There has just been an abundance of food this weekend. I was inspired to cook Friday night because, among the other items I purchased during my pathetic trip to Wallyworld, I bought roasted red peppers, ginger root, ricotta cheese, and red onion. I wasn't going to use them all together, obviously, but I did want to do something with my somewhat gourmet ingredients. I am fully aware that those items are not gourmet, but that's about as fancypants as we get at my house.
I went for pasta with ground beef, roasted red peppers, ricotta cheese, and caramelized red onion. I also found a round of brie in the fridge and wanted to do brie en croute because...because...well I never really need a reason to make brie en croute. We didn't have the puff pastry, so I was going to improvise and wing it with some pie crust dough. I was getting all hyped about my brie when I opened the package and realized that it might be the very same brie I bought which ordinarily wouldn't be a big deal except that the last time I was home was about 5 or 6 months ago.
I couldn't just let the pie crust dough go to waste, so I pulled stuff from the pantry like nuts, semi-sweet and white chocolate chips, dried cranberries, brown sugar, and spices. I cut the dough into triangles and made little pastries with different combinations of the ingredients. It was cute because I didn't mark which pastries were which, so when they were done, I needed to take a bite out of all of them to see how they tasted. Only my mom didn't mind sharing my baking sheet of half bitten into desserts.
Some notes from Friday night cooking:
1. Sauteed red onion with brown sugar and a dash of cardamom is good. Really good. Use it wisely.
2. Ricotta cheese will make a lovely sauce for pasta, but not a hearty pasta like ruffles. Use a more delicate pasta or noodle.
3. If you're aiming to please a more refined palette, don't use sauteed ground beef in your pasta dish. It makes it taste like casserole. Casserole=not fancy.
4. Make twice as much sauce as you think you'll need and only use half of the pasta.
5. Add greens, like asparagus or wilted spinach. The green and red (roasted red peppers) is aesthetically pleasing because of the complimentary contrast and the... Can you tell I go to art school?
6. Use lots of filling in the pastries and more liquid. The insides come out too dry with only chocolate chips, nuts, or cranberries. Maybe some condensed milk will work. Mmmmm...I really shouldn't talk about condensed milk because then I can't think straight.
The meal turned out okay. Next time, I'll take my own advice (no. 2-6).
Saturday was Marisa's graduation shindig and there was typical barbecue fare—hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken, baked beans, pasta salad, 7-layer salad, chips, etc. And there was fruit pizza. Oh fruit pizza. It's another food I can't talk about for lack of clarity of thought. I couldn't stop eating it.
Today, I made the salad to go with dinner. I was excited about this salad because I have only been planning to make it for the past year. I had it once at the Bourbon House and it has just stayed with me. People say that all the time in romantic movies, "And he/she/you just kinda stayed with me." I feel that way about food.
Anywho, the salad is crazy simple—baby spinach leaves, thinly sliced red onion, spiced pecans, and balsamic vinaigrette. When I baked the pecans, the house smelled so good. Imagine it—cinnamon , nutmeg, cloves, white and brown sugar. Like I said, so good. The vinaigrette was super easy and not overpowering with the balsamic vinegar. The salad was mos def a success. I know because people besides me ate it.
And deviating from the food theme completely...I watched Meet the Robinsons today when I was watching my little cousins. I love that movie.
I just couldn't end the post without putting that in there.
Creole Belle
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