Comments from Readers in response to blog entry of July 2013

 

Hi dad! Thank you for sending the email. I bet the sauce would be good served over baked fish. And for the scones you can substitute the butter with oil. I successfully made the scones with coconut oil instead and they were great.

Sent from the iPad of

Kathryn Waggoner

 

Hi ... so glad to have the recipes and keep in touch in such a fun way.  I made the puttanesca sauce...without anchovies and 1/2 C kalamata.  It is wonderful, but I will use the full cup of kalamata next time.  thank you...it's really tasty and hearty!  Certainly can be used in eggplant parmesan or lasagna...possibly in a pizza 

  

Kandi Austin
Yoga Instructor RYT200
240-422-4375
Breathe deeply, Love deeply

Hi Joe - I use it in its chunky glory!

On Jul 9, 2013 9:23 AM, "Joe Gentile"  wrote:

Thanks Genevieve.  Would you recommend blending it before using as a sauce over fish or chicken.  Part of its charm is its chunkiness?  I was thinking about getting some tuna steaks today.

 From: Genevieve Blanco
Sent: Tuesday, July 09, 2013 7:33 AM
To: Joe Gentile
Subject: Re: July 2013 blog 2

 Hi Joe - the sauce recipe is similar to a pasta dish I make with tuna (if you like hot tuna that is as some don't). I make the sauce with the olives but no anchovies and add a large can of tuna and serve it over thin/angel hair spaghetti - it's delish! I've also used this type of sauce over chicken and fish filets - very yummy. 

Love and hugs,

Genevieve

 

August 10, 2013 blog entry

 

SAVORY SEAFOOD STEW

 

Here is a fascinating recipe that I have adapted from a Williams Sonoma ad for its $400.00 Cusinart Multicooker.  WS calls it  summer seafood stew, but I am sure it would taste good in cold December as well as summer, hence my name change.

This was a challenging dish to prepare, and I managed to get through it with either dumb luck or the Grace of God or the intercession of St. Pasqual

 

The first thing to prepare  is the Aioli sauce and here is the WS recipe:

 

1 small clove garlic minced.

juice of  1 lemon

½ tsp safrron threads

1 egg yolk

¾ cup olive oil

Salt and fresh pepper to taste

 

Combine garlic, lemon juice, Saffron and egg yolk

Start pulsing the blender and add olive oil slowly

Season with salt and pepper. Refrigerate.

 

My comment:  I have had a little experience in using saffron for Risotto, and I purchase it in tiny corked glass jars from Trader Joes, which  costs about $9.00.  I think the contents is about 0.2 ounces.  I usually use, the entire amount for a pot of risotto.  I tried to gather a half teaspoon of saffron threads, and found that impossible so I just used the whole thing.  I am not sure what the saffron added to the taste of this sauce, if anything, but when added to the finished stew the result was marvelous.  I would have prefered some precision in “season with salt and pepper to taste,” as I had no idea of what to expect, so I just threw in a little of each.  I did not appreciate the instruction of adding the olive oil slowly, as I had a whisk in hand at the time, but later did use a hand held blender.  A day after whisking, the remaining sauce is in the refrigerator, and there is solid material in the bottom of the cup, (probably egg yolk in a semi suspended state) which can be successfully stirred up easily.

 

Stew Ingredients:

1 large yellow onion diced, 1 large fennel bulb (aka Anise), trimmed, cored and thinly sliced, 4Tbs olive oil, (2tsp minced garlic combined with ½ tspn tomato paste-combined with mortar and pestle., 1 cup white wine, 4 cups vegetable stock, 2 bay leaves,  2 Tbs flat leaf parsley, 1 large sprig fresh thyme, about two large red potatoes, peeled and diced (large chunks)

1 14 oz can crushed tomatoes (plus my happy accident of adding a 28 oz. can of whole tomatoes, roughly mashed – I was thinking of another recipe at the time.) 1 1/2 lb of cod fish and 1 lb of jumbo shrimp peeled and deveined.

My comment:  This was my first encounter with a fennel bulb which resembles a monster celery or an exotic tropical bonsai rather than an edible  vegetable.  To remove the core, I had to cut it into quarters, and struggled to separate the core from the more tender part, which was not difficult to thinly slice.  The recipe requires sautéing the fennel slices with the diced onion.  The fennel slices stays intact through the cooking and contributes to the great experience of eating this dish.  Although as stated above, the 28 oz can of whole tomatoes was an accident, it made the meal!

 

Start by sautéing the diced onion and fennel strips. When the fennel is tender, add the potatoes, garlic, white wine, vegetable stock, all of the tomatoes, bay leaves and thyme, and parsley.  Allow this to cook for about 45 minutes bringing it to a gentle boil or simmer Cut the cod into 2 inch chunks, add to pot and after a few minutes, throw in the shrimp.  Allow to cook until shrimp and cod appear to be solid. 

 

Serve in bowls and flavor with the aioli sauce.

 

I was planning to serve with Chianti, but after one glass, decided  to switch to Chardonnay.

 

An untried recipe I found this in a recent NY Times Food

Section, and just have not gotten around to making it, but it sounds

 Delicious.  I think I will use my new lava stone mojacatele, as I

 like chunky things.  However the recipe does say to use a blender

 or food processor to make it smooth.  What do you think?

 

Green sauce with avocado

 

2 garlic cloes coarsely shopped

1 ½ tspn salt

1 small white onion coarsely chopped

2 fresh serrano or jalapeno peppers. Stemmed

Seeded and coarsely chopped

½ lb tomatilos, husk removed and quartered

1 ripe avocado

10 cilantro sprigs 

Pound garlic and salt to a paste.  Add onion chiles nd tomatillos

And pound to slightly chunky paste.

 

Scoop out the avocado flesh. 

Finely chop and mash into onion-tomatillo mixture

 

Serve as a dip or a sauce

 

 

 

 

 

A few recipes

July 2013 Blog

At last I have overcome my inertia in getting started with my blog. The purpose of doing this is to share some ideas and get some conversation going.  I have lots of interests and engage in many activities, so future topics will include: cooking and dining, literature and visual entertainment, music, wild nature spirituality, cooking and playing the didgeridoo, not in any order.  I haven’t told anyone about it yet, so have not been able to ask anyone if they would like to receive this, Therefore I am sending it to everyone I think would like it.  If you want to continue receiving this, please let me know.  If you do not want to receive it again, have a great day just get on with your life.

 

In this first issue, I want to talk about cooking, and offer two recipes for your consideration

                

                     Puttanesca Sauce

This is the easiest tomato sauce I have ever tried, and can be made in less than one hour.  I just love it with my favorite gluten free

Spaghetti, Schaar brand,  made with rice and corn flour.  Please try it someday and give me your feedback.  Do you think it can be used with anything other than spaghetti?

 

Puttanesca Sauce
Recipe courtesy Emeril Lagasse, 2001

Prep Time:30 min  Prep Time: -- Cook Time:1 hr 0 min
Level:
--
Serves:
about 4 cups of sauce
Ingredients
1/4 cup olive oil
1 cup finely chopped onion
6 cloves minced garlic
2 (28-ounce) cans Roma plum tomatoes, broken into pieces, with juice
1 cup tightly packed, pitted, and halved Kalamata olives
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 tablespoons drained capers
2 tablespoons minced anchovy fillets (about 8 fillets)
1/2 teaspoon dried crushed basil

1/2 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper flakes
Salt
1 pound penne pasta, cooked to al dente

Directions
In a large pot heat the olive oil over medium high heat. Add the onion and saute until soft and lightly caramelized, about 6 minutes. Add the garlic and cook an additional 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes and the remaining ingredients and simmer until the sauce is thickened and slightly reduced, about 40 minutes. Adjust seasoning, to taste, cover and set aside. Add penne pasta to the pan and toss for 1 minute.

Copyright 2012 Emeril Lagasse

As you can see this is from Emeril Lagasse, the famous Cajun chef.  The whole cup of Kalamata olives is too much for my taste.  I have reduced it to ¼ cup.  What do you think about that?

 

Gluten Free Scones

I am not sure where this recipe came from.  Perhaps from my daughter Kathryn Waggoner who has mentored my baking efforts.

 

Ingredients

 

2 & ½ cups almond flour

½ tsp baking soda

½  tsp salt

½ cup butter*

2 eggs

2 tbsp honey

½ to 1 cup berries etc.

Parchment paper

 

 

Directions

 

Preheat oven to 350

Mix flour, baking soda, berries and salt in medium bowl

Melt butter*  to low temp in bowl and beat in eggs, and honey

Add flour mix and mix till just combined

Form a scone balls, dust with almond flour, press and fold 2 times, then cut into eights

Bake 22 mins,  Turn off heat Raise baking pan to highest level of oven check every minute until scones are  a golden brown color.  I have also taken small batches of dough in hand, rolled and folded them and shaped to patty size and baked as above on parchment paper.

 

* Through an error in mixing, I omitted the butter, and the dough was dry and would not form properly, so I added a little bit of milk, and it turned out fine.  So I think this would be a legitimate modification of the recipe.

 

A Few Recipes

July 2013 Blog

At last I have overcome my inertia in getting started with my blog. The purpose of doing this is to share some ideas and get some conversation going.  I have lots of interests and engage in many activities, so future topics will include: cooking and dining, literature and visual entertainment, music, wild nature spirituality, cooking and playing the didgeridoo, not in any order.  I haven’t told anyone about it yet, so have not been able to ask anyone if they would like to receive this, Therefore I am sending it to everyone I think would like it.  If you want to continue receiving this, please let me know.  If you do not want to receive it again, have a great day just get on with your life.

 

In this first issue, I want to talk about cooking, and offer two recipes for your consideration

                

                     Puttanesca Sauce

This is the easiest tomato sauce I have ever tried, and can be made in less than one hour.  I just love it with my favorite gluten free

Spaghetti, Schaar brand,  made with rice and corn flour.  Please try it someday and give me your feedback.  Do you think it can be used with anything other than spaghetti?

 

Puttanesca Sauce
Recipe courtesy Emeril Lagasse, 2001

Prep Time:30 min  Prep Time: -- Cook Time:1 hr 0 min
Level:
--
Serves:
about 4 cups of sauce
Ingredients
1/4 cup olive oil
1 cup finely chopped onion
6 cloves minced garlic
2 (28-ounce) cans Roma plum tomatoes, broken into pieces, with juice
1 cup tightly packed, pitted, and halved Kalamata olives
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 tablespoons drained capers
2 tablespoons minced anchovy fillets (about 8 fillets)
1/2 teaspoon dried crushed basil

1/2 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper flakes
Salt
1 pound penne pasta, cooked to al dente

Directions
In a large pot heat the olive oil over medium high heat. Add the onion and saute until soft and lightly caramelized, about 6 minutes. Add the garlic and cook an additional 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes and the remaining ingredients and simmer until the sauce is thickened and slightly reduced, about 40 minutes. Adjust seasoning, to taste, cover and set aside. Add penne pasta to the pan and toss for 1 minute.

Copyright 2012 Emeril Lagasse

As you can see this is from Emeril Lagasse, the famous Cajun chef.  The whole cup of Kalamata olives is too much for my taste.  I have reduced it to ¼ cup.  What do you think about that?

 

Gluten Free Scones

I am not sure where this recipe came from.  Perhaps from my daughter Kathryn Waggoner who has mentored my baking efforts.

 

Ingredients

 

2 & ½ cups almond flour

½ tsp baking soda

½  tsp salt

½ cup butter*

2 eggs

2 tbsp honey

½ to 1 cup berries etc.

Parchment paper

 

 

Directions

 

Preheat oven to 350

Mix flour, baking soda, berries and salt in medium bowl

Melt butter*  to low temp in bowl and beat in eggs, and honey

Add flour mix and mix till just combined

Form a scone balls, dust with almond flour, press and fold 2 times, then cut into eights

Bake 22 mins,  Turn off heat Raise baking pan to highest level of oven check every minute until scones are  a golden brown color.  I have also taken small batches of dough in hand, rolled and folded them and shaped to patty size and baked as above on parchment paper.

 

* Through an error in mixing, I omitted the butter, and the dough was dry and would not form properly, so I added a little bit of milk, and it turned out fine.  So I think this would be a legitimate modification of the recipe.