Monthly Archives: November 2008

11.18.08
by

Tortellini with Tomato Sauce

This is what Eats for One is all about.

tortellini served

tortellini served

You have noted my harping on the creative use of leftovers; Monday’s lunch presented a perfect example. In order to have leftovers, you have to have meals (duh!), and this is what I had been cooking.

About a week ago, I made a K Paul Meatloaf and had half a green bell pepper left over. I put it in a baggie and stuck it in the crisper.

Last Wednesday I made a pan stew of scallops, peas and pearl onions. The recipe –from the Tra Vigne Cookbook – calls for 1/2 pound fresh pasta in a shape about the size of a pearl onion. I usually use conchiglie (little shells) or gigli (little lily) but this time I used fresh cheese tortellini, which comes in a ten ounce package. So I had some fresh pasta left over.

Thursday, I cooked Swordfish Provencal from a recipe I found on the Beyond Salmon blog. It calls for a 28 ounce can of diced tomatoes, drained. I saved the juice/puree in a POM jar.

Saturday, I made braised chicken thighs with tomato, capers, anchovies & olives from a Janet Fletcher story on chicken thighs in the Chronicle. It calls for a 28 can of whole peeled tomatoes, drained. More drained goodness. In both cases, I used cans of Italian San Marzano tomatoes; they’re more expensive, but well worth it.

Looks like lunch.

I put a pot of water on to boil. While that was going on, I diced the bell pepper put it on to sauté in olive oil, about 5 minutes. While the pepper softened I chopped half an onion and put that in with the pepper (another 5 minutes). I diced an Aidells Cajun Style Andouille (not left over) sausage and threw that in followed by the tomato sauce and seasoned it with salt, pepper and thyme. While the sauce cooked down a bit, I cooked the pasta (3 minutes), drained it and added to the tomato mixture. I let that bubble a little to get the flavors all going together, and served myself a nice lunch.

EATS ON THE ROAD

Copley Square, Boston

Copley Square, Boston

Eats for One is going on the road to see friends and sights in Boston and spend Thanksgiving with sons Eric and Brian in Maine, where Eric is raising his own turkey. I’ll surely have tales to tell when I get back.

Eric -- out standing in his field

Eric -- out standing in his field

11.12.08
by

Roasting Peppers

“3 red, or colored peppers, roasted, seeded and peeled”

That’s often all the recipe says about the peppers. Everyone has their own roasting method and I’ve tried them all. Recently, the Mariquita Mystery Box was chock full of colored peppers, and not only that, Carol wanted an extra bag of Red Piquillo Roasting Peppers to make her famous pimento cheese spread.

m_lode_o_peppers.jpg

a mother lode of peppers

Roasting peppers takes time. My go-to method is to hold a pepper over a gas flame until blackened, put it in a paper bag to ‘steam’ and then scrape off the skin with the back of a knife. Easy, effective, messy, takes time. Since I had 15 assorted peppers (Hungarian Spicy Peppers and other red and yellow) plus an equal number of the Piquillo to deal with, I thought I’d check out another method, so I went on line to Cook’s Illustrated and searched for roasted peppers. Here’s what CI had to say:

‘After flaming, broiling, and baking dozens of bell peppers of every color, both whole and sliced, we find that slicing and oven-broiling the peppers yields superior results.’

STEP BY STEP: Steps to Perfect Roasted Peppers
Pre-heat the broiler for at least 5 minutes.
1. Slice 1/4 inch from the top and bottom of the pepper.
2. Gently remove the stem from the top lobe.
3. Pull core out of the pepper.
4. Slit down one side of the pepper, then lay it flat, skin side down, in one long strip. Use a sharp knife to slide along the inside of the pepper removing all ribs and seeds.
m_cleaned.jpg
5. Arrange the strips of peppers on a baking sheet, skin-side up. Flatten the strips with the palm of your hand.
6. Adjust oven rack to its top position. If the rack is more than 3 1/2 inches from the heating element, set a jelly-roll pan, bottom up, on the rack under the baking sheet.

m_broiled.jpg

7. Roast until the skin of the peppers is charred and puffed up like a balloon but the flesh is still firm. You may steam the peppers at this point or not, as you wish. Start peeling where the skin has charred and bubbled the most. The skin will come off in large strips.

m_peeled_too.jpg

Sorry CI, that’s just WRONG.

The peppers turned out leathery and really really hard to peel, and why not, cut open, spending time in the broiler dries them out. I don’t know what equipment CI used, but I used a countertop convection oven, which is relatively new, reliable and holds its temperature very well.

C’mon CI: You’re usually reliable, but sometimes you over analyze. Continue reading →