Spinach, Tomato, and Tortellini Soup -- and Rome.

When I'm traveling, not many desserts get made, since desserts usually require ingredients and tools beyond the scope of the rental flats that I've been living out of for the past few weeks. --Plus, given how much gelato I've been eating, I really don't feel the need to add more sugar and cream to my diet! On the other hand, though, I do get the opportunity to do a fair amount of normal cooking. Since the pace of life is so much more leisurely, I actually find myself not rushing to scrape a meal together (or worse yet, heating up something from the Trader Joe's freezer section while feeling sheepishly guilty that I'm taking the time to eat and not work, as I normally do while at home), and I have the time to spend in the kitchen, stirring together an easy but delicious and piping hot pot of soup from fresh market ingredients, like this spinach, tomato, and tortellini soup I made while in Rome.

[click on photo for a larger image]

The soup was perfectly tomato-y and brothy for the sunny but cold, wool-scarf-needed, wintery days when I was there, and I slurped it happily while sitting by a third-story window overlooking the winding, narrow Trastevere alleyways below and reading a good book (this and this were amongst my favorites that I read on this trip). Ah, the slow life.

Thank you so, so much to those of you who wrote in with wonderful suggestions for my Italy trip! I just got back a few nights ago, so I'm still in the post-trip whirlwind of sorting through photos and catching up with all of the life and work that I've missed for the past few months of traveling. Much more to come in the next few weeks on the blog, as well as getting back to regular dessert posts!


Read on for recipe....

Sweet Potato and Squid Ink Gnocchi, and Happy Halloweekend!

Just popping in quickly for a sneak peak of one of the items on my Halloween menu this year: sweet potato and squid ink gnocchi.  Isn't the orange-and-black combination perfect for Halloween?

Both my roommate and I have been so busy that we decided to forgo our traditional all-out Halloween party for a more intimate and casual sit-down dinner with close friends.  The menu's all planned, and I'm so looking forward to some down time to be in the kitchen, relax, and enjoy a leisurely, delicious meal with wonderful people.

What are your Halloween plans this year?

Read on for recipe....

Lobster Lobster Mac'n'Cheese, and a menu in "Fun"

This past week, I finally had my first dinner party in the longest time ever.  It used to be a more common occurrence for me to have people over, but in the past year or so, I've just been too busy, and a lot of my good friends have moved further afield--too far, unfortunately, to just drop by for a dinner party (i.e., airfare would need to be involved).  But, at last, I was able to invite my lab over for dinner, and it was wonderful to be able to sit down to a nice and proper meal and just get to know everyone and chat about things outside of work and research.  (Our lunch meetings usually revolve around whatever campus food we can scrounge up and lots of statistics talk, so this was a pleasant and welcome change, I think!)

[prep work]

Anyways, after not having had a dinner party for a while, I was a bit rusty at everything.  I used to be really good at timing and menu planning and organization, but this time around, it all took a bit longer than it used to--you really have to be "in shape" and in practice to throw a party!  In the end, though, I'm really happy with the menu and how everything turned out, so I thought I'd share the menu with you here along with a recipe for the main course: lobster lobster mac'n'cheese.

The inspiration for this menu comes from the head of our lab, who is known for always saying things like, "It doesn't matter how hard we have to work, as long as we have FUN."  or, more generally, "the goal this summer, whatever else we do, is to have FUN."  Always said with an emphasis and drawn out "fuuuun." (though her idea of fun must also involve lots of statistics and writing and discussion, because we actually do lots of work, too.)  So, this menu is a FUN -inspired menu, with re-interpreted traditionally "fun" or comfort foods.  I also wanted to take full advantage of the incredible fruits and vegetables that are currently in season, so I ended up incorporating fruit all throughout the meal--from the appetizer through dessert.  If you haven't already noticed, I absolutely love playing with mixes of sweet and savory (e.g., here, here, here, or here), so this turned out to be especially FUN for me!

the "Fun" menu

Ginger Strawberry Lemonade
ginger beer, strawberries, lemonade, sparkling water

BBQ White Peach Pizza

white peach, slivered red onions, smoked gouda, bbq sauce, herb crust

Crab and Corn Soup

with local Brentwood corn

Plum and Blue Cheese Salad

purple and green plums, cave-aged raw milk blue cheese, toasted soy beans, herb mix

with honey Dijon mustard balsamic vinaigrette

Lobster Lobster Mac'n'Cheese

lobster, lobster mushrooms

in a lightly spicy sharp cheddar, fontina, and gruyere mac'n'cheese

English Peas'n'Candied Carrots
English peas, green onions, candied carrots

Thyme Roasted Gravenstein Apples
Gravenstein apples tied with fresh thyme

Pomegranate Hibiscus Strawberry Popsicles
pomegranate and hibiscus juices, with floating strawberries

"Gimme S'more" Cakelettes

graham cracker genoise, chocolate souffle cake,

homemade graham cracker, dark chocolate ganache, Italian meringue

[the sides]

The menu was quite massive, and suffice it to say that, true to form, I made way too much food for the number of people (it's a Chinese thing, okay?)!  But, it was all delicious, IMHO.  (of course, I'm biased, right?)  The ginger strawberry lemonade is one of my favorite drinks for when I'm doing research or studying, so I thought it would be fitting to share it with the rest of my lab.  One of my favorite parts of the meal was the BBQ white peach pizza, but I'm saving that recipe to post at some later point in time--plus, it was completely devoured almost immediately out of the oven, so there was nothing left to photograph!  The crab and corn soup is based off of one of my favorite comfort foods--corn soup--, which, incidentally, is also the first thing I ever learned to cook.  The plum and blue cheese salad came about because there's this beautiful, hand-made, cave-aged, and raw milk blue cheese available at one of my local markets that I absolutely adore, and I just really wanted to incorporate it somehow into the menu!

As for the main course, I thought that the lobster lobster mac'n'cheese--with both fresh lobster and lobster mushrooms was a clever little combination.  It's super cheesy, ever-so-slightly spicy from added Sriracha, and boasts a wonderfully crispy panko-and-gruyere crust--then, when you get to the bites with bits of mushroom and lobster meat, extra yum ensues.  The peas and carrots side were a perfect accompaniment to the cheesy creaminess of the mac'n'cheese.  With fresh peas, especially, you get a burst of freshness that helps to lighten up the main course, as did the bit of crunch from the candied carrots.  The thyme-roasted apples were a recipe from a recent issue of Donna Hay that I'd been wanting to try, and they came out fantastically spiced with thyme flavor and soft and sweet.

Finally, for dessert, I wanted a combination of something light and summery (opting for these pomegranate hibiscus strawberry popsicles) and something rich and chocolaty-- Here's a quick preview, but you'll have to come back next week to read more about these little cakelettes!  Let's just say that they'll leave you wanting s'more... I promise.  ;-)

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

[flowers for the table]

Read on for recipe...

Fresh Peas and Mint Spaghetti

Oh, peas.  How I love thee!  Call me crazy, but I think that peas make the top of my list of favorite vegetables ever of all time (while banana squash lands on the complete opposite end of that spectrum).  My friends always laugh at me because whenever I'm at the salad bar, I always end up with more peas on my plate than actual leafy greens.  It's the best part of a salad bar: all-you-can-eat peas!

So imagine my delight at the wealth of fresh peas at the farmers' markets lately!  Oh, there's nothing like fresh peas--the special snap and crispness that they have in them beats the frozen variety that I have to suffer through the rest of the year (though I do love those, too, when I have no other choice).  I don't even mind peeling them one pod at a time.  It's actually quite a therapeutic process for me to pop open each pod and run my fingers down the middle to scrape out all of the magical peas inside.  Like peeling pomelos, another favorite quirky pastime of mine.  (btw--does anyone know a good use for the pods besides the compost bin?  It always seems like such a waste!)

Anyways, I know that this is a dessert blog and all, but I hope that you all don't mind if I take up one post for a little tribute to the wonderful vegetable-love-of-my-life.  There was the possibility of making fresh pea ice cream (via David Lebovitz's The Perfect Scoop), but really, when it comes to the preparation of fresh spring peas, I like to keep things as simple and as uncomplicated as possible, because these little beauties stand on their own so incredibly well.

About as complicated as I'm willing to get is this fresh pea and mint spaghetti.  Basically, peas tossed in butter with al dente spaghetti, sautéed spring onions, and  refreshing mint leaves, and sprinkled with really good Parmigiano Reggiano.  Everything else in this dish here really just serves the purpose of showcasing the center-peas.  (haha--get it?  center-peas = centerpiece?  okay, okay, bad puns aside...)

Because of the incredible simplicity of this dish, it's really important to start with excellent raw ingredients: freshly made pasta (none of that dry stuff, if possible!), fresh peas and mint and spring onions, good butter and olive oil, and a nice, robust block of parmesan cheese.  All together, the freshness and snap of the peas and mint add a surprising sweetness to the pasta, with the parmesan cheese perfectly complementing and off-setting the sweetness-- the end result is a spaghetti that is seriously layered with all of these different flavors--from refreshingly crisp to deeply savory--that come together in a deliciously fulfilling spring-summertime lunch.  (And quite possibly one of the healthiest servings I'll ever present here on this blog! ;-P)

Alright, thanks for indulging me and my love for peas! It's times like these that make me so thankful to live in a city with two farmers' markets on two consecutive days so that when I unexpectedly polish off my pea-stash after the first day (oops!), I can still go and re-stock up for the week ahead the next day. Though, it would be even nicer if I had an endless supply of fresh peas every day....

Read on for recipe...