luluSeveral of our Maine gourmet group joined us in Cortona for the April Foodie Adventure, so when we met for our first summer meal it seemed right to recreate some of what we made.
Setting the table to inspire memories of Italy was easy. The centerpiece was a $3 find from the local Goodwill.
Clusters of red grapes repeated the look of the clusters on the candelabra. Talk about an easy creation!
Dishes, each with a different Italian landscape and wine, bought some years ago at TJ Maxx completed the theme.
It’s hard to imagine a table coming together more quickly than this one. With the plates having so much color and energy, there was no need for more than a simple background.
Now for the meal. We prepared so many good dinners that it was hard to pick favorite dishes, but I finally decided on mozzarella with prosciutto and tomato confit for an appetizer and seafood pasta for the main course. The appetizer was a big hit, and you might want to give it a try at your next Italian themed dinner gathering.
PROSCIUTTO BAKED BUFFALO MOZZARELLAWITH GARLIC & TOMATOES
2 T. olive oil
6 thin slices prosciutto
Tomato & Garlic Confit
6 6 oz. balls mozzarella
2 T. basil, coarsely chopped
Brush the insides of small ovenproof ramekins with olive oil. Line them with prosciutto, allowing some of it to extend to the top of the dish so it will crisp when baked.
Add 2 T. of the confit and top will a ball of the mozzarella. Top with another tablespoon of the confit and drizzle with the remaining olive oil.
Bake at 350 for 15 minutes and allow to cool for 5 minutes. Tope with basil and serve with crisp crostini.
Tomato & Garlic Confit
10 plum tomatoes
5 T. olive oil
Kosher salt and cracked black pepper
1/2 c. finely chopped yellow onion
4 large garlic cloves, minced
8 oz. tomato sauce
1/2 t. sweet paprika
1/2 t. sugar.
Core and halve the tomatoes lengthwise. Place them cut side up on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and drizzle them with 2 T. of olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake for 40 minutes at 350.
Heat 3 T. olive oil in a medium pan and sweat the onions for 2 minutes over medium high heat. Add garlic and cook briefly. Reduce the heat and add the tomatoes, tomato sauce, paprika and sugar. Cook for 30-35 minutes or until the mixture becomes very thick.
Place the mixture in a food processor and blend to a fine paste.
Note: I suggest using only 1/2 mozzarella ball or 3-4 little ones as this is quite filling. Also, when you bake be sure to put the dishes on a cookie sheet to avoid trashing your oven with grease from the prosciutto. I wouldn’t let the meat overlap the sides of the dish.
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So what to do with a collection of odds and ends? Soup seemed to be the best answer, and here’s what I pulled together.
Add to these a teaspoon of Hungarian sweet paprika which I have enough of to last a lifetime. I will have to do as what was done in Hungary and put some in everything.
The end result of this concoction was pretty darned good and the accompanying salad’s ingredients used up the rest of the odds and ends. The only thing missing was a good piece of cornbread!
For ideas, I go no farther than these two cookbooks loaded with recipes to suit any palate. There’s no chance I’ll ever get through the two!
Spoon 1/2-3/4 c. of polenta into the center of a plate. Arrange asparagus around it and spoon the sauce over the polenta. Garnish with chopped herbs.
This night there were two salmon filets and a bunch of asparagus, and in just a few minutes they were in the oven roasting away.
While they were cooking, I whisked together a tangy sauce of key lime juice and soy sauce to pour over the fish and asparagus.
In less than half an hour, a healthy and satisfying dinner was ready to go on the table.
If you are standing in line at the grocery or drug store checkout and see this magazine, buy it. I can’t promise you will slim down but be assured you will prepare some very tasty recipes.
Slow Cooker Sausage Cassoulet
For several days I craved chicken pot pie, so I finally broke down and made one. I didn’t have the traditional ingredients so it was time to look in the pantry and refrigerator to see what might work. On hand were a couple of chicken breasts, sweet potatoes, leeks, green beans, mushrooms and a sheet of puff pastry.
While the chicken breasts were cooking in salted water, I chopped and readied the vegetables. I steamed the sweet potatoes and green beans for a few minutes and sautéed the leeks and mushrooms in olive oil to soften everything up.
All done, the pot pies were ready to pop into the oven to bake until the pastry was a golden brown.
Since the mixture proved to be quite generous, I thought it would be fun to make individual servings in these Polish pottery vessels. Also, they would make it easier to serve as pot pie can be kinda messy.
They also became the starting point for an easy table setting. 
Flowers and candles were already on the table so adding denim chargers 
and woodblock placemats and napkins that I got in India completed a table as comfortable as the food that would be served. Have I ever mentioned how much I like to keep things simple? 
Does this tell you it’s cold in Houston? With temperatures the last several days being below freezing, one is not encouraged to venture far from home. That means it’s only natural to think of warming with comfort foods like soups and stews.
In the refrigerator were most of the makings for beef stew though the pantry was empty of the diced tomatoes and broth I typically use for liquid. That being the case required some creative thinking, so I added a bottle of beer and at the last minute the remains of some frozen edamame and red pepper and tomato soup that had accompanied a grilled cheese sandwich on another frozen day. Noting the ingredients, the hubby raised his eyebrows in questioning wonder. 
While the stew was bubbling away,
I got the bar, where we eat most of the time when it’s just the two of us, ready for dinner.
It’s nothing fancy, but I do choose dishes that go with whatever happens to be on the surface. If you’ve seen any of my tablescapes, you know that seldom is an eating surface unadorned which makes it very easy to add on.
With fragrant smells emanating from the kitchen, we settled to watch the evening news. By the time the latest Trump bashing was over, the stew was ready and guess what? Those extra added ingredients combined for a pretty tasty creation which goes to show you don’t always have to rely on the tried and true. Cooking is just another way of expressing your creativity.