Destination Anywhere

Oh my goodness Internet, why did you not tell me how delicious and easy this is? Seriously, I want to eat this for the next four nights. And it's even healthy!

I've been roasting broccoli forever, but only recently came across recipes that added shrimp. Melissa Clarke may have put the first version online, and I know Kalyn also has one. Here's my version. Because everything's better with siracha.

Spicy Roasted Shrimp and Broccoli 2 servings

1/2 lb shelled medium shrimp
few squeezes siracha sauce
spray oil or 2 tsp. olive oil
3-4 cups chopped broccoli
chili powder to taste
cumin to taste
salt and pepper
optional--1-2 teaspoons finely chopped nuts
chopped scallions

One or two hours before cooking, toss the shrimp with some siracha to barely coat. Put in fridge to marinate until you warm up the oven.
Heat oven to 425. Line a baking sheet with foil, and spray with oil. Toss the broccoli onto the foil, spray with oil, and season with chili, cumin, salt and pepper. Roast for 10 minutes. Throw the shrimp onto the pan with the optional nuts. Roast another 5 minutes, and stir everything around.

Roast for the final 5 minutes. Pour into a bowl, add the scallions, more salt and pepper if desired, and serve..

Larry's mother has been playing the "I'm turning 80 and want to go to Switzerland" card for a few years. She doesn't have friends who travel, didn't want to join a small group tour, and isn't the sort of person who would enjoy solo travel. So, Larry is escorting her to Switzerland for 9 days; and then his sister is flying over for a week and to escort her back to New York. I'm showing up in Lugano toward the end of Larry's stint, and then he and I are escaping to Italy.

We had a very short visit to Bologna in 2005, and have wanted to return ever since. I rented what looks to be a nice apartment in the centro for our first 8 nights.
Olympia Apartment. http://www.perfectplaces.com/host_view_dtl.cfm?ref_num=168536

Besides wandering the streets, museums, food shops and restaurants of Bologna, we've planned a few things. I booked a market tour and pasta-making class with Maribel of Taste of Italy. http://www.taste-of-italy.com/ I also booked a day-long food tour with Italian Days to visit a Parmesan factory, a Prosciutto producer, and a small Balsamico producer. The fee was (in my opinion) on the steep side, but as we priced out renting a car and paying for gas, plus time, and the challenges of making arrangements...ah well, why not.http://www.italiandays.it/ We're also planning taking the train for the short hop to Parma; and possibly Modena or Ferrara, perhaps a return to Ravenna. I've made a Google Map, which I found very helpful for our London trip. https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=203608144991816870682.0004d70d1da16c9c1f07e&msa=0&ll=44.491301,11.328878&spn=0.050023,0.111494

At the end of our time In Bologna, we're picking up a car and driving to Piemonte. We loved this region on our last trip to Italy. This time we're staying north of Asti, in a less-touristed part of the Monferrato. I had contacted Toni, the owner of the lovely house we rented last time, but her places were already booked. She had a friend who was renovating a little house in the village of Cocconato. The village is lively, the house (which is finally just about finished, this was an act of faith!) has magnificent views and is extremely reasonably priced. Ca 'Ginota. https://www.facebook.com/CaGinotaHolidayRental

We're planning on a relaxing week of wandering, maybe revisiting some of the cities and towns we enjoyed last time and the little villages, some hiking, good food and wine. And here's my Piemonte Google map. https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=203608144991816870682.0004d89feb10008d77f2c&msa=0

Here's an experiment which turned out pretty well. I was looking for something to go with a Thai vegetable curry I made last week. I saw a "Pad Thai Cabbage" recipe online, and though the recipe didn't look terribly pad thai-ish (how's that for mangling two languages at once) I though the idea sounded interesting. The horror--so many pad thai recipes call for ketchup. For the real deal, use tamarind paste--it comes in a little jar from Asian markets, lasts forever in the fridge, and can be used in all sorts of ways when you want a sweet-tart taste. I mashed together a few recipes, and here's what I came up with. Interestingly, it tasted even better the next day after the flavors had soaked into the cabbage a bit more.

Cabbage with Pad Thai Flavors

2 tsp vegetable oil or a spritz of spray oil
1/2 small cabbage, shredded thickly (4-5 cups)
1 1/2 cups sliced mushrooms
3 cloves minced garlic

SAUCE:
1 Tbs. fish sauce
1-2 Tbs. soy sauce
2 Tbs tamarind paste (from Asian market)
2 Tbs. broth, white wine or water
2-3 tsp. sugar (or more to taste)
squeeze of lime
a few squeezes siracha or other chili sauce to taste

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup chopped scallion
(optional additions--cooked shrimp, chicken, or tofu)

1-2 Tbs. chopped peanuts (optional, but really good)
chopped cilantro
juice of a lime, plus another to squeeze at table

Heat the oil in a large skillet. Sauce the cabbage for 5-6 minutes, until it begins to soften. Meanwhile, mix together the sauce ingredients.Taste and adjust to your liking to balance sweet/salty/sour. Remove cabbage from the pan, and add the mushrooms. Saute them until cooked through. Return the cabbage to the pan with the garlic, cook a few more minutes until cooked to your liking. Move the vegetables to the sides of the pan, leaving a space in the middle. Pour in the eggs, let begin to set, then scramble until set. Mix the eggs into the vegetables, and add the scallions and the sauce, and whatever other protein you wish. Let cook a few minutes, then pour into serving bowl. Top with peanuts, cilantro, and lime segments..

One morning several years ago as part of an amazing breakfast served in a friend's home in Haifa, my hostess casually threw this together. She told me it was something her Moroccan-born father used to make. Like my beloved Shakshuka, I eat it for breakfast, lunch or a light dinner. It's one of those freeform things that barely qualifies as a recipe. It's a great way to use up mesclun that may be starting to lose it's freshness. The goal is to have a large amount of greens that wilt down so the frittata is more greens than egg.

1. Prepare a small frying pan with a teaspoon of olive oil or a sprintz of oil spray. Preheat the broiler.

2. Put 3-4 cups of mesclun mix into the pan. You'll probably need to do this in 2-3 batches, adding more as the previous batch wilts. Turn constantly. Add 2-3 Tbs. chopped scallions and 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin.

3. Mix two eggs well, and pour into the pan. Let the bottom set, and then transfer the pan into the oven, to the rack in the middle of the oven, not the one close to the burner. In 3-4 minutes, the frittata should be puffed and almost done. Now put it onto the top rack for 30-60 seconds, to lightly brown. (if you like, you can put some feta or goat cheese on top before moving the pan up!)

4. Remove pan from oven, and sprinkle on 3-4 Tbs. chopped fresh mint and cilantro, or more to taste. Top with some hot sauce, chopped tomatoes or salsa, and plain yogurt if you wish.

Two of my favorite people who are yearly guests at our Passover Seder can't eat gluten. This year I wanted to experiment with making gluten-free matzah balls for them. Matzah balls, for anyone not raised on them, are an Eastern European Jewish comfort food, plump dumplings that soak up flavor from the aromatic chicken soup in which they float. Or sink, as the case may be. People are tend to be firmly in either the "floaters" or "sinkers" camp.

They're made from matzah meal (crushed matzahs), eggs, water or broth, oil or chicken fat, and seasonings. A higher proportion of egg tends to give a fluffier result, less a chewier, denser. In looking around for gluten-free recipes I found those based on potato, almond flour, or gluten-free matzahs. All seemed to have mixed reviews--the potato ones too heavy and closer to a German potato dumpling, the almond meal ones also heavy, and the gluten-free matzah meal ones exploding in the cooking water. I saw one based on quinoa flakes that had overwhelmingly positive feedback, and my Goddaughter also sent me that one as she thought it had possibilities.

I sent Larry to Whole Foods with the shopping list. The first phone call was "I can't find quinoa flakes." It hadn't occurred to him to ask a salesperson. *eyeroll* Men. The next phone call was "Do you know how much xantham gum costs?" A small bag was $14.00--and all I needed for the recipe was 1/2 teaspoon! I called my GF friend, and she said the bag she had seemed to have gone bad, with a sour odor. (it is vegetable-based, so I guess it does have a short shelf life.) Fortunately, my GF guests were happy to split the bag with me.

OK, so on to the matzah balls. I based the experiment on this recipe, with some minor changes--I added a tablespoon of broth, melted chicken fat, and some snipped parsley and dill for flavor; I also let them sit longer in the fridge and cooked the balls longer to see if they'd get a bit lighter. http://www.tamaraduker.com/2009/03/not-your-mamas-gluten-free-matzoh-balls/

The result was quite good--the balls held together, and you could only tell they were not made from matzah meal if you looked closely enough to see some quinoa shapes now and then on the surface. The taste was mild, which soaked up the broth flavor from the soup beautifully. The texture was decent, somewhat on the "sinker" side, but nothing a Grandmother would complain about. Success!

Gluten-free Quinoa “Matzoh” Balls

Makes 10-12 quinoa balls

1 cup quinoa flakes (look in the hot cereal aisle of Whole Foods or other store)

1/2 tsp xanthan gum (look in baking supplies at Whole foods)

2 large eggs

1/4 cup melted chicken fat or vegetable oil

1 Tbs. broth or water

1/2 tsp salt

A sprinkle of ground black pepper to your liking

Tablespoon of each chopped parsley and dill

Combine quinoa flakes and xanthan gum in a small bowl.
In a separate bowl, beat the two eggs. Add oil, broth, herbs, salt and pepper and beat again until combined.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry, mix well until combined. Cover and refrigerate for at least 60 minutes.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. (You don’t want the matzoh balls to be crowded).
Remove batter from refrigerator and wet hands. With wet hands, fashion a SMALL amount of batter into a smooth ball shape and drop into the boiling water. ( Each uncooked ball should be no larger than the size of a ping-pong ball… they will expand when cooking, and if they’re too big, the middle may not cook through sufficiently.)
Cover pot and cook the quinoa balls, maintaining a rolling boil, cook 45 minutes.
Remove the balls from boiling water with a slotted spoon and let sit to cool for a few minutes. Then, refrigerate the balls until ready to serve.
Before serving, place quinoa balls in pot of soup to warm them through.