Grammy didn’t eat any seafood, but if she did I bet she would love this. I hope you enjoy them as much as we did.
Shrimp Scampi
Serves 4
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 lbs large shrimps, peeled and deveined;]
• 3 tbsp butter
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
• A pinch of cayenne pepper
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Tonight we had a delicious dinner of new york strip, creamy potato salad with avocado and green beans. Maddy ran across the potato salad recipe last night at veganvisitor.wordpress.com and it is very tasty.
Creamy Potato Salad w/Avocado
Green Goddess Salad with Chimichurri Marinated Chicken
I originally didn’t intend to blog this, (hence no pictures) but this was the most delicious salad I think I have ever had. The salad was simple, mixed lettuce, avocado and chimichurri chicken topped with green goddess salad dressing.
Maddy found the chimichurri recipe here.
Chimichurri
Add the parsley, fresh oregano, and garlic to a food processor and pulse several times. Place in a small bowl and stir in the olive oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. Adjust seasonings.
We marinated our chicken for about 20-30 minutes in the chimichurri while we made the green goddess dressing.
Today I was hooked on the cooking channel and Kelsey’s Essentials came on. Maddy was down here and we were both interested in what she was cooking. She made this really tasty dressing and that’s when Maddy and I decided what we were making for dinner.
Green Goddess Dressing
Combine the mayonnaise, sour cream, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, basil, parsley, chives, tarragon and garlic, processing until smooth and scraping down the sides as necessary. Season with salt and pepper.
Here is a recipe from Epicurious without the usual rice that stuffed peppers contain. The filling, once cooked, was really juicy and had a very nice flavor; however, it really shrank down after it was done. I halved the recipe as I only used four peppers (it calls for eight), next time I’ll use the full stuffing recipe.
Chicken-Stuffed Bell Peppers Spanish Style
We love salmon in our house. I was looking for a bit of a different recipe when I ran across this at Bon Appetit and thought it sounded interesting. You bake the salmon at a low temperature for about 15-18 minutes and it’s supposed to leave the fish very tender and flaky. It was a delicious dish and a must try. We served the salmon alongside some sauteed asparagus and salad.
Slow-Baked Salmon with Lemon and Thyme
About the only ethnic food Grammy cooked growing up was Mexican and Italian. We could never get her to eat Chinese, Thai, Indian, Greek or any other “weird” food. Once I was out on my own I discovered a whole new world of deliciousness! I don’t think there is any grub that I would turn away without trying it first and luckily I have a 14 year old who is just as adventurous as I am.
Skillet Curry Chicken
Adapted from Saving Dinner
In Maddy’s words “these are delicious”, and they are. Adapted from a Saving Dinner recipe.
Turkey Tacos
TOPPINGS:
Maddy and I caught an Emeril show not too long ago and he made this dish. We hunted, and finally found, semolina flour, then made the ravioli today. A special thank you to my beautiful daughters, Chloé and Maddy. Thanks to Chloé for letting us use your awesome camera, and thank you Maddy for taking the pictures, making the gifs and adding everything here. Love you both so much…you too Nikki; you are beautiful and I still miss you bunches! ♥
A couple of things. I would definitely double the cheese mixture recipe as it was not enough. Since I did not do that, and had left over dough, I decided to go ahead and make some fettuccine noodles. Later on we’ll make some Alfredo. Also, you will need to adjust the amount of cheese mixture you fill the ravioli with depending on the size of your ravioli stamp. If you don’t have a stamp, simply cut them out. Since my ravioli were full of air, I will now refer to them as little pillow puffs of deliciousness!
A comment on Emeril’s recipe stated that semolina dough is tough to work with, which is right. After five minutes of kneading by hand I was literally dripping sweat, but it was oh so worth it. ☺ This was my first attempt at homemade ravioli and I still have a lot to learn. I wasted quite a bit of dough cutting them out and will have to figure out a more efficient way of doing that.
Yes, it was a lot of work but well worth the time. The ravioli isn’t as pretty as I had hoped but that will come with time. I have made pasta before but I really like this recipe and will be making my own pasta from herein out. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.
Cheese Ravioli with Butter Sauce
Semolina Pasta
Place the semolina flour in a large mixing bowl and form a small well in center. Add the eggs to the well. Using a spatula or wooden spoon, gradually combine until the dough comes together. If the dough seems a little dry, add very small amounts of water at a time until the dough feels somewhat smooth (keep in mind that a 100% semolina dough will be a bit drier and tighter than other dough).
Transfer the dough to a clean work surface, and *knead it for about 5 minutes. Form the dough into a ball and wrap it well with plastic wrap. Set it aside to rest at room temperature for at least 30 minutes, or refrigerate up to overnight. Return to room temperature before rolling out. Cut the pasta into desired shape.
Yield: 1 1/3 pounds fresh pasta
* The more semolina a dough has, the more challenging it is to knead; work it as best as you can or knead it in a standing electric mixer fitted with a dough hook.
This is a cool gif Maddy made, but for some reason you have to click on it to make it work.
Ravioli and Butter Sauce
Combine the ricotta, goat cheese, lemon zest, egg yolk, 2 tablespoons of Parmesan, extra-virgin olive oil, chives, tarragon, salt and black pepper in a small mixing bowl. Stir to blend. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use.
Trim 3 to 4 pieces of parchment paper to fit a baking sheet. Use one piece of the paper to line the baking sheet, set the remaining pieces aside. Lightly dust the parchment paper-lined baking sheet with all-purpose or semolina flour.
Cut the pasta dough into 4 portions. Working with one portion at a time, (and keeping the rest loosely covered with a damp towel on top), flatten the dough into a disk with the palm of your hand. Beginning with the widest setting on a pasta machine, roll the dough through the machine, folding the pasta into thirds after each “run.” Run it through about two times at each setting, decreasing the settings until you get to the thinnest setting, at which point, you can just run the pasta through once. Place the rolled pasta dough on the prepared baking sheet. If the piece of dough is longer than the baking sheet and you need to fold it over, make sure you dust with flour to prevent sticking. Cover with one of the reserved pieces of parchment paper and a damp towel while you repeat with the remaining portions of dough, placing a piece of parchment between layers.
Form the ravioli by spacing small mounds of the cheese filling (about 1 tablespoon each) onto one of the pasta sheets in rows, leaving about 1 ½ inches of space between the mounds and around the sides for sealing. Run a wet finger (or pastry brush) around the edges of the filling mounds, making sure to wet all exposed edges. Place a second sheet of pasta over the top of the filled sheet, pressing the top sheet down and easing it around the mounds of filling so that each ravioli is sealed. Cut into individual ravioli using a round cookie cutter (about 3 ¼ inches in diameter) or a ravioli stamp, or cut into squares using a sharp knife. (Save the pasta scraps in case you need more pasta to use all the filling — you can rerun scraps through the machine again to form additional pasta sheets if necessary). Seal each ravioli by firmly pinching the edges together and pressing out any air bubbles between the pasta sheets. Using a fork, pressing the edges together firmly to seal. Repeat until you have used up all of the filling and pasta.
Fill a large pot with salted water and bring it to a boil. Place the ravioli in the boiling water (in batches, if necessary) and cook until the ravioli come to the surface of the water and the pasta is al dente, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove the ravioli with a slotted spoon and place on a paper towel-lined plate to drain. Cover lightly with a towel to keep warm.
Another gif in which you’ll have to click to activate.
Combine the butter, chives, sage, and crushed red pepper in a 12-inch sauté pan and heat over medium heat, stirring, until the sauce just starts to bubble. Remove from the heat.
I was trying to figure out what to cook for dinner on my way home from work yesterday and got a hankering for some King Ranch Chicken Casserole. I haven’t had any in years and the recipe I use does not incorporate any cream of soups like many recipes do. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do.
LUCKY ME Chloé was home today and my photographer so I have a lot of awesome photos! Not to mention I got to spend the day with my beautiful girl!
King Ranch Chicken Casserole
Sauce (if you like your casserole saucier, double the sauce recipe)
During the week I don’t like complicated so I try and stick with quick, tried and true recipes. Years ago Larry wanted Manicotti and I had no clue how to make it. I mean vaguely yes as I watched Grammy make it all the time but no recipe I had ever tried so to speak. We were standing in the middle of the grocery store when he came up with the idea so I just got the cheeses I remember mom using and made up this simple recipe.
Easy Manicotti
Sauce:
