Pi Day

Now you'll know how much of a nerd I am (or how much of a nerd my friends are.) Instead of making a blog for St Patty's Day and making recipes out of beer, I'm blogging for Pi day instead. 3.14! Eventually I'll play with beer, because I'm really trying to get the taste for it. Anyways. I did not post last week because the pie I made did not turn out, but this one did! :-D I include frozen peaches not only because they aren't in season, but because you can have the ingredients waiting for you for a rainy day.

PEACH PIE

• 1 cup white sugar (I substituted 2/3 cup Splenda)
  
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 cups frozen sliced peaches (defrosted)
  
• 9 inch single crust pie

Cream together the sugar and butter or margarine. Add the egg, flour, and vanilla; mix together completely. Brush this mixture over the crust line with peaches. Spread the rest of the mixture over the top of the peaches.
Bake at 300 degrees F for 1 hour.

MOVIE SUGGESTIONS: Waitress &/or Pi

WHY: These are the obvious choices for Pi day!! Waitress makes you want to make or eat a pie right then and there. This movie is all about the Pies. It is a sweet movie, though, and isn't just a Chick-Flick. Plus, it has my favorite sexy man, Nathan Fillion. I just watched Castle and I'm already loving it. :-)

Pi is disturbing and creepy, but in a memorable and good way that makes you think. It'll truly make you appreciate the number Pi.

Quesadillas

It's Marti Gras! But I don't know how to cook Creole food. Since I'm not religous and don't give up anything for Lent, I'm not going to make a meal that's decadent enough to be a pre-Lent feast, but perhaps it would be a good challenge for next year. This week (sorry I did not post last week, I was with my parents and they provided me with enough left overs to last the week) I want to post one of my staple recipes. Even though February is the shortest month of the year, sometimes it can seem like the longest. It's still winter and cold, with spring nowhere in sight. The novelty of snow has worn off, and the afterglow of the holiday season is long gone. It's time for some comfort food. Growing up in New Mexico, to me comfort means spicy food, chile peppers and cheese. Sorry! So, this week I'm going to make some quesadillas to warm me up. Of course you can make these as mild as you like.

First, you've got to make the filling. I have my three favorite combinations below. I'm including aproximate numbers because I never measure for my quesadillas and use what I've got in my kitchen. The filling usually fills about an 8 package of tortillas worth, thus serving about 4 people for a full course meal.

Green Chile and Chicken Quesadillas
Defrost a frozen chicken breast and cut it into small pieces. Saute over medium high heat with a can of green chile, and/or some green tomatillo salsa. Once the chicken is cooked add a couple handfuls of frozen peppers. When those have been thawed, turn the heat on low and you're ready for the next step. I usually use regular flour tortillas for this recipe and a Mexican blend of shredded cheese or a cheddar jack mix.

Mexican Veggies and Chipotle Quesadillas
If you have a frozen mix of frozen southwestern vegetables just saute about a cup and a half of the mix over medium heat and cover with a chipotle salsa until thawed. If not find some frozen corn, frozen peppers and use canned black beans. I like using red chile tortillas for this mix, especially if I'm serving a vegetarian and non-vegitarian option for a group of people. The same Mexican or cheddar jack cheeses can be used for this recipe.

Sweet Potato & Black Bean Quesadillas
Rinse half a can of black beans and cook on the stovetop over meduim heat. Meanwhile, Bake a small sweet potato until it is soft, microwaving it is fine. Chop it into small pieces, removing the skin. Add the sweet potato to the beans and a tablespoon or two of honey as well as some pineapple or mango salsa to taste. I often use the red chile tortillas and a white cheese (monteray jack or even mozerella) but really any flour tortilla will do and the Mexican mix cheese works, too.


When your mix is ready set up your quesadilla station. Spray one or two skillets with cooking spray and heat over medium heat. Add 1 tortilla to each skillet. Over half of the tortilla, top each with a layer of cheese a few tablespoons of filling and add another layer of cheese. Fold each tortilla in half. Cook until bottoms are golden brown, about 3 minutes. Turn the quesadillas over. Cook until bottoms are golden brown and cheese melts, about 3 minutes. Transfer to cutting board. Cut each quesadilla into 3 wedges. Transfer to platter. Repeat with remaining tortillas, cheese, and filling. Serve hot. You can also use corn tortillas in order to make this a gluten free recipe, but do not try to fold them. Layer the entire tortilla and place another tortilla on top. If you like bake it with less cheese in the middle but extra salsa and cheese on top it becomes an enchillada.

MOVIE RECOMMENDATION: Some Like it Hot

WHY? This is one of my favorite classic comedies and a perfect comfort movie. The combination of Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis as musicans who dress in drag to join an all girls band, and, of course, the beautiful Marilyn Monroe as one of the singers make the senario so much fun to watch. Plus, a lot of it is set on a beach. So make a margarita to go with the quesadillas, and pretend it's the summer. :-)

Red Pasta

I love to cook and feed people, and I enjoy cooking challenges. For instance, what do you feed a group of people that includes someone with celiacs and another who is a pescatarian and allergic to dairy? My favorite answer so far is paella! *Warning, the recipes below are neither gluten nor dairy free. I will note when they are. * Anyways. I've created this blog to share my cooking adventures. Also, because I'm a nerd and read too much, I'll post some book or movie recommendations at the end loosely tied to whatever theme I've come up with for the food.

This week, since it's almost Valentine's Day, I wanted to cook something unusually red, but without cheating and just using food coloring. Now, I am no fan of Valentine's Day, and have been this way every year, regardless of my relationship status. There were a couple years I declared myself the Valentine's Day Grinch. Why should should we need a holiday to show that you love someone? Isn't it more romantic to be spontaneous anyway? It's stressful for couples in relationships who want to make things perfect and it's depressing to those who are single or far away from their loved ones. It's another Hallmark Holiday overly commercialized and forcing us to by chocolate. Not that I'm complaining about the chocolate. That's my favorite part. I am trying to make amends with the holiday. I don't necessarily have to like it, but I'll accept it and take from it the things I do like. One of the actresses in my show said that she likes Valentine's Day because she gets to play with the color red more. So I translated that thought into food and came up with the idea for this pasta. There's no need to have a significant other to share this meal. Get a group of friends, or hell, treat yourself. That's what I've been learning to do and after a while I've grown to love it. The pasta is a vegetarian recipe as written but please feel free to add shrimp or chicken. I originally added shrimp and cooked them with the wine, but I did not cook off the alcohol long enough, thus the dish's alternate name is affectionately, Drunken Shrimp. Also below is the recipe for my Oreo Truffles, or Oreo Balls depending on where you serve them. The more comfortable you are with the group, the more they'll remember your Oreo Balls. Make them for any occasion by decorating them with different colors and shapes such as orange spiders on dark chocolate for Halloween or green shamrocks for St. Pattys day (you can even add mint to the oreos.)

Red Linguine w/ Sun-dried tomato pesto aka Drunken Shrimp
(serves 3-4 full course meals depending on hunger)

Sun-dried Tomato Pesto (can be made ahead of time)

• 1/2 cup packaged sun-dried tomatoes (boiled to soften)
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1 tablespoon dried basil
  
• 1 tablespoon pine nuts
  
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
  
• 1/2 cup olive oil

With a blender: blend all ingredients together until paste forms (it does seem chunky and homemade, but still tastes great.) If you have a food processor: add all ingredients except the oil and with machine running, gradually add olive oil and process until smooth paste forms.

Red Linguinie

• 1/2 lb linguine
• 1/2 (750-ml) bottle red wine (I used Charles Shaw Cabernet Sauvignon from Trader Joe's since the pesto provides most of the flavor.)
• 1 teaspoon sugar

In a 6- to 8-quart pot of boiling salted water, cook linguine, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes (pasta will not be fully cooked). Drain in colander and return empty pot to stove top. Add wine and sugar to pot and boil vigorously 2 minutes. Add spaghetti and shake pot to prevent pasta from sticking. Gently stir until coated and boil over high heat, stirring occasionally, for about 6 minutes (pasta will be al dente). Drain remaining liquid if necessary. Add pesto and serve.

Oreo Truffles (White Chocolate & Pink Heart)
makes about 20

• 1/2 package regular size Oreo cookies, crushed
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese (the fat free and reduced fat cream cheeses taste great in this recipe too ... though I have not used the reduced fat oreos yet ...)
  
• 1/2 package (or more) White Chocolate Chips (almond bark also works)
  
• Red food die

Using a blender or hand held mixer, mix Oreos and cream cheese together.
Scoop out a tablespoon of the mixture and roll into a ball. Repeat until mixture is gone.
Chill balls in the fridge for an hour.
Melt approximately 1/2 package of white chocolate chips.
Stick a toothpick in an Oreo ball and dip it in the melted white white chocolate.
Allow to harden on wax paper.
While waiting for the chocolate to harden, use the remaining chocolate or melt more if necessary and add red food coloring, about 20ish drops or as dark as you like. It does darken a little when it hardens.
When Oreo balls are no longer sticky to the touch, decorate with pink chocolate. I just use a sandwich bag with a tiny hole cut in one corner to drizzle the pink chocolate.

BOOK RECOMMENDATION: Bel Canto, Ann Pachet

WHY? I chose to post about Bel Canto this week because it is about finding love in unexpected places. (Edit, I just saw the New York Magazine quote "In more ways than one, Bel Canto is about finding beauty in unexpected places" and I don't want to unintentionally plagiarize.) This book is so beautifully written, and no matter how dire the situation gets, it still makes you feel good to be alive. Now, this is not a happy book. The book is about a hostage situation in an unspecified Latin country. For several days the wealthy party guests and the terrorists live together while the negotiations are in process, but the relationships that form in these circumstances are both beautiful and heartbreaking. I was tempted to think of a light-hearted and romantic book or movie to write about, but since I haven't made full amends with Valentines' Day yet, something bittersweet is the perfect choice.