quick and easy – Cooking from Books

Posted on July 25, 2023 by Tablewine · 6 Comments

Roasted Ratatouille

Last Saturday, a dinner guest presented us with a basket of farm-stand vegetables and herbs. It would have made a perfect subject for a still life; however, lacking any talent in that area, I thought it would provide the ideal makings for a ratatouille.

I’ve prepared several versions of this dish and written about some of them here: a classic stewed one based on a recipe by Martha Stewart and a baked one from a Mark Bittman cookbook. As neither of them was exceptional so, I decided to look for an alternative. When I suggested a more traditionally French version to my husband, he thought it would be too heavy—especially given the current heat wave. I therefore continued my search and eventually chanced upon a roaste d ratatouille from Ina Garten.

Posted on July 16, 2023 by Tablewine · 7 Comments

Minestra di Zucchini

A recent post by fellow blogger Diane Darrow evoked memories of a childhood dish my Neapolitan aunt would make frequently during the summer, when zucchini abounded at our local vegetable store: minestra di zucchini, a vegetable soup composed of zucchini, egg, cheese, and either parsley or basil. I hadn’t had it in years, but after reading Diane’s post, I was determined to fill that void.

Posted on April 22, 2023 by Tablewine · 1 Comment

London Broil with Sun-Dried-Tomato Marinade

A sale and the weather were the main influencers of this week’s post. Because our local supermarket had a great special on London broil, we had decided to break out the grill for the first barbecue of the season. But when the weather forecast put the kibosh on outdoor cooking, I started to consider a few alternatives like pan grilled or broiled, neither of which struck my husband’s fancy. So, I asked him to go through a few of our cookbooks and find a recipe for London broil that would.

An hour or so later he returned to my office, cookbook in hand and grinning. The book was Lidia Bastianich’s Commonsense Cooking and the recipe he chose was “London Broil Steak with Sun-Dried Tomatoes Marinade.” Luckily, I had all the ingredients on hand—even the fresh basil, which I had purchased for another dish.

Posted on March 19, 2023 by Tablewine · 2 Comments

Pan-Roasted Chicken with Leeks

A wicked nor’easter and a plethora of sagging leeks pretty much determined the choice of recipe for this week’s post. Originally, I had planned to prepare Marcella Hazan’s Pan Roasted Pork Loin with Leeks after the grocery store delivered two bunches of the leafy alliums rather that the two individual ones I had ordered. However, when Mother Nature graced us with the worst snow storm of the season, getting to the market to procure the loin was no longer an option.

Housebound by the weather, I looked through my cookbooks for other leek recipes but most that I found used a single leek and I had five on hand. I then turned to the web, where I found a recipe that called for three and for which I had almost all the other ingredients on hand except for drumsticks and half-and half, for which I respectively substituted thighs and heavy cream: Pan Roasted Chicken with Leeks.

Posted on February 19, 2023 by Tablewine · 5 Comments

Shrimp Capri

Way back in the early 70s, I used to watch “The Romagnolis’ Table,” a cooking series on PBS that attempted to do for Italian cooking what Julia Child did for its French counterpart in the United States. Featuring a husband-and-wife team, Margaret and G. Franco Romagnoli, it sought to bring authentic Italian dishes to an audience who thought spaghetti and meatballs with its long simmering Sunday sauce epitomized Italian cuisine. In a Christian Science Monitor interview, he declared: “Ninety percent of pasta sauces are made by the time you bring that pasta to a boil.”

My Neapolitan aunt, with whom I used to watch the show, enjoyed it as much as I did and found their style of cooking similar to hers. Her only objection to their no-frills show came at the end of each episode when Margaret and George sat down to sample their food at their kitchen table. “Why can’t they be like Julia,” she said, “and have their meal in the dining room.”

Posted on March 15, 2021March 15, 2021 by Tablewine · 12 Comments

Orecchiette with Salmon, Arugula, and Artichokes

Once again, the recipe highlighted in today’s post was suggested by my better half, who informed me that we had a haul of salmon in our overcrowded freezer that needed to be pared down. The recipe, “Orecchiette with Salmon, Arugula and Artichokes” is by cookbook author Grace Parisi and comes from the December 2012 issue of Food and Wine.

Posted on January 18, 2021January 24, 2021 by Tablewine · 12 Comments

Pork Chops with Porcini Mushrooms & Red Wine

My search for a novel recipe for pork chops led me to a well-worn cookbook on my shelves: 1,000 Italian Recipes by Michele Scicolone. Although its title might sound a tad gimmicky, the 657-page tome comprises authentic Italian recipes by one of the most respected, and prolific, authorities on Italian cuisine.

Posted on January 12, 2021 by Tablewine · 5 Comments

Creamy Mushroom & Spinach Orzo

My Firefox browser’s homepage features a news-story service called “Pocket.” Throughout the day, it displays a selection of “curated” articles about a wide array of subjects in a 3×7 grid of colorful, eye-catching photos captioned with inviting summaries of the content to which they are linked.

Posted on January 4, 2021 by Tablewine · 2 Comments

Sticky Mango Shrimp

“Shrimp again?” quipped my husband when he unpacked our supermarket order of EZ-peel shrimp on Friday? I could understand the remark; since we’ve been sheltering in place since March, our seafood orders have been limited to shrimp on sale from our local supermarket, frozen, though rather expensive, salmon fillets from celebrity chef Curtis Stone, and Italian tuna in olive oil from Amazon.

Posted on December 29, 2020December 30, 2020 by Tablewine · 7 Comments

Pasta with Cauliflower

One of the best moments in blogging is finding a great recipe on a friend’s website that you just have to make because it sounds and looks so good. Of course, trusting that colleague’s taste is also a determining factor for choosing it.