SobaAddict70

Penne with manouri cheese, fried breadcrumbs, garlic, olive oil and parsley. Manouri is a Greek semi-soft sheep's milk cheese. Substitute feta or goat cheese if unavailable. This is a riff on penne con cacio e pepe. You can make this in 10 minutes ... 15 if you're not adept at peeling garlic cloves. Prepare pasta according to package directions. Cook until al dente. Drain and reserve 2 tablespoons pasta cooking water. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a skillet, add thinly sliced garlic and scallions to the pan. Fry until garlic takes on a little color, about 30 seconds. Stir in 3 tablespoons breadcrumbs. If you don't have freshly made on hand, you can sub in plain unflavored breadcrumbs from the corner supermarket. Fry crumbs until golden brown. Do not burn. Remove pan from heat. Add pasta to the skillet. Toss well. Add pasta cooking water to the pan if penne seems dry. Stir in manouri cheese and a handful of chopped parsley. Taste for salt and pepper, then serve at once.

Hi nikkib -- the recipe is here, on my foodblog: http://spamwise.wordpress.com/2010/07/12/aloo-gobi/ Penne with Sungold cherry tomato sauce 2008 Colli Vicentini Chardonnay Apricots with vanilla sugar and cream for dessert.

Poached farm egg, pan-fried potatoes with Indian spices (ghee; 3 Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced; 1 plum tomato, diced; yellow mustard seeds; curry leaves; salt; 1 Thai chile, seeded and minced; turmeric; asafoetida) and summer chopped salad (cantaloupe, heirloom tomatoes, Sungold cherry tomatoes, apricot, scallion, mint, a scant pinch of sea salt and 2 tablespoons lime juice). Potatoes were inspired by Monica Bhide's blog post on fried eggs and potato chips -- http://www.monicabhide.com/my_weblog/2010/06/once-upon-a-story-fried-eggs-on-potato-chips.html

All stunning dinners, especially the fried egg thing. I'm a sucker for egg dishes. No-cook dinner tonight, with outside temps reaching 90 degrees (with the humidity it feels like an oven), so... Background, in the ramekin: Scallop and plum ceviche, courtesy of Mark Bittman's recipe, viewable here: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/14/dining/14mini.html?scp=1&sq=scallop+ceviche&st=cse (I subbed in cilantro instead of tarragon) Foreground: A variation on chopped salad. This version has heirloom tomatoes, cantaloupe, apricots, Sungold cherry tomatoes, scallions and mint, with a dressing of a scant pinch of sea salt and 2 tablespoons lime juice.

For this week: HEIRLOOM TOMATOES!!!!, cherry tomatoes, scallops, summer squash, ricotta cheese, plums, apricots, herbs, eggs and green beans. I might have gotten a couple of other things I'm forgetting about.

That's what the blog (and eGullet) are for.

To me, the difference between unsalted and salted is literally like night and day. There's nothing subtle about it. Then again, I don't consume much in the way of processed food, which probably explains things.

Aloo gobi (potato and cauliflower curry) could go well with scrambled eggs, come to think of it.

Aloo gobi (potato and cauliflower curry), with mint raita over steamed jasmine rice If you've ever had aloo gobi in an Indian restaurant, homemade is WORLDS better, with cleaner/lighter flavors. Restaurant versions are typically carbohydrates in a bowl.

If you do use salted butter, you have to adjust the amount of salt you add to your dish in the end. I use unsalted primarily. I tend to ignore recipes outright, instead basing it on "feel" -- unless it's something I haven't made before. In that case, I'll follow a recipe once or twice just to get a sense of how the dish is made, then proceed from there.

Pasta with cavolo nero (black cabbage), shrimp and garlic Watermelon granita for dessert.

Sure. A corn chowder for one. (Because corn stock is vegetable stock essentially.) Mushroom risotto (with, you guessed it, mushroom stock made from stems and mushroom scraps; dried also works well) As for taste, it could be just a matter of training one's palate.

Mostly leftovers BUT I did pick up some baby artichokes on the way home. Braised baby artichokes, with cherry tomatoes and Moroccan olives

SobaAddict, I like that combo. Was the squash winter or summer squash? It looks like orange winter squash in the pic. I'm intrigued by the mint raita. I would never think to put a mint raita on a curry. I bet it tasted good with those peas. How did you make the raita? It's summer squash. It probably looks orange to you because of the turmeric. The base for the raita consists of 1 cup full-fat yogurt, approx. 6 tablespoons buttermilk and a pinch of salt. To this, add 6 heaping tablespoons of mint chutney; stir to incorporate. Jarred chutney is ok if you don't have the time to make homemade. I find that the store-bought kind doesn't have the same fresh flavor though. Recipe on the blog for both the curry and the raita, for the quantity-challenged. I forgot to add that I use raita for more than just Indian food. For example, it's delicious as a spicy salad dressing (think "ranch" but more punched up). Try it as a dip for crudites or french fries. You might think that 1 cup of yogurt is a lot, but the truth of the matter is that it doesn't last very long in my house.

Poached eggs on crispy toast, with sucrine salad (sucrine lettuce, purple basil, Persian cucumber, Jersey tomatoes, onion chives, sherry vinaigrette) Sucrine is an heirloom variety of lettuce, with a flavor somewhere between romaine and butter lettuce. It's started to become more available here in the U.S., in recent years.

Kim and robin -- thanks. dcarch -- great plating, as usual. Kim -- I love the idea of pancit at Christmas. I'll have to ask my mom to make that this year instead of the usual. Cauliflower, squash and sugar snap peas curry, with mint raita.

Thanks for the tips. I rarely bake, as you can probably tell.

If I'm to use ramekins, don't they have to be in a pan of some kind? Or can I just put them in the oven as is?

Because I live alone, I tend not to make large-ish dishes that will take me more than a couple of days to finish off. This includes desserts, sadly enough. Hence why most dessert recipes that appear on the blog are sized for one serving. I bought some gooseberries at the Greenmarket yesterday, and I'm thinking of making a crumble. I want to use ramekins instead of a baking dish -- would that be ok? I figure a bain-marie is the way to go here. Any advice? The alternative is using them in a compote and serving that with ice cream or in an affogato. But I want to try something different for a change.

I think, for at least one person I know who has an aversion to the stuff, that the offensive factor is the "stringiness". I agree, cooked celery has a much different flavor and textural profile than raw celery. The problem is when the taste aversion gets extended to all other forms. I once had a roommate who couldn't stand tomatoes. She grew up poor, having had to make do at times with Campbell's condensed tomato soup. Cooking for her was quite a challenge.

Pan-roasted black sea bass, with buttermilk corn chowder The next time I do this, there'll be a blender involved. Had a last minute panic attack when the chowder didn't thicken up as much as I'd have liked.

Sweet cherries (close-up) For this week: CORN!!!, cherry tomatoes, herbs, gooseberries, pluots, black cabbage, sucrine lettuce, onions, black sea bass, at least 3 different types of summer squash, Persian cucumbers, a baguette, buttermilk and cauliflower. Thank god it's a 3-day weekend b/c I'm going to be cooking up a storm. Sat night dinner will be inspired in part by an entree I once had at one of the Blue Hill restaurants a couple of years ago.

Hum, never seen that trick before. 5 minutes sounds just about right, although the freshness of the egg can be a factor too. Looks good Kim.

Late night snack of peas and carrots. Recipe on the blog.

Seconded on the fennel. Cilantro can be subbed in for just about anything where you would use celery leaves.