Sunday Supper

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Anna, baking, broccoli rabe, cooking, crust, dessert, dinner, food, galette, Germany, kid, kindergarten, orecchiette pasta, pasta, pie, plums, recipe, vegan, vegetarian

I had a very busy week last week with Anna, getting her up early every morning and going with her to German “Kindergarten” or preschool. I stayed in the hallway most of the morning while she played with the other kids and got to peek in on her every now and then to see that my now independent (almost 3 year old) daughter was doing just fine without me! According to this particular Kindergarten’s method, the Berlin method, I’ll be going with her for at least another week and letting her stay there for a little bit longer each day. So I’ll be back to Kindergarten again every morning next week!

One draw back to going back to kindergarten (or for the first time) is getting sick. I got the sniffles after my third day there and Anna seems to have picked up a cold too and was battling a low grade fever all weekend which left her cranky, tired and pretty much homebound. We didn’t get to do much on this lovely Indian summer weekend here in Germany. We made it out to the playground a couple of times and took a quick jaunt into the county-side that ended rather badly with a very miserable and tired toddler, so most of our time was spent home this weekend. It was warm here but not so warm that I couldn’t spend some time in the kitchen making us a tasty Sunday supper.

Orecchiette Pasta with Broccoli Rabe, Cherry Tomatoes and Garlic

Plum Gallette with Bourbon Vanilla and Lemon

 

For the Pasta:

 

 

 

 

 

 

1 Bag of Orecchiette pasta or homemade pasta

1 Cup of reserved Pasta Water

1 Bunch of Broccoli Rabe

6-8 Cloves of Garlic

Cherry (or Grape) Tomatoes

Olive Oil (plenty)

Crushed Red Pepper to taste

Salt and Pepper to taste

Grated Parmesan or Romano Cheese for serving *optional*

Bring water to a boil and cook the orecchiette while you prepare the other ingredients. Clean and chop the broccoli rabe: leaves, florrettes, and most of the stems into bite size pieces. Put some water in the bottom of a deep frying pan or large pot with the broccoli rabe and simmer until the stems are almost tender. Drain the water and add enough olive oil to cover the bottom of the pan/pot. Turn the heat to medium/high and move the broccoli rabe over to one side to make room for the garlic. When the oil is hot and shimmering add the chopped garlic to the bottom of the pan. Add crushed red pepper flakes and stir it in with the garlic and cook until the garlic is just starting to become fragrant. Then mix everything together with the broccoli rabe and saute on medium heat for a few more minutes more or until the stems are tender. Add salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Remove from the heat and add to a large bowl with the drained pasta, but be sure to reserve one cup of the pasta’s cooking water before draining. Cut the tomatoes in half and add to the pasta as well. Toss everything together and slowly add the reserved pasta water and some additional olive oil until everything is well coated. Serve immediately.

 

For the Galette:

 

 

 

 

 

 

About 30-40 small Plums

A single Pie Crust (see recipe)

1/4-1/2 cup Turbinado Sugar or Sugar in the Raw

1 packet of Bourbon Vanilla Extract or the seeds from one Bourbon Vanilla bean

Zest from one Lemon

2 Tbs Butter

Preheat the oven to 350° F or 175°C. Wash the plums and remove any stems. Cut them along the slight indent that starts on one side of the stem all the way around the plum, twist to separate and then remove the pit. Cut each half in half and put in a large bowl. Add vanilla and sugar to the cut plums and stir well to combine. Roll out a single pie crust and lay on a baking tray lined with a sheet of baking paper (parchment paper). Sprinkle the lemon zest evenly over the center of the crust outward until about two inches from the edge of the crust, leave this perimeter free. Empty the plums onto the crust in the center area where the zest is and top with small pats of butter over the top of the plum mixture. Fold the edges of the crust up and around the plums patting it down slightly to secure it. Brush the top of the crust with water and optionally sprinkle the crust with a little bit of turbinado sugar all the way around. Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour or until the crust is golden and the filling is bubbling and oozing out the sides*. Let sit for an hour or more before serving.

*Note: Save the drippings from the galette in a sealed container in the refrigerator and this can later be used as a delicious topping on ice cream, yogurt or anything you want. It adds a sweet and velvety plum flavor and is very delicious, it shouldn’t go to waste.

My Sick Valentine

Tags

Anna, baking, cooking, pasta, pie, soup, Valentine's Day, vegan, vegetarian

It’s Valentine’s Day and my little girl is sick. She’s had a pretty high fever for the past 3 days fluctuating between 38 and 40 degrees Celcius, is congested with a head cold and has had little to no appetite at all. We took her to the emergency pediatrician at the local clinic on Sunday night and were sent home with nausea medication and told to wait it out. So Thomas and I have been up nights taking her temperature, giving her medicine every 4 to 6 hours and checking on her. Needless to say, I haven’t gotten much sleep and if I had the energy or the time I would make a nice dinner for my husband and myself to enjoy and we would have had a relaxing night at home with our normally boisterous two year old. But instead of celebrating this holiday as two lovers rejoicing we are spending it as worried parents drawn thin by Anna’s lack of appetite, vivacity and normally good spirits. We are trying desperately to coax her to eat toast, or anything at all really, drink plenty of fluids and keep her fever down. Over the past few days Anna, Thomas and I have been watching Baby Einstein videos over and over again and Disney movies like Dumbo, Bambi and The Jungle Book as we sit together on the couch, or we’ve been building block castles, drawing on her marker board, coloring or doing puzzles and when the medicine makes her feel a little bit better we have even kicked a ball around the house a little bit (sorry downstairs neighbor)!

So here is what I would have liked to have made if we were all feeling well this Valentine’s Day. I hope your Valentine’s Day is filled with love and fun with the ones you care about even if you are stuck at home eating boiled potatoes with spinach and drinking lots of camomille tea. I just hope that my little girl will be feeling better and be back to her old self very soon!

Tomato-Bulgur Soup

Tomato-Bulgur Soup with White Wine and Parsley

adapted from Mark Bittman

4 tablespoons olive oil

1 large onion, halved and sliced

3 large celery stalks, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

2⁄3 cup white wine

3 cups diced tomatoes (from a can is fine)

2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme

5 to 6 cups vegetable stock or water, or more as needed

3⁄4 cup bulgur

1⁄4 cup chopped fresh parsley

Salt and black pepper to taste

Saute onion and celery in oil in a large soup pot or dutch oven over medium-high heat. When the onions are translucent add the garlic and saute for a minute more until fragrant. Add the wine and cook for another minute, then add the tomatoes, thyme, stock, bulgur wheat and salt/pepper to taste. Simmer stirring occasionally for about 15-20 minutes or until the bulgur wheat is tender. Serve with chopped fresh parsley on top.

Pasta Amatriciana

Pasta Amatriciana with Homemade Pasta

Adapted from Scott Pampuch, Corner Table Restaurant via fresh tart

About 2 cups Sofrito (recipe here)

1 large can of Crushed Tomatoes

salt and black/red peppers to taste

Romano cheese or other hard cheese of your choice

Follow the recipe for Sofrito (and if you wish substitute 1 Tablespoon of tomato paste instead of the tablespoon of slowly simmered fire roasted tomatoes). Combine the crushed tomatoes with ALL of the sofrito and add salt and peppers to taste then simmer over medium low heat until the sauce thickens a little. Add the freshly cooked pasta to the sauce and combine then add grated cheese on top just before plating.

For the Pasta

In the past I’ve used this recipe from my Atlas pasta maker or you can use any pasta of your choosing.

Raspberry Pie with Lattice Top

Raspberry Pie with Homemade Pie Crust and a Lattice Top

Adapted from Mama’s Minutia

6 cups (frozen) raspberries
1 cup sugar
5-6 tablespoons tapioca pearls (blended in a coffee grinder to a fine powder)
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

For the Crust (recipe here)

Preheat the oven to 400° F Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl and allow to sit for about 15-20 minutes while you prepare the crust. Roll out two halves of dough into circles large enough to fit your pie plate. One of the circles goes in the plate the other gets cut into strips (about 18 to 20 strips). Don’t worry that they will all be different lengths! Fill the pie crust with the filling and start laying the longer strips on first in the center of the pie (both horizontally and vertically) making sure to follow the lattice structure of over one under the next when laying the strips. Work your way out to the edges using smaller and smaller strips until the entire surface of the pie is covered. Curl the ends under and crimp and brush the top with milk being careful not to drip too much milk into the filling. Bake on the middle rack with a parchment lined cookie sheet under it on the lower rack, to catch any spills, at 400° F for 30 minutes and then turn the oven down to 350° F for another 30 minutes. Cool for at least 2-3 hours to let the pie set before attempting to cut. It will be juicy but the longer it sits the firmer it should set up.

Enjoy and Happy Valentine’s Day!