The Pig and I

This is a two-in-one meal, as you can make the sauce and eat the remainder of it with pasta (or as sauce for pizza; you can also freeze the leftover sauce for a future meal). In general, I am not a huge fan of meatloaf. Mostly because people tend to put the onions in raw, and the flavor of ground meat and onions that cooked together icks me out. Ross, however, has been asking me for the last few weeks to make him a meatloaf. Specifically, a meatloaf topped with puttanesca sauce in lieu of the more typical ketchup or tomato sauce topping. I stalled on this, because I had some trouble figuring out how I would make this so it wouldn't seem gross to me. I needn't have worried, though: Ross ate almost the entire thing in two sittings. As it's summer here, I try to make all oven items early in the morning or later at night so it doesn't overheat out house. I made this last night for him, and we were intended to have it tonight for dinner. As soon as it came out of the oven,...

Shrimp and grits. This classic Lowcountry dish is one of those Southern foods that makes me really understand how a person could love Southern food. Which is not to say I don't like Southern food, but I do find it really heavy with its emphasis on everything fried or laden with lard (both things I love, but moderation and all that). I would call this shrimp and polenta but Ross, being a Texan, prefers the word "grits" over "polenta." I'm not sure why this is since they're basically the same thing, but here we are anyway. It's a delicious meal no matter what you call it, and one I nearly always enjoy since it has a kind of breakfast for dinner feel without actually being breakfast for dinner. Hope you enjoy! 1 cup cornmeal 3 - 3 1/2 cups water salt and pepper to taste 3 tablespoons each: parmesan, butter 1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined (I used previously frozen) 2 tablespoons each: vegetable oil, lard, butter salt and pepper to tast...

I had a couple halibut steaks I wanted to make for us, but I was also feeling lazy and not like paying attention to my fish. So I ended up deciding to do it this way, since you can just plunk it in the oven and come back later. Plus, it's already portioned out and you get to open up a fun, steamy package. Hope you enjoy! 2 6-ounce halibut filets 2 tablespoons each: thinly sliced green onions, thinly sliced celery, butter, lemon juice, radish greens (optional) salt and pepper to taste 1 garlic clove, sliced thinly lengthwise 2 small sprigs each: mint, Thai basil 1/2 tablespoon olive oil Preheat oven to 425F. Get out two pieces of parchment paper and brush them with olive oil on one side, leaving a 2" border around the edges free of oil. Put a piece of fish on each piece of parchment, then season with salt and pepper. Add half of the onions, celery, butter, lemon juice, radish greens, garlic, mint and basil to the top of each filet (I put the butter on the very top). Fo...

I decided to make tuna casserole tonight. It's another very simple thing to make, and there is no canned soup in it despite it being in the same style as some of the canned soup versions of this dish. Hope you enjoy! 4 5-ounce cans of tuna packed in water, drained 1 pound wide egg noodles, boiled for 6 minutes 1-2 cups corn (can be canned, fresh or frozen, although I usually use frozen) 1 tablespoon lemon pepper 2 tablespoons butter pinch salt 3/4 cup chopped celery 2 tablespoons butter 2-3 tablespoons superfine flour (like Wondra) 1 1/2-ish cups milk salt and pepper to taste few grates fresh nutmeg Put the first group of ingredients in a large casserole dish. Melt two tablespoons of butter over medium to medium high heat in a small saucepan and add celery and salt. Fry the celery in the butter until the butter is browned and smells nutty, and until the celery is darkened and somewhat crisp. Spoon out celery (leaving as much butter in possible in the saucepan) and ...

We went to a restaurant called Roost uh... a long time ago (before I was even pregnant, I think). They had this amazing fried cauliflower that had a barely memorable sauce and was sprinkled with bonito. Although the sauce on its own was pretty forgettable, the combination of these factors was mind-blowingly delicious. And I remembered it, meaning to get around to working out the sauce ingredients. Ultimately, however, I decided to just make up a new sauce and be done with it. Well, and I decided to roast the cauliflower (I actually forgot for a while there's was fried since was roasted was in my brain). Here it is. We ate this with sausage and kraut, but the cauliflower was more certainly the star of the dinner and we were VERY sad there wasn't more of that to eat. So this will definitely be repeated. If you want it to be vegetarian, leave out the bonito. But if you do that, find a salty substitute, because the bonito is, in all ways, the icing for this cake. Any leftover sauc...

I've posted another clams and red sauce recipe before, but this time I made it differently and I definitely liked this version better, so I thought I'd share. The one I made today was really spicy, so if you're intolerant to chile peppers, DEFINITELY use less. This is also a pantry meal, as I have been avoiding the market lately and so it's comprised of stuff I generally keep in the pantry. Hope you enjoy! 1 tablespoon olive oil 1/4 onion, sliced 1 clove garlic, roughly chopped 2 tablespoons lemon juice, divided 1 15-ounce can diced tomatoes, with juices 1 8-ounce can tomato sauce 1 can minced clams, juice and clams 1 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon pepper 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes 1 teaspoon dried parsley Put oil, salt, pepper and onion in a 2-quart saucepan and turn the heat to medium. Cook ten minutes. Add garlic and 1 tablespoon lemon juice and cook another 5 minutes. Add diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, the juice from your can of clams, parsley, remaining ...

I'm not sure exactly how this happened, but I managed to make too little pasta to go with the pot of Puttanesca sauce. I considered making more pasta (too lazy), tossing the last of the sauce in the freezer to use when I got around to it (meh), but then I decided that since I already had a thawed pizza dough in the fridge, I might as well just use that and have a nice briny pizza. Yum. Of all the weird pizzas I've subjected you guys to, I think this one was the easiest. Here's how it goes. Hope you enjoy! 1 pizza dough 3/4 cup Puttanesca sauce handful of cheese (optional) Pat out dough into a round. Top with sauce and cheese, if using. Bake 10 minutes at the hottest temperature your oven goes to (I rotate the pizza halfway through). Serves 1-2.

I'm "out of town" right now (read: an hour or so from my house, in an area of the metroplex where you can actually see some stars at night) visiting with friends. K isn't much on the whole cooking thing, but she's decided to learn. So we've had entirely too much fun in the kitchen, teaching her some new recipes that she can expand on and tweak to fit her preferences. We made a tomato and spinach soup, apple pie/cake , quinoa, and this peppered shrimp thing I thought of while we were learning how to find the real food in the grocery store. It was pretty good. K and I loved how spicy the pepper made it, but J thought it was a touch too spicy. So I'll just write it out as I did it and y'all can decide how much pepper you want.  1-2 tablespoons olive oil 2-3 cloves garlic, chopped 1 pound peeled and deveined shrimp 1 teaspoon white pepper salt to taste pinch cayenne pepper 2 tablespoons lemon juice spoonful of yogurt (we used a regular eating soup...

You guys remember Presto Pasta Nights ? It's one of my favourite challenges, because it's so non-restrictive. The best challenges for me are the ones that leave you free to be as creative as you like. So this here (I have no idea why I wanted to say "so this here," but I just really wanted to) is my submission for the week (I know; it's been a while since I last did it). PPN is being hosted this week by Rachel at The Crispy Cook . She's got some tasty-looking stuff over there, so y'all should go check her out. So, you know those little pastas? The stars, and the ones that look like rice, and the mini-wheels? I really love those pastas. How I most love to make them, though, is like they're risotto. It's a lot faster and everything gets done in one frying pan. Which basically means a lot less dishes for me (especially when I just eat it while it's still in the pan). Anyway, I have a couple cans of clams, so I figured I'd use one for this si...

This is really similar to the dish I made a while back, with the tilapia (incorrectly spelled, if I recall) and the spinach. The same basic principle is what I used here, cooking all the stuff and then throwing the fish on top to steam right before serving. This dish took me forever to cook, though, because I kept adjusting the heat to stall on the food being ready so I wouldn't have already eaten and set a plate aside for P. If I'm going to cook, I prefer everyone be home to eat it I suppose. So the times I put here are kind of a guesstimate based on how long I think this should have taken as opposed to how long it actually did take. Also, this meal was made entirely from food storage (including the freezer). I really don't want to go to the store. Hope you enjoy! 1 can sliced potatoes, drained 2 cups frozen and thawed pearl onions 1 cup frozen and thawed kernel corn 1 tablespoon each: schmaltz , olive oil, sesame oil, tomato paste, harissa , lemon juice, minced garl...

As I'd mentioned Saturday, I still had some beans left to eat, and that I intended to put them together with the tuna salad I wanted to make (the same salad, by the way, that caused me to go over budget). So, here we are. Makin' tuna salad. I did this one a little differently than I normally would, because I didn't want to lose the specialness of the beans in there. If that makes sense. I don't really know how better to express my thoughts on the whole, beans and tuna combination. Mostly, I excluded the majority of the spices I normally put into tuna salad, and swapped them out for the beloved za'atar blend. It perfectly accented the flavours in the salad. And, for those of you who don't think mayonnaise is disgusting and should only be used as a binder, feel free to increase the amount in there. Hope you enjoy! 2 cans tuna (I use water packed), drained 1 cup cooked white beans 1/3 cup red onion, finely diced 1 stalk celery, finely diced 1 pickle, finely d...

I had some lox leftover from P's most recent camping trip, but this time I knew it was in the fridge before it went bad. I don't have any bagels and I really don't have time to make any (this new class has a truly extraordinary amount of reading in it, plus projects and papers). Plus, I'm trying to do that whole, "don't go to the store" thing so I didn't buy any. But it was still there, in front of the orange juice where I'd have to see it, staring at me (in as much as something that has no eyes can stare at a person). So I decided that since I somehow wound up with almost 2 dozen eggs, I should use up some of those with the lox. Enter deviled eggs. Hope you enjoy! 2 ounces lox 11 large eggs, hard boiled 1 teaspoon dill 1 tablespoon capers, rinsed 1/4 cup mayonnaise 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard salt and pepper to taste Slice eggs in half. In food processor, combine the severely deformed whole eggs and all the remaining yolks, plus all the rem...

Thanks to an unintentional memory nudge from a friend, I actually remembered to pull a filet of tilapia from the freezer. Holy cow, pre-planning. Who would've expecting me to capable of it when I'm just cooking for myself? Certainly not me! Anyway, tilapia thawed, I had originally considered using it with loads of capers like I usually do. But then I thought I'd do something different with it. In the spirit of trying to use up some of the things hiding out in the freezer, I opted to look for some veggies I normally don't pair with tilapia. In the end, I settled on corn and spinach. It was a surprisingly refreshing dish. The vegetable medley on its own was really delicious, so it might make a nice vegan or vegetarian side dish. I hope you enjoy! 1 tablespoon olive oil 1/4 cup red onion, sliced thin into half moons 1/4 cup thinly sliced celery salt and pepper 1 cup frozen corn 1 1/4 cup frozen spinach grated zest and juice of 2 limes salt and pepper to taste 1 ...

I wrote this post 10 days ago, but I was so busy I forgot to take a picture (which is sad, because it was quite delicious-looking; I wouldn't mind staring at this food for long stretches of the time I'm supposed to be learning things). This will be made again soon so here's the post, and I'll add the picture the very next time I make it. The end of this semester is really just doing me in. So, as you might expect, we are living on take-out and meals that are very fast to prepare (plus lots of sandwiches). Pasta puttanesca is one of my favourite meals, being full of briny things and yumminess. I really do love brined things. Plus, you really never can go wrong anywhere anchovies are present. Hope you enjoy! 1 pound pasta, prepared according to package directions (I like spaghetti or linguini, but you should use what you like) 1 14-ounce can diced tomatoes 1 14-ounce can crushed tomatoes 1 tin anchovies (rinse them) 1/3 cup capers (rinsed or not; I like foods salt...

Fried rice is one of my favourite ways to use up leftover rice. So much so, that sometimes I make rice just so I can have leftover rice to fry in the next day or two. This was one of those times. I figure most everyone has a way they make fried rice, but I thought I'd share mine. It's a quick meal to have, whether you're tired after work or just trying to fit in all the studying you need to do for your next two tests which are next week. Usually I also like to put some corn it, but it turns out that I'd run out of corn and forgotten to buy more. So it's okay without corn too. Hope you enjoy! 1 small onion, sliced into half moons 1 bell pepper, cut into one inch chunks 1 cup thickly sliced celery 1 cup shredded (or close to) green cabbage 2 eggs 2 cups peeled and deveined shrimp 2-3 cups leftover rice (any kind) 1 tablespoon each: tomato paste, olive oil (infused with garlic or not), sesame oil, hoisin sauce 1-2 teaspoons Sriracha or other spicy sauce 2 te...

I can't remember the last time I ate cooked salmon before tonight. I remembered liking it, but I just never seen to encounter salmon once it's been cooked. Raw? All the time. Just not cooked. Recently P has put himself on a diet. I'm not entirely clear on what the diet is, except that it involves reduced quantities of food, a meal being defined as "healthy" based on caloric content and increased exercise. I haven't asked for the specifics, since I'm personally happy to continue along the way w/o regard for dietary specifics. I've noticed, though, that in his efforts to become healthier he's been drawn to cuisines and foods that are associated more heavily with increased longevity and heart health. This works for me, since I personally am a fan of most of those foods and cuisines. So both of us are happy on his new diet - him because he can eat well and lose weight, and me because I still get to eat everything I like. Anyway, I've digressed on...

I've been on a meat thing lately. It's kind of weird, because I usually only eat meat once or twice a week. But the last week or two I've wanted meat every single day. Not much, but some. I must need extra protein or something; perhaps all the extra walking now that school is back in session? Either way, today was shrimp day. I really enjoyed this dish, since it was colourful, simple and very fast to prepare (necessary when you're drowning in homework). As an aside, I tasted this sauce before I added the shrimp and it was awesome. So this would be good for vegetarians/vegans as well. Hope you enjoy! 1 tablespoon each: olive oil, lemon juice 1 cup each: diced red onion, sliced celery 1 teaspoon salt 1 can diced tomatoes with juices pinch sugar 1/2 cup frozen corn 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes 1 teaspoon dried basil 1 tablespoon minced garlic 1 cup water or broth (I used beef broth since it's in the fridge and needs to be used) 6-8 ounces frozen, peeled a...

Alright, so that title is kind of a lie. There's no cream in this. There's butter, and there's milk, but no cream. It'd be better if you used cream, but I didn't have any. Either way, this cooks up in about 10 minutes, which makes it perfect for a weeknight meal. I served it with this salad and these eggplants (we used the eggplants to mop up extra sauce), and it was a filling and diverse meal that we really were excited about. Hope you enjoy! 2 tilapia filets 2 tablespoons each: butter, olive oil salt and pepper to taste 2 tablespoons capers (people who aren't caper freaks like me should use less) 1 tablespoon milk or cream 1/2 teaspoon Wondra flour 2-3 tablespoons lemon juice Heat butter and oil together over medium heat. Season both sides of the fish liberally with salt and pepper. Put in the pan, and cook for 3 minutes. Flip over and cook 2 minutes more. Remove fish to plates, then add capers and lemon juice to the fat that remains in the pan. Sc...

Good evening! Today I am going for a mostly pantry meal. Normally one might make this dish with bottled clam juice or similar, but I actually had some frozen shrimp stock that I decided to incorporate into the dish (well, not all of it. Turns out I had a lot more than I thought). And I'm leaving the wine out, because although I know there's some in the pantry somewhere, the where has escaped me. Hope you enjoy! 2-3 tablespoons olive oil (30 cents) 1/2 onion, roughly chopped (15 cents) 2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped (3 cents) salt and pepper to taste (penny) 1 teaspoon thyme (2-3 cents) 1 can crushed tomatoes (50 cents) 1 cup clam juice or shrimp broth (this was free to me, since I used shells from shrimps) splash lemon juice (5 cents) salt and pepper to taste (penny) pinch sugar (penny) 1 can clams (~1 dollar, though I don't know what they cost these days 8 ounces linguine, cooked according to package directions (75 cents - man, pasta is getting pricey! 1....

While I was muscling a second turkey into my freezer (turkey is on sale for 39 cents a pound right now, so... you know how it is), I noticed a half pound of locally... uh...harvested? Caught? Whatever. A half pound of locally obtained shrimps I'd purchased at the farmer's market a month or so ago and stuffed in the freezer for later. Sometimes I don't know what's in my freezer (I also discovered 3 pounds of ground meat I didn't know I had, which is perfect since I need to make more meat sauce soon). Additionally, I had some zucchini left from our last trip to the farmer's market. So I figured I'd stew it. And then eat it, of course. This was really simple to make. I hope you enjoy! shells and tails from 1/2-1 pound of shrimp 2 cups water 6 peppercorns 1 teaspoon salt 1 can stewed tomatoes 1 1/2 zucchinis, cut into 3/8" half-moons 1 teaspoon each: dry basil, sumac 1/2 teaspoon salt 1-2 tablespoons shrimp broth 1 1/2 cups chicken broth 1/2 po...