Ketchup in the New Year! Xmas 2013: Italian Christmas

*note- really up close and graphic shot of braciole in the pan. Don't know why that pic is so much larger than the others but enjoy the detail!

Several dishes to share since last we spoke. Latest kitchen duties have found me deep into an Italian cooking phase. It's good to come home to a place that is warmed by the smells of garlic and basil hovering. Instantly effects the body's humors in a calming way.
   Meatballs, braciole, lasagna, eggplant parmesan, bruschetta, all so delicious and homey. Lately I've been experimenting with the gluten free thing and indeed have physically felt a big difference in the way these foods sit in my belly and later effect my ability to socialize. This experiment doesn't begin and end with me. My family inadvertently entered my laboratory on Christmas Eve when I made the most of this Italian cooking phase. All the above dishes were made gluten free (except for accompanying crusty bread.. I mean, really, you have to keep a little of the poison around so your body can better deal when in its presence.)
   Reviews on the meal were high... uttered yummy phrases like, "this is the best Xmas dinner ever... I'm so full but I don't want to stop eating this" were heard sailing the clouds of garlic hovering in red candlelight. No one was privy prior to the meal that this was gluten free. I mention this because I was very curious about the flavors of gluten free pasta on the palate and I found it didn't matter. The reason being, if you make a great sauce you can put that sh*t on anything and all is well.
   Okay, so besides the taste. I was very eager to know how this meal would effect everyone's digestion. Spicy, tomatoes, garlic, the works! This stuff loves a good heartburn, but NO! pleasantly, it would seem it's the gluten that causes the heartburn and the bulk of the digestive discomfort. From the mouth of Scoogie, my esteemed and adorable bro, "Normally, my heart would be racing after a meal like this from raised insulin levels and I would have heart burn and want to take a nap and none of this is happening."  Conclusion? I'm gonna take these compliments and run with them! I personally do feel a huge difference when I eat gluten free and so will continue to pursue this route of cooking and eating. I do believe that if I was eating glutenous foods in Europe that I wouldn't experience the same discomforts. Something about the way foods are processed in America.)  anyway, to move on....

Easy ways to free up the gluten content in your comfort foods.

1. Substitute finely chopped nuts for breadcrumbs. - In true junkyard fashion, I tend to use the nuts I have hand. Cashews, Pistachios, and Pine nuts work great because they are soft and easy to chop. NOTE: I hand chop. I have a small kitchen and don't want a bunch of appliances around. And even though it can tale a while longer in your prep time, it is a very soothing practice.
Almonds! delicious but very hard. These will take you much longer to chop by hand. Just think of all the extra calories you will burn chopping them.

Turning simply acts into rituals!!

2. Gluten free pastas- They're in your grocery. Check the health food isles.

3. Coconut- It's all the rage. It will do your taxes!

Oh the mental drafts, conversations we have had..
   You thought I had lost interest, no longer captivated by your charm
not true i say
i have just run astray contemplating google's embedded "read my thoughts and blog for me" chip
i forgot, i didn't have one of those

so delicious foods and concoctions I have dabbled and flirted with.


I was feeling romantic this morning and decided to make scrambled eggs in the french way. Oh you have to wait and coddle and apply heat, remove heat, stir, cajole, more butter and flirting until your play is rewarded with delicious creamy melt in your mouth delight. Counterpoint this with crunchy toasted hard bread with olive oil and roasted cherry tomatoes and the world's subtleties reveal themselves in quiet secrets whispered to your ear today.

Beef Nest

The delicious winds of fall blow and stir the cook inside. In dedication to a dear friend, I find myself cooking my special beef filet. A special filet indeed, it has garnered the distinct honor of turning a once vegetarian friend to the darker corners of meat consumption by being her first meal upon making the decision to "leaf" her veggie-centric past. This beef is the devil on your shoulder saying, "go on, take a bite."

The deets and the needs: (and as always, work with your instincts and what you have on hand)

Beef Filet 

Marinade:

these are the options I typically have on hand and that go into my marinade-

old red wine

apple cider vinegar

garlic

onion

crushed red pepper

salt

bragg's

pepper

lemon juice

olive oil

I throw these these together in enough volume to bathe the filet and let it sit. I have been known to let this sit up to 2 days sometimes, just because I've forgotten about it or my schedule turns into a late day and I don't feel like cooking real late. But! you can also just let this sit for 30 minutes.

Ready to cook!

My preferred method is to broil the filet in the oven. I am a decadent lady at heart, so if I'm gonna be eating filet, I will broil this in butter. I have found that the added fat keeps the meat even more tender, delicious and easy to cut. Use your butta knife to cut!!

I add a small pad of butter to each side. Let each side broil just a few minutes, turn over and repeat. Meat will be warm with nice red inside. Adjust cooking to your meat temperature preference.

Leftover marinade!!

Throw it in your skillet on medium high, add more onions, vinegar, and wine, olive oil or fave fat and a little fresh ginger root. Caramelize the onions and reduce the mixture to about half. Add fresh kale greens, stir to cover kale in the reduced mixture and let everybody get acquainted. Kale will wither faster than a guilty puppy who just peed on your floor.

Introduce the filet and the kale to a plate and say goodbye!

Fruit Savory Scramlets

So a scramlet is when you intend to make a beautiful omelet ...and well, you get the picture. But hey, it doesn't change the taste and in the end, this is what is important.

I'm not particularly a fruit girl even though I am known to partake on occasion. I almost never ingest the succulent peach merely because my experiences with the peach are about 50/50 at best. When recently gifted with a buoyant fuzzy treat my first internal reaction was. "oh shit, accept graciously and figure out how not to waste it." This peach was lovely, fragrant and swollen with juice. Somewhere there was a hungry baby peach crying and this peach was its mother.

Mission in life: create with what you have right now, right in front of you.

I have a peach, a yard of chickens giving eggs, and basil. (also, I have plain yogurt in the frig)

okay then, seems like the obvious solution would be to make a peach basil omelet.

alright now, you nay sayers, you doubting fruit omeletters...just know, I probably wouldn't write about it if it sucked. "welllll, you might rabbit, you might" (insert Mel Blanc character voice there)

Ingredients:
eggs
plain whole yogurt
ripe peach
basil

butter and salt the frying pan and give it your best omelet try. If it doesn't work out and the omelet breaks upon the fold just work your frustration into a scramble technique and Voila! Scramlet is born!

Later, I did a similar recipe utilizing gifted blueberries, tomatoes, basil, and ricotta cheese and thus was born the Red, White and Blueberry Scramlet (yes, my omelet folding techniques need work) I stay true to my cat -like nature and always make it look like, "i meant to do that."

Ingredients:
eggs
plain whole yogurt
blueberries
basil
ricotta cheese

and as above, butter and salt the pan and go for it! Delicousness and summer love abounds!

I've been eating

Don't panic folks, all is well. I've been eating and even doing a little cooking which I will share with you in due time. What does that mean?! "In due time" To me that just means, you'll hear about when I'm good and ready to write about it... am I wrong?


Anyway, On the way, look forward to MEATBALLS! that is correct my Italian food loving mongers! And not only that but can I be so trendy as to say, these bitches are GLUTEN-FREE, Y'all! Yeah, eat that with a side of goat cheese and beet salad and you're guaranteed a seat at the hipster table. (although, I feel like the goat cheese beet salad is at the end of it's hipster cycle) We will just have to wait for the foodies in North Cali to determine the next must have menu item.

Food is Fashion, people, don't think your mouth has a mind of its own....

Season of the Beet

Filet of Beets

The garden is currently wealthy with beets, beets, glorious beets! Nature's food coloring, nothing quite as exciting and/or sometimes shocking as a trip to the WC the day after a beet eating festival. At least asparagus is obvious in announcing its presence. The beet makes you initially question your health. "Yikes! what the?!!   Ooooh, oh yeah, I ate a lot of beets yesterday..:

So, anyway...  there are beets in the garden.

there are also tomatoes and basil in the garden, plus the chickens.

They married and voila!

Beet Ratatouille with Poached eggs

Beet ratatouille and poached eggs

Ingredients:

from the garden
beets
variety of tomatoes
basil
beet greens

from the kitchen
garlic
shallots
salt
pepper
shredded coconut

in saucepan: melt butter and coconut oil, saute salt, pepper shallots until they begin to caramelize. add garlic, various tomatoes and beets, cover and let cook, then reduce on med high heat. add basil and beet greens, cook down and finally crack a couple of eggs, reduce heat and let poach in the ratatouille. let the dish cool to warm and serve.

The Mini Me Frozen Margarita- No Blender required

photo courtesy Tiffanie

Yes, I am a cocktail snob and here is a wonderful and easy non-cocktail cocktail for your summer enjoyment...

The Mini Me Frozen Margarita

ingredients:
3 oz petite glass
your favorite frozen fruit
tequila

-put fruit in glass, pour tequila over. sip on the porch and JOY!