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Food, glorious food!
Sep. 6th, 2010 06:54 pmLast night for supper, I made a macaroni salad chock full of deliciousness. I wanted macaroni, but not mayonnaise or cheese; I wanted vegetables, but not salad or crudités. I wanted a vinaigrette salad dressing, but I didn't want to spend a lot of time on it. So here's what I made.
Ingredients
Seed and dice the tomatoes, and throw them into a large bowl. Squeeze the juice from the lemons, grate the cloves of garlic on a microplane, add the olive oil, and mix all together.
Cut the broccoli into bite-sized pieces. My family is a family of bigmouths, so I just cut the heads off the broccoli and leave them. Throw them into the water you've boiled for the pasta, and let them blanch. Well, I actually cook them for a few minutes (usually four). Scoop out the broccoli with a slotted spoon and put it, still hot, on top of the vinaigrette.
Boil the pasta until it's how you like it. My family is not an al dente family, so I boil it for eight minutes. Then drain and toss with the broccoli and vinaigrette.
Now, I like the way broccoli and pasta will absorb the flavors of the vinaigrette as they cool, but that's not for everyone, so you can always make all this stuff in advance and let it cool before you mix it together.
Optional: a couple of poached or grilled chicken breasts, diced and tossed in; some diced ham; other types of vegetables (bell pepper, maybe? carrots?); or, you can go the route my family and I went and fry up some Italian-style veggie sausage (we like Smart brand) to toss in, and then grate some parmesan cheese over the top of it all.
Mmmm delicious. It's also really good at three a.m., eaten straight out of the tupperware whilst standing in front of the fridge.
More on food: Rosh Hashanah is coming up, but we're not going to celebrate properly until Sunday, when my sister and brother-in-law can come over. A friend of mine is Stateside right now, too, and she's never had a Rosh Hashanah supper before! My family is not exactly full of the most religious Jews in the world (being super relaxed Reform), but we throw a nice High Holiday spread. For the night of the 8th, we'll have a nice supper, plus a red velvet cake. Sweet things for a sweet year! Then, for the big table on Sunday, here's what I'm making:
I'm on the fence about making honey cake, though. Apples and honey is a traditional dish -- but no one in my family ever eats it. A honey cake would be a nice nod to tradition, but I just don't think anyone would eat it. Then what would we do with the leftovers? Give it away to neighbors who probably wouldn't eat it, I guess. That seems ridiculous. I'm thinking we'll put apples into the luchen kugel, and call it a night.
Oh, and even though I am making everything else? My mom is making pot roast. Yuck! If that's your thing, though, non-vegetarians, here's her recipe that she graciously typed up for the "Sally's Diner" portion of the Anna Katherine website.
Ingredients
- 2 med sized tomatoes
- 1 med sized lemon
- 1/4 c extra virgin olive oil
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 4 crowns of broccoli
- 1 lb elbow macaroni (or whatever; smallish is best)
Seed and dice the tomatoes, and throw them into a large bowl. Squeeze the juice from the lemons, grate the cloves of garlic on a microplane, add the olive oil, and mix all together.
Cut the broccoli into bite-sized pieces. My family is a family of bigmouths, so I just cut the heads off the broccoli and leave them. Throw them into the water you've boiled for the pasta, and let them blanch. Well, I actually cook them for a few minutes (usually four). Scoop out the broccoli with a slotted spoon and put it, still hot, on top of the vinaigrette.
Boil the pasta until it's how you like it. My family is not an al dente family, so I boil it for eight minutes. Then drain and toss with the broccoli and vinaigrette.
Now, I like the way broccoli and pasta will absorb the flavors of the vinaigrette as they cool, but that's not for everyone, so you can always make all this stuff in advance and let it cool before you mix it together.
Optional: a couple of poached or grilled chicken breasts, diced and tossed in; some diced ham; other types of vegetables (bell pepper, maybe? carrots?); or, you can go the route my family and I went and fry up some Italian-style veggie sausage (we like Smart brand) to toss in, and then grate some parmesan cheese over the top of it all.
Mmmm delicious. It's also really good at three a.m., eaten straight out of the tupperware whilst standing in front of the fridge.
More on food: Rosh Hashanah is coming up, but we're not going to celebrate properly until Sunday, when my sister and brother-in-law can come over. A friend of mine is Stateside right now, too, and she's never had a Rosh Hashanah supper before! My family is not exactly full of the most religious Jews in the world (being super relaxed Reform), but we throw a nice High Holiday spread. For the night of the 8th, we'll have a nice supper, plus a red velvet cake. Sweet things for a sweet year! Then, for the big table on Sunday, here's what I'm making:
- challah, braided and baked into rounds instead of long loaves
- luchen kugel
- matzo ball vegetable soup
- green bean casserole
- pot roast
- caramel pumpkin cinnamon sticky buns
- leftover red velvet cake with cream cheese icing
- honey cake
I'm on the fence about making honey cake, though. Apples and honey is a traditional dish -- but no one in my family ever eats it. A honey cake would be a nice nod to tradition, but I just don't think anyone would eat it. Then what would we do with the leftovers? Give it away to neighbors who probably wouldn't eat it, I guess. That seems ridiculous. I'm thinking we'll put apples into the luchen kugel, and call it a night.
Oh, and even though I am making everything else? My mom is making pot roast. Yuck! If that's your thing, though, non-vegetarians, here's her recipe that she graciously typed up for the "Sally's Diner" portion of the Anna Katherine website.
