Great for cooking for one or two.  Adapted from a recipe from Julie Powell, and a half-remembered recipe I read long ago from Mark Bittman. Leaving the cloves on adds more flavor, plus it’s just easier, and it’s going to be strained anyway.

This makes 2-3 portions of broth, so if you’re cooking for only one, cook the egg or shrimp in just one portion and save the rest for another night.

half a head of garlic, broken into cloves but not peeled
1 T olive oil
1/4 t smoked paprika
1/4 t thyme
3 fresh sage leaves, or 1/4 t dried sage
1/2 t salt, or to taste
1/2 t fresh ground pepper

6 or 8 shrimp per person, peeled (optional)
1 egg per person (optional)
fresh parmesan cheese (optional)
crusty bread (optional)

In a 1 1/2 quart saucepan, combine garlic cloves and next 6 ingredients (through pepper). Add 1 quart of water. Bring to a boil, and then reduce to a simmer. Simmer, covered, about 30 minutes. Strain the broth into a heatproof bowl, squishing as much of the “meat” of the garlic through as possible.

Place as many portions of broth as you’re going to serve in as small a saucepan as will hold it (so it’s as deep as possible). Bring back to a low simmer. Add the shrimp, or slip in an egg. With shrimp, cook until they’re pink. With an egg, cook until it’s really barely set, as it’ll continue to cook after you take it off the heat, and it’s easy to overcook the yolk.

To serve, top with grated parmesan cheese, with crusty bread on the side, and maybe a simple salad.

Easy to scale up or down for any number of people, from one to a crowd.  The recipe below is for 2 medium size portions, or a pretty large one with a bit leftover.  Spaghetti is traditional, but I like egg noodles.  Adapted from Marcella Hazan.

3 slices of bacon, cut in 1″ pieces
about 4 oz (1/3 of a package) egg noodles, or other pasta
1 egg
1 T creme fraiche (optional, or substitute sour cream or plain yogurt)
2 T parmesan cheese, plus more for garnish
fresh ground black pepper
2 T chopped parsley, or other fresh herb

Brown bacon in a small pan, until crispy. Reserve drippings. Meanwhile, cook egg noodles per directions. While pasta cooks, beat together the egg, creme fraiche, and parmesan cheese. When pasta is done, reserve a little bit of the pasta water and drain. Return the pasta to the pot, and toss with the egg mixture. (Since the pasta and pan are hot, the egg gets most of the way, but probably not completely, cooked, making a rich and delicious sauce.) If it seems too dry, add in a bit of the reserved pasta water. Toss in the bacon, herbs, and some of the drippings. (I only used about half the drippings, but my bacon was pretty fatty.) Garnish with more herbs and parmesan cheese.

As I mentioned last week, we’ve been grilling as much as possible and enjoying eating on our patio.  Burgers are always a great thing to grill, but sometimes you gotta spice it up a little from plain old ground beef (not that that isn’t wonderful, too, from time to time).  These burgers were inspired by some that my friend Sadie made for a cookout for the Fourth of July, and I immediately had to go back home and recreate them.  They are chock full of bell peppers and onions, as well as a bunch of herbs and spices.  The only peril is they don’t hold together real well.  I might add some breadcrumbs or something next time.  But it’s a tasty combination – almost like a light, summery version of meatloaf, and endlessly adaptable to whatever veggies, herbs, and spices you have on hand.  I somebody forgot to put buns on the grocery list, so we ate them on a bed of watercress since I happened to have some (also good if you’re trying to go the low-carb route).  Either way, a cheap, easy, and quick dinner, perfect for eating under the summer sunset.

Doctored-Up Burgers

1 lb ground beef
3 strips bacon
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/4 of a green pepper, diced
1/4 of a yellow pepper, diced
small onion, diced
1/4 c cilantro, diced
1 t salt (or to taste)
1/4 t ground cumin
1/4 t ground coriander
1/4 t ground mustard
black pepper to taste
dash cayenne pepper

6 slices of cheese (cheddar, American, colby-jack, etc.)
leafy lettuce such as watercress, arugula, mesclun greens, etc., or buns

Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl and form into burgers (I made 6). Try not to handle it too much or squeeze it all together too tightly, as that can make them tough. Grill over medium high fire, covered, a few minutes to a side until desired doneness. When almost done, top with cheese so it can melt a bit.  Serve over greens or on a bun, with the usual accompaniments.  Sit outside and enjoy!

For Christmas last year, my parents gave me a “gift certificate” to go shopping with my mom for something for the kitchen.  Although I used some of it a couple months ago (to get those low bowls in the picture, come to think of it) we hadn’t found time for me to use the rest of it, mostly because I had been indecisive about what I wanted to get.  Last week I was told that my “gift certificate” would expire after six months, so I needed to get to it!  We went to Williams Sonoma one night last week and I decided to buy this beautiful pasta maker.  Isn’t it a beauty?  I love that it’s bright red and shiny!

I was eager to put this baby to work, so I decided to make ravioli for some friends we were having over Saturday night.  (I’m in a little bit of trouble for breaking it in without letting Mom help, but I was just getting the kinks worked out.)  My only previous experience with making pasta was for the Daring Bakers lasagne a couple months back.  In that case, while it turned out very tasty, it was really a pain to roll out by hand (tearing, etc.) and I could never get it anywhere close to as thin as I wanted. (more…)

I know this is a bit redundant with the Daring Bakers post earlier this week, but I did end up making a quiche with the leftover filling, and it turned out so well, I wanted to share.  Also, I realized I’ve never shared my quiche recipe with you, which comes from Matt’s grandmother by way of my mother-in-law.  She always filled it with bacon and swiss cheese, but here I used the mushroom barley filling from the strudel instead of the bacon (though I added a couple slices of bacon, too).  Also, I usually use cream but I didn’t have any so I substituted the buttermilk I had on hand from making a strawberry buttermilk cake.  I’ll be repeating that substitution — it added a nice rich tang.

I’ll admit that the mushroom barley filling made the quiche just a tad watery, but the flavor was so good we really didn’t mind.  Matt said “I didn’t even notice I hadn’t put hot sauce on it until I was more than halfway through a slice,” and usually even his favorite quiche, from his grandmother, is drowning in it before he even starts eating.  So I considered that high praise indeed!

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