Starry Wisdom

This is a recipe based on food one of my roommates in college and I created. The name is actually as misnomer – there should be no disease in this food, but the name is based off of a Sanford and Son joke:

Julio: Buenos Dias, Mr. Sanford.
Fred Sanford: And beans and disease to you, too.

There was a release of this show on video around this time (1997-1998) and the commercial for the set was in heavy rotation during the later hours. So clearly, when we bought chicken breast, frozen peas, frozen broccoli, egg noodles and a jar of Alfredo sauce, we had to name the resulting food after that line. If it makes you feel better, call it chicken alfredo with peas and broccoli.

Peas and Disease:
(serves 2-3)

~1lb skinless boneless chicken breast
2 tbsp olive oil
1 package egg noodles
1 cup broccoli florets (fresh preferably)
1/2 cup frozen peas
1 cup heavy cream
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp flour
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 small onion, finely diced (about 1/4 cup)
1 tbs dried herbs (oregano and basil)
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 cup parmesan cheese

Heat a nonstick pan over medium heat. Add the olive oil, and once it starts to shimmer, add the chicken breast. Cook until done, about 8 to 10 minutes. Move to a plate lined with paper towels to drain. Drain the fat from the pan and return to the heat.

Add the noodles to the boiling water. Begin steaming the broccoli. Microwave the peas with 1/4 tsp water for about 1 minute.

Add the butter to the pan. Once it melts add the garlic and onion. Cook until the onion is tranlucent, about 1 to 2 minutes. Add the flour and stir for 30 seconds. Turn the heat down to low and slowly stir in the cream, and stirring constantly slowly add the cream. Add the pepper, herbs and nutmeg. Stir in the parmesan. Once the cheese melts turn the heat back to medium and allow it to boil briefly to thicken the sauce. While the sauce is heating, cut the chicken in to bite sized peices.

Add the peas, chicken and broccoli to the sauce. Serve over the noodles.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

1lb zucchini or other summer squash. Cut off the end ends and slice into discs about 1/4″ thick
3/4 lb potatoes cut in to 1 inch cubes
1 small to medium onion cut in half then cut in to 1/4″ thick semi circles

Grease a roasting pan or baking sheet with olive oil. You can also use a large (12″+) cast iron skillet. Spread the veg on the pan, sprinkle with salt, and drizzle with more olive oil. You can use any olive oil, no reason to use your fanciest extra virgin.

Put a few sprigs of herbs across the top. I’ve used both tarragon and rosemary, seperately. Feel free to experiment.

Roast for 1 hour. About halfway through stir the vegetable some.

When it is done, sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper to taste. You can also sprinkle it with some ground chipotle chili for extra kick. Serves about 4 as a side dish, or one hungry person for a vegetarian meal.

The CSA gave me 3 Roma tomatoes this week. What to do with them? Oh yeah, make a sauce. So I made a sauce, completely from scratch, with no real recipe, just riffing.

Neil’s Ersatz Roasted Tomato Sauce

• 3-4 Roma tomatoes, peeled (see note at bottom)
• 1 medium onion, sliced into half moons (there is a word for this, but I forget it)
• 1 cup broth (I used vegetable, chicken would work, really whatever you have on hand, but Tetra Pak > can in my experience
• 2-3 tablespoons redwine (I used some from a Merlot 1 hitter)
• 1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped into thing strips
• 6 cherry tomatoes
• Red Pepper Flakes – to taste
• Salt, Pepper
• Olive oil

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cut the tomatoes in half crosswise, and scoop out the seeds and juice (not so much in Romas, yay). You could probably strain this and use it later, but I didn’t think of it. Chop about 2 of the halfmoons of onion into dice. Put the tomatoes cut side up on an baking sheet (spray it with Pam first). Sprinkle with the chopped onion, and salt. Put the half moons down. Drizzle olive oil over all of this. Bake for about 1 hour or until the tomatoes are nice and soft, and the onions are carmelized.

Put the broth and wine in a medium sized pot (and the strain juices that were pulled out above, if you have it), and add the tomatoes and onion. Blend with an immersion blender (or in a regular blender). Add red pepper flakes and pepper to taste. Heat on medium heat until just simmering, then lower heat to maintain the simmer and reduce by about 25%. Meanwhile quarter the cherry tomatoes and slice the basil. Add to the pot and serve over pasta.

NOTE: To peel tomatoes, heat water to boiling in a pot, and put ice water in a seperate bowl. Cut a small x as lightly as possible through the skin on the bottom of the tomatoes. Place in boiling water for at most 30 seconds, or until the skin starts to peel away. Move immediately to the iced water. After a minute in the ice water, peel the skin from the tomatoes, which should be quite easy at this point. It will stick a bit to the stem, but you’re going to have to core them anyhow.

I added a bit more red pepper than I should have last night, but it was pretty good. Here is a picture of it served over penne:

A friend showed me an interesting blog last month, Not Eating Out In New York. This is a pretty interesting cooking blog. Anyway, the most recent post was this plum and feta panini which sounded good to me. Well, on my way home today, I picked up supplies to make one. Here is the result:

It was pretty good, actually. I might try it again with chevre instead of feta. Maybe.

Well, I was still hungry after finishing it, and not in the mood for more of the same, so I made a radish sandwich, which I guess is an old French thing that I learned about earlier this summer. Here is the recipe:

1 or more radishes (depending on the size)
Sturdy bread
Butter
Salt (optional)

Slice the radish(es) into thin slices. Butter the bread and sprinkle one with salt. Arrange the radish slices on the bread and close.

Looking back on it, the order should have been reversed, but it was still a good, seasonal dinner.