Sometimes Ladies Get a Little Silly

Sometimes we need to let off steam. Yes, ladies can get a little silly. Personally I love being with a crew of silly gals. Trying on the most outrageous sunglasses or enjoying a few drinks and a fab meal. It is wonderful how silliness breeds silliness in the group. Here is to a little silliness in your day!

Pasta, Nuts & Fresh Herbs

Pasta, Nuts & Fresh Herbs

Deborah Anzinger P.H.Ec.

Serves 4

Equipment: large pot, food processor

Preparation Time: 20 Minutes

Ingredients

1 lb pasta, papparadelle or penne or favorite, cooked

Pasta Sauce

2 handfuls fresh roasted almonds or pecans or favorite

1 large bunch fresh basil leaves, can also throw in a little flat leaf parsley or cilantro or favorite herb

1 clove garlic

2 Tbsp olive oil

2 Tbsp lemon juice

1-2 handfuls slim cut parmigiano-reggiano or aged percorino cheese

4-6 tomatoes, chopped

Salt and pepper to taste

Order of Events

1.    Cook pasta according to package directions. Reserve ½ cup pasta cooking water.

2.    Add pasta sauce ingredients, except for tomatoes, salt and pepper, to the food processor and blend until smooth.

3.    While your pasta is draining in the colander, pour blended sauce ingredients into pot.

4.    Add ¼ cup pasta water, chopped tomatoes and cooked pasta to pot. Stir, adding more pasta water if necessary until desired consistency is reached. Add salt and pepper to taste.

5.    Serve immediately with more grated cheese if desired.

Table Talk

This dish is simple. Even without exact measurements, with fresh ingredients, you will knock it out of the park every time.

If the nuts are fresh you do not need to roast them. I love the taste of roasted nuts. Buy a large package; roast them all at once in a 400 F oven for 10-15 minutes. Store them in the fridge in an airtight bag. Alternately roast nuts in a frying pan on high for 5-8 minutes, flipping regularly.

Deborah Anzinger's Kitchen

I am a Professional Home Economist. I studied Food &Family at school. I also love sports and shoe shopping. Besides having a freelance career I am a wife, mom, house cleaner, dog walker, gardener and cocktailing kind of gal. I am also pretty much brain dead between the hours of 4-6 p.m. It is getting better but when the kids were small it was worse. I need food in the house and an idea ready to go when dinner time rolls around because as I said between 4 & 6 I am a blank slate upstairs.

Below is a short video from my kitchen. All the recipes are in my book Cook. Cook is available online at Chapters.ca, Amazon and nationally at bookstores.

 

http://youtu.be/W6F0PlqxIVk

P.S. A glass of water, a small chunk of cheese and a few crackers help with the whole brain dead thing.

Cherries, Drink & 9 Family Members

Nine family members descended on out little mountain home. Among a heaping cartload of food and drink we had 20 pounds of fresh cherries just off the trees. Every morning up came a colander of cherries to be washed and consumed. The color divine, the flavor amazing. Each ones fleshy insides filling our bodies with with red crimson delight. Hmmmm!
 I do not necessarily recommend 9 family members at once but when it happens, I do recommend simple fresh food and lots of drink!

Kissing Stimulates all the Senses

Solicit your partners help in the kitchen with a Kiss!

I chose my partner almost 25 years ago, when I was 25. I wanted one earlier. I tried a few different ones. At times I thought they were right but time proved they were wrong.

I council our boys to choose their partners wisely. Once you choose, I say, make them the first priority in your life. Do the most that you can for each other. When you are drained and have nothing to offer chances are they will have extra. Balance each other and you will have a partner for lifes many hurdles.

Working together in the kitchen is a great way to connect with your partner. If your partner needs a little coercion remember that Kissing stimulates all the senses.

Solicit your partners help in the kitchen with a Kiss!

Can the Skill of Cooking be Absorbed by Osmosis?

It has abruptly occurred to me that the skill of cooking is not absorbed by osmosis. The love of food and connecting in the kitchen may be, but the actual act of making things needs to be learned hands on. Food and cooking have been my career. That means I am in the kitchen a lot of the time. Maybe at times I have let a sous chef or 2 off the hook. I thought that maybe by osmosis they would pick it up. They don't. I have discovered that teaching the act of cooking is like teaching your sous chef how to drive. I would say, " drive me to the Kinsmen Center", They would look at me with a blank stare, "Are you kidding me we have been there a million times." Until they actually drove it, they did not know how to get there. No matter how busy your sous chefs are they need to spend some time actually cooking in the kitchen. Once they go there they will know how to return. I have discovered that knowing how to cook is not absorbed by osmosis.

Toasted Tomato Sandwich with Aioli & Fresh Herbs

 I am in BC and the field tomatoes are in. Today I toasted fresh bread, topped each slice with herb infused aioli and gently layed on top thin, juicy slices of tomato. I cut my sandwich in quarters and the fourth quarter went straight to my mouth before it hit the plate. I am still salivating at the thought of it.

Aioli with Fresh Herbs

Aioli, a fresh garlic mayonnaise moves up a notch when mixed with fresh chopped herbs. I tried blending the herbs into the aioli but I prefer when they are chopped fine and mixed in at the end with the salt and pepper. This way you can get just the perfect amount.

Ingredients

1 egg

1 Tbsp lemon juice

3 cloves garlic, peeled

1 cup quality vegetable oil

Sea salt

Fresh ground black pepper

2-4 Tbsp fresh chopped herbs, sage or thyme or parsley or basil or your favorite, chopped fine

Order of Events

1.      Place the egg, lemon juice and garlic in a food processor or blender and process until well combined.

2.      With the motor running on the lowest speed, slowly pour the oil in a thin stream and process until the mixture is thick and creamy.

3.      Stir in salt, pepper and fresh herbs until the flavour is perfect.

Kitchen Ideas

A toasted field tomato and aioli with fresh herb sandwich is drippingly good.