recipeworld

I never made too much real grilled cheese growing up. I do remember constructing a sort of haphazard grilled cheese in my boarding school dining hall, using the conveyor belt-style toaster to toast the bread and the microwave to melt the cheese, but that was nothing compared to this.

I like my grilled cheese with real cheese and lots of mustard, kind of like a Croque Monsieur, but this technique would work the same way for a grilled cheese with the traditional Kraft singles and Wonder bread as well.

Grilled Cheese
1 tbsp. softened butter
2 slices white bread (I like the pre-sliced boule from my grocery store: I use the center pieces)
1 tsp. mayonnaise
2 tsp. mustard
2 oz. cheddar cheese
1 tsp. Tabasco sauce

Spread the butter evenly over one side of each slice of bread. Place the pieces, butter side down, on a plate. Spread one slice with mayonnaise and the other with mustard. Arrange the cheese slices over one side of the bread, and close the sandwich.

Preheat a skillet over low heat until warmed. Place the sandwich in the skillet and cook covered. (I like to use a lid that’s a bit too small for my pan so that I can press the sandwich down, panini-style, at the same time.) When one side is browned (after about two-three minutes… keep checking because all bread does not toast the same), flip the sandwich over and repeat on the other side. Sprinkle the finished sandwich with Tabasco sauce and serve.

As I promised, a recipe for yesterday’s home fries. These are easily adaptable to your own tastes: some people like their potatoes with peppers in them, along with the onions. Some like them a little spicier: add more cayenne pepper. It’s really up to you, but in the end the sweetness of the caramelized onions and the starchiness of the potatoes makes an excellent side dish to fried eggs. When I was growing up, we sometimes had this meal as “breakfast for dinner.” I always looked forward to it.
My mother’s hint is to always throw in an extra potato “for the pot.” So if you’re serving four people, use five potatoes. This recipe serves two, but it doubles or even triples very easily. You may have to work in batches depending on the size of your skillet.

Home Fries
2 tbsp. olive oil, separated
1 tbsp. butter
1 onion, thinly sliced
3 starchy potatoes, like Yukon Gold, sliced into rounds ¼ inch thick
1 tbsp. sweet paprika
1 tsp. cayenne pepper
salt
Heat one of the tablespoons of olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the butter and allow it to melt in the oil. When the foam subsides, add the onion and a pinch of salt. Cook only one minute.
Add the other tablespoon of oil. Add all of the sliced potatoes and toss with the onions and oil. Spread the onion and potato mixture out across the skillet and turn the heat down to medium. Cover and allow to cook for five-ten minutes, until the potatoes have crisped and the onions have begun to caramelize.
Add the paprika, cayenne pepper and salt to taste, and then toss the potatoes so that the other side can cook.
When all of the potatoes have cooked through, cook uncovered for an additional three-five minutes.

See… as I promised, no more pasta. Today, I want to talk to you about one of the top breakfast foods around these parts, fried eggs. Sometimes, they’re served with the home fries you see pictured above, but more often than not, it’s just fried eggs with some bread to soak up the yolk.

Fried eggs are really easy to get wrong, but if you get them right, they’re incredible. The secret is in the name: fried.

Fried eggs are not seared eggs, grilled eggs or poached eggs. They need to be fried, and every good cook should know what that means. Basically, think about making French fries: you submerge the potatoes in fat until they’re cooked. Now, that’s deep-frying. Shallow frying, like with eggs or some kinds of fried chicken, involves frying in a pool of fat… and yes, it has to be a pool.

This is where most people make their mistake: in not using enough fat. For three eggs, I usually use a tablespoon each of butter and oil. And before you jump down my throat, you don’t eat it all! When frying properly (i.e. over high heat), the food absorbs very little of the oil.

For Sunny-Side Up Eggs

3 eggs

2 tablespoons fat

salt and pepper

Heat your skillet until very, very hot. Add the fat and allow it to melt and evenly coat the skillet. Crack the eggs into the skillet and add salt and pepper to taste. When the whites are completely set, slide a spatula under each egg and transfer it to a plate.

For Over-Easy or Over-Hard Eggs

3 eggs

2 tablespoons fat

salt and pepper

Heat your skillet until very, very hot. Add the fat and allow it to melt and evenly coat the skillet. Crack the eggs into the skillet and add salt and pepper to taste. When the whites are nearly set, slide a spatula under each egg, and very carefully, flip it over to the other side. This is easiest when you attempt to let the whole surface of the egg hit the pan at once. Cook until yolk is to desired doneness, then slide from the pan (you may need to use the spatula again) and transfer to a plate.

Hash browns recipe to follow…

I know, I know, I’m really on a pasta kick. Don’t worry, though, soon enough I’ll be moving on to a new obsession. I have some soup recipes archived, but it feels too hot to even be talking about soup.

So today I want to tell you about one more quick and easy pasta recipe that includes two things that I always have on hand: frozen spinach and canned tomatoes.

People who wax poetic about using only fresh tomatoes in their sauce couldn’t be more wrong. Yes, in August or September at the peak of tomato season, it’s great to use real tomatoes to make a sauce. But in general, the tomatoes you find in the supermarket have little to no flavor, compared with high-quality boxed or tinned ones that taste great! Go for canned tomatoes with no added flavorings like herbs or salt, and you’ll be fine.

If you can find canned San Marzano tomatoes, from the volcanic regions around Naples, you’ll swoon!

As for the frozen spinach, I buy it in bags where it comes in branches that are wound together to make little balls. The balls of spinach are easily picked out, so you can have quick and simple servings. I usually use two per person for a side dish of spinach.

Spinach is also great for fleshing out pasta sauces like this one. I only had one small can of tomatoes, and the Canadian and I were having pasta for dinner. Adding chicken chunks and spinach really helped the dish.

Pasta with Tomatoes, Chicken and Spinach

8 oz. pasta

1 tbsp. olive oil

2 small chicken breast halves, cut into chunks

1 onion, diced

1 small can tomatoes (I used pureed tomatoes because it was what I had, but I usually use whole tomatoes and chop them up a little before throwing them in a sauce)

1 cup thawed frozen spinach

Cook the pasta according to package directions in a pot of salted, boiling water.

Meanwhile, heat half of the olive oil over high heat. Add the chicken pieces, allowing them to brown on all sides. Remove from the pan. Add more olive oil if necessary, and turn the heat down to medium/medium-low. Add the onion and sweat until sweet and translucent. Add some of the pasta water to the pan to deglaze the browned bits of chicken and onion, and then add the chicken, canned tomatoes and spinach to the sauce. Cook together until heated through and thickened slightly, about five minutes.

Add pasta water if necessary, and then toss about a half-cup of sauce with the drained pasta so that it doesn’t stick. Serve the pasta in pasta bowls with the sauce on top and grated cheese on the side.

In general, the way that I invent new recipes is to start with something that I know really well (for example, polenta or pasta) and then to embellish it with flavors that I like.

I used to make polenta quite often, but I hadn’t in a long time until this Peachy Polenta. Having the bag of cornmeal out inspired me, though.

I have made Parmegiano-Reggiano polenta before, as a side dish, but I wanted to make it more filling, as something I could have for my whole dinner. I had some fresh zucchini in the fridge, and so this polenta came to be!

I always have plain yogurt in the fridge: I eat it for breakfast, but I also throw it into some dishes that should be creamy but that I don’t want to make higher in calories and fat. You really shouldn’t cook plain yogurt, unless it’s strained, or it will curdle, but tossing it into something that’s already been cooked is a nice treat.

Polenta with Zucchini

¼ cup cornmeal
1 cup milk
2 tsp. olive oil
1 zucchini, sliced
½ onion, diced
½ cup parmesan cheese
1 small container plain yogurt

Heat the milk in a saucepan over medium heat or in a microwave until hot, but not boiling. Add the cornmeal, stirring constantly until the polenta has thickened to a porridge consistency. You may need to add water as it cooks. Stir in half of the parmesan cheese as well as some salt and freshly ground black pepper. Cover.

In a frying pan, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion and a pinch of salt and cook until translucent. Add the sliced zucchini. Cook on one side until browned, about two minutes, and then flip and cook the other side. Add the yogurt to the polenta, and then stir the zucchini and onion mixture into the polenta. Serve with the extra cheese on the side.

As you can probably tell, I often resort to pasta as an easy dinner. I was raised with pasta on the menu almost every night, so when I have no idea what to make for dinner, I usually make up a batch of rotini.

I used to make a lot of vegetarian pastas: pasta with olive oil, lemon juice and cayenne pepper, macaroni and cheese, fettucine alfredo and, of course, pasta with tomato sauce. But my boyfriend is a meat and potatoes kind of guy, and while he loves pasta as much as the next guy, if there’s no meat in it, it’s not dinner.

I started having to come up with pasta dishes that would please him, and this is one of them. It includes another of his favorite foods, mushrooms, as well as a lot of cheese, which he loves.

Pasta with Mushrooms

8 oz. uncooked pasta

2 tsp olive oil

10 white button mushrooms, thinly sliced

¼ lb ground hamburger meat

½ cup shredded cheese (I use Emmental because it comes pre-shredded here, but any bagged blend is fine)

freshly ground pepper

salt

Cook the pasta in a large pot of salted water until al dente, about six minutes. Drain and reserve some of the pasta water.

Meanwhile, heat a skillet over high heat and add one teaspoon of the olive oil. Place the meat in the skillet and add salt and pepper. Allow the meat to brown on each side before turning, about four minutes total.

Remove the meat from the skillet and drain off all but two teaspoons of the fat. Add the mushrooms and more salt and pepper, and sauté until cooked through. Add the reserved olive oil if necessary.

Add the meat back to the skillet, and toss with the pasta. Add the cheese and stir until melted. Add some of the reserved pasta water if necessary. Taste for seasonings.

Some days, the key to a good meal is knowing what to do with what you have lying around the house. Most days, I plan ahead for dinner and go to the store to get what I’ll need. Other days, though, I just need to raid my fridge and see what I come up with. Since I always have canned tomatoes on hand, this usually means a simple pasta with some kind of tomato sauce… usually with some meat or veggies thrown in. However, one night I started making some pasta: fresh ravioli, when I realized I didn’t have any canned tomatoes.

This led to this baked ravioli dish, a really quick and easy supper with lots of yummy veggies. I like to enjoy ravioli this way now: the absence of a thick tomato sauce allows you to focus on the taste of the fresh pasta, which I don’t have too often because of the expense.

Baked Ravioli

1 package fresh ravioli, cooked

1 green pepper, chopped

1 red pepper, chopped

2 tomatoes, chopped

2 teaspoons dried basil

fresh black pepper

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

2 oz. Parmegiano-Reggiano cheese, broken into chunks

Preheat the oven to 400 F.

Toss all of the ingredients except for the cheese in a large baking dish, adding more olive oil if the ingredients are not sufficiently coated. Scatter the cheese chunks over the top. Bake until the cheese is melted and the tomatoes have released their juices. Remove from the oven and toss so that the tomato juice is evenly distributed, and serve with extra grated cheese on the side if you like.

Rice pudding is an easy comfort food: it’s really quite simple to make, and there’s nothing better than having a steaming bow of something hot and sweet to warm you up and make you feel good from the inside out.

This recipe makes just enough for one person (no need to share) so that you can enjoy your little morsel and not have to worry about leftovers (leftover rice pudding doesn’t reheat well.

Rice Pudding

1 tbsp. butter

1 tbsp. sugar

2 tbsp. Arborio rice

1 tsp. vanilla

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 cup whole milk, heated

Heat the butter over medium-high heat in a small saucepan until melted. Add the sugar and stir until melted. Add the rice, vanilla and cinnamon and cook until the rice toasted, about one minute.

Add the milk a few tablespoons at a time, stirring to allow it to absorb before adding more. (This technique is like the one used for risotto: if you are accustomed to making risotto by sight instead of by using instructions, then just do it however makes you comfortable.)

Add enough milk until the rice is cooked through and the pudding becomes creamy. Serve immediately with more cinnamon on top if desired.

Sometimes, I have strange cooking urges. It usually happens in class.

I’ll be sitting in a classroom, half-listening to the professor, when suddenly, a craving overcomes me. They’re always different: potato and honey pizza, caramelized onions and apples, melted brown sugar on toast… they’re odd or may not work, but I decide, at that point, that there is something that I have to have, and then I figure out exactly when and how I am going to have it.

That’s what happened with this Peachy Polenta. I was sitting in class, minding my own business (and actually taking notes, for a change) when I suddenly decided that I had to have polenta and peaches together. I don’t know why, but that’s what my stomach told me. And over the past 21 years, I’ve learned that my stomach is usually right.

And it was. When I made this (for my dinner, oddly enough, although it would be much better as breakfast) it was better than I ever could have imagined. The polenta was creamy and perfect, while the peaches added just the right amount of sweetness. Sometimes my cravings are right on, and this was one of them.

Peachy Polenta

1 cup 2% milk
1/4 cup yellow cornmeal
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, grated
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 4 oz. container plain, lowfat yogurt
1 peach, cut into sections

Heat the milk over low heat and add the cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Slowly add the cornmeal, stirring all the time. If you find that the cornmeal soaks up the milk too quickly, you can add a little bit of water. When the polenta is cooked all the way through, turn off the stove and spoon about 3/4 of the yogurt container into the pot and stir. Place in a bowl and top with peach segments and the remaining yogurt. Serve hot with extra cinnamon if desired.

This is one of those super-easy techniques that will make guests think you were slaving in the kitchen all day. Oh, I love those days.

Roasting any food essentially dehydrates it, concentrating its flavor, while also caramelizing its sugars. For a fruit like a tomato, this means a lot of flavor and a lot of sugar. Throwing in some garlic, which also has a lot of natural sugar, means you’re left with a tomato sauce (or tomato topping) that has none of that unpleasant acidity: you get just enough acid from the flavor of the balsamic vinegar to let the true taste of the tomato shine through.

These tomatoes can be served as part of an antipasto platter, as a pasta sauce, or as a simple topping to go with warm, crusty bread or crostini. However you choose to enjoy it, I promise you’ll be coming back to this recipe again and again.

Roasted Tomatoes

1 lb. whole tomatoes, quartered

3 tbsp. olive oil

several hefty pinches of salt

3 whole cloves of garlic, punctured but not unwrapped

1 tbsp. balsamic vinegar (optional)

fresh ground black pepper

1 tbsp. herbes de Provence (I like this blend, but feel free to use whatever herbs you like. Some suggestions are basil, rosemary, oregano, or a combination)

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. On a rimmed baking sheet, toss the tomatoes, olive oil, salt, garlic, and vinegar if you’re using it. Place in the oven and roast until the tomatoes begin to release their juices, about 20 minutes. Turn the tomatoes and add the herbs and black pepper. Roast for about another 20 minutes, or until they have released all of their juices and are darkened and caramelized.

Note: If you decide to toss the tomatoes with pasta, use a little bit of the cooking water to loosen some of the caramelization from the bottom of the pan and toss it with the pasta for extra flavor.