Mama’s Pasta Salad🍅

♥️find your little Friday♥️

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I have made this several dozen times and for me it truly is the best pasta salad there ever was. Be prepared to chop for a bit of time but the results are worth it. The secret ingredient is dill and making sure all the veggies are shipped to roughly around the same size, let’s dig in!

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-1 pd of pasta(cavatappi or farfalle)

-1 hothouse cucumber cut into quarter dice

-1/4 cup freshly chopped dill 

-1 pt on cherry tomatoes halved 

-1 red onion diced small

-1 red and yellow pepper diced to the same quarter size of the cucumber

-1 bag baby carrots-(this is the long bit) sliced down to about a quarter inch thick rounds. Then boil and blanch them in boiling water and ice water for about a minute in each liquid, drain.

-Half of a cup of extra virgin olive oil

-Half of a cup of red wine vinegar 

-3 cloves of garlic minced 

-1/4 cup of minced fresh dill

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Boil and cook the noodles as the box direction reads instead of under, you want this a little past al dente. Drain pasta and cook under running water, tossing it to get every piece room temperature to touch.

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Prepare the dressing while the pasta cooks. Add the oil, vinegar, garlic, dill, plus salt and pepper to taste in a mason jar. Shake vigorously for several seconds. 

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Place the cooled pasta in a large bowl and begin to add each of the vegetables, tossing after each addition. The liquid from the veggies will add a mild liquid coating, making it easier to blend. 

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Shake the dressing one last time in jar and then pour over pasta and veggies. Toss all together, adjust seasonings, maybe more dill? Enjoy!

Fishmarket Bisque Soup 🦀

♥️Find Your Little Friday♥️

I have stacks of tabbed magazines, newspaper clippings, index cards and open tabs on my Google Chrome of recipes. Recipes have always intrigued me most and they lay scattered throughout my life. I used to have a notorious habit of falling asleep while reading cookbooks, it’s just always been my thing. Recipes for me are like stories. What are you leaving in, leaving out or adding in? Why are you making something, attempting something or changing everything about a recipe to make it digestible for you? I feel a sense of sentiment and connection with recipes, especially when they are passed on. The real work can also come when you have to interpret or translate the missing parts of a recipe so it makes sense to you.

Five years ago I received my first handwritten recipe from mom. I have cooked next to her many times learning recipes thru osmosis or transcribed her tricks over the phone. When I got this specific recipe I didn’t feel compelled to make it at the time. I stumbled across it as I was spring cleaning last week and it just spoke to me. I called her upon its rediscovery and began to ask many questions.

Where did this recipe come from? Did you make it often? When did you feel like making it most? Why did you share it with me?

Are you ready for the responses?

“This recipe is from 80's and came from a friend in the furniture industry. He had it on good authority that this was one of the most popular recipes served at the home of the founders of Crate and Barrel.”.....ok mom, lead with that! “I made it when I felt like impressing people but didn’t have a lot of time. This recipe comes together quickly which is nice. It’s price tag is high though because it comes from luxury.”

She is right, the crab meat alone is a high ticket value! “ I shared it with you because I knew you would appreciate it.”

Again she was right and I did/do appreciate it so very much! You can follow along on her index card but I will share a couple tweaks I added since I have to put my little twist on it! Like her notes read, you must serve this with a butter lettuce salad topped with a tangy mustard and sherry vinaigrette. Also, a little grated gruyere on the greens just to give it even more love.  I sliced some yummy bread and spread a pat of butter over the slices like she suggested too! Check out some of my tweaks below

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• add the zest from the entire lemon as well as the juice

• I used fresh tarragon because it is my favorite 

• I used high quality packaged crab meat since I couldn't find snow crab legs

• I used fish sauce instead of Worcestershire, a perfect swap here since one of the lead ingredients in Worcestershire is anchovies

• I couldn't imagine using all heavy cream, half and half is the way to go

• the index recipe doesn't call for brandy but the recipe steps say to add some in, I used dry vermouth instead which rounded out the flavor nicely

I hope you enjoy this recipe and find yourself inspired to make it on your own. Who knows, you might even find another tweak or improvement yourself? All I ask is that you kindly help a lady out and share any and all insight. Enjoy and I hope this helps you #findyourlittlefriday

Strawberry Rhubarb Crostata

 ♥️Find Your Little Friday♥️

My heritage comes out in so many areas of my life but it is the most pronounced with food. I will discover a recipe, technique or cuisine and follow the trace back to my family history of where that love, curiosity and awareness came from. If my love of desserts/pastries is from my family, then pie is the midwestern homage to that love and also the place I grew up. This pie flavor combination is my most beloved and was also my maternal grandfather’s favorite. Let the traditions keep flowing.

In honor of the first few days of spring I offer up my favorite pie recipe for strawberry rhubarb. This has been a favorite pie of mine since I was a little girl and I was over the moon to see the first bits of rhubarb appear in the market this past week.  Depending on where you live delicious and sweet strawberries may be already available. If not, wait a couple more weeks and your combination will be perfect. This is a perfect flavor combination for me, sweet & tart and of course a lovely buttery crust to compliment the flavors. This variatiion is known as a crostata in Italy, a galette in France and hand pie Stateside

Pie crust:

Yields six 3" crostatas

•2 1/2 cups a.p. flour

•2 sticks of chilled unsalted butter cut into cubes

•1/4 cup of brown sugar

•1 tsp of salt

•6-8 tbsp of cold water

Sift together flour, sugars and salt. Add the cubed butter into the mixture either using a pastry cutter to incorporate or your hands. Working quickly, mix all ingredients together until the butter starts to become pearl sized as it gets combined with the dry ingredients. Slowly add a few tbsp of cold water and mix together. Add more water till the mixture begins to be moistened through but not overly wet.  Separate the dough into two equal parts, wrap in plastic and refrigerate each disk for at least an hour

While the dough rests make the filling

•1 quart of strawberries cleaned, stemmed and quartered

•3 stalks of rhubarb cleaned and sliced into 1/4 inch pieces

•1/4 cup of sugar

•1/4 cup of brown sugar

Combine all ingredients together in a bowl and place in the fridge for half an hour to allow the fruit to macerate. 

Preheat your oven to 375º. Take one disk of dough out of the fridge and flour a clean surface. Using a long chef knife or pastry cutter, split the dough into thirds, then reform each piece into a ball, giving you three balls. Starting from the center of each, use a floured rolling pin and work out towards the corners.  Once you get the dough to a desired thickness, (about a 1/4 inch) move onto the next until you have three. Then move to a parchment lined sheet tray, a half sheet holds three. Then take out the remaining half and follow the same steps as the first piece of dough, finishing by placing the last three pieces onto another half sheet tray.

Divide the filling evenly amongst the six discs, about 1/3 of a cup into each, focusing on placing the filling in the center of each, leaving a little less than an inch border. Begin by folding the edges of the dough over the filling, moving counter clockwise as you overlap the dough onto itself, like you’re tucking the filling in. Pinch the dough at the top if any cracks form. Sprinkle with demerara sugar/raw sugar.

Place in the oven and and bake for about 35 minutes, until the fruit juices start bubbling and the crust is golden brown. Cool for about thirty minutes, enjoy!

Dutch Baby Weekends

♥️Find Your Your Little Friday♥️

Nothing gets me thinking about weekends as a kid like a Dutch baby pancake. This was the ultimate treat that we only got to order on special occasions, mostly because they’re made to order and take thirty minutes to bake. Light, flavorful and crispy, it’s right up there as one of my favorite pancakes. I always loved ordering it fully loaded with fruit in the summer, berries being the best filler ever!

I have adopted the habit of making them on the weekends from time to time, sometimes splitting my recipe into to smaller cast iron pans for a cute whoa factor. Please enjoy discovering your #findyourlittlefriday moments. ♥️

Infredients;​

•3 eggs​

•1/2 cup flour ​

•3/4 cup whole milk, at room temperature​

•1 tbsp sugar​

•pinch of cinnamon ​

•4 tbsp of butter ​

•powdered sugar, fruit and lemon wedges for garnish

Preheat oven to 425 degrees

•combine the eggs, flour, milk, sugar and spice in the jar of blender, blend until smooth. you can mix by hand​, just make sure it’s smooth

•place the butter in a heavy 10-inch skillet/baking dish. place in the oven. you want the butter to melt but not burn, a little browning is always yummy.

•add the batter to the pan once it’s melted and bake in the oven for about 20 minutes. the pancake should be puffed and golden, then lower the temperature to 300 and bake for about five more minutes.​

•remove from the oven. Fill with fresh fruit, top with a dusting of powdered sugar and a squeeze of lemon! enjoy!