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Puttanesca is my number one, quick weeknight meal. Why? Usually I have all the ingredients in the pantry, it only takes 30 minutes, and it is delicious. Add a salad and bread to make it a complete meal. Or don’t and stuff yourself with pasta! You’ll notice that when I took the pictures I deviated from the recipe somewhat… I forgot to chop my olives and then added the tomatoes before the rest of the ingredients because my garlic was about to turn brown. Luckily, this recipe is very forgiving.

Ingredients

• 1 can (28 oz) peeled Italian plum tomatoes
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon dried red chili flakes
• 3 Tablespoons olive oil
• 2-3 anchovy filets, minced
• 1/2 cup oil-cured black olives, pitted and coarsely chopped
• 2 Tablespoons capers
• 1 lb pasta

Directions

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and red pepper flakes and stir just until the garlic is pale blonde, about 30 seconds. Stir in olives and anchovies. Cook for about 30 sec, then stir in tomatoes, crushing them between your fingers as you add them. Simmer uncovered, until the sauce is thickened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the capers and season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Serves 4

I adapted this recipe from the British cooking magazine, Olive. It was slated as a low-GI meal.. I just love lentils and really enjoyed how this dish turned out.

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup french lentils
• 1 lemon, 1/2 juiced & 1/2 wedges
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 2 skinless salmon fillets
• garam masala
• 1 bunch mint, roughly chopped
• 1/2 cup plain yogurt
• 1 bunch flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped

Directions

Boil the lentils for 15 minutes until just tender. Drain, then toss with the lemon juice, garlic and some seasoning while still warm.

Meanwhile heat the grill or skillet to high. Sprinkle both sides of salmon with garam masala. Grill for 5 minutes until the top is golden and the salmon is just cooked through.

Mix half the mint with the yogurt and season. Toss the lentils with the rest of the mint and the parsley. Break the salmon into chunks and toss with the lentils. Serve with the mint yogurt and lemon wedges.

Serves: 2

I recently got a new cookbook, The City Gardener’s Cookbook, which focuses on how to use up all your garden produce. I do not have a garden but I love veggies so I figured this book would be good. It is my favorite cookbook of the week! This book has so many yummy and unique vegetable recipes - I cannot wait to try them all. Cheesy Vegetable Casserole, only slightly modified, was my first recipe out of the book. It turned out quite well and is a great way to showcase summer produce. It sounds looks more complicated to make than it really is.. I think the whole thing took me 1.5 hrs which includes the 30 min baking time for the eggplant and the 45 min baking time for the casserole. So mostly, I was just sitting around reading.

Ingredients

• 1 medium eggplant, sliced into 1/2-inch rounds
• 1 medium potato, diced into 1/2-inch cubes
• 1 cup dry bread crumbs
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 3 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• ground pepper, to taste
• 1 medium zucchini, sliced into 1/4-inch rounds
• 2 large tomatoes, sliced
• 3 Tablespoons olive oil
• 1 (8 oz) block cheddar cheese, grated

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place the eggplant slices on a greased baking sheet and bake covered with foil for 30 minutes, or until tender.

Meanwhile, steam to potatoes for 5-7 minutes, or until tender. Remove from heat and let cool. In a small bowl, mix breadcrumbs, basil and oregano. Mix salt and pepper with eggs.

When eggplant is done, remove from oven and turn oven down to 375 degrees.

Oil a 9×13″ pan and dust with 1/4 cup of the bread crumbs. Make two layers of: eggplant, potatoes, zucchini, tomatoes, egg mixture, olive oil, breadcrumbs, cheese.

Bake, covered, at 375 degrees for 45 minutes.

Serves: 8-10 as a side dish; 4-5 as a main dish

I’ve got a bunch of herbs growing in pots on my back porch. I had no idea what to do with the tarragon until I thought up this beauty of a sauce. As a rule, tarragon and lemon usually work quite well together. They are the main flavors in Hollandaise sauce. Use them with chicken, white fish, or scallops. Here I have the chicken served with green bean almandine, parsley buttered potatoes, and a nice dry white wine.

Ingredients

• 1 lb chicken tenders
• 1/4 C extra virgin olive oil
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/2 C Italian seasoned bread crumbs
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 T butter
• 1/2 C dry white wine (I used Lolonis fume blanc)
• 1 lemon
• 2 sprigs French tarragon
• salt, to taste

Directions

In a large sauce pan, heat olive oil over high heat till a drop of water pops on the surface. Dip the chicken pieces in the egg and then in the bread crumbs. Place in hot oil and turn down to medium. Cook the chicken on one side till it browns, then turn over. Turn the heat down to a smidge higher than low. All the chicken to finish cooking.

Once the chicken is done, remove from the sauce pan. Drain about half the olive oil. Try to keep all of the bits and pieces that fell off the chicken as it cooked. Turn the heat back to high. Add the crushed garlic and cook until translucent. Immediately add the white wine and slosh around a bit. If you’re using a gas range, this is the part where the sauce might catch fire. This may be a bit scary if you’re not expecting it, but it will certainly impress any guests watching you prepare it.

Add the tarragon and juice from the lemon. Allow the sauce to cook over high heat for another minute to thicken a bit. Add salt to taste.

Put the chicken on plates and pour the sauce over.

This is a family favorite. It is basically a heart attack in a bowl. Serve it with some dripping garlic bread, a Cesar salad, and some nice wine. Mixing all the ingredients together can be rough on the biceps, but all the effort is well worth it when your guests leave with full and happy stomachs. Make sure to use good bacon and sausage because it adds most of the flavor. Also try substituting pancetta, ham, or other cured meats.

Ingredients

• One package of pasta
• 6 eggs
• 1/4 C half and half
• 1 lb bacon
• 1 lb Italian sausage
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 C grated Parmesan cheese (you could also use any combination of Romano and Asiago)
• 1/4 C chopped parsley (garnish)

Directions

Start by cooking all the meat. I typically chop up the bacon before cooking it and drain the fat off midway through cooking. Don’t drain off all the fat, because you’re going to want to use it later.

While the meat is cooking, beat the eggs and half and half and let sit. You want this to get close to room temperature for mixing everything together.

When the meat is a quarter of the way done, start boiling the water for the pasta. While you’re waiting, share some wine with your guests (this makes it all taste better). You’ll need your strength for the rest of the procedure.

The meat is done when it is on the verge of charring. Cook the pasta al dente and drain. Add some of the bacon and sausage fat to the pot and crush the garlic into the fat over high heat. Cook the garlic till it starts to get translucent, then take off the heat. Add the pasta and more of the fat (you’ll want to add about 1/4 C total). Mix well.

Then add all of the egg mixture and the cheese. Mix well and continuously. Turn on the heat to low and keep mixing. The traditional recipe you don’t need to turn the heat back on because the pasta cooks the eggs. If you want to cook it a little (like I do) you need to keep mixing the pasta so that the eggs don’t cook too much. You want to pull it off the heat when the sauce starts to thicken.

After it’s off the heat, add all the meat and stir in. Plate the pasta and garnish with parsley and cracked black pepper.