ok im offically in love with whoever is cooking this stuff. your my fat foodie friend forever

Beating the heat: Shrimp-Zucchini-Cherry Tomato Pastastolen from: http://wineguyworld.blogspot.com/2009/06/berry-good.html

This is a recipe i found from tastespotting, the internet's mecca for foodporn. i havent had a chance to try it just yet, but it looks and sounds so fucking delicious im sorta annoyed with myself that i havent given more of an effort. Here is a bit of what the dude who made it said about it:

When it comes to food, I'm what you might call a carb-whore. Bread, pizza, especially pasta....all good! It's 96* out as I type this and on a day like this I don't even want to stand next to a grill to take the heat outside. But I would want something fast, easy, light, and most of all delicious. This super seasonal pasta is just that. I know some people lose their appetite when it gets hot. Sadly, I'm not one of them. I could have the devil jabbing my ass with his pitchfork in hell and I'd still be eyeing the never ending pasta bowl. Oh wait, that sounds like Olive Garden, doesn't it? Hell....Olive Garden...hm, same thing I guess. Anyway, the point being that this bowl of happiness is just the ticket to put down on your dinner table when it's to effing hot outside. You would also be wise to throw a bottle or two of Italian white in the fridge. Maybe a refreshing Tocai-Friulano or a crisp Vermentino. Just make sure it's all stainless fermented so that nasty oak taste doesn't get in the way of your edible enjoyment!

*** *** ***
Shrimp-Zucchini-Cherry Tomato Pasta
serves 3 or 4

ingredients:
2 tablespoons butter (or olive oil if you must)
16-20 medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
4 or 5 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 teaspoon chili flakes (or to taste)
2 medium zucchini or other summer squash, cut into 1/4" slices
1 or 2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
1 pound dry pasta, fusilli or penne rigate
1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

method:
Bring water to boil in large pasta pot. Add small handful of salt, then pasta. Cook to desired doneness. Meanwhile, melt butter (or put olive oil) in large (12") sauté pan over medium high heat. When butter melts, add garlic and chili flakes and stir for 30-45 seconds. Add shrimp and cook about 1-2 minutes per side, until done. Put shrimp into bowl and set aside. In same pan add one tablespoon butter. When melted add zucchini and sauté until slightly softened, but still firm, about four minutes. Add shrimp back to pan, stir in tomatoes and chopped basil. Drain cooked pasta and add to sauté pan. Mix together carefully to combine. Serve immediately with grated parmigiano and generous helping of white wine!

what the hell is Cherry Clafouti?

I keep seeing these impressive desserts all over some of the fancy pants food blogs like tastespotting and 101 cookbooks and i keep thinking that ive got to butter up my this pleasantly plump blog of mine with some of those tasty treats. they look pretty fucking easy too, requiring few ingredients and little bakeware to boot. 

so what the hell is cherry clafouti? other than basically impossible to pronounce, clafouti is a custard-like baked french dessert that is typically made by baking fresh fruit (like cherries) and a batter, somewhat similar to a pancake batter, in a baking dish (at least thats what wikipedia tells me). Apparently, when other kinds of fruit, such as plums, prunes, apples, cranberries, or blackberries are used instead of cherries, the dessert is call a "flognarde" (an even harder name to pronounce). whatever it is, it sounds like it would be especially tasty made with blueberries and accompanied by some tea. 

Traditional clafoutis recipes call for using cherries with their pits still in, which are supposed to lend some almond flavor to the dish. In this recipe the pits are removed, making the clafouti easier to eat, but you can do it either way.

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups of fresh sweet cherries, pitted
• 2 tablespoons of slivered almonds
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1 tablespoon of brown sugar
• 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour, sifted
• 1/8 teaspoon of salt
• 1 cup of whole milk
• 1 Tbsp of Amaretto -or- 3/4 teaspoon of almond extract
• 1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
• Powdered sugar for dusting

METHOD

1 Preheat the oven to 350F. Butter and lightly flour a 9X9 or 10X7 baking dish. Toss in the cherries and slivered almonds.

2 Whisk the eggs, sugars, salt, and flour together until smooth.

3 Add the milk, Amaretto (or almond extract, if using), and vanilla extract. Whisk until smooth. Pour into the baking dish.

 

4 Bake for 40-50 minutes or until lightly browned and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. When you pull it put of the oven it will wiggle a bit which is normal. Place on a wire rack to cool. The clafoutis will have puffed up quite a bit and will deflate while cooling. When cool dust the clafoutis with powdered sugar. Serve.

Serves 6.

some handy recipes i want to try

im a little obsessed with martha stewart recipes so heres a couple i'll be trying soon:

Chicken Salad

• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast (2 small whole breasts)
• 3/4 cup plain nonfat yogurt
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 2 tablespoons snipped fresh chives
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon
• 1 Granny Smith apple
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1 cup finely diced fennel
• 1/2 cup finely diced celery
• 2 cups halved red seedless grapes
• 6 slices pumpernickel bread
• 1 bunch watercress, tough stems removed
• Olive-oil cooking spray

Directions

1. Combine salt and pepper in a small bowl. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Coat with cooking spray. Sprinkle chicken with half of the salt-pepper mixture; place in the skillet. Reduce heat to medium; cover. Cook until chicken is cooked through, about 12 minutes, flipping halfway through. Remove from the pan; set aside.
2. In a bowl, combine yogurt, mustard, chives, tarragon, and remaining salt-pepper mixture. Core apple, and cut into 1/4-inch dice. Place apple in a medium bowl with lemon juice, and toss to combine. Add fennel, celery, and grapes. Cut reserved chicken into 1/2-inch pieces. Add to salad with yogurt dressing; stir to combine. Divide salad among 6 slices pumpernickel bread, and sprinkle with watercress. 

lemon cumin chicken

1 medium lemon

3 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil

1 large red onion, thinly sliced

1 medium clove garlic, smashed and peeled

6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs (1 lb.), trimmed and cut into 1/2-inch-thick strips

3/4 tsp. ground cumin

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Finely grate 1 tsp. zest from the lemon and then juice the lemon.

Heat the oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium heat until shimmering hot. Add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until the onion begins to soften, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the chicken, lemon zest, cumin, 1/2 tsp. salt, and 1/4 tsp. pepper and cook, stirring, until the chicken is just cooked through, 4 to 6 minutes. Remove the skillet from the heat and stir in the parsley and 2 Tbs. of the lemon juice. Discard the garlic if you like. Season to taste with salt and pepper.