Big Green Beans with Lemon and Dill

1. Bring some water to a boil with a "steamer" thing above it.

2. Place 2 handfuls of fresh green beans from Steve and Olivia's farm in the steamer and close the lid.

3. In a bowl, Zest and Squeeze one lemon from your tree or someone elses. Add some olive oil. Add some green peppercorn dijon or other favorite mustard. Add some minced basil and some of Olivia's Dillweed from Farmer and the Cook. Salt and Pepper too.

4. When beans are done to your liking (we like them still a little crunchy), add to the lemon mustard herb dressing and toss to coat.

Grilled Sea Bass "Ceviche"

Olivia and Steve came over last night. We had already eaten too much food and Steve's Potato Salad is so incredibly good, it's hard not to eat A LOT. But we still decided to grill the big beautiful piece of Sea Bass anyway.

So we had a lot left over this evening.

This is what I did with it.

1. Mince up 1/4 of one of Steve's amazing red onions.
2. "Chop" already grilled Sea Bass into the right size pieces for eating with a chip
3. Thinly slice up some of Steve's fresh basil
4. Zest and squeeze a lime into the mixture
5. Add just enough organic mayo to bind.
6. Salt and Pepper.

We ate it with "Have a Chip" Chips.
Perfect meal after a HOT day.


Note: I tried being a Vegetarian again for a while. I have gone back to eating meat.

Fried Pasta with Fat and Salt

Olivia, my dear friend is teasing me about not cooking anymore. Steve, her husband even said the other day, "You used to be such a good cook."

But what about Eric? Does he feel tricked? What if he announced that he did want to take care of the cars anymore? We so easily find ourselves in roles and assume we will do them forever.

Fried Rice has been replaced with Fried Pasta.

Tonight I came home at around 11 famished. My Ayurvedic pal, Jackie would be appalled.

1. Find leftover plain already cooked strangled priest pasta in the fridge
2. Heat too much olive oil in a pan
3. Mash up some garlic.
4. When oil is hot, put in garlic, stir and add pasta. Stir well to coat and mix garlic with pasta.
5. I needed more fat, so I added some butter too.
6. Then I added some chopped up dill, salt and pepper and lots of Parmesan, all as it was still in the pan.
7. I poured it into a bowl and came over to the computer to write about it.

It's already gone.

Refridgerator Fried Rice

We returned from a hike and we only had one egg left. Starving and reliant on what was in the fridge, here is what we made:

1. Mince up the 1/2 yellow onion left over from last night's dinner
2. Mince of some of the 2 stalks celery you left out from last nights dinner
3. Mince up some of the left over packaged Lassen's ham
4. In a small non stick pan, heat a little olive oil or other fat and add the above ingredients
5. When soft, add the rice left over from Chinese food on Friday. About a generous cup. Saute until starting to brown. Grind lots of pepper into mixture.
6. In a small bowl, whisk up egg. Push rice aside and allow egg to start to fry. Then eventually ix into rice and toss and continue to fry. Add some soy sauce. Continue to cook until egg are sufficiently dry. Serve.

This was ridiculously tasty.

Garlic Bread

Tonight Eric came home with the groceries and there was not enough pasta in the package to feed 3. I think I have mentioned that my little brother now lives with us. We had some leftover french loaf from last night (used to make croutons for Cesear salad) so I decided to make garlic bread. I have never made garlic bread. Here is what I did:

1. Blanched a lot of garlic cloves in boiling water for about a minute. (Got this idea from an Italian cookbook on instructions of how to make garlic butter).
2. After blanching, used a masher to mash.
3. Mashed up a stick of butter with the garlic and then melted.
4. Sliced up the French Loaf and Toasted one Side under the broiler.
5. Added some Mexican Oregano, Thyme and Salt to butter mixture.
6. When Bread was toasted, removed and dunked the "untoasted" side in the butter. (That bread soaked up a lot of butter).
7. Grated a little Parmesan on each slice and placed back under the broiler until toasty brown.

Serve HOT. The garlic bread was unfortunately delicious.

Carraway and Cumin Pita Chips

1. Using a mix of whole wheat and white pita bread, cut into triangles and separate into halves.

2. Spread your chosen fat on the inside of each of the pita chips. We used butter, but olive oil or ghee or other favorite fat would work.

3. Sprinkle with seeds or herbs of choice. We used Caraway Seed, Cumin Seed, Fennel and Salt.

4. Toast under a broiler till browned. (This does not take very long).

5. Serve with dips and spreads.

Brocolli Rabe Pasta with Kale and Sausage

2 Links Spicy Italian Turkey Sausage, broken up
1 medium Red Onion sliced into 1/4 moons
Approx. 1/2 Cup of Madeira or other such cooking alcohol
Dash of Red Pepper Flakes
Freshly ground pepper to taste
Tablespoon or so of chopped rosemary
Teaspoon or so of Dried Thyme
Approx. Cup of Chicken Broth
Generous bunch of Broccoli Rabe from BD's Farm
Bunch of Black Kale from BD's Farm
Approx. 3 tbl of unslated Butter
Approx. 1/4 cup of Half n Half

Egg Noodle Pasta from Farmer and the Cook. 4 minute cooking time.

1. Start a pot of boiling water.

2. Saute Sausage in a heavy pot.

3. Remove Sausage and reserve. Add a little olive oil to pan if not enough fat was rendered.

4. Add onions and saute. When desired tenderness is achieved, add peppers and herbs and stir. Add Madeira and reduce. Add chicken broth. Meanwhile slice kale into 1/4 inch pieces and wash. Chop Broccoli rabe into evenly sized pieces. Usually the stalk can be cut into 2 or 3 pieces.

5. Add Broccoli and stir. Loosely cover the pot to help broccoli steam, but pay attention that it does not overcook. At this point, throw pasta in boiling water. Just before pasta is done, add kale. And stir sausage back in.

6. Drain pasta and add to pot. Mix in butter and creme and stir to combine. Salt to taste.

Asapargus and Spinich Salad with Toasted Pecans, Point Reyes Blue Cheese and Figs

Making dinner from what is already in your house can be a good way to stimulate creativity.

Toast the Pecans, set aside

Saute up and caramelize a thinly sliced shallot
Barely Saute Asparagus
Put Shallots and Asparagus in Salad Bowl

Barely Saute the Fresh Spinach
Add to Asparagus and Shallots
Toss with some Balsamic Vinegar and Olive Oil

Divide Salad onto to two plates or bowls
Scatter toasted pecans, blue cheese shavings and chopped dried Turkish Figs

Salt and Fresh ground pepper.