It’s not just devouring it — I also love cooking pasta dishes, too!
My vice is way too accessible.
So you can see the predicament I am constantly in.
But not all pastas need to be heavy or sauce laden.
In fact, one of my favorites is Linguine alle Vongole – long strands of pasta with clams in a white wine sauce.
YES PLEASE!
It’s really quite simple with just a handful of ingredients that are probably (besides the clams) are already hanging out in your pantry.
As for those clams:
Triple check with your fish dude/dudette that they are fresh.
Take the time to ensure that you soak and clean them. Biting into sandy clams is NO BUENO!
Toss away any clams that do not open after you’ve cooked them because that means they’re D-E-D! (Nope, not a typo. “DED” is “DEAD”…but wayyyyyy more.)
After you’ve done that, just infuse some olive oil with lots of garlic and red pepper flakes…..
throw in some white wine and your cleaned clams….
pop a lid on and wait until those molluscs open up!
Then it’s just a matter of tossing in the cooked linguine, butter (for a bit of added lusciousness), lemon and parsley.
And then get ready to do a Happy Dance in your kitchen because your tummy will be so appreciative of you!
Buon Appetito!
________________________________________________ Linguine alle Vongole {Linguine with Clams} Serves 2
Ingredients:
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 pound clams (Manila clams, cockles, littlenecks), scrubbed and cleaned* 1/3 cup white wine
kosher salt
5 ounces dried linguine, or other long strand pasta
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon fresh lemon zest
½ cup chopped parsley
Heat the olive oil over low heat in a large skillet. Add the garlic and cook for 5-6 minutes to infuse the oil. Swirl the skillet often to ensure that the garlic does not burn. Add the red pepper flakes and infuse for another minute.
Raise the heat to medium and allow the garlic and pepper flakes to cook for an additional 15-20 seconds. Add the clams to the skillet and pour in the wine. Once the liquids begin to bubble, place a cover over the skillet and allow the clams to steam open – approximately 5-8 minutes depending on their size.
While the clams cook, add salt to a pot of boiling water. Add the dried linguine and cook to just shy of al dente. (Note: If your pasta is not done by the time your clams have cooked through, turn off the heat on the skillet and keep it covered until the pasta is ready. Turn the heat back up to medium once you add the pasta.)
When your pasta is done check your clams and discard any that have not opened yet. Add the pasta directly into the skillet with the clams, tossing to coat. Add the butter and continue stirring/tossing until it has fully incorporated. If the pasta appears slightly dry, add ½ – 1 ladle of the pasta cooking water, continuously stirring to emulsify the sauce. Toss in the lemon juice, zest and chopped parsley. Plate the pasta and serve immediately.
*Rinse and scrub the clam shells with a small brush. Place the scrubbed clams in a dish and submerge with cool water. Place the dish in the refrigerator for 20 minutes. Rinse the clams and change out the cool water every 20 minutes for an hour. If you still see sand/grit at the bottom of the dish at the end of an hour, repeat the soaking process for another 20-40 minutes.
This month we celebrated the birthdays of these two sweeties — Maya and Princess Leia. ❤
Maya turned 14 and Leia is now 11. Aren’t they just the most adorable pair?
And since Tết – the Vietnamese Lunar New Year – was happening at that time, Seester P and her clan made their way down from SF to join in on all of the celebrations.
Our youngest munckin was SOOOO excited to be with her SoCal family!
Ms. Kaelani is growing up to be quite the character! She was a nonstop chatterbox during her visit and was constantly singing!
Mulan’s “Let’s Get Down to Business” is one of her current favs but of course, Moana and Frozen are never far away.
And if you were watching my IG stories that weekend, you likely caught her bellowing out a few lines of a Madonna classic. I won’t divulge which one but needless to say, she was hilarious.
Such a funny and rascally little gal.
It’s ALWAYS a fun time when all of the Nguyễn sibbies are together!
Always loud, always chaotic….
Lots of teasing and laughing….
Especially when we’ve got some cocktails in us!
For this month, I made Palomas again because I love how bright and citrusy they are. There’s something about them that makes me feel “healthy”…..maybe the grapefruit juice?
I know I’m just fooling myself since it’s accompanied with a heavy pour of blanco tequila!
Also at that time, V and L had been puppy-sitting their neighbor’s new little furbaby – Ollie!
He’s an adorable little fluffy pup — and all of the kiddos just adored him!
Well…all the humanlings that is.
Don’t get me wrong…. Bella didn’t dislike him. I think she was just worried that it was another puppy that she would have to share all the treats with. Plus, she doesn’t like to have to fight for her humans’ attentions because as far as she’s concerned — she’s the queen.
I did notice that she was spending EXTRA time with each of her humans to ensure that they still remembered who was in charge.
As for Leia – she took to Ollie just fine.
She was just PUMPED that it was her birthday dinner because she knew her birthday “dessert” was going to be delish!
Don’t you just love how she sits? What a little lady…..
Ollie is one of the rare beings outside of our immediate family that has attended one of our Fam Dins.
It’s like hitting the lottery!
Time for food!
As for the menu that night, we all took inspiration from Maya’s favorite things.
Like her mama and papa, she’s a steak gal.
So earlier that morning, I took 6 New York Strip Steaks and cubed them up. Yes….SIX! There were a lot of us!
I marinated the cubed beef in shallots, garlic, EVOO, parsley, cilantro, chili flakes, S & P and ….. um…..
I’m not going to lie…..I threw in some other stuff that I can’t remember.
Oh wait! I think there was some lime zest and juice?
I know, I’m a terrible food blogger.
Anywhoooo……
After the beef did its thing in the fridge for about 8 hours, Nina skewered them for me.
Tag R – you’re in!
Nina and I then handed the skewers over so that R could grill ’em up.
While R finished up, I gathered the fixings I had prepped earlier to go with the skewers.
For the sauce, I turned to one of my most favorites – chimichurri! I adjusted my standardrecipe (which is so tasty!) and added more EVOO while I blended it so that it turned into almost an aioli consistency. It was wonderfully creamy and luscious drizzled over the beef.
Grilled Steak Skewers with Creamy Chimichurri and Pickled Red Onions – how many do you think you could throw down?
Thanks for the awesome grill job R!
Oh these two….
It makes my heart explode to see how close they are.
And it also makes me cringe to imagine what type of shenanigans they’ll get into together when they’re as old as T and I!
Eeek!
Quick pause for a kitchen pic before L and V got started on the other app.
Ms. Maya is a big fan of fried calamari so brother V took squid pieces, lightly tossed them into seasoned flour and then fried them up until they were nice and crispy.
L made a classic marinara sauce for us to dunk the calamari in.
Crispy Calamari with Fresh Marinara – irresistible!
Look! I inadvertently made cocktails that matched P’s shirt.
By then, it was getting close to someone’s bedtime. No, not me… Kaelani!
So P asked if we could move up lì xì time to ensure the youngest munchkin would still be awake.
Tết is all about welcoming the Lunar New Year with family and includes giving out lì xì for luck to the munchkins. Starting from oldest to youngest, they say Chúc Mừng Năm Mới (Happy New Year) and we give them our blessings and best wishes along with lì xì (little envelopes filled with some lucky moola).
Someone was WIDE AWAKE now!
Lì xì does have that magical affect!
With the well wishes and lucky money doled out, we put the finishing touches on dinner.
P was getting chilly and didn’t want to get her clothes splattered while she cooked, so she borrowed L’s onesie.
Extra funny since they were Christmas jammies and looked ginormous on her.
P crusted up tuna steaks with sesame seeds and crushed coriander before searing.
She then topped the Seared Tuna over Mixed Greens and added fresh oranges, crispy wonton chips, sliced almonds and a light sesame vinaigrette.
I blame the below on the Christmas onesie.
Or the extra strong refill cocktail we made her.
Probably both.
Seestrah T took charge of the entree — an homage to one of Maya’s favorite dishes from Corner Baker.
Creamy Pesto Cavatappi with Grilled Chicken … super rich and comforting.
T did a spot on job with this copycat recipe — trust me, I had my fair share of it.
How the heck is Lucas doing that with his tongue?!
Dinner time! Everyone to the table please!
Bella….always the first one waiting.
Some one was SUPER tired by this time and barely made it through dinner.
But in her defense, after all that pasta, we ALL were feeling a bit sleepy.
For fear of us passing out, we quickly got dessert ready for our two birthday girls.
Maya loves strawberries and chocolate and sprinkles.
Big Seester N took the lead with her dessert and made a chocolate cheesecake that had strawberry slices inside. The crust, of course, was made of Oreos….because why not add more chocolate?
Nini made chocolate covered strawberries to top the cheesecake with. Aren’t they perfect? As a college student, she could totally build a side hustle selling them–don’t you think?
Everyday we hustlin’…..
Strawberry-Chocolate Decadence Cheesecake …. seester nailed it with this one.
And don’t forget our 2nd birthday babe – Princess Leia!
When R was grilling the beef skewers earlier, I asked him to also throw on a 7th New York Strip Steak I had bought. Yes…I procured 6 steaks to cube up for our appetizer and left the 7th one whole for Leia’s birthday “cake-steak”.
Hey, a girl only turns 11 once! And that face…how could I not?
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAYA AND LEIA! You both are such sweet souls.
If you think the above photo is just too darn adorable, than scroll down and check out the one below.
Amazing right?
Keep scrolling.
They are just too much. I want to freeze time so that they both will stay like this forever.
Our February Babies.
Oh yes, this time Princess Leia got in on the Family Dinner Birthday celebrations too. After all, she was turning double digits…the big 1-0! (Or I guess, 70 in her case….)
So her fur-less cousin Maya was happy to be sharing her bday fam din with her. And as for our sweet Maya, she turned 13.
THIRTEEN!!!
I can’t…I seriously just can’t with the munchkins growing up so quickly.
Usually for your birthday, you get to choose what you’d like your dessert to be.
For Leia, it was a no-brainer. She’d be getting candles in a big ol’ steak like her cousin Bella.
But for Maya, I wanted to surprise her and told her “trust me, you’ll like it.” More on that later.
While we were milling around getting things prepped, we noshed on a Cheese Board that L assembled. It had Manchego with apricot preserves, Fromager d’Affinois, Picholine olives, marinated peppers and crackers.
N made the second appetizer. Truthfully, I can’t remember what it’s called but it’s like a Cheesy Spinach-Artichoke Bread Ring Dip. Picture this….take crescent roll dough and form little balls. Line a cast iron skillet with them and then fill the center with a super cheesy spinach-artichoke mixture. Bake it up and BOOM.
Cheesy goodness.
YES PLEASE!
Spotted: Unicorn Herd in their natural environment.
I think they were congregating because they knew it was DINNER TIME!!
Miss Maya was very relaxed about her whole birthday menu. This was pretty much our convo:
Me: What would you like to have for dinner?
Maya: Um….
Me: Seafood? Sushi? Pasta —
Maya: PASTA!
Me: Ok…what kind of pasta? Chicken? Shrimp? Steak —
Maya: STEAK!
And that was it! She’s pretty low maintenance.
V and T put their heads together and came up with this Grilled Steak over Puttanesca dish. It was hearty, flavorful and combined some of my most favorite things –steak, cheese and carbs.
Have you had it before? If not, you’ve got to try it!
It has all kinds of goodness like radicchio, lettuce, tomatoes, chickpeas, salami, pepperoncini and provolone. And it’s actually quite hearty that you could have it as a stand alone meal with perhaps some warm toasted baguette on the side.
And then before we knew it, it was dessert time!
I’ve always wanted to make a unicorn cake…blame it on Instagram I suppose. So when I was thinking of what to bake for Maya, Nini suggested a unicorn cake because it would be something that the birthday girl would absolutely love. And if anyone knows Maya, it’s definitely her big cousie Nini.
I realize that Buttercup’s horn (yes, Maya named the unicorn) is a bit excessive, but heck–I’m not sure when the next unicorn cake will come around again so I might as well GO BIG!
I first started off with the sponge and ended up choosing funfetti. Because c’mon, unicorns love rainbows and sprinkles right?
After I baked the three layers of cake, I took a taste and thought hmm…..it kind of just tasted like vanilla cake.
For those of you that like funfetti, this may not be a surprise. But I actually think that it may have been my first time tasting it. Don’t judge me…I’m a chocolate fan myself.
So to OOMPHF up the flavor, I decided to fill the layers with fresh whipped cream and strawberries –two things that I know for certain the bday girl also adores. And I’m totally glad that I did because it really brought something fresh to the cake.
Hey- if you’re going to be extra when baking a cake, it might as well be fore a unicorn cake!
The whole thing was then covered with a light layer of vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream (always my buttercream of choice) and then I went nuts decorating Buttercup with three shades of buttercream using various piping tips.
I used standard fondant to shape her horn, ears and eyes. And for the golden sheen, I used edible gold spray for the inner ear accents as well as her magical horn.
Cute right? I wish my eyelashes were as on-point as Buttercup.
And of course, because she’s so magical, she was dusted with lots of different sprinkles and edible gold stars.
To be honest, I had a lot of fun making this cake!
And let’s not forget the other birthday girl!
Princess Leia got a bone-in ribeye steak that V grilled.
Seriously, look at that face.
And unlike her food-mongering puggle cousin, she sat patiently waiting while we sang and took pictures before diving in. What a good puppers!
It’s fair to say that the birthday girls thoroughly enjoyed their family dinner in their honor.
Princess Leia wearing a crown while seated on a plush thrown…..
Maya wearing a floral-kitty headband from when she was about 1 or 2….
Heart-melty….
Yes, we’re a bit over-the-top kind of family. But if you’ve been with me for awhile, you’ve likely come to that conclusion already. It’s how we roll….
Cocktails:Various Wine Appetizers:Cheese Board, Cheesy Spinach-Artichoke Bread Ring Dip Sides: Chopped Salad à la Pizzeria Mozza Entrees:Grilled Steak over Puttanesca Dessert:Funfetti-Strawberries and Cream Unicorn Cake (And a Steak for the fur babies!)
As promised, here’s a scrumptious pasta dish that gives a big ol’ nod to my summer crush– Burrata Caprese.
It’s surprisingly light since it’s not laden with a heavy sauce and quite fresh from the heirloom tomatoes and basil. And can we talk about the burrata?
So dreamy….
Added bonus?
This beauty can be ready in under 15 minutes. A complete hero for weeknight meals.
Next up – Burrata Caprese & Prosciutto Skillet Pizza!
_____________________________________
Burrata Caprese Bucatini Serves 2
Ingredients:
kosher salt
1/3 pound dried bucatini pasta (or other long strand pasta of your choice)
3 tablespoons quality extra virgin olive oil, more to finish
1 heaping tablespoon minced garlic
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes–more to finish
1 heaping tablespoon anchovy paste or 2-3 anchovy fillets
¼ cup grated parmesan cheese–more to finish
black pepper
1½ heaping cup diced tomatoes*
10 large fresh basil leaves, julienned
3 ounces fresh burrata cheese
Boil the pasta for approximately 7-8 minutes in heavily salted water until al dente. Drain the pasta and reserve ¼ cup of the starchy water that the pasta was cooked in.
While the pasta cooks, heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large skillet. Add the garlic, red pepper flakes and cook for 1-2 minutes to infuse the oil. Add in the anchovies and stir until it melts into the oil.
Toss in the cooked bucatini and cheese — coating the pasta well. If you want a looser based “sauce”, add a tablespoon at a time of the starchy pasta water until you reach your desired consistency. Season with additional kosher salt and black pepper as needed. Toss in the tomatoes and basil. Plate the pasta and top with burrata. Sprinkle each dish with additional parmesan, red pepper flakes and a drizzle of olive oil.
Enjoy!
*If I can find them, I like using small heirloom tomatoes as they are often times sweeter but Romas or other ripe tomatoes are just as delish.
More times than not, you’ll find me rummaging around my pantry and fridge without a plan in mind of what to cook.
Odd for a food blogger?
Well friends, if you’ve been with me for awhile—my quirkiness must have seeped through the screen by now. So there’s really no hiding my “offbeat” approach to things.
Flashback to yesterday night when I was on the verge of turning into a gremlin from hunger. A full blown GREMLIN I tell ya! And I knew I only have a few minutes to pull something together before I passed out on the kitchen floor.
I needed a quick pasta — STAT!!!
In dire moments when I’m short on time (or just lazy), pasta aglio e olio is heaven sent! It’s a staple pasta dish from Naples where you infuse good quality olive oil with tons and I mean TONS of garlic and a bit of red pepper flakes. After your pasta is cooked, you toss it in the infused oil and add some herbs and maybe some grated cheese. I do versions of pasta aglio e olio all of the time –sometimes adding a bit of anchovy paste or capers or even a bit of chorizo.
But imagine my utter glee when I remembered that I had some leftover Dungeness crab from the weekend. I seriously squealed “YAYYYYY!” when I saw it in the fridge and did a little dance…… yeah, it doesn’t take much to get a happy dance out of this gal.
I proceeded with my standard steps for pasta aglio e olio and at the end, tossed in some of the sweet crab meat and just a few pinches of grated parm. I piled a huge mound on the plate, sprinkled some more pepper flakes on top, fresh lemon zest, chives and to add that extra level of decadence for a Monday night–a drizzle of white truffle oil.
HUMINAH! HUMINAH! HUMINAH!!!!!!
It was fantastic! The wonderful sweet and sea flavor from the beautiful Dungeness crab mixed with the garlic punch and bright freshness from the lemon zest—along with the earthy oil. It was all somehow hearty and light at the same time.
Considering I was on the verge of turning into a ravenous monster before/during the cooking process, I hadn’t bothered to take step by step photos to blog about it. But once done, it looked, well–damn sexy! So I took about 37 seconds to snap a couple of pics before inhaling it.
Not only did I manage to suppress the gremlin from emerging but I rocked out a pretty awesome dish in about 15 minutes. That’s a rather successful Monday in this gal’s book.
________________________________________
Spaghetti Aglio e Olio with Dungeness Crab Servings: 2
Ingredients:
kosher salt, divided
5 ounces dried spaghetti noodles, or other long strand pasta
3 tablespoons quality extra virgin olive oil
1 heaping tablespoon minced garlic
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes, more to garnish
½ tablespoon grated parmesan or pecorino cheese
4-5 ounces cooked Dungeness crab meat
1 teaspoon fresh lemon zest
1 teaspoon fresh chopped chives
white truffle oil to finish*
Bring a pot of salted water to boil. Add the spaghetti noodles and boil for 8-9 minutes or until al dente. Drain the pasta and reserve ¼ cup of the starchy water that the pasta was cooked in.
While the pasta boils, heat the olive oil over medium-low heat in a large skillet. Add the garlic and cook for 2-3 minutes to infuse the oil. Swirl the skillet often to ensure that the garlic does not burn. Add the red pepper flakes and infuse for another minute. Carefully pour in the reserved starchy pasta water, turn the heat to medium-high and bring it to a boil. Whisk the items together and then toss in the pasta. Stir and toss for about a minute and sprinkle in the cheese and 2-3 generous pinches of salt.
Remove the skillet from the heat and gently fold in the crab. Plate the pasta between two dishes. Sprinkle the tops of each serving with lemon zest, chives and drizzle with white truffle oil. If you do not have truffle oil, drizzle with some additional quality extra virgin olive oil.
It’s been two weeks since Thanksgiving and I think I’ve finally recovered from the madness.
Just in time for 15 full days of holiday craziness with my family.
Pray for me.
At the close of Thanksgiving and 15+ hours of shopping, we held our monthly Family Dinner. When we had chatted about potential menu options a few weeks prior, my seesters and I agreed that we wanted dishes that were low-key and stress-free since we would have been so wiped out from Thanksgiving.
So obviously, we chose a menu that took hours and hours of preparation, that needed to be started days in advance and was highly laborious.
Apparently our strategy was slightly flawed.
We never learn…..
But as always, we started with some cocktails….. Pomegranate-Raspberry Saketinis!
I muddled a bunch of fresh raspberries with pomegranates in a pitcher. Added sake, a few glugs of vodka, several splashes of Cointreau, some fresh lime juice, pomegranate juice and then topped it off with a bit of pomegranate-berry soda.
Then came the appetizers – Xiao Long Bao or “ShanghaiSoup Dumplings”. Normally I would say that dumplings aren’t typically too difficult to make. In fact, I usually love making them and find the folding process rather relaxing.
Not these buggers! We’re all still traumatized!
Xiao Long Bao are a Shanghainese dumpling with a very thin skin/wrapper. They’re filled with a variety of ground proteins and an aspic that once steamed, becomes soupy–thus the name Soup Dumplings! Dumplings and Soup all in one? BRILLIANT!
Seester T took the lead with these and man, did they take some prep work! Using The Woks of Life recipe, she started with the aspic. Vegans beware because essentially, it’s a natural meat gelatin.
Yes…as in J-E-L-L-O.
Pork bones and other porky bits are thrown into a pot with water and several aromatics. Everything simmers for a few hours and then is strained and chilled.
Voila—Aspic!
She then made a ground pork filling and threw in some shrimp because surf and turf is always a good idea. Once done, the aspic was cubed up and folded into the filling.
Next, we enlisted our niece Nini to help out with the assembly. Seestrah made the dough according to The Woks of Life’s recipe and used my pasta roller to make thin sheets for the dumpling wrappers.
Remember when I said laborious? It definitely was!
Hand cranking out the sheets so that they were paper thin and then cutting them into perfect circles with a biscuit cutter. Nini then meticulously filled and folded the dumplings to ensure they were all sealed up tightly so that none of the soup would run out during the steaming process. It took about 3 hours for us to make the wrappers and fill them all. Granted, it was our very first time but I will never, NEVER take it for granted next time I have Xiao Long Bao. Those folks can make them in lighting speed!
The XLB had good flavor and paired well with the black vinegar sauce–plus they were fun to eat! If we do ever make them again (and let’s be honest, it’ll be a very LONG time in the future), I’d like to play around with the dough. It was pretty good but I think it could be even thinner, especially on the top where it all purses together so that it’s less dense and chewy.
But heck–for our first time, it was awesome!
For the main dish, we chose Tonkotsu Ramenwhere we made everything but the menma and kamboko from scratch. And if you’re keeping tally, that means the Tonkotsu Broth, Chasu, Ajitsuke Tamago, Mayu and Ramen Noodles—ALL HOMEMADE!
By chance do you recall when I said we wanted a low-fuss Family Dinner?
We’re insane.
A few days prior to Fam Din, Seestrah N started on the Tonkotsu broth because it needs hours upon hours of simmering. She went with Marc’s route from No Recipe and pretty much followed it to the T.
On the day of Fam Din, she made the Chasu –braised pork belly from Nami at Just One Cookbook. She also threw in an extra few pieces of pork shoulder for some added protein. And let me tell you….that chasu was beautiful, unctuous, pork heaven.
The night before Fam Din, I prepped Nami’s Ajitsuke Tamago(shoyu eggs) since it’s best to allow them to marinate overnight. They were really easy to make and would be great just atop some steamed rice.
In addition to the Chasu and Ajitsuke Tamago, we topped our ramen bowls with:
Toasted Nori (seaweed) Strips
Menma (marinated bamboo shoots)
Kamboko (fish cake)
Kikurage (fresh wood ear mushrooms)
Scallions
I also made Mayu which is a black garlic oil that was drizzled on top of our bowls of ramen.
I spend a lot and I mean A LOT of time in the kitchen. As such, I’m pretty comfortable with baking breads, working with yeast dough and making pastas. I don’t have the pasta attachment for my KitchenAid but I’ve gotten by pretty well with my hand crank pasta roller over the years. So when I was nominated (was this because I’m the youngest!?) to make the noodles, I just went with it.
I did tons and tons of research and went with Marc’sramen noodles as well. He was detailed in account and his pictures really captured the process. If you decide to give this recipe a try, note that he was not lying that this dough is extremely dry. You’ll likely want to keep adding water but just go with it and press it all together until it forms a ball. Trust me, it eventually does.
But here’s where I start to kick myself for attempting this method without an electric pasta machine/KitchenAid attachment. Before allowing the dough to rest for several hours, you have to run it through your pasta roller a few times so that it forms smooth rectangular sheets. Sounds easy right? Well I’m sure it would have been had I not used a hand crank roller with a dry dough. It was crumbling everywhere!
I was sweating bullets trying to shove the crumbling dough into the roller….Add the fact that I tripled the recipe and now you’ll have an idea why my biceps were on fire!
When it came time to cut them into noodles, a piece of me cried inside knowing that my arms were going to get another work out since I would need to pass the dough through the roller several more times. Another wrench was thrown into the situation when the attachment blade that cuts the noodles got stuck. I ended up hand-cutting the noodles which wasn’t ideal since I couldn’t get it as thin as I had wanted to—but it got the job done.
Moral of the story? If you’re not a pro, use a KitchenAid pasta attachment or similar thing-a-ma-bob if you make fresh ramen noodles.
But once assembled, we were all pretty darn proud of ourselves.
It tasted LEGIT! Like, TOO-LEGIT-TO-QUIT!
Every component had a role and although laborious, had a distinct purpose to the ramen.
And just like the Xiao Long Bao, I will never, never underestimate or take for granted the folks who make my ramen.
Heck–they’re freaking amazing in my book.
After polishing off our noodles and a bit of kitchen clean up, we actually took off for a little more shopping. Why? Who knows….we were delirious.
But when we came home, we tucked right into dessert.
I had made a simple Matcha Mousse-Chocolate Tart. The base was made out of crushed Oreo Cookies and filled with a fluffy matcha mousse. We’re green tea monsters, so a light and matcha-filled dessert suited us just fine.
Was dinner easy and low maintenance?
HECK NO!
Did I perhaps lose a few months off my life from the stress?
WOULDN’T DOUBT IT!
Did my sis say she needed therapy because of the XLB?
YOU BET!
But were we happy with how things turned out over all?
ABSOLUTELY!
It was a true and deep Labor of Love.
And the cherry on top?
My Trojans whooped the Bruins that day and brought back home the Victory Bell!! Aren’t my kiddos adorable in their gear???? ❤
Total Proud Auntie.
Oh–in case you’re wondering, we went to Target and World Market after dinner/before dessert.
What did I pick up?
A few more additions to my ever growing Nutcracker collection. Priorities people, priorities.
This Month’s Family Dinner Menu
Cocktails: Pomegranate-Raspberry Sake-tinis
Appetizers: Pork & Shrimp Xiao Long Bao {Soup Dumplings}
Entrees: Tonkotsu Ramen with Chasu, Shoyu Egg, Menma, Kamaboko, Kikurage
Dessert: Matcha Mousse and Chocolate Tart
I know, what the heck was I doing at The Old Spaghetti Factory?! But that’s an entirely different story for another time.
They toss Mizithra with pasta and browned butter which is so perfect and simple. I mean, c’mon now, throw some nutty flavored browned butter in anything and I’ll gobble it up. So when Mizithra joins the party, I’m totally there.
I found a little wedge of the cheese at my neighborhood market and swooped it right up. I, too, browned up some butter to coat linguine noodles in but added lots of fresh parsley and lemon zest. The combination of the browned butter and Mizithra can be a bit rich so the fresh herbs and citrus really helped to brighten it all.
A rad little dish that takes less than 10 minutes to make with only a handful of ingredients.
And yes, I forgive you now ❤
_________________________________________
Browned Butter Linguine with Mizithra Serves 2
Ingredients:
kosher salt
4 ounces dried linguine noodles
¼ cup salted butter
¼ teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
¼ cup grated Mizithra (Myzithra) cheese, more to plate
¼ teaspoon fresh lemon zest
1 tablespoon minced parsley
Bring a pot of salted water to boil. Add linguine noodles and boil for 6-7 minutes or until al dente.
While the pasta boils, prepare the browned butter. Place the butter in a saucepan and melt over medium-low heat. Swirl the pan and allow the butter to bubble and foam slightly. Continue browning the butter until it begins to smell nutty and it turns a dark golden brown. Remove from heat.
Once the pasta becomes al dente, drain well and add it back to the pot. Toss the noodles with the browned butter, red pepper flakes and cheese. Plate the pasta between two dishes. Sprinkle each serving with lemon zest, parsley and grate additional Mizithra over each plate. Enjoy!
Earlier this morning, I ran around town knocking out some errands. Nothing out of the usual….stopping by at the dry cleaners, making my bi-daily homage to Target and picking up some groceries.
I came a cross a beautiful bunch of organic Lacinato Kale for only a $1! Smoking Deal!
This particular variety originates from Italy–Tuscany to be specific. Since I couldn’t pass up the bargain, I grabbed a few bunches for the week.
As I was finishing my last errand, I had that moment. That brink when you know things may take a quick turn for the worst.
Yeah…I was about to get h’angry.
Hide yo’ kids! Hide yo’ wives!
It’s not a pretty picture ….and I needing something quick to make to save the world from the Namzilla.
As soon as I got into the kitchen, I quickly got a pot of water boiling and threw in some bucatini. At first glance, bucatini looks like a thick spaghetti noodle. But it actually is hollow inside and has a great texture and “toothiness” because of it.
While the noodles boiled, I minced up a pile of garlic and chopped up the kale into thin, long strips–a chiffonade. After quickly sauteing the garlic in olive oil, I added a generous amount of red pepper flakes and a huge dollop of anchovy paste.
Don’t freak out. The anchovy paste does not taste “fishy” at all but adds a rich, salty depth of flavor that you just can’t replicate. And if you don’t have anchovy paste, feel free to use 2-3 anchovy fillets.
Once the oil is infused with the garlic and anchovies, I added the kale and cooked them until they were tender but still had a bite to them.
Toss in the cooked bucatini, chopped tomatoes, parmesan–and that’s it!!! Super quick, super savory, and totally satisfying. The whole thing took about 15 minutes to whip up and is perfect for a fast weekday meal.
Phew…Crisis Averted.
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Bucatini with Anchovies and Kale Serves 3
Ingredients:
kosher salt
½ pound dried bucatini pasta (or other long strand pasta of your choice)
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 heaping tablespoon minced garlic
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes (more to finish)
1 heaping tablespoon anchovy paste or 2-3 anchovy fillets
½ bunch kale, chiffonade
1 cup diced tomatoes
¼ cup grated parmesan cheese (more to finish)
black pepper
Boil the pasta for approximately 7-8 minutes in heavily salted water until al dente. Drain the pasta and reserve ¼ cup of the starchy water that the pasta was cooked in.
While the pasta cooks, heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large skillet. Add the garlic, red pepper flakes and cook for 1-2 minutes to infuse the oil. Add in the anchovies and stir until it melts into the oil. Toss in the kale and cook for 2 minutes until the leaves have wilted.
Toss in the cooked bucatini, tomatoes and cheese — coating the pasta well. If you want a looser based “sauce”, add a tablespoon at a time of the starchy pasta water until you reach your desired consistency. Season with additional kosher salt and black pepper as needed. Plate the pasta and cover each dish with additional parmesan and red pepper flakes.
One of the questions I’ve been receiving a lot over the past few months is….“Are you all still doing your Sunday Family Dinners?”
And the answer is—absolutely YES!
But the truth of the matter is……
Well, you see…..
So, the reason is………..
I’m a terrible Procrastinator.
GAH! The cat is out of the bag!
It’s terrible, I know. Particularly because I spend hours a day scolding coaching college students on how to avoid procrastination.
Trust me, the hypocrisy irony is not lost on me.
Ugh.
So yes…since my last Sunday Family Dinner post in July (insert puppy eyes, shamed face here), mi familia still converge at one of the seesters‘ home and get together to get our cookin’ and eatin’ on.
And it’s been darn delicious too.
I definitely don’t want to miss the opportunity to share the past dinners (for my own personal food diary motives and also to share some tasty eats) so I’m committed to posting one recap a week until I catch up.
So hold me to it!
Our March fam-din theme was born the way most of ours come to fruition……..while we’re currently eating/feasting on that particular month’s dinner. Does any one else sit around the table with their family enjoying a meal while talking about what their next meal will be?
Just us? Figures…
Well, the theme for March started off with a single ingredient – DUCK. All the dishes were supposed to contain duck in some sort or fashion.
With the exception of dessert….because we may be adventurous but duck flavored dessert did not excite any of us.
Since foie gras is now legal again in California, we were planning on having a variation for appetizers. But at the last minute, foie was no where to be found and we didn’t have the time to get it shipped to us. No biggie…we just had to make a few alterations.
After doing a little research, I opted to pick up whole ducks from a local Asian grocery store as it was the most affordable route for us. Just a little FYI–most ducks sold at Asian grocers are Long Island (Pekin). So I swung on by our nearby 99 Ranch Market and picked up two duckies. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize that they still had their heads and feet intact until I got home.
<Gulp>
I admit, I got a little nervous as I stared into their little eyes. But after a pep talk from big seester (more like a “c’mon, just do it!”), I put on my big girl pants and butchered/broke them down. After a quick thank you to the duckies for feeding us and the initial eebie-jeebies, I got over it. Hey, if I’m going to be a responsible carnivore, I’ve got to do the dirty work sometimes.
The main dish was to be a slow cooked sugo of duck with fresh hand cut pappardelle pasta. But since we had so much leftover duck “parts”, I decided to make a rich stock that would be used in the sugo.
We even used the duck skin and fat to make crispy, salty duck cracklings–which were surprisingly easy and a darn delicious way to celebrate every part of the duck.
We opted to use Mario Batali’s technique for the cracklings which was kind of a confit-render-fry method. I highly recommend it.
As always, we kicked off dinner with a cocktail. True, it wasn’t a duck themed cocktail but more of a nod to spring. I blended fresh mangoes, passion fruit, strawberries and fresh mint together to create a lovely tropical puree. I combined two parts of the fruit puree, 1 part vodka, 1/2 part coconut rum, 1/4 part fresh lemon juice and topped it all off with lemon sparkling water.
Bright, fresh, and packed a punch.
A duck punch.
To keep from getting h’angry, we noshed on baked artichoke-lump crab dib with toasted flat bread.
Didn’t you know that crabs were the ducks of the sea?
Just kidding… wait–am I?
And we also thought it may be a good idea to have some greens along with our meal. But our greens came in the form of —-
Cherry Tomatoes and Spinach….
Topped with Fresh Mozzarella….
With a shower of crispy Pancetta…
Studded with the freshly made Duck cracklings.
I mean C’MON guys…this salad was practically Vegan.
As I mentioned before, there was fresh hand cut pappardelle pasta. Sure, Trader Joe’ssells a perfectly good, packaged dry pappardelle. But why do that when you can guilt your seester into making the pasta from scratch?
She actually used two recipes for the two batches. The first one from Food and Wine had a better flavor from the extra egg yolks. But we liked the texture better from the one we found here. It’s still a work in progress to find the best pappardelle recipe. Any suggestions?
We used the pappardelle noodles to soak up all the goodness from the rich duck sugo that was topped with a bright herb gremolata. I’ll be sharing the recipe for the sugo this Friday.
And finally, DESSERT!
We had a lemon-herb pound cake that was soaked in Grand Marnier. The cake was smothered with a whipped cream that had freshly made lemon curd folded into it. It was all then topped with a mound of sweet macerated strawberries.
Did you know the nickname for strawberries is duck-berries?
Is that too far of a stretch? 🙂
And that, dear Friends, is a wrap on our “beak to tail”, all things most things Duck themed Family Dinner. I do promise to catch up on previous dinners as there is a lot of goodness to share!
And how adorable are our munchkins?
This Month’s Family Dinner Menu
Cocktails: Tropical Rum Punch
Appetizers: Baked Artichoke-Lump Crab Dib
Entrees: Caprese Salad with Crispy Pancetta and Duck Cracklings, Duck Sugo over Fresh Papparedelle Dessert: Lemon-Herb Pound Cake with Macerated Strawberries and Whipped Cream
That’s my new pasta song. Do you like it? Well obvi you can’t appreciate the full artistry of the song by just reading it.
But trust me.
It’s going to be a Grammy hit one of these days.
This 20-minute beauty truly tops the cake! Or pasta cake…or whatever. Y’all get where I’m going with this………………
Using two of my most favorite items– spicy Italian sausage and ‘shrooms, this number comes together so quick and is so delish that it’ll be a regular staple in your weeknight dinner rotation. You can also throw in other cast members that you may have lingering in your fridge like bell peppers, carrots, zucchinis, etc.
This time around, I ended using whole wheat pasta but feel free to use whichever that tickles your fancy.
TGIF Folks!
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20-Minute Spicy Sausage & Mushroom Pasta Serves 3-4
Ingredients:
kosher salt
½ pound dried linguine, or pasta of your choice
2 tablespoons olive oil
¾ pound hot Italian sausage, casings removed
½ cup diced shallots
1 tablespoon finely minced garlic
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
¼ teaspoon dried fennel, crushed
¼ teaspoon dried oregano
2 cups sliced crimini or button mushrooms, roughly chopped
1 28-ounce can crushed Roma tomatoes
2-3 pinches sugar
2-3 sprigs fresh thyme
fresh grated parmesan cheese
Boil the pasta for approximately 8-10 minutes in heavily salted water until al dente. Drain the pasta and reserve ¼ cup of the starchy water that the pasta was cooked in.
While the pasta boils, heat a large skillet with the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add in the sausage and use a wooden spoon to crumble up the meat while it’s browning. Cook until the sausage is no longer pink (about 1-2 minutes) and add the shallots, garlic, pepper flakes, fennel, oregano, and mushrooms. Sauté the items together for another 1-2 minutes.
Add tomatoes with its juices and bring to a boil. Add the sugar, thyme and lower the heat to medium-low. Use the wooden spoon to crush and break apart any large pieces of tomatoes. Allow the items to simmer for 8-10 minutes. Remove the thyme sprigs.
Toss in the cooked/drained linguine, coating the pasta well. If you want a looser based sauce, add a tablespoon at a time of the starchy pasta water until you reach your desired consistency. Season with additional kosher salt and black pepper as needed. Plate the pasta and cover each dish with freshly shaved parmesan.
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