Farmer's Markets 2010

Craig and I were able to go to the Farmer's Market in Union Square, Sommerville this Saturday. I saw a sign that said the market would be open through October 30th. It didn't hit me until later that afternoon how SOON October is!

These beautiful butternut squash were what really struck my fancy as something to work with for our Saturday evening meal. We had discussed having pasta earlier in the

week, so these squash were used for Emeril's Roasted Butternut Squash Ravioli with a Sage Brown Butter Sauce. I have to admit that I haven't used too many of Emeril's recipes before, but his two ravioli recipes that I have used (see this post) have both rocked!

Craig is the ravioli maker of the house now - he's become quite the expert. He made the filling and the brown butter sauce for the meal, too. I was in charge of the caesar salad and the stuffed mushroom caps.

We have a whole squash leftover - I really had no idea how much we would need, so I bought two just in case. We'll have to figure out what to do with it for next week.

Farmer's Markets 2010

The farmer's market in Central Square, Cambridge was the first of the several that I go to to open for the summer. I also frequently go to the one in Union Square, Cambridge, and one in Winchester.

I have been eating these juicy treats for weeks now. I've made strawberry sorbet, strawberry sauce for ice cream and Strawberries with Vanilla Syrup from Martha Stewart. Don't let the black pepper fool you - it is delicious!!

Mostly though, I have been eating these strawberries just plain. They are such a treat for only a short period of time, I just want to savor their freshness.

Other finds at the farmer's market this week: raspberries, rhubarb, kohlorabi, garlic scapes, collard greens, escarole, radishes, beets, zucchini, swiss chard, cherry tomatoes, and broccoli. Enjoy!

Valentine's Dinner 2010

Trying to decide what to cook for a special dinner like Valentine's is always difficult for us. We threw around dozens of ideas - crab legs? osso bucco? rabbit? red snapper?

We finally decided to do a tapas night. We traveled to Barcelona two years ago and absolutely loved the food. I also recently received a Spanish cookbook as a gift (thanks Pam!) so this was a perfect idea. We started out with poblano peppers sauteed in olive oil until a little blackened and then finished with sea salt.

Our next dish was these beautiful shrimp with lots of garlic and lots of olive oil. If you have ever been to Barcelona, you will know that they LOVE their olive oil.

We then made these oysters and potatoes. The oysters were topped with spinach sauteed in garlic, lemon juice, and a saffron hollandaise sauce and then broiled. The potatoes were boiled and then cooled, tossed with olive oil (again with the olive oil!), and then baked. There were served with a tomato jam and a homemade aioli (made with olive oil!) We were able to find Spanish smoked paprika at Whole Foods and that really made a difference in the flavor of the jam - yummy!

We finished the meal with individual chocolate cakes with a raspberry sauce and vanilla ice cream. Sounded like a perfect dessert for Valentine's but it was actually a bit disappointing (and did not photograph well!)

Happy Valentine's everyone!

Meyer Lemons Available Now!

Meyer lemons are only available for a short time during the winter months, so get some and make these Meyer Lemon Ricotta Cookies now!

Finally.

I have been wanting a Kitchen Aid mixer forever, but just couldn't justify buying one when I already had a mixer that worked perfectly fine.

The old Sunbeam finally died and I had to throw it out. I'm sure that it was over ten years old, so its time had come. I was thrilled!

I got the black. My first color choice would have been yellow, but it would have been $60 more than the black. (I had a coupon that could only be used in the store and my color choices were limited.) I'm good with the black. It looks good in my kitchen.

The first recipe that I made using it was not a hit. I made Giant Bavarian Pretzels from a Rachel Ray magazine. I am normally not a fan of hers, but I was given a copy by a co-worker that had received a duplicate. I love reading cooking magazines! Anyways, the recipe looked really yummy and really easy - I was excited to try them. Craig loves pretzels. And fresh baked from the oven? Mmmmmmm!

All seemed well until trying to roll out a sticky piece of dough 42 inches long. It all went downhill from there. They were heavy and tough and the flavor was not right.

If anyone has a tried and true baked pretzel recipe, please let me know! My Kitchen Aid is ready for action!

This makes me SMILE! and GREAT ravioli!

We've been gone for a while! Sorry! We actually had our kitchen remodeled this summer and did not have a stove to cook on or a sink to wash dishes in for 29 days. We had a refrigerator, but it was in the basement. We ate a lot of take out and microwave dinners. We missed a lot of farmer's markets, missed grilling out and smoking meats. It really seemed like forever, but it was only 29 days. Not bad for a complete gut! We now have skylights! And two islands! And all new appliances! And this drawer! I love this drawer! What is not to love?

We hadn't really gotten back into our regular routine of cooking fabulous meals together on Saturday nights together until last night. We both wanted fresh pasta. Fresh ravioli we decided. We didn't know what kind we were going to make until we went to our local wine and cheese shop, The Wine Shop of Reading, and tasted a Mountain Gorgonzola. It was delicious and we decided that would be the base of our ravioli.

Our search for a ravioli recipe filled with gorgonzola lead us to the most amazing meal that ever came out of our kitchen. We made Gorgonzola Ravioli with Walnut Brown Butter from Emeril. To say it was delicious is such an understatement. It was sooooooo amazing! Homemade pasta is so worth making - even if it is just a mess to make. It really makes for a fun Saturday night.

Raspberry Picking

I was recently visiting my family in Wisconsin and suggested that we go raspberry picking. We made raspberry jam, Hungarian Shortbread (with the raspberry jam that we made), and this Rustic Raspberry Tart. Yummy.