Ropa Vieja with Olives and Capers

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Ropa Veija is a traditional Cuban dish featuring beef that is slowly stewed in a sauce of tomatoes, garlic, and bell peppers until it falls apart into shreds. With the texture of pulled pork and the comforting flavor of pot-roast, Ropa Veija is a real crowd pleaser!

Although it does take a while to make (about 3-1/2 hours), the recipe couldn’t be simpler and it doesn’t require a lot of hands-on time. It’s also the kind of dish that tastes even better the next day, after the flavors have had more time to meld. I like to make a big batch on a lazy Saturday afternoon, then make Ropa and Swiss Sandwiches – a dish I fell in love with at New World Bistro Bar – to eat while we watch football (go Bills!) on Sunday.

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Foodbuzz Festival & Napa Valley

Words can’t begin to describe the weekend I just spend at the Second Annual Foodbuzz Festival, so I’ll let the photos do the talking. After a month of eating takeout while traveling, this weekend was precisely what the doctor ordered to get me back to my normal foodie-self. I’ve been home for two days now and have been cooking up a storm – I’ll be back to my normal posting schedule with tons of new recipes this week!

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From the Foodbuzz Gala Dinner: Roasted Golden Beet Tart with Feta, Currants, Wild Arugula, and Basil Puree, Seared Scallops with Bonny Doon Vinyard Verjus Beurre Blanc served with Braised Fennel, Rosemary and Garlic Infused Rack of Lamb with Wild Mushrooms, Pinot Noir Sauce, and Butternut Squash Puree, Almond Cake with Oranges and Spanish Sherry Sabayon.

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2009 Bonny Doon Vinyard Ca’ del Solo Albarino, my favorite of the many wines that were poured.

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The best part of the festival: seeing old friends and making new ones. With Andrea from High/Low Food Drink, Yvo from Feisty Foodie, Siobhan from Blondie and Brownie and the fabulous Sophia from Burp and Slurp who I was SO HAPPY to finally get to meet!

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Transamerica Pyramid. Apparently people think its ugly. I think its awesome!

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Cool fountain in a little park full of redwoods. This was part of a “food” walking tour that I took with Urban Adventures. The food part was pretty much nonexistent, but it was a pretty nice tour anyway. It could have been shorter though – 4 hours walking up and down San Francisco’s hills will leave you pretty sore!

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Allie and I drove to Napa, where we stopped at Domaine Chandon. I had the Etoile Brut, which I enjoyed a lot – nice and dry with lots of tiny bubbles. I would have brought home a bottle if it would have fit in my suitcase! Allie had a sparkling red, which was beautiful, but too sweet for me.

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People picking vegetables in French Laundry’s garden. Talk about Farm to Table!

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Scenery just doesn’t get much more beautiful than this. Napa took my breath away!

Tortellini with Walnut Pesto 1

Tortellini with Walnut Pesto

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This Monday, October 25, is World Pasta Day, a day devoted to one of the world’s most loved carbohydrate. I’ve decided to join in the celebration by sharing a recipe from the new book, The Geometry of Pasta. After all, what better time is there to share a review of a book dedicated entirely to pasta? Especially when the book contains fun recipes, like this one for Tortelloni Di Ricotta Al Pesto Di Noci Tostate (the fancy-pants Italian way of saying, “tortellini with burnt walnut pesto”)?

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This fun little book isn’t your standard cookbook at all, which is pretty evident before you even open it. The book is small but thick — like a long novel — and the striking graphic cover is as close to an illustration as you’ll get. But while this book lacks glossy photos (which we all know I love), there’s definitely no shortage of unique recipes. The Geometry of Pasta contains over 100 recipes, each featuring simple ingredients and designed to pair the perfect shape of pasta with the perfect sauce. While that may seem like overkill, there really is an art to figuring out whether a new sauce will pair better with a hearty, ridged pasta or with a smooth angel hair. This book takes the guesswork out of it — and introduces you to pasta shapes you’ve probably never heard of!

Some of the recipes are a little strange (I think I’ll pass on the alphabet pasta with ketchup, though I’m sure a little kid would find it to be a great alternative to spaghetti-o’s) and some of the pasta shapes may be hard to find but with so many recipes, this book has something for everyone. I was a huge fan of this tortellini recipe; cooking it was fun and eating it was even better. The combination of sauce and shape really was ideal — the chunky pesto settled perfectly into the curves of the tortellini, ensuring no sauce was left behind in the bottom of the bowl.

I also loved how the recipes in this book were written. They’re slightly vague, which might be frustrating to those less comfortable in the kitchen, but they remind me of something that might have been passed down by a grandparent — very, very authentic. The dual indexes — one in Italian and one in English – were also a nice touch that I appreciated a lot. While this is definitely more of a specialty cookbook than something you would use every day, it’s a great addition to your collection if you’re a fan of pasta or Italian cuisine.

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Click to get the recipe for Tortelloni Di Ricotta Al Pesto Di Noci Tostate From The Geometry of Pasta –>

Cassoulet with White Beans, Sausage & Turkey 2

Cassoulet with White Beans, Sausage & Turkey

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I don’t know how I managed to make it through 20-some years of life without trying cassoulet, but I have a feeling I’ll eat enough this fall and winter to make up for it. I made the one pictured here about two weeks ago, and I’ve been dying to have it again ever since. I actually have another one in the oven as I write this post.

Don’t let the fancy French name scare you off. When it comes down to it, cassoulet is nothing more than a white bean and tomato stew. A fragrant sauce flavored with fresh herbs cooks quickly on the stove before being mixed with the rest of the ingredients and baking in the oven. It’s pure stick-to-your-ribs comfort food full of rich and delicious flavors typical of the French countryside.

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This dish takes a little longer to make than most of my recipes, requiring about 20 minutes of active time and an hour or so in the oven, but with a little planning it can definitely be made on a weeknight. Go ahead and make a big batch — it tastes even better the next day.

Traditional cassoulet uses duck or goose confit, but since that can be difficult to find (not to mention expensive!) I’ve taken the liberty of using turkey instead. I like the flavor that using some poultry gives the cassoulet, but you can leave it out and use only sausage just as easily.

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Baked Orzo with Lamb 3

Baked Orzo with Lamb

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This Greek-inspired Baked Orzo with Lamb may not be the most beautiful dish that I’ve ever served up, but when it comes to comfort food it can’t be beat. This stick-to-your-ribs meal reminds me of a cross between baked ziti and dirty ice: plump orzo is combined with a thick, chunky tomato sauce, spinach, feta, and deliciously seasoned ground lamb before its baked to perfection. Alongside a simple cucumber and tomato salad (chop and toss with red wine vinegar, sea salt, and fresh dill), this meal is the perfect way to transition to fall’s chilly evenings.

Ground lamb can be hard to find sometimes, but it’s worth seeking out for the rich flavor that it contributes to this dish. If you can’t find it – or don’t care for it – ground beef also works well. For a vegetarian version, you can also substitute chopped mushrooms. I also like to use an oven-safe cast iron pan (I’m obsessed with this pan) when I make this, because it prevents me from dirtying a second dish. If you don’t have a pan that can go in the oven, simply transfer the mixture to a baking pan before topping it with the asiago.

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Cajun Jambalaya with Okra, Andouille and Shrimp

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The other day, I was thinking about the way I used to eat. Back when I was in college and shortly after I graduated. Let’s just say it wasn’t very healthy or very delicious. Looking back, I think there was a period of time where I just completely forgot that I knew how to cook a decent meal. Plus, I couldn’t really be bothered. Like a lot of people, I had the misconception that cooking a real dinner out of real ingredients would be too expensive and take too much time. So we’d boil a box of pasta and mix it with a jar of sauce and some sausage. Or we’d try to be “healthy” and make a chicken stir-fry, but we would totally ruin it by using store-bought marinades that were loaded with sugar. For a special treat, we’d buy a box of zatarain’s mix and make jambalaya.

I don’t miss the other stuff at all, but I do kind of miss the jambalaya. And with Foodbuzz pledging to donate $25 to the Greater New Orleans Foundation (helping fishermen who were effected by the oil spill and their families) for every Gulf-Inspired post this weekend, it seemed like the perfect excuse to make it. Of course, I wasn’t going to resort to using a box – I know better than that now! (And a quick look at the back of the box confirmed my suspicions — 21% of your RDA of sodium? MSG? Sodium dioxide?? No thanks!) No, this jambalaya is 100% real food and 100% real flavor. Sure you have to spend a few minutes chopping vegetables, but other than that it really isn’t any more difficult or time consuming than the boxed stuff. And the final product is so much healthier and so much more delicious that there really isn’t any excuse to take “shortcuts”!

Looking for more Gulf-inspired flavor? How about a nice, steamy bowl of gumbo? Gumbo is very similar to jambalaya, but it’s prepared as a soup enriched with a roux. In gumbo, the rice is cooked separately from the other ingredients and added in the final step instead of cooking along with everything else and absorbing all of the flavors.

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Orichette with Caramelized Fennel and Summer Vegetables

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It’s no secret that I love fennel, but I’ve been absolutely obsessed with the thought of making caramelized fennel ever since I first read about it over on The Tipsy Baker’s blog months ago. I requested a copy of Ad Hoc at Home from the library and patiently waited for what seemed like forever to get the recipe. And then I had no idea what to make with it. I mean, I’m not exactly a meat and potatoes kind of girl. I don’t do side dishes. And as presented in the book, caramelized fennel was most definitely a side dish. But then I had an idea: pasta. When I’m short on recipe inspiration I always turn to pasta, throwing in a combination of whatever looks good at the grocery store and whatever I have in the fridge. Caramelized fennel seemed like it would be a great jumping-off point for a summery vegetable pasta. And it was.

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In addition to the fennel, I used a combination of eggplant, summer squash, red onions, and peas. I tasted the vegetables on their own and they were so delicate and fresh that it seemed like a shame to cove them up with a heavy sauce so I decided not to, and instead dressed the pasta with a little bit of ricotta and a touch of pesto (I had originally planned to use garlic and olive oil). It was perfect! I really liked the creaminess that the ricotta added — when you stir it into the hot pasta it melts and creates a light coating that reminds me a little of mac and cheese. The pesto perked the dish up without taking it over; you could tell it was there, but it certainly isn’t a “pesto” dish by any means. Really it’s just… good. Good when you first make it. Good the next day. Good hot. Good cold. I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of this one!

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How to Roast a Chicken on the Grill

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It’s hot. I mean, I love summer and all – sunny and 80 is perfect if you ask me – but days and days of weather that’s approaching te triple digits? It’s disgusting. And I’ve had enough. The thought of standing in my non-aire-conditioned kitchen making a dinner that’s it’s basically too hot to eat anyway makes me want to cry. There’s absolutely no way I’ll be turning the oven on any time soon. And yet for some strange reason I’ve been craving roast chicken. Apparently the heat has made me lose my sanity.

Luckily, I have discovered a technique for making perfectly roast chicken on the grill. Crispy, crackly skin. Some of the juiciest breast meat that I’ve ever eaten. No need to turn on the oven. Does it get any better than that? Give it a try and you’ll immediately see why this has been my go-to recipe this summer.

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