First of all….I hope everyone is having a great holiday filled with great food and wine!
Today I whipped up a little something that turned out just fine! Perfect for a late spring afternoon.

As I said above, I made the spaghetti, but you can also used store bought. Here is what I put into the fabulous topping to pour over your cooked pasta:

Approx. 9 oz. spaghetti
1/2 lb. pancetta, cut into 1/4 inch thin ribbons
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 lb. (21-25 count) shrimp, peeled, tails removed and deveined
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 Tsp. (be generous) red pepper flakes
1 cup dry white wine
12 cherry tomatoes, cut into halves
2 Tbsp. fresh, chopped parsley for garnish
3 Tbsp. Extra virgin olive oil
2 generous handfuls of fresh spinach

1. Cook pancetta ribbons until brown and remove from pan. Do not throw out rendered fat.
2. Cook shrimp in rendered fat and olive oil.
3. When shrimp are almost finished cooking, toss in chopped garlic. Cook for one minute while stirring, then add white wine, tomatoes, pepper flakes, salt, and pepper. Bring to a light boil.
4. Turn off heat, add cooked pancetta and spinach.
5. Stir until spinach is wilted, pour over platter of pasta, garnish with parsley and lemon slices.

Wine Served: Pio Cesare, Gavi

I bought thin cut pork chops, cut the fat off then cut them into medallions. I fried them in extra virgin olive oil after dredging them through flour, eggs (fresh from the chickens!) and Panko. I served them with mashed potatoes and steamed asparagus, and dizzled it all with a mustard-caper sauce I adapted from a 1997 Bon Appetit recipe.

Mustard-Caper Sauce (none of these ingredients need to be in exact amounts)

1 Tbsp. butter
1/4 cup sliced shallots
1 cup chicken broth
2 Tbsp. heavy cream
1 1/2 Tbsp. capers
1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard

Put all of the ingredients in a small pan and heat until shallots are tender.

Another cold, grey day. Lunch should be really special!
I grilled some thin cut pork chops (with olive oil, salt and pepper), put some cherry tomatoes on kabob sticks and covered them with olive oil (always virgin), and herbs de provence and put them on the grill with the chops. One hour before that, I made Hasselback potatoes which is the only recipe, for this post, I think you really need.

Hasselback Potatoes (from 500 potato recipes)

Serves 4 (I only made two, baking time is the same)
4 large potatoes
75g/3oz/6 Tbsp. butter
45ml/3 Tbsp. olive oil
50g/2oz/1 cup fine, fresh breadcrumbs (I used panko, and much less than called for)
50g/2oz/2/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese (I used much less cheese)
salt and ground black pepper

1. Preheat oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6. Peel the potatoes, then, and this is the crucial part, cut them widthways, not lengthways, down to three-quarters of their depth at 3mm/1/8 inch intervals, preferably at a slight angle. (It is a good idea to thread a skewer through the potato three-quarters of the way down before cutting, so that your knife travels just to the point you want it to reach and no farther).
2. Wash the potatoes in cold water, then arrange, cut sides uppermost, in a deep, ovenproof dish.
3. Melt the butter in a small pan, then add the olive oil and mix together. Brush the mixture over the potatoes, then season well with salt and pepper. Sprinkle over the breadcrumbs (panko) and the grated cheese.
4. Roast the potatoes in the preheated oven for about 1 hour, depending on their size, until golden brown and fanned apart along the cut lines. Serve hot.

Wine served: 2002 Louis Latour, Puligny-Montrachet

So…I woke up this morning thinking I should try and make bread. A few days back, while looking for something down in the basement in the “cooking” department, I found our bread maker, which we rarely use. In the recipe book I found the recipe for French bread.
Not realizing I needed an official baguette pan, I had to improvise, hence the bricks!
I’ve already put in an order for a baguette pan.
However, the bread is quite nice. With the use of a baguette pan the bread would have been browned more on the sides and bottom, but all in all…..a success.

Step 1: Ingredients must be at room temperature and they should be added in the order listed below.

active dry yeast 1-1/4 teaspoons
bread flour 3 cups
salt 1 teaspoon
granulated sugar 1 teaspoon
water 1-1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon

Step 2: Select DOUGH on your machine
Step 3: Press START
Step 4: Divide finished dough into 2 equal pieces
Step 5: Place dough on a lightly greased baking sheet and let rest for 5 to 7 minutes
Step 6: Roll each half in a long strand and place on a lightly greased trough, baguette pan. Cover, let dough rise in a warm place for approximately 1 hour or until dough doubles in size
Step 7: With a sharp knife, make 6 diagonal slashes across the top. Sprinkle or brush with water.
Step 8: Bake in preheated oven at 425 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown
Step 9: Remove and cool on a rack.

I cooked our sea bass on the grill and as per the instructions of our wonderful fish monger. I sprinkled the fish with salt, pepper, and lemon and cooked it “skin down” on a 400 degree grill (not directly over the flame) for 10-12 minutes. Perfect!
The asparagus risotto recipe belongs to Chef Marco Canora, Hearth, New York.

Asparagus Risotto (We cut the recipe in half for two people)

5 Tbsp. unsalted butter
2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 large onion, peeled and diced
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 cups arborio or other short-grained rice
1 cup dry white wine
6 to 8 cups good quality chicken stock
1 pound asparagus, trimmed and sliced
1 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

1. Heat 2 tablespoons butter and the oil in a large high-sided skillet or rondeau over medium heat. Add the onion, season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally until it begins to soften, about 5 minutes.
2. Raise the heat to high and add the rice. Using a wooden spoon, stir the rice with the onion and fat until the rice no longer books chalky and the grains begin to pop, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the wine. Allow it to bubble vigorously until the rice absorbs it, about 1 minute.
3. Add enough broth to just cover the rice, about 2 cups. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring and scraping rice away from the sides occasionally. Cook the rice until it is almost dry, about 5 minutes, then again add enough broth to cover. Simmer, scraping and stirring every so often, until the broth is incorporated, about 5 minutes more.
4. Add about 1 cup broth. Stirring more frequently now, cook the risotto until the rice absorbs the broth. Simmer, stirring until the pan is almost dry again, about 3 minutes more.
5. Lower the heat and add the asparagus, salt and pepper to taste, and about 1/4 cup broth. Simmer, stirring constantly and adding broth in 1/4 cup increments, until the rice is just tender. Take the pan off the heat and add cheese and the remaining 3 tablespoons butter. Taste and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper, then serve. Serves 6 to 8.

Wine served: Macon-Villages, Chardonnay

It’s a cold, rainy, grey day.
This is what I made for lunch.
Enough said.