Home sick today with a nasty cold today, blech.  I thought I made it past this cold season scott-free, but alas, it finally got me!  So what’s a Foodie to do?  Cook of course!  Either of these 2 dishes are easy, comforting and are said to have magical healing powers…ok, maybe that last one is a stretch, but they always make ME feel better.

Orzo-tto – serves one

I call this Orzo-tto because it kinda reminds me of risotto, except you use orzo pasta.  Put one clove of garlic minced and a pat of butter (oh maybe a ½ of a tablespoon) into a high sided pan or pot (make sure it’s one that has a lid).  After the garlic starts sizzling, add a handful of orzo to the pot (about a ¼ cups worth).  Then add about ½ can of chicken broth (low sodium) add a couple grinds of fresh ground black pepper (no salt, you’ll be adding parm and trust me it will be plenty salty).  Cover and cook for 11 minutes (the liquid should remain at a rolling boil).  Be sure to check it every few minutes and add more chicken broth if necessary if it looks dry.  This is one case where I slightly overcook my pasta, which gives the pasta a soft risotto like texture.  Once the 11 minutes are up, taste the pasta (make sure it’s the consistency of soft rice) cook longer if necessary.  Then while the pan is still on the heat, add a handful of frozen peas (more or less depending on if you more peas or less) and about 2-4 tablespoons of grated parmesan cheese (not the green can stuff, please).  Mix everything together in the pan until the cheese melts.  By the time the cheese melts, the peas will be cooked.  All that’s left is the eatin!  This dish also makes a great side dish to any protein.  Also feel free to swap out peas for one of these other items: shredded rotisserie chicken, sliced mushrooms, fresh or frozen broccoli florets, red bell peppers or sliced sautéed onions all work great.

Spaghetti Carbonara – serves one

This dish is so easy, it’s not even funny.  And for those of us who have issues with cream pasta sauces (either because of digestibility or fattening-ability issues), carbonara uses eggs not cream to create the richy, velvety sauce.

To make, cook enough of your favorite pasta for one (you don’t have to use spaghetti, use whatever you have on hand).  Remember to add plenty of salt to your boiling water! While your pasta is cooking, in a small skillet fry up some bacon cut into strips, about an inch wide, until bacon is crispy (2 strips per person).  If you insist, you can drain some of the bacon fat, but I like to use it.  Let the bacon and bacon fat cool slightly.  In a bowl large enough for mixing the pasta in, beat one egg with a handful of parm and some ground black pepper.  When you pasta is done cooking, move it from the boiling water directly into the bowl with the egg mixture.  Immediately stir in the egg mixture (stir vigorously, we don’t want scrambled eggs, we want a light sauce to form and this can only be obtained by stirring and mixing quickly.  Add your bacon and drizzle in your bacon fat as your stir.  To finish, grind on some fresh black pepper and some grated parm and you’re done!  N is not a big bacon fan so I sometime sub in pancetta for bacon since it has less of a smoky favor (which is what he doesn’t like).  Or sometimes I just make this without bacon and use onions sautéed in butter instead.  You can also add veggies to this dish as well.  Frozen peas are always my fave.

I just got a new cookbook that I think is great.  It’s by the Everyday Food people (Martha Stewart’s company).  Say what you will about Martha Stewart but the recipes on Everyday Food are easy and more importantly, tasty.  The cookbook is called Great Food Fast (I got mine on Amazon) and all the recipes are pretty much 30 minutes or less for prep time which is perfect for us working people.  I’ve tried several recipes and all have turned out excellent  (just like the pictures).  Here are a few of my favorites, with supporting pics documenting my recipe success:

Baked Shells with winter squash:  This recipe uses the “sneak in the veggies” technique.  You get frozen pureed squash in your freezer case and mix it with parmesan cheese and bake it with pasta shells.  Believe me (or believe N who hates squash) you cannot taste any “squashiness” at all!  Great when cooking for Baby Foodies!

Cod with Fennel and Potatoes: A one pan meal!  You poach the cod over the veggies with a little onion and orange zest, it’s a great, healthy combination AND you have your protein, your carbs and your veggie all in pan, can’t beat that!

Sole with Lemon-Butter Sauce:  This is a classic poached sole with a lemon butter sauce.  I served this with a braised fennel and roasted broccoli.  The braised fennel is also in the book.

Braised Chicken with Mushrooms and Oven-Baked Polenta:  I think this is my favorite recipe in the book.  It’s a simpler pan browned chicken breast with a mushroom jus and it goes so great with the soft, creamy polenta.  This would be a great dish for a dinner party.

Since it’s just N and I at home, if I make a banana bread loaf, we don’t always finish it all and sometimes have to discard the last bits because they are too dry to eat.  So I started taking my favorite banana bread recipe and making it into muffins.  Banana nut muffins are great because they pack well (you can bring a few to work in the morning) and freeze well and they take less time to cook.  Also, it’s a nicer present to give your co-workers a few muffins than a half-eaten hunk of banana bread.  The last time I made it, I had some extra chocolate chips (in the freezer a staple in the 1F kitchen) and added those in.  Yum, yum, yum.  I don’t think I can go back to banana nut muffins without chocolate chips. 

The hardest thing about making banana bread was that when you want to make it, you don’t always have ripe bananas ready to go.  So when a banana gets too ripe in my house, we throw it in the freezer.  Frozen ripe bananas work great for banana bread, just poke a few wholes in the frozen banana’s skin and nuke them for 30-45 seconds or until they are soft enough to squish with a fork and you’re ready to go.  Oh and don’t get freaked out when the frozen banana skin turns brown in the freezer, that’s totally normal.  The banana insides are totally fine. 

So to make these muffins, just take your favorite banana bread recipe and add half a cup or so of choco chips (the darker the chocolate the better) and scoop into a pre-lined muffin tin and cook.  I’d start your timer at about half the time of the banana bread recipe, you might have to go a little longer, but better to err on the side of caution here.  Basically when the top of the muffin is brown, the inside of the muffin is done (in my oven it’s around 40 minutes at 350 degrees).  If you want to turn this into a dessert item, I’d whip up a cream cheese icing and turn your muffins into cupcakes.  And if you don’t like choco chips, feel free to sub in other items:  Nuts, dried fruit even crushed up cookies would add a nice texture contrast. 

Here’s my fave banana bread recipe:

Two ripe bananas
6 Tbs. melted butter
1 tsp. vanilla extract
two large eggs lightly beaten
1 and 1/3 cup flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. baking powder
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup chopped nuts
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Combine all the dry ingredients.  Mash the bananas, melted butter, beaten eggs and vanilla extract together. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet, don’t worry about lumps and don’t overmix (it’ll make tough muffins/bread). 

I have to admit, when N and I walked into Purple Café and Wine Bar in Downtown Seattle (4th Ave and University Street) to meet our friends H and J, I felt a tad out of place.  It’s very, um, hip, as in “I’m-not-wearing-enough-black” hip, but, I’ve been dying to try the food there so we persevered.  The décor is modern, all dark wood furniture, dim lights.  The main attraction is the large cylindrical wine rack, surrounded by a spiral staircase; It’s absolutely gorgeous.  A note of caution to any low-talkers out there, it’s pretty loud (not rock concert levels loud, more like crowded bar loud).  Oh and make a reservation beforehand; We were there on a weeknight and it was packed.

Purple offers a nice tasting menu, which includes a variety of small bites similar to tapas.  We got a few different spreads (red pepper/hazelnut/pomegranate which had a nice mixture of flavors and textures, spicy, sweet, crunchy and smooth and a more traditional artichoke/parm spread).  Our “who would ever eat that” choice was the truffled rabbit rillete (yes, it’s really rabibit).  It was a lot like a pate, no one at the table thought it was their favorite, but it was fun to try.  Before we arrived, H and J ordered a cheese plate, so I’m not sure which types they got, but there was some shaved parm (buttery and salty, always a crowd pleaser) and 2 blue cheeses, one that had a nice soft brie-like texture and one that more firm and super tangy (gorganzolo perhaps?).   H and J asked for recommendations from our server, so I’d say, take the same approach if you’re going with the cheese plate;  The waiters at Purple seemed super knowledgeable (we got some good wine recommendations too).  Another great plus with Purple, despite the upscale/hip atmosphere, our waiter was very down-to-earth and unpretentious.  Very encouraging for foodies like us who always have a lot of questions. 

Now for the main event.  So you’d think after all those apps, we’d be too full for a main course, but Purple does a nice job of encouraging a somewhat forgotten event in modern day culture: Dining.  It’s refreshing to go to a restaurant where they don’t worry about the speed at which the food goes from the kitchen to the table, but the waiter monitors how fast/slow the diners are dining and times the food arrival accordingly.  I never felt like we were waiting for our food (which is just as annoying as the food coming out too fast), but the timing of the food delivery was just right. 

N chose a grilled duck breast and I’d have to say it was a tad on the tough side.  I had a delicious roasted lamb rack, cooked perfectly, tender and juicy. It was served with a tasty sherry jus, that matched the richness and “meatiness” of the lamb chops.  J ordered the special which was a duck risotto, he said the risotto was cooked perfectly, but he said it wasn’t his favorite.  Mental note for future trips to Purple:  Don’t order duck.  H got the gold star for the best dinner selection: wild boar ragu.  Meaty and flavorful, the sauce worked perfectly with the orecchiette pasta it was served with.  The “little ear” shaped pasta collected bits of slow cooked boar meat in every bite.  H said she first had wild boar ragu in Tuscany and was happy Purple’s version met her high expectations. 

We did at least show some restraint at the end of the meal and all parties opted to skip dessert.  All and all, I’d highly recommend Purple, but be forewarned: Fast food this is not.  If you like your dining companions and wish to have a nice, leisurely meal while enjoying their company and some outstanding food AND you have a spare couple of hours, Purple is a great choice.  If you want to try the food, but don’t have the time to wait, you can order ahead and carryout a great option for foodies with “baby foodies”.

N and I are friends with another couple, H and J who are foodies like us.  We decided a few months ago we’d try to get together once a month and try a new place for dinner.  This month, H chose Barolo Ristorante  in downtown Seattle, corner of  Westlake Ave and 7th Ave.  It’s certainly convenient (I recommend parking at Pacific Place and walking, it’s a couple blocks) and it was packed when we got there, which is always a good sign.  Thank goodness H made a reservation for us.

It’s quite posh when you walk in.  The décor is modern (muted colors, expensive looking furniture and fabrics) but it has cool antique accents…I liked crystal chandeliers.  Despite the expensive looking furnishings, it feels surprisingly homey and intimate.  We were lucky enough to get a big U shaped booth which made sharing and chatting easier. 

We were a little late arriving and H and J had ordered a couple apps which arrived just as we got there.  They got a yummy looking veal carpaccio (none for 1F since I have a beef allergy) and a tasty chef’s selection of antipasti with cold salamis, prosciutto, along with some roasted veggies, roasted garlic, olives and a little wedge of soft blue cheese.  I tried everything on the antipasti plate and it was all excellent.  We also had some nice crusty bread with an olive tapenade that was awesome. 

There were a lot of good choices on the menu (always a good sign).  N got a scallop dish that was served with a nice mushroom risotto.  H got a spaghetti with crab meat dish that had a light olive oil, white wine garlic sauce with cherry tomatoes (very Mediterranean).  J and I got the same thing, a rigatoni with a heavy, rich lamb ragu.  Let me just tell you, that lamb ragu blew me away.  I could definitely taste some red wine, which added to the richness of the dish and went well with the lamb meat.  The lamb meat was from the leg (organic) and you could tell the sauce had been cooked a long time because the meat was incredibly tender.  The pasta was perfectly cooked al dente (“to the tooth”).  It went great with the red wines we had (a Barolo, how appropriate and an Amarone).

I saved some of my lamb ragu so that I could indulge in dessert.  H picked a blackberry sorbetti with grappa (wow, I had dessert envy big time) and J picked a crème brulee.  N and I shared the chocolate tortino which was a flourless chocolate cake, which has the texture of the bread pudding and an intense dark, smokey chocolate flavor. Could we have had a perfectly good meal without dessert?  Absolutely.  But that dessert made a great meal and outstanding meal.  I think we’ll definitely be back!

N and I decided to splurge on a nice dinner and went to El Gaucho.  If you’ve never been (and we hadn’t) it has that old steakhouse feel and of course specializes in their Angus Beef steaks.  They are also known for their tableside preparation of Caesar salad and cherries jubilee and such.  I highly recommend it for a nice dinner out perhaps for a special occasion.  The prices are a bit steep, so be prepared it won’t be a cheap meal.

The minute we opened the menu, my eyes (and N’s) played a game of “one of these things doesn’t belong here” and honed in on the Ostrich Filet.  As the kids these days would say, WTF?  So we asked our very knowledgeable waiter and he said that was the most commonly asked about dish on the menu.  His description of the protein was like a lean beef, no poultry taste at all.  Seeing as how I have been off of red meat for a while now, due to an intolerance of the stuff (not by choice), I was excited to try it as a potential beef substitute.  Not only do I miss the taste of beef, but I also think my body misses the extra iron which Ostrich has in fairly high supply.

El Gaucho prepares their Ostrich filet with a nice demi-glace (I assume of Ostrich stock) which gives the meat some extra moisture, as it is a very lean meat (medium or medium-rare was the recommendation of our waiter).  Although I’d say the chef was a bit heavy-handed with the salt, the overall dish was quite good.  The ostrich tasted as the waiter described; like a really lean beef.  I enjoyed it and am now on the prowl for places online to buy ostrich to try cooking it at home.  I was thinking of trying it marinated to help with breaking down some of the tough tissues.  More to come on Ostrich!