Gorgonzola Pappardelle

The weather outside at the moment is what my husband calls, "ass cold." So I've been looking for warm dishes that "stick" a little bit. This gorgonzola pasta is a nice option, and easy to make.



I just started with a tablespoon or so of light butter, then added a tablespoon or two of flour, until it balls up (I start a lot of sauces this way). Then you slowly start adding cold milk, and whisking until it is heated through and creamy, then adding a little more (don't add the full cup or two of milk at once, or the flour lumps will never come out). Add a bit of salt, pepper, and I like just a teeny pinch of nutmeg. Then whisk in a few ounces of gorgonzola cheese. I recommend a silicon-coated whisk for this job, so you don't ruin your pan surface, particularly if it is non-stick.

Then I added frozen peas at the last moment and warmed them through, and added the sauce to some nice broadly-shaped pappardelle. I garnished it with parsley, and felt sorry for any poor bastards who have to be outside in this weather!

Salad Week: Steak and Gorgonzola

I'd like to wrap up "Salad Week" by first starting with a little love note to two things I use in all my tossed salads. The first is Romaine lettuce (vs. iceberg lettuce). It has such a high nutritional value compared with the much less useful iceberg, stays fresh in the fridge for a very long time, lots of flavor and plenty of crunch, too. My future kids will never know from iceberg lettuce, because Mommy doesn't like it. Look how pretty!



And the second item is my salad spinner. I use the OXO Good Grips spinner, which I got as a wedding gift. I hadn't registered for one, I just got it as an office gift with other salad supplies. Now I wonder, how did I ever live without this thing? I find it is the easiest way to clean the lettuce. Spin it up, and "Bob's your uncle." Never any gross water in the bottom of your salad. Lots of gadgets are unnecessary, I find, but this one is a must for me. (No one is paying me to say that, but they are certainly invited to do so.)



Anyhoo, this salad uses an inexpensive cut of meat, and for the life of me, I can't remember what it is. I just grabbed a sirloin-something-or-other that cost under $4, and looked fairly lean. Two very small steaks were plenty for two people (salad stretches meat nicely). You could also use leftover steak. I marinated this one in chili oil, olive oil, chopped garlic and soy sauce. Then I grilled it in my grill pan, let it rest a bit, and sliced it up. I used gorgonzola crumbles, red apple chunks, carrot shreds, (yes, I buy pre-sliced apples and shredded carrots, and it is totally worth it), pecans, and scallions.



For the dressing, I like something light to balance out the "manlier" flavors in this one. I love Paul Newman's raspberry and walnut vinaigrette (even though he hasn't given me a dime, either... and I thought he was into charity cases?)

Salad Week: Ants on a Log, and Cambezola!

Is it a salad? Well, I think so. It ain't BBQ...



(Heeeyyyy... Check out those aging carrot sticks! Appetizing, no?) I don't remember where I first saw this snack called "Ants on a Log," but I think it's cute. I like to spread it not with whole peanut butter, but instead to make a lower-fat spread first. I empty a container of lowfat or fat-free cream cheese into a bowl, add a couple of tablespoons peanut butter, a couple tablespoons of honey, and beat it with the mixer. It spreads easier, and I don't feel guilty about eating several. Then, of course, I add raisins as the "ants." Do yourself a favor: just dump out a bunch of raisins and press the "logs" into them. Don't press them one at a time onto the celery... Duh. Guess who wasted precious eating time on that endeavor?

This is really a kid-type snack, but last time my brother visited, he and my husband were content to snack on these with a couple of beers while I made dinner. And no, my house is not nearly so misogynist as that sounds. Because I totally deserved the beating they gave me before that.

And here's a little "double," since I didn't post on Sunday (I was sweating my baby off at the Brewer's game. What was I thinking? Deadly heartburn set in from the nachos supreme, my hands got to be the size of boxing mitts, and my feet took on a Flintstone-like appearance. Fred, not Wilma. We left at the seventh.)

They sell a bastard cheese at Trader Joe's called Cambezola! (And no, I can't say that without the exclamation mark attached at the end. The name reminds me of some type of drug-fueled sixties happening.) It appears to be a combo of Camembert and Gorgonzola, and is quite good, and it makes a fantastic snack with green apples. You'll feel like you're eating... Well... salad!

Salad Week: Chop Salad

Some folks call this one "garbage salad," but... ucchh. I can't cope with that. Let's never speak of the un-tasty name again. It's too pretty!



The great thing about a chop salad is that you can alter the ingredients easily according to what you have. Change the type of berry, add some cold pasta (like rotini or farfalle) to stretch your lettuce out (seriously), add croutons, use any kind of cheese, switch to beef, whatever. Check out the good stuff in this guy:

chopped Romaine
chopped turkey bacon
green onions
diced breaded chicken
diced avocado
pecans
strawberries
feta cheese

I just whisked up some balsamic vinaigrette (1 part vinegar to four parts olive oil) with lemon juice, Italian seasoning, pinch of salt & pepper and a little sugar to taste, but this would go with lots of different kinds of dressing.

Chop your heart out! (Eyw, that's worse than the other phrase...)

Clam and Gorgonzola Pasta

Something I've been going back to a lot nowadays is clam fettucini. I seem to be posting a lot of nostalgia lately... But like a lot of things, here is something Dad used to do, with my own twist on it:

1 can chopped clams
olive oil
toasted pine nuts
chopped garlic
a tsp. lemon juice, or more if fresh
chopped parsely, if you have it
red pepper flakes
about 1/4 cup of white wine
crumbled gorgonzola cheese (also optional, but dear god, worth it)
fettucini or whatev

Before you put any olive oil in the pan, heat it and toast a handful of pignolis (pine nuts) in it until they are fragrant and browned. I always toast the pine nuts, because it makes a big difference in the flavor you get out of them. Then add a few tablespoons (you're coating pasta with this, so use a little more than you would in other things) of olive oil and chopped garlic (as much as you like). After the oil is heated, throw the whole can of clams in, liquid and all. Then add the wine, and let it simmer for just a few minutes. You can add the red pepper now, if you like a more generalized heat, or add it when you toss the pasta if you like those occasional "surprises" of heat. When the pasta is cooked, drain it and add in the clam sauce. Crumble in the gorgonzola, and toss in the chopped parsely and lemon juice. Easy peasy.

I could eat this every day. It is slightly salty, tangy and rich comfort food, and it only takes about as long as opening a jar of sauce.

Oh, and check out Costco for good prices on the gorgonzola and pignolis.

Marshall Field's Chicken Salad

When I worked downtown, we often went over to the greatest salad bar in the world: in the basement of Marshall Field's. (Now that Field's has been purchased by Macy's, I dunno if it is still there or not. I'm not downtown anymore, either. Nice thing I ripped off their chicken salad while the getting was good). This salad is fantastic! Here are the ingredients as I approximated them:

~ 2 cups canned chicken, or fresh shredded chicken
~ ½ cup dried or fresh blueberries (blackberries work, too)
fresh chopped rosemary to taste, or ground dried rosemary
~ ½ cup gorgonzola or bleu cheese crumbles
~ ½ cup pounded or ground walnuts or pecans
lemon juice, 1 or 2 tablespoons
extra virgin olive oil
salt & pepper to taste

Drain or shred the chicken, and add as much of the other ingredients as you like. I don't often have fresh blueberries or rosemary, so I usually end up using dried blueberries from Costco and canned chicken (then this is a convenient "pantry" salad). I grind the dried rosemary in a coffee grinder that I use for spices, because the dried stuff tends to stick in your teeth. I add olive oil and mix until the salad is moist and hangs together (this can be up to ½ cup or so). The salad is rich and I usually have a scoop of it on a bed of mixed greens with a little dressing drizzled around the edges. I like Paul Newman's Raspberry and Walnut Light dressing.