Category Archives: By Ingredient

Beef, Italian, Pasta

Spaghetti

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Spaghetti is totally my comfort food. Back in my younger days, I used to make spaghetti by browning up some ground beef, pouring in a bottle of Ragu spaghetti sauce, and seasoning it with some Italian seasoning. That was then but now we hardly use bottle sauce as we like to control how much sugar and salt goes in our foods.

Annie made this sauce using bacon, Polska kielbasa, ground beef, zucchini, red bell pepper, portobello mushroom, tomato sauce, garlic and onion. Garnished with parsley, chili pepper flake, and grated Pecorino Romano cheese.

Enjoyed with a glass of Rosemount Cab Sav-Merlot. Ahhh. Life is good!

Aloha, Nate

Bakes, Hawaiian, Yeast

Portuguese Sweet Bread

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Growing up, we used to have slices of King’s Hawaiian brand Portuguese Sweet Bread for breakfast. The bread had a sweet, eggy crumb and a dark, almost coffee-flavored crust. I’d smear on pats of spread and devour the loaf. It would be gone within a few days.

Annie found this recipe from “The Bread Baker’s Apprentice” that was quite easy to do and produced two wonderful loaves. The crust was soft and delicious while the cumb was tight but light.

 

We gave one loaf away and kept one for ourselves. The kids devoured the loaf within a few days.

Aloha, Nate

Poultry, Spanish, Vegetables

Paella

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Yonks and yonks ago, back when we were just dating, I cooked a paella dish for Annie. I don’t remember what went in it but it probably had chicken, Portuguese sausage, and jasmine rice (at the time, I didn’t know about arborio). It was successful, and the rest is history.

We hadn’t made it since but an opportunity arose when Fosco issued a “smackdown challenge” over on the alt.binaries.food newsgroup. Annie rose to the challenge and, basing her recipe off of one found on the America’s Test Kitchen website, produced this masterpiece.

Here are the steps:

1. Marinate prawns and chicken thighs in olive oil and garlic

2. Cut red bell pepper into strips and cook; remove from pan

3. Brown chicken pieces; remove from pan. Brown chorizo; remove from pan

4. Cook chopped onion until soft, then toss in chopped garlic. Stir in 1 can diced tomatoes until thickened.

5. Stir in arborio rice until coated. Add chicken broth, wine, saffron, bay leaf, and salt. Return chicken and chorizo, bring got boil then cover and place in oven until rice absorbs water.

6. Add prawns, mussels, bell peppers, and peas and return to oven until the mussels have opened.

Aloha, Nate

American, Lamb

Roast Leg of Lamb

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Beef has gone up in price so much these days that sometimes you can find lamb being sold cheaper per pound than beef. That’s good because if you get the craving for red meat but aren’t willing to pay so much for a beef roast, there’s always lamb.

We had this roasted boneless leg of lamb at a potluck dinner one night and asked the cook where she got the recipe. Surprisingly, it came from the “Cooking in Style the Costco Way” recipe book. Annie liked it so much, she decided to make it herself.

Made a rub from orange zest, ground toasted fennel seed, salt, pepper, Dijon mustard, minced fresh rosemary, minced garlic, and olive oil. Rubbed it inside and outside the boneless leg of lamb and let it marinate in the fridge overnight.

Roasted the lamb for 15 mins at 450*F, then turn temp down to 325*F and cooked until it hit 135*F internal. Rested for 15 mins and cut against grain in thin slices .

Here it is plated up with some garlic mashed potatoes and swiss chard gratin.

Paired with an excellent, well balanced 2001 Spanish Rioja, this was a dinner to remember.

Aloha, Nate