Shrimp Florentine

I saw a commercial the other day for some kind of pasta Florentine.  I've never made Florentine before, but it seemed like as good a time as any to try.  I like shrimp, so I thought I would make my Florentine with that.  I know that Florentine is supposed to have spinach in it, but I had swiss chard so I decided to use that instead.  The cheese tortellini combines well with the cream sauce to calm the swiss chard and shrimp flavors down.  It's nicely balanced.


Serves 4

1 package cheese tortellini
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
30 leaves swiss chard, chopped
1/4 cup flour
2 cups milk (I used 2%)
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1 cup mozzarella cheese
Salt and ground black pepper to taste

1. Cook pasta according to package directions.  Drain and set aside.
2. In large skillet,  heat olive oil over medium heat.  Saute garlic until soft.  Add swiss chard and continue sauteing until swiss chard wilts.  Add shrimp and cook until no longer opaque.  Toss tortellini with shrimp mixture.  Leave on very low heat while you make sauce.
3. In saucepan--it can be the same one that you used for the pasta--whisk flour, milk, basil, and garlic salt together.  Place on medium head and stir constantly until it simmers and thickens.  Turn off heat and add cheeses.  Pour sauce over pasta and stir well.  Season with salt and pepper to serve.

Chocolate Almond Biscotti with Cherries

I've made biscotti a couple of times before, but usually it's for a pretty specific occasion.  Where I live is transitioning between summer and fall now and somehow biscotti sounded good.  The combination of chewy cherries with crunchy almonds with crumbly biscotti dough, I think, is a good one and the chocolate is really just the icing on the cake.  The cookies are good on their own, but they are made for dunking in coffee or milk so plan your enjoyment accordingly.

Makes about 25 cookie slices

3/4 cup whole almonds
4 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
3 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup dried cherries
4 oz bittersweet chocolate, broken into chunks if a bar
1 egg
1 tablespoon sugar

1. Toast almonds in 350 degree oven for 5 minutes or at high power in a microwave for 30 seconds. Set aside and allow to cool.
2. In bowl of electric mixer, beat butter and 1 cup sugar until combined.  Add extracts and eggs, then beat well.  Stir in flour, salt, and baking powder. This will create a thick, sticky batter.  Using a sturdy spatula, fold in almonds, chocolate, and cherries.  Distribute ingredients as best you can.
3. On a floured surface, turn out batter.  Knead a few times to decrease the stickiness and to distribute the whole ingredients fully.  Divide dough in half and form each half into a log that is about 10 inches long.
4. Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Place each dough log on the parchment paper, spacing so they are about 3 inches apart.  In a measuring cup or small glass, beat the 1 egg until frothy.  Brush egg over dough logs using a pastry brush.  Sprinkle logs with remaining 1 tablespoon sugar.
5. Bake logs for about 25-30 minutes or until they are golden and firm.  Pull parchment paper off the cookie sheet and transfer it to a cooling rack.  Allow logs to cool until they are warm and you can handle them easily, about 20-30 minutes.
6.  While your logs are cooling, fit the cookie sheet you were using with a cooling rack that can go in the oven.  Set aside.
7.  Remove cookie log from the parchment paper to a cutting board. With a serrated knife, cut logs at an angle into 3/4 inch slices.  Each log will make about a dozen slices.  Place cookie slices on the cooling rack you placed on the cookie sheet.  Cookies can touch because they won't change shape at all.  Once you have cut one log and placed it on the rack in the cookie sheet, cut the other log in the same manner.
8. Bake cookie slices in a 300 degree oven for 25-30 minutes.  Cookies will get slightly more brown on the edges, but you will know they are done when they don't give as you poke them.  Leave cookies on the rack in the cookie sheet to cool completely.  Moisture is the enemy of biscotti, so store it in an airtight container for up to a week.

Oatmeal Cookies

Whenever fall rolls around, I tend to want oatmeal.  I really like oatmeal cookies, but they always cause a bit of a controversy in my house.  I love oatmeal raisin and like oatmeal chocolate chip; but Husband hates raisins and isn't real fond of chocolate chips in his oatmeal cookies.  So in my house, oatmeal cookies mean just oatmeal.  The problem with this is that there are very few oatmeal cookie recipes without something in them and--I say through years of experience--taking the something out usually results in sub-par cookies.  So I invented this recipe. The abundance of flavors helps cover up the lack of somethings, making a cookie that is very wonderfully simple.

Makes 36 cookies

1 cup butter, at room temperature
1 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon molasses
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
2 cups quick-cook oatmeal
2 cups flour

1. In mixing bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter and sugars until combined.  Add vanilla, molasses, and eggs.  Beat at medium speed until fluffy.  Scrap sides and add salt, baking soda, cinnamon, and whole-wheat flour.  Stir at low speed until all are incorporated.  Scape sides again and add oatmeal, then flour.  Beat just until incorporated.
2. Grease a large cookie sheet or line it with parchment paper.  Spoon cookie dough by tablespoons onto prepared cookie sheet.  Bake cookies in a 375 degree oven for 9-11 minutes or until edges and bottoms of cookies are deep golden.  Cool before storing.  Store cookies in an airtight container with waxed paper between any stacked layers to prevent cookies from sticking together.

Chocolate Almond Trifle

I wanted to make some different kind of chocolate dessert this week, so I started thinking trifle.  I thought that brownies would make a good base, but the rest of the ingredients threw me.  For only planning on something creamy and something frothy, this trifle came out amazingly good.  The chocolate is rich and bittersweet, the almond is sweet and smooth.  It looks much harder than it is, which I consider a nice bonus.

Serves 8

3/4 cup butter
4 oz unsweetened chocolate
1 1/2 cup sugar
4 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
3/4 cup flour
1/3 cup slivered almonds, toasted

4 oz cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons amaretto
4 oz Cool Whip

1 package chocolate mousse mix, made according to package directions

1/4 cup slivered almonds, toasted

1. In heatproof bowl, melt butter and chocolate together.  This will take about 90 seconds, stirring every 30 seconds.  Once mixture is smooth and melted, allow to cool for 5 minutes.
2. Stir sugar into chocolate mixture.  Add eggs, one at a time, until smooth.  Stir in extracts and flour.  Stir in 1/2 cup almonds.
3. Grease an 8-inch square pan.  Pour brownie mixtures into greased pan and bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Allow to cool completely.
4. Once brownies are cool, cut them into small squares.
5. In mixing bowl, combine cream cheese and powdered sugar.  Once smooth, beat in amaretto.  After amaretto is incorporated, fold in Cool Whip.  Set aside.
6. Prepare chocolate mousse according to package directions.  Set aside.
7. In large glass bowl, place a scant half of the brownies.  Smooth half of the amaretto cream mixture on top of the brownies, then smooth half of the mousse over it.  Sprinkle mousse with half of the toasted almonds.  Repeat layers of brownies, cream, and mousse.  Sprinkle with any remaining brownie bits and remaining toasted almonds.  Cover bowl and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

Chicken Marsala

This is one of those dishes that I love, but I never order at restaurants.  I like the way that I make it and apparently not many other ways.  It's not a terribly difficult meal, but it tastes pretty fantastic.

Serves 4

1/2 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 tablespoon butter
3 cloves garlic
1/4 cup minced onion
1 1/2 cup sliced baby portabella mushrooms
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram
Salt and ground black pepper to taste
2/3 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup marsala wine
3 cups farafalle pasta

1. Put water on for pasta.  Leave to heat while you complete the rest of the steps.
2. Heat oil and butter in a skillet with a lid.  When butter melts, add garlic and onions.  Saute until they just begin to turn golden, then add mushrooms.  Continue sauteing until the mushrooms put off liquid and garlic and onions are soft.  Remove from skillet and set aside.
3. On small plate, mix marjoram and flour.  Dunk chicken breasts in flour mixture until evenly coated.  Saute coated chicken breasts in skillet until golden brown,flipping as needed.  Top chicken with garlic mushroom mixture.  Reduce heat to low.  In measuring cup, combine broth and wine.  Pour broth wine mixture over chicken and cover skillet with lid.  Simmer for 20-30 minutes.
4.  While the chicken is cooking, cook the pasta until it is slightly undercooked.  After chicken is done, remove from skillet but leave liquid.  Toss pasta with liquid in skillet and bring pasta to a simmer in sauce.  Remove skillet from heat.  Serve pasta with chicken breasts.

Week 16 Box

Apparently next week we will be box-less, so they really overloaded this week's box. Many of the things listed were in bulk.

• Potatoes
• Swiss chard
• Kale
• Garlic
• Onions
• Edamame
• Green beans
• Rosemary

Baked Penne

I still had marinara sauce from the last time I made some, so I thought I would make something different with it.  I have made something like this before, but I wanted to try it with a few new things added in.  It still tastes delicious, even more so with the changes.  Notice that the tags include ingredients from the marinara.

Serves 4-6

3 cups uncooked penne
3 cups meatless marinara, homemade or jarred
5 oz Italian sausage
1 cup chopped swiss chard
1 cup ricotta cheese
1 egg
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1 cup shredded Italian cheese

1. Cook pasta according to package directions, undercooking slightly.  Drain and set aside.
2. Meanwhile, brown sausage in a small skillet.  Add swiss chard and cook until chard is wilted.  Set aside.
3. Also while pasta is cooking, mix ricotta and egg together in small bowl.  Add Parmesan cheese and garlic salt and stir well.  Set aside.
4. Grease a 9x13 inch glass baking dish and set aside.
5. In pasta saucepan, mix cooked pasta with sausage mixture and marinara.  Pour half of the pasta mixture into the greased baking dish and smooth.  Dollop ricotta mixture over pasta and smooth into an even layer over pasta.  Top with remaining pasta and smooth this pasta layer to hide the cheese.  Sprinkle shredded cheese over pasta.
6. Bake penne in 350 degree oven for 30 minutes or until bubbly.  Serve hot.