Giving Thanks – Part II & Buon Anno!

Tags

2014, awards, thank you

As the year is quickly coming to a close, there is one more thing I really need to do. I wish to give thanks to all of you for the support you’ve given me this past year. And I particularly want to thank those of you have taken the time in honouring me with awards in 2013.

With every award that was bestowed upon me, I was always grateful and appreciative. So much so that I always wanted to pay that person back in my own special way. I could have just stuck to the awards tradition and followed the rules. You know, answer the questions, nominate other bloggers. But I don’t like to follow rules. Just look at the way I write. Starting sentences with “and”. Or “but”. Or even “or” for that matter. That must be the biggest rule-breaker in the English language. What I meant to do was make that person feel special by cooking up one of their fabulous recipes and showing you all how wonderful they are.  And I did recreate some of their recipes. Some of which I documented with photos, and some of which I did not.

Such as this finnish strawberry pancake from Seana over at Cottage Grove House.

Or her absolutely fabulous fresh corn soup.

And if you haven’t tried Fae’s cabbage rice, over at Fae’s Twist and Tango, you don’t know what you’re missing!

Oh, and how about Shanna’s Curls and Carrots spiced whole-grain pumpkin bread, to which I added chocolate chunks!

And I did mean to get their yumminess on this blog. But time ran out. Or rather, time is running out. I remember years back overhearing a young woman saying the oddest thing. It was New Year’s eve and her hair was all done up. She said that every New Year’s eve since she was a little girl, her mom would tell her that she needed to start off the New Year with her hair looking fabulous. This way, she would be starting the New Year looking fab and would continue to do so throughout the year. As strange as that comment may have sounded, it stuck with me. I actually believed that if I ended the year with my home one big, disorganized mess, that is exactly what I had in store for me throughout the new year. Well, I have yet to prove if this theory makes any sense as I could never get my home tidy and organized by New Year’s eve! And so I continue to live as I do.

All this to say that I do not want to start the new year with things I should have done in the past year. Perhaps this will set me on the right path for 2014, thus getting things done in a timely manner. We’ll see about that!

So, thank you so much for deeming my blog worthy of an award. It was truly an honour!

The lovely Fae over at Fae’s Twist and Tango for awarding me with numerous awards:   Shine On Award & Best Moment Award; Awesome Blog Content (ABC) Award; Versatile Blogger Award; I’m a part of the WordPress Family Award; Blog of The Year 2013 Award.

The always sweet Tasty Treats 13 for awarding me with:  The Kreativ Blogger Award; The Versatile Blogger Award; The Dragon’s Loyalty Award.

The wonderfully creative Elamb over at Food Daydreaming for awarding me with:  The Sunshine Award and Blog of the Year 2013 Award.

The ever-so-sweet and always-there-for-me Shanna over at Curls and Carrots for awarding me with 4 awards:  The Liebster Award; The WordPress Family Award; The Dragon’s Share Award; Blog of the Year: 2013.

The super-nice Dimple over at Shivaay Delights for awarding me with:  The Versatile Blogger Award.

The wonderful Seana over at Cottage Grove House for awarding me with:  The Kreative Blogger Award.

As for passing on the awards, I deem ALL OF YOU worthy of them! Truly, I do. All of your blogs that I follow are held in the highest esteem. And instead of answering some of the questions associated with these awards, I will direct you to some blogs that I quite enjoy. I hope you have a look. They might tell you a little more about who I am and what I enjoy. After all, I’m not just a foodie!

Now At Home Mom  The oh-so-sweet Ingrid has a flare for home decor and DIY crafts that leaves me quit envious!

Christopher De Voss  The ever talented Chris has that twisted sense of humour that I really quite enjoy! He’s too funny!

Ambling & Rambling  Jackie has a way of telling stories that has me, every now and then, bursting out loud with laughter late at night, while reading her blog in bed!

thebestdressup  Because everything she shows me is just fab and I absolutely LUV!

Una Mirada B  Rosa is an absolutely fabulous artist and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE! I’m just waiting for the day that I am able to own some of her artwork. For my friends and family who might be reading this, if you had to choose one for me, then let it be Oro. Or El deseo de volar / The wish to fly. Or any of them really. And for you Beatrice, I would give you this, The sewing machine!

And on that note, I wish you all the very best in 2014. Happy New Year! Buon Anno! ¡Feliz año nuevo! Baci a tutti! Ciao!   xoxoxoxo

Panino con Salsiccia

Tags

Italian homemade sausage, Italian panini, Italian sandwiches, panini, rapini, sandwiches, sausage sandwich

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday with your loved ones, filled with good cheer, lots of laughter and loads of great food! I am slowly getting my mojo back. In the kitchen, that is. I seem to be having a difficult time getting back into the groove of cooking. I’m afraid that all the pre-Christmas preparations have left me knackered. I just had to use that word! It’s all good though. I’m hanging out with my girls, reading, watching movies, listening to music. We are eating, just not long, thought-out meals. Simple foods. Like this panino with Italian sausage. Oh, not just any sausage either. It’s the Bartolini sausage. I referred to this sausage briefly in the Orecchiette con Rapini e Salsiccia post. It was a side-note in that dish, with rapini the real star. This time, the star is the Bartolini Sausage.

Ages ago, I received the Kitchenaid attachments for making sausage. Hubby was hoping I would follow in my Italian ancestor’s footsteps and make some homemade sausage. All of those attachments have yet to be unwrapped from its packaging, let alone used for making sausages. But then I came across John’s recipe over at from the Bartolini kitchens. Simple, delicious and, most importantly, no casings! How great is that? Pork, spicy pancetta, garlic infused white wine, salt pepper and fennel seeds. I gotta have fennel seeds in my sausage. And that’s it. You’ve got yourselves some delicious makings for Italian sausage.

I had used some of it for my orecchiette dish and then froze the remainder into various shapes. And was I ever thankful to find them in my freezer once my mojo in the kitchen had gone.

As I look at that photo with the sausages laid out, I can’t help but be reminded of an Eskimo Inukshuk. I grilled them on the BBQ, with big, light snowflakes falling down upon me from the sky. Sipping a glass of wine. It was a lovely evening for my first-ever barbie in the wintertime.

Foraging through the fridge, I came up with a few goodies to add to these tasty little sausages, making this panino a meal in itself. Bumba Calabrese, a spicy sauce with Porcini mushrooms from Calabria, gorgeous spicy marinated eggplant from Italy, and my all-time favourite panino filling, rapini. Eat as is or grill it, it’s up to you. Now how’s that for a simple dinner?

Foodie Gifts

Tags

Christmas baskets, Christmas food gifts, edible gifts, food baskets, food gifts, foodie gifts, Holiday Gift Baskets

I want to show you a glimpse of the madness that has been going on in my kitchen of late. Not including the mess. Do you know what I want for Christmas? A little elf, following me around all day, picking up after me. So every time I turn around, poof! All clean! Wouldn’t that be something?

And if I can’t have an elf, how about one of these Holiday Baskets? Filled with oh so yummy treats. I know I would love it!

Like this small basket which has: white chocolate bark with pistachios, cranberries and dried roses.

A huge gingerbread Smores. Yes, huge homemade smores filled with dark Belgian chocolate and gingerbread marshmallows! Oh baby!

Oh so yum Salted Caramel Sauce. You know, for drizzling on your ice cream. Or pound cake. Or anything really.

And Hot Chocolate on a Stick. Made with dark Belgian chocolate. Some with cinnamon. Some with hot chill pepper. Perfect for melting into a hot cup of milk.

Or would you prefer the medium basket? With all of the above plus the addition of two of my specialty jams. Bacon jams, that is! Bourbon Bacon Jam (which almost took me to Recipe to Riches), and Apple Bacon Jam with Cider.

Personally, I would choose the large basket. With everything in it plus Chorizo & Port Jam, spicy Bourbon BBQ Sauce, and some superlicious Momofuku Cookies.

Orecchiette con Rapini e Salsiccia

Tags

homemade Italian sausage, Italian sausage, orecchiette and rapini, pasta with rapini, rapini

It’s been mad around here lately.  Has December been crazy for you too? Please forgive my blatant neglect with regards to your blog posts.  Between preparing foods for a dinner party of 24 people, cooking a light lunch for 100, baking cookies and goodies for bake sales, organizing a book fair and a holiday lunch for teachers and staff at my daughter’s school, planning a cookie exchange party, cooking and baking for gift baskets, and a health issue which sometimes leaves me bedridden, life has been somewhat overwhelming for me lately. And I’ve left out a number of things.  Who else has been suffering from all this craziness? My family.  Not being able to cook up some homemade goodness has left us all grumpy.  Oh, how I wish some of you lived close by!

Well, I did manage a meal here and there, and with a little help from my friend John over at from the Bartolini kitchens, I made Italian sausage for the first time ever.  And not just any sausage. Simple and yummy Bartolini Sausage.  It doesn’t get any easier than John’s recipe as there aren’t any casings involved.  How great is that?

I added strong pancetta rather than mild to the meat mixture, to give it a little zing.  And I also added whole fennel seeds.  I just love the taste of fennel in Italian sausage.  I used this recipe in two ways and in this post I will show you how I used it in my Orecchiette and Rapini dish.

First, rapini.  LOVE!  One of the most popular greens in Italy.  Also known as broccoli rabe in America, if you’ve never tried it, you really should!  Rapini comes to us from the mustard family, with some referring to it as mustard greens.  With spiked leaves and little green buds that resemble broccoli, it is not at all related to broccoli.  It is a close relative of the turnip family and its flavour is characteristically pungent and bitter.  Not only is it yummy, it’s good for you too.  It has amazing health benefits such as cancer-fighting properties, keeping bones strong, lowering the risk of heart disease, and improving insulin sensitivity.  A cool weather vegetable at its best in the Fall, Winter and early Spring, when buying rapini look for leaves and buds that are crisp and dark green.  You don’t want any yellowing leaves nor yellow flowers on the buds.

My dad always prepared rapini simply.  Sautéd with olive oil and garlic. Served with steak or liver sausage, or added to cooked orecchiette pasta. My fave!  So this time, because my caveman is constantly demanding where the meat is if I should present a meatless dish, I served it up with crumbled sausage.  Here’s how you can do it too.

Ingredients

1 package of Orecchiette pasta

1 lb. of sausage, casings removed if you haven’t made your own

2 or 3 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 package of rapini, rinsed under cold water

Salt

Cook the sausage meat in a fry pan until done.  Set aside.  Boil some water and cook the “little ears”.  That’s what they resemble, no?  And that’s exactly what orecchitte means in Italian.

Prepare the rapini.  The stems are rather tough and I remove about 1/3 to 1/2 of them.  With the remaining stems, I crush them with the side of my butcher’s knife, to bruise them all up and render them tender after cooking. Otherwise, the rapini will be perfectly done but the stems will remain tough.

Over medium heat, add olive oil to you frying pan and when hot, add the garlic.  Cook for about a minute and then add the rapini.  Your pan will be rather full, but only for a few minutes.  It will wilt down to almost nothing. That’s why I always prepare two batches.  Add some salt and toss. After a few minutes, once they’ve wilted down quite a bit, add a lid and allow the water from the rinsed rapini to help cook them.  If they begin to dry out, add a splash of water.  They should be done after about 5 minutes.

Once your pasta has been drained, return to the pot and add the cooked sausage and rapini.  Give the whole thing a good toss and serve.  Sprinkle some Pecorino Romano on top and Buon Appetito!

Giving Thanks – Part I

Tags

birthday, go habs go, hockey, Montreal Canadians, salade nicoise

As my American neighbours to the south celebrated their Thanksgiving, I thought I would take a few moments to give thanks as well.

First, my birthday week.  Oh, who am I kidding!  I used to have a birthday week, but those days are long gone.  Now, I just have a birthday.  And a special birthday it was.  Many thanks to my friend Sue who organized a beautiful lunch in my honour.  Decorations, friends, presents and great food. A beautiful and oh, so delicious Salade Niçoise.  And no canned tuna for me. Gorgeous, pan-seared tuna steaks for my special day. With wine.  And a yummylicious chocolate-caramel cake.  Thank you Sue! And thank you Beatrice, Karen, Esther and Carmie.  It was a lovely afternoon!

Sue did have one more treat up her sleeve.  And what a treat it was!  She took me to a hockey game on the last day of November.  A perfect ending to my birthday month!  The Montreal Canadians against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Watching a hockey game with my girlfriend, 6 rows from the ice, having hot dogs and beer.  Now what could be better than that?  I’ll tell you what. Montreal beating Toronto 4-2, that’s what!  Go Habs Go!