Ravioli is for Roussette

This post started some time in February, but I never completed it.  I am thinking this was a Friday night that we decided to stay in and make ravioli.  I distinctly remember helping "fork" the seal (and design) around the edges, if nothing else (but I'm generally pretty helpful when we're making delicious raviolis).  

I was searching dictionary.com for a noun that started with R and this was the first noun in the list that did not offensively describe a group of people:

Roussette, n.
1 a fruit bat, especially the large species inhabiting the islands of the Indian ocean.
2 any small shark of the genus Scyllium, see Dogfish.

This has nothing to do with ravioli, but now I have your attention :).

Here was the lovely side dish, those are pieces of garlic yummmmm with asparagus and red bell pepper.  Tides you over while you're waiting for the ravioli dough to chill...

Pretty sure this was mushroom ravioli with some deliciously expensive soft mascarpone cheese :).  Just add salted boiling water, a pan of butter and sage, and a nice block of parmesan to grate over top.  You have yourself a little plate of happiness.

They were good even before the butter :).

Leftover ricotta? No problem!

Just slap it on top of a buckwheat pancake and drizzle (or dollop!) with honey and pretend there's no such thing as needing to go outside when it's cold.

Slowly posting pics I have had on my phone for a couple of months...

Sweet balls of gnocchi!

Homemade sweet potato gnocchi = win. Another one of my husband's concoctions that I will claim credit for inspiring and enjoying :-P, but I claim none for execution.

Boil 2 yams, remove skins. Place in kitchen aid mixer with paddle mix element. Mix until broken down. Add ~ 4 C flour until not sticky to touch with a bare finger. Nead slightly with floured hands, grab a softball-sized section and roll into rope ~1" diameter. Cut off .5-1" sections and toss into boiling pot of salted water for ~8 minutes.

Makes ~70 gnocchi (enough for 2 meals for 2 people!)

Sauce options:

Savory:
butter, juice from lemon, capers, milk, salt. We shaved Parmesan cheese over it. This first batch had the traditional fork impressions as well. Some turned out to be heart-shaped! 2/13

Sweet:
1 stick of butter, 1.5 Tbsp honey, dash in nutmeg and cinnamon to taste. Sage would be a great addition - we were out :).
This batch was literally scooped out of the leftover container, so it's a little lumpy :). Feta cheese brought it together.

We ate both meals without any sides, but these gorgeous orange dumplings are screaming for a little splash of green. Points to whoever can think of the right pairing...

Figs

Figs Restaurant on Charles Street in Boston = excellent.

Ginger ale for me came in a fancy curvy glass. That's a first!

Bread has a yummy garlic oil coating, good quality olive oil and balsamic for dipping.

Rhode Island Calamari on a bed of mixed greens with jalapeño peppers and lemon aioli. We left no prisoners.

Mixed green salad with lemon vinaigrette: good quality, still shouldn't cost $6.5.

Fig and Prosciutto pizza? Yes.
Crispy thin rosemary crust with a fig-goat cheese sauce and beautiful prosciutto layered on top. I guess there was cheese on there somewhere. It all blended together really well with the prosciutto on top.

Delicious. Must try in own kitchen.

The restaurant itself was darkly decorated, crowded, and fairly loud as per usual in Boston. We were seated in the only empty table which was sort of a shallow booth right next to the kitchen. The lighting was such that when the pizza was placed on the stand I could not see my plate thru the shadow - it was actually awesome :). Felt like we were VIPs or something and it was quieter than it would have been at the bar or central eating area. Glad we went out today, even though I hadn't been feeling awesome and we canceled ice skating - crossing fingers for Monday!

Plant Babies - an update

It has come to my attention that my blogs' "about me" / supplemental pages are a little outdated, give or take 3 years...

Well, I started the blog after moving to Boston and having a nice little potted garden in Somerville and 2 roommates.  A year later I moved to a 425 sq ft flat in the middle of the city in anticipation of our December wedding.

My blog has thus had its context transformed:
I don't really do the cooking anymore, and
No yard.

Me not doing the cooking anymore has a simple explanation: I married an Italian.  Well, 1/4 Italian.  Close enough.

I will now speak more to my lack of gardening...

When I moved into the city I moved my herbs that survived the winter indoors to the window by my desk at work.  They survived fairly well until suffering a drought of care when I took a week off at Thanksgiving to visit Mike and family in Utah.  I brought them back to surviving status, but my three-week long absence to marry and honeymoon was enough to do them in.  There wasn't much hope for the herb babies.

Mike got me an orchid for Valentine's day.  It hasn't bloomed again yet (hey, come on sista!), but it's still looking pretty healthy!  One of these days we will re-pot it...

The next summer (2012), Mike and I went to home depot to find me some house plants more suited to indoor survival (aka as low maintenance as possible), and we left with a polka dot plant, an umbrella plant, and a jade plant.  A coworker asked me to name them so they became Pinky, Rihanna, and Jade.  A word to the wise: polka dot plants are only cute when you first buy them.  They grow in a very unattractive way and are a little more needy.  Also, we had serious gnat problems at home and work -- I was so embarrassed!  But we discovered an easy and effective solution: put a 0.5-1" layer of black sand on top of the soil and the moths will die out and will no longer be able to lay eggs in the soil.  Other than that, the plants are doing pretty well for just needing 1 thorough watering per week (1-2 for the polka dot).

We also got a new planter and some herbs: basil, oregano, and thyme.  They lasted for a good while until finally kicking the bucket in November.  The planter and petrified remains are currently cozying up the empty fireplace.

Finally, Mike is the best.  I had hinted probably every couple of months how awesome I thought it would be if we had an Amaryllis plant around every year for our Anniversary.

(My wedding bouquet was Amaryllis because it was in season, cheap, and high-impact :).  I liked how unique it was, of course.)

Well, Mike is pretty good at taking 500 hints and he had a ginormous amaryllis plant ready at our Anniversary trip to a cute B&B in Kentucky.  Luckily it survived the trip back to Boston after finishing its bloom.  Since cutting off the bloom and leaf, a new leaf has grown.  We let the leaf anchor itself through the window blinds and thought how cute that it looks so healthy until one day we opened the blinds and discovered... it had grown almost to the height of the window!!!  We are anxious to see how it changes as the year goes on.

So there is the current story of my Plant Babies.  We are looking forward to moving a little further outside the city this summer and getting a plot in an Urban Garden nearby!!  Then we will have some great stories!

Lamb Valentino

My hubby amazed me tonight. You would think I would be used to this by now...

Starter salad: arugula with cranberries, walnuts, tomatoes, and a homemade glaze of mustard, apple cider vinegar, honey, and anchovies. Inspired? Yes.

Main course: grilled lamb chops marinated and topped by mint gremolata (garlic, mint, olive oil, salt, lemon zest) and sautéed asparagus with feta cheese and a homemade plum sauce (plums, sugar, water).

DELICIOUS. When I say homemade, I mean home inspired, original recipe. Only thing Mike looked up was the lamb marinade recipe. We grilled the lamb on our iron-clad oven skillet.

Desert: homemade yogurt with plum sauce.

Happy Valentine's Day :)

Steamed pork buns and Wakame salad!

Wakame with carrots and radishes, in a sauce of vinegar, soy sauce, and sugar. Next time we will look for toasted sesame seeds and glass noodles to vary the texture a bit. It tastes good and settles well in the stomach, but it is just funny to eat a pile of soggy seaweed :).

Steamed pork buns from a recipe called jinpangmanndu.

Wish I had learned how to make these earlier in my life! Thank goodness for a fearless husband who starts the food projects :).