kbecker57

Spinach and artichoke lasagna

It’s hard to believe this recipe has been in my wheelhouse for more than 10 years. I also find it interesting how package sizes have changed during this time. The recipe as I wrote it (in March 2002) calls for a 14-ounce can of artichoke hearts and a 28-ounce jar of pasta sauce. Today I purchased a 12-ounce jar of artichoke hearts and a 25-ounce jar of pasta sauce, both from Trader Joe’s. A box of Barilla lasagna noodles are now 9 ounces, advertised as “makes a 9″ x 13″ tray”, though the Trader Joe’s lasagna noodles were a full pound. Since I don’t foresee giving up the grocery store and becoming a hunter and gatherer anytime soon (probably kind of difficult in Cambridge), I’ve adjusted the recipe based on today’s packages. But who knows what they’ll look like in another 10 years.

Hot and bubbly out of the oven

Spinach and artichoke lasgana
Source: Adapted from allrecipes.com, circa March 2002
Serves: 6-8

Ingredients
cooking spray
1 onion, chopped (I also added some chopped green peppers)
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 (14.5-ounce) can vegetable broth (I used vegetable bouillon which made 2 cups of broth)
1 Tbsp chopped fresh rosemary (or about 1 tsp dried)
1 (12-once) jar marinated artichoke hearts (I also added 1 cup marinated mushrooms, sliced)
1 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained and squeezed dry
1 (25-ounce) jar tomato pasta sauce
12 lasagna noodles (I use the ready-to-bake ones)
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
1 (4-ounce) package herb and garlic feta, crumbled

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9″ x 13″ baking dish with cooking spray.
2. Spray a large skillet with cooking spray and heat on medium-high. Saute onion and garlic (and peppers) for 3 minutes, or until onion is tender-crisp. Stir in broth and rosemary; bring to a boil. Stir in artichoke hearts and spinach; reduce heat, cover and simmer 5 minutes. Stir in pasta sauce.
3. Spread 1/4 of the artichoke mixture (about 1.5 cups) in the bottom of the prepared baking dish; top with 4 noodles. Sprinkle about 3/4 cup mozzarella cheese and about 2 Tbsp feta over noodles. Repeat layers 2 more times, ending with artichoke mixture and mozzarella and feta cheese.
4. Bake, covered, for 40 minutes. Uncover, and bake for 15 minutes more, or until hot and bubbly. Let stand 10 minutes before cutting.
5. Enjoy!

Out and about – Chapel Hill, NC

Last weekend, I made my way back to the “Southern Part of Heaven”, aka Chapel Hill, NC…my college stomping grounds. There is much about Franklin Street that is new since I was in school oh so many years ago, but some of the old favorites are hanging in there.

But first, please, a moment of silence for Franklin Street Pizza and Pasta … … I was hoping to have one last slice of penne and eggplant stuffed pizza (with a side of marinara sauce), but it had already switched over to a Tomato Jake’s.

I had dinner at Lantern on Friday evening, which I recently read about in Food & Wine magazine. We didn’t get seated until almost an hour after our 8:30 reservation, but they made up for it with free appetizers. We tried the salt and pepper shrimp, asparagus and mushroom spring rolls, and pork and chive dumplings. I’ve never seen salt and pepper shrimp on a menu except for the one and only Peach Farm in Chinatown, so I had to try it, but Peach Farm sets a very high bar.
For entrees, we split the steamed arctic char (I can’t resist arctic char when I see it on a menu) and the wok-seared rice noodles. The Junebug cocktail was also delicious.

Salt and pepper shrimp…no heads!

Arctic char

The next day we made our way to Ye Olde Waffle Shoppe for breakfast, a place I should have frequented more often in my college days. I love when breakfast places have a pancake/waffle and egg combination, and that was a pretty delicious waffle. After heading to Student Stores and the Carolina Basketball Museum, we hit up Top of the Hill for lunch, Yogurt Pump, and Four Corners to do some serious catching up.

It seemed impossible that we could be hungry for dinner, but turns out we were. We decided to go to 411 West, which was a pretty “fancy” place to go when we were in school (aka a place you got your parents to take you when they were visiting). I had a grilled pear salad with walnuts and gorgonzola. Then we split the Luigi pizza and the hazelnut pesto pasta.

Luigi pizza

Hazelnut pesto pasta

And since there is always room for a cupcake…we headed to Sugarland bakery for dessert.

Vanilla bean

It was so great to reminisce and catch up with some truly fantastic people, whose friendships have withstood the tests of time and distance. I am thankful they were willing to drive in from all over North Carolina to make this weekend happen. We decided this needs to be an annual trip, and I’m already looking forward to next year!

The rundown:
Lantern
423 West Franklin Street

Ye Olde Waffle Shoppe
173 East Franklin Street

Top of the Hill
100 East Franklin Street, third floor

Four Corners Grille
175 East Franklin Street

411 West
411 West Franklin Street

Sugarland
140 East Franklin Street

Carolina Crossroads at the Carolina Inn
211 Pittsboro Street

Sausage and peppers

Today was cold, dreary, and rainy in Boston…not the weather one hopes for on the first day of May. It made me want to make something warm and hearty, so I turned to an old favorite. This recipe was given to me by a friend’s brother (though my guess is that it actually comes from their mom). I like to serve it with pasta or an Italian roll and a salad.

Sausage and peppers
Source: The Confortis
Serves: 4+

Ingredients
1 onion, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1 yellow pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 can (15 ounces) tomato sauce
1 can (6 ounces) tomato paste
1 1/2 pounds Italian sausage, sweet or hot (I like to mix sweet and hot)
pepper to taste

Directions
1. In a large pot, saute onion, garlic, and mix of peppers.
2. Cook sausage (grill or pan fry). Cut cooked sausage into bite-size pieces.
3. Add tomato sauce, paste, and cooked sausage to mix of peppers, onions, and garlic.
4. Mix and let simmer. Add pepper to taste and enjoy!

Hopefully my little babies will continue to grow big and strong so I can make this with homegrown tomatoes and peppers later this year!

Tomatoes and peppers…oh my!

Edamame hash

This week was not a good week for KCaE (Kara Cooks and Eats). I attempted two new recipes from the May issue of Everyday Food, and both were pretty disappointing.

I attempted to omit the bacon from this recipe, mostly because I think it’s a pain to have to buy a pound of bacon for a recipe that only calls for 4 slices. However comma, I think it came out pretty blah and could have used the bacon, especially the fat. I did end up draining some of the potato cooking water and adding about 2 tablespoons of olive oil. I think I will put this on top of some lettuce as a salad for lunches.

Can you tell which photo is from the iPad version of the magazine and which one is mine?

Magazine version

My version sans bacon

Edamame hash

Source: Everyday Food, May 2012

Serves: 4+

Ingredients

1 large Yukon gold potato, cut into 1-inch pieces

4 slices bacon, cut into 1-inch pieces

1 bunch scallions, white parts thinly sliced, green parts cut into 1-inch pieces
1 small red bell pepper, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
10 ounces frozen shelled edamame, thawed
coarse salt and ground pepper

Directions
1. In a large nonstick skillet, combine potato, bacon, and 1 cup water; bring to a boil over medium-high. Cover and cook until potato is tender when pierced with a knife and water is almost evaporated, 7 to 10 minutes. Uncover and cook, stirring occasionally, until potato begins to turn golden and bacon begins to render fat, about 3 minutes.
2. Add scallion whites and bell pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until scallion is translucent, about 3 minutes. Add edamame and scallion greens and cook until warmed through, 1 minute. Season with salt and pepper.

The other recipe I tried was a skillet shrimp and orzo one-pot dish. I substituted frozen pre-cooked mussels for the shrimp, which was probably my first mistake. It was interesting to cook the pasta in the oven, but I thought the proportions were off. I prefer more “stuff” (tomatoes, vegetables, etc) and less pasta. So in the end it basically turned out to be an overcooked pasta with (not enough) tomatoes and basil.

Can you tell which photo is from the iPad version of the magazine and which one is mine?

Magazine version

My sad version

April RC – Moksa

This month it was my turn to pick the Restaurant Club spot and I made everyone cross the river into Cambridge to try Moksa.

What do you do when there are 10 people who want to try everything on the menu? We decided that everyone would get to choose one dish and we’d order two of everything and share. We ate all of that and then ordered a couple of extra items that we just couldn’t leave without trying. It was an Asian street-food feast! No Patricia Yeo sighting, but we did have a lovely server named Jonathan who gave us dessert on the house. Here’s what we tried (hopefully I remembered them all)…

Raw & Chilled
Thai Green Mango & Papaya Salad, Peanuts
Vietnamese Rice Paper Roll, Spicy Tuna

Dumplings, Wraps & Other Goodies
Crab rangoon (real crab! no cream cheese!)
Vegetable dumplings
Berkshire pork potstickers
Chicken and mushroom wontons

Stuffed Roti
Shortrib roti

Noodles
Silver pin noodles, Snow Tofu, and Snow Peas
Kim chi noodle knots & shellfish

Rice
Bi Bim Bap: Korean Baked Rice & Pork Belly

From the Grill
Lamb meatballs
Liver wrapped in bacon
Grilled pork belly

Sides
Sauteed watercress with garlic

Desserts
Gingerbread cake with mascarpone cream and sake spiced pears
Brownie sundae (I know there was cardamom involved, but I can’t remember all the details)
Ginger molasses ice cream

The rundown:
Moksa
450 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge

Salmon (grain) salad

I made salmon for dinner tonight and this is one of my favorite things to do with leftover salmon. It’s a “recipe” I made up, so I apologize for the lack of exact ingredients and proportions. You can really use any type of grain…I usually make it with Israeli couscous, but this week I’m going to try it with quinoa. I’m a big fan of the wild caught Thai chili salmon from Trader Joe’s.

Salmon (grain) salad
Source: Kara

Ingredients
Salmon 1 fillet, cooked and shredded
Grain of your choice, cooked
1 cup chick peas, drained and rinsed
Vegetables of your choice, chopped (I like peppers, cucumber, shredded carrots)
Feta
Kalamata olives (this can easily be omitted if you are anti-olive)
Red wine vinegar
Olive oil

Directions
1. Mix ingredients together.

2. Toss with red wine vinegar and olive oil. I like a 3:1 ratio of vinegar to oil, but it depends on your taste.

3. Enjoy!

Out and about – NYC

I’ve been eating a lot of salads and leftovers this week, so I thought I’d share some of the fun meals I had in NYC this past weekend.

We arrived in NYC just in time for lunch on Saturday, and headed to S’MAC for a big ol’ skillet of mac ‘n cheese. It did not disappoint.

S’MAC!

I ordered the 4 cheese with spinach, mushrooms, and bacon. A-mazing.

And we did not even need a pre-dinner snack, which was initially surprising, but then we realized we probably each ate about a pound of cheese and pasta!

Major munch size

Since I’m a little obsessed with everything Top Chef, I made dinner reservations at North End Grill, which just opened in January with Floyd Cardoz as the Executive Chef. Floyd Cardoz was the winner of Top Chef Masters, Season three.

Oysters!

We started out with some oysters, one each from NY, MA and New Brunswick, and we all had a different favorite. My favorite was NY, with MA in the middle, and New Brunswick coming in last place.

For dinner I had the seared diver scallops with cauliflower, and we got a bunch of sides to share: griddled ginger spinach, hashed brussel sprouts and lentils, and truffled mashed potatoes with mushroom gravy. Someone at the table who is not a big fan of potatoes said that if all potatoes tasted like that, she would eat them more. I am a potato lover and those potatoes would definitely make the highlight reel, as would the brussel sprouts. Everything was delicious, and we were even too full for dessert.

The sides

Diver scallops

The next morning we had brunch reservations at Locando Verde, based on a recommendation from a friend of a friend. We actually planned to go there for dinner, but when I called to make a reservation (more than a month in advance), the only options were for 5:30 and 10 pm. So brunch it was. I had the soft scrambled farm egg crostino with leeks, mushrooms and speck, and lots of water to rehydrate.

Add in a couple of slices of pizza and some hot nuts and I think it was a pretty delicious weekend.

The rundown:
Sarita’s Macaroni & Cheese
345 East 12th Street, between 1st and 2nd Ave

North End Grill
104 North End Avenue, Battery Park City

Locando Verde
377 Greenwich Street, TriBeCa
cross street N. Moore Street

March RC – Ariana

Tikka Kabob

Another tasty tradition my friends and I started circa 2006 is Restaurant Club, also known as RC. Every month we take turns picking a new, newish, or new to us restaurant to try. It’s given us a chance to explore different neighborhoods, try new foods (grasshopper! haggis!), and have an excuse to get together. Someday I’ll post the list of restaurants that we’ve been trying to recreate.

Crumbs!

March was Mark’s pick and we traveled to Ariana, an Afghan restaurant in Allston. We started by sharing the Kaddo and Aushak appetizers. Kaddo is baby pumpkin and it’s featured pretty regularly on the menu. For my entree I had the Tikka Kabob (beef prime rib marinated in a puree of onions, sundried baby grapes and garlic, then grilled and served with sauteed lentils and pallow rice) for my entree, and I cleaned my plate!

We also tried the Sheerberaing (rice pudding) and Bucklawa (baklava) for dessert…but the best dessert was the Crumbs cupcakes Wanda brought for everyone to try!

The rundown:
Ariana Restaurant
129 Brighton Ave, Allston

Crumbs Bake Shop
176 Federal Street, Boston

Sofrito

This week I made a big batch of Spanish style sauce. I remembered to buy the onions this time, but then forgot to put them in the recipe…it still tasted great. The March issue of Everyday Food provides a recipe for shrimp and mussels with sofrito and chicken with sofrito. It also suggests using it to top fish or steak, tossing it with steamed vegetables, and using as a base for soup or beans. I didn’t really follow a recipe and used about 1/2 cup in a saute of shrimp, chick peas, and queso blanco. I froze the rest in 1/2 cup portions.

Sofrito

Tomatoes in the Cuisinart

Source: Everyday Food, March 2012
Makes: 3 cups

Ingredients
2 pounds plum tomatoes
2 red bell peppers
2 medium yellow onions
5 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
1 bunch cilantro, large stems trimmed
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (original recipe calls for 1/2 cup)

Directions

Sofrito on the stove

1. Coarsely chop tomatoes, peppers, and onions. Combine with garlic cloves and cilantro. In batches, pulse mixture in a food processor until finely chopped.

2. In a large pot, heat olive oil over medium-high until shimmering. Add tomato mixture and cook, stirring occasionally until thickened and reduced, 25-30 minutes (reduce heat if browning at edge).

3. To store, cool completely, then transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate or freeze.

4. Enjoy!

Potluck – St. Patty’s day style

My friends and I started a potluck tradition in 2005, and yesterday I hosted a St. Patty’s day themed dinner. As always, the menu came together quite nicely and we did some good eatin’!

No boiled potatoes on this table!

Menu
Irish nachos
Irish soda bread
Pork roast with cabbage and plum stout sauce
Shephard’s pie
Corned beef and cabbage
Roasted vegetables
Salad
Kimchi (a little Asian influence snuck in)
Guinness cupcakes with Bailey’s frosting

I made corned beef and cabbage for the first time ever, and my slow cooker continues to impress me!

Corned beef and cabbage
Source: Adapted from keyingredient

Ingredients
3-4 lbs corned beef brisket (I used about 2 lbs)
1 onion, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1-2 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 medium head of cabbage, cut into wedges (I used about 2/3 of a 3 lb head of cabbage)
12 ounces dark beer

Directions
1. Place corned beef brisket and any seasonings included in slow cooker. Top with onion.

2. Whisk together the vinegar, brown sugar, mustard, pepper, and cloves and pour over top.

3. Add the cabbage wedges and pour beer over top.

4. Cover and cook on low for about 7 hours or high for about 4-5 hours.

5. Embrace the Irish in ya and enjoy!