigerated section (like at New Seasons). Anyway, whoever decided to sell pre-made pizza dough at the store is a genius. Extremely quick, easy, and delicious, this meal is easily tailored to who will be eating with you and what you’re in the mood for!

If you are not feeling lazy and instead are feeling ambitious, you could make your own dough. This is something I am planning on doing soon, I swear. This recipe looks good:

http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/001199.html

This one also gives step by step pictures, which is really helpful!:

http://www.annamariavolpi.com/pizza_recipe.html

Cook on my friends!

30-Minute Chili

November 28, 2011January 22, 2017

I made this for dinner yesterday, and it was the perfect chili for this time of year: hearty, filling, warm, and really easy to make! Lots of canned foods, so very cheap as well. This version makes the perfect amount for 2 people with some leftovers. Double or triple it and you’ll have soup for the whole week!

Also fun fact….it has beer in it!

Its adapted from the recipe for 30-minute chili on marthastewart.com.

30 Minute Chili

Makes 4 servings | 30 minutes

Ingredients

1 Tbl vegetable oil
2 medium onions, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
salt and pepper
3 oz tomato paste
2 Tbl chili powder (or more if you want more heat)
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
4 oz canned green chiles in sauce, diced
1 1/2 lb. ground beef
2 cans (14.5 oz each) diced tomatoes
1 can (14.5 oz) kidney beans
6 oz lager beer (I used PBR!)
cheddar cheese, grated

Instructions

Heat the oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the onions and garlic and cook until softened, about 3-5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Add the tomato paste, chili powder, ground cinnamon, and chiles and cook 2-3 minutes. Add the ground beef and cook another 5 minutes, breaking up the ground beef and making sure that it gets browned all over.

Add the cans of diced tomatoes with their juice, the beer, and the can of kidney beans (without their juice). Bring to a boil and then simmer for 5-10 minutes, until kidney beans are nice and tender.

Serve into bowls and sprinkle with grated cheese. I recommend eating this with corn chips!