Lemon Angel Hair Pasta – My Godsons Love It!

Lemon Angel Hair Pasta – My Godsons Love It!

Last night I cooked dinner for my Godsons and their parents while visiting them in Denver. I wanted to cook something really good, but I had a specific request….it had to be vegetarian.

Both of my Godsons have made the decision to be vegetarian because of their animal rights concerns and food production process concerns. Yes, they are 14 and 11 years old, and made this decision on their own. Although their parents do enjoy meat and fish, they honor their sons’ decision, which is really cool.

So I made this dish and they went absolutely wild over it. George had three helpings, and John had four. I served this with a salad of butter lettuce with macadamia nuts drizzled with a dressing of olive oil and lemon juice. John, the younger one, who doesn’t really like salads, loved it. It was a great meal and they marveled at my culinary skills. They asked when I was moving in with them!

Here is the recipe:

Lemon Angel Hair Pasta

Ingredients
1 pound Angel Hair Pasta
About 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, coat the pan
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped, more if you really like garlic
½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
2 lemons, zested and juiced
¼ cup of Capers, more if you love capers
½ to ¾ cup heavy cream
1 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano
Handful flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
½ cup (10 or 12 leaves) fresh basil, very thinly sliced

Directions
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Salt the water and drop the pasta into the pot. (Don’t put oil in the water because it makes the pasta slick and the sauce won’t adhere to it.)

Heat a large deep skillet over low heat. Add extra-virgin olive oil and garlic and crushed red pepper flakes.
When the pasta has been cooking about 5 minutes, add lemon juice, a ladle of the cooking water from the pasta and the cream to the garlic and oil. Raise heat a bit to bring sauce to a bubble.

Drain pasta when it still has a good bite to it, al dente. Add the capers, lemon zest, basil, and half of the cheese to the cream sauce. Season the sauce with salt, to taste. Add pasta to pan and turn off heat. Toss the pasta with sauce a minute or 2, allowing it time to soak up the sauce.

Top the plates of pasta or platter with remaining cheese, and parsley.

10 Handy Tips to Help You in the Kitchen

10 Handy Tips to Help You in the Kitchen

I always look for handy tips to use in the kitchen and I’ve been reading my issues of Cook’s Illustrated. And here are a few tips that I found that I’d certainly use in my kitchen as well.

If you are not familiar with Cook’s Illustrated, it is the magazine version of America’s Test Kitchen, a show that can be seen on Public Television. What I like about it is that they test various methods to determine what works best.

Below are a few tips from the magazine and some that I have learned through my cooking adventures. I hope you find this helpful as well.

1. Making the most of lemons – I use lemons all the time cooking and try to keep them on hand, but sometimes my lemons become hard and dry before I get a chance to use them.

First, start with the juiciest lemons you can find. Tests have shown that thin-skinned lemons yield more juice. The best way to keep lemons for a longer period of time is to place them in a zipper-locked bag and refrigerate. By doing this, they will keep up to four weeks.

This is hard for me because they look so pretty in my bowl on the kitchen counter. So I guess I will pull them out of the frig when guests come over because I want to make them last for my cooking efforts.

2. Easier Citrus Zesting – Don’t you love to use lemon, lime or orange zest in some of your dishes? If citrus is really soft or your grater is dull, removing the zest can be a chore. Place the fruit in the freezer until it is partially hardened, about 30 minutes. Remove and use with your rasp-style grater.

3. In-a-Pinch Knife Sharpener – One of the most frustrating things for a cook is to have a dull knife, and no knife sharpener. In situations like this, the unglazed bottom of a ceramic mug can be used to sharpen smaller knives.

Appling moderate pressure, hold the knife at a 20-degree angle and carefully draw the entire length of the blade across the rough surface.

4. Sharpening Vegetable Peelers – Vegetable peelers dull quickly since they are used often in the kitchen. To bring back it’s edge, run the back of a pairing knife along the blades at a 45-degree angle. The metal spine of the paring knife acts as a hone, aligning the tiny metal “teeth” of blade.

5. Taming Red Pepper Flakes – I love to add a little spice flavor to my dishes, but sometimes the large flakes of red pepper give off an overly intense burst of heat in the food. To get a more even distribution of the spiciness, use a pepper mill to produce a finer grind. Grinding the flakes releases more flavor, allowing you to use less flakes.

6. Secrets to Moist, Well-Browned Fish…A spoonful of Sugar – Cooking fish is one of those tricky things for me. But this is a very good tip.

Start with fillets about an inch thick that won’t cook though too quickly. Sprinkle one side of the fillet with sugar (very lightly and about 1/8 teaspoon) to expedite the browning. Sear the fillets in oil, just on the sugared side, for about a minute or two lightly pressing it down with a spatula. This will add flavor and help ensure a moist interior. Flip the fish fillets and transfer the skillet to the oven. Roast it in an oven set at 425 degrees for about 7 to 10 minutes.

7. Test for freshness of eggs: Fill a deep bowl or pan with enough cold tap water to cover an egg. Place the egg in the water. If the egg lies on its side on the bottom, the air cell within is small and it’s very fresh. If the egg stands up and bobs on the bottom, the air cell is larger and it isn’t quite as fresh. If the egg floats on the surface, it should be discarded.

8. Canned beans: Observe the 30-minute rule – When adding canned beans to soups and stews, simmer them for a full 30 minutes to give them time to take on the flavor of other ingredients. Always drain and rinse first; the salty, starchy packing liquid can throw off recipes.

9. Replacing Fresh Herbs with Dried – Believe it or not, but dried herbs are more potent than fresh. To substitute dry for fresh, use half the amount called for in the recipe. Example: 4 tablespoons fresh oregano = 2 tablespoons of dried oregano.

10. Cooking with Wine – The best all-purpose cooking wines are medium-bodied, non-oaked varieties that aren’t too sweet.

Reds – Go with blended (nonvarietal) American or Australian wines or a French Cotes du Rhone.
Whites – Go with a clean, crisp, dry Sauvignon Blanc or a non-oaked Chardonnay.

Texas Wines & Bluebonnets

A few weeks ago, a group of us from our wine club took a drive to see Texas bluebonnets and visit some wineries that are near Houston. Oh, what fun we had! I don’t think the wineries or the bluebonnets will ever be the same again!

Nine of us set out in a 3-car caravan to taste some wines. Koko was kind enough to plan the outing for myself, Isabel, Lisa, Michele, Tim, Gary, Darien and Jose. The first stop was Colony Cellars in Waller, Texas. Yes, it was 11am and we were ready for our tasting. Because it was so early, we were the only patrons there.

Don Corley and his wife greeted us at the door and proceeded to set up our table with wine glasses. We gathered around the table and Don told us the story of his winery. After he retired, Don and his wife started the winery in 1999 when they planted their first grapes.

“First, our wines are made in a rather unique manner,” he said. “It is a process discovered in France in 1960. There is a technical name, but we call it Whole Cluster Fermentation.” In essence, the grapes are totally protected from oxidation from the moment they reach the winery until they become wine. Both reds and white grapes are fermented with the skins present. “This produces more full-flavored wines and the whites have the same health benefits as the reds,” Don said.

All of the wines at Colony Cellars are a blend. The vineyard has a total of seven grapes: Black Spanish, Blanc duBois, Chambourcin, Magnolia, Carlos, Noble and Cynthiana. They have nine basic blends and three specialty wines.

With our tasting, we had 12 wines served to us. And let me tell you, this got our group lit up like the Christmas trees that the winery also grows. Don didn’t miss a beat coming back to our fun-filled comments and enjoyed our laughter.

Most of the wines were sweet and Don indicated that they do add some sugar to make them sweeter because, he said, that’s what his target market wants. I think most of us liked the Blancs the best because they were crisp with citrus and floral notes.

Next, we went to Retreat Hill Winery & Vineyard in Navasota, TX. I think we all liked this winery the best. Stephanie who served us during our tasting was knowledgeable about wines, enjoyed our antics and was fun!

At Retreat Hill, you got four tastings for six bucks. We all bellied up to the bar ready for more after our palates were cleared from the 12 wines we had at the previous tasting.

Retreat Hill had a total of 11 wines to select from for your four tastes. However, I got more than four. My selection included:

Lehm Berg Chardonnay – This fruit-forward chardonnay is lightly filtered and has a nice bright lemon-yellow color. There was no oak or butter taste and it was slightly sweet, which is common with Texas wines. This would pair well with a fruit and cheese plate or with a dish as bold as a French Onion soup.

Retreat Hill Riesling – This was not a sweet Riesling, which pleased my palate. It was dryer and crisp. The grapes for this wine were born in Washington State’s Columbia Valley Appellation. This wine would pair well with chicken, shrimp, lobster or smoked trout.

Retreat Hill Cabriolo – I liked this wine. This Claret-style American…Texas wine has a deep ruby color and aromas of licorice, plum and violets. It’s a blend of 53% Cabernet Sauvignon, 45% Merlot and 2% Syrah. In the mouth, it is elegant and bright, with toasty oak flavors, supported by supple tannins.

Retreat Hill Rustic Red Reserve – This was a Bordeaux-style blend of 47% Cabernet Franc, 35% Merlot and 19% Cabernet Sauvignon. After aging 18 months in a combination of French and American oak, cherry and raspberry aromas are combined with earthy, dark fruit flavors.

Red Caboose Tempranillo – This wine came from the Red Caboose Winery in Meridian, Texas. The nose was fragrant and complex. On the palate, the wine was smoky and had hints of berries and spice.

Then, Stephanie, knowing that I really enjoyed tasting wines, asked me to try the Retreat Hill Dry Rose` XOXO that they were still trying to perfect. It had strawberry flavor, floral and citrus tones with a slight alcohol finish. She asked what I thought was missing and I said it needed a little more balance to give it a softer finish.

By this time we were all a little too happy, and hungry. Some of us had brought some snacks to have a picnic along the way on our trip. It was very windy and very cool that day, and we looked for a spot to eat a quick bite. Even the patio at the winery with it’s plastic enclosure was too windy. So we found a spot on the side of the tasting room building where the wind was blocked. It was quite warm and pleasant in the sun, so we spread a blanket out for our little picnic of cheese, crackers, bread, and fruit.

After eating and regaining our senses, we traveled onto the next winery. But we took a detour when we saw a hill of bluebonnets that were calling for our photos. We piled out of the cars and Isabel began the photo shoot. What a pretty picture we were!

We headed out to our next wine adventure at the Bernhardt Winery in Plantersville. There we were escorted into a back room and sat at a table for our tasting. I guess we got escorted to the back room because we were a rather rambunctious group, laughing up a storm.

We tasted eight wines for five bucks. My favorite of the eight was the Cabernet Sauvignon. It had a smoky nose from aging in new oak, releasing intense plum, blackberry and black current fruit character with exotic spice. This intense, complex wine exhibits a black color in the core of the glass, as well as layers of purple hues toward the perimeter. I ended up buying a bottle of this wine.

We rolled out of the tasting room and we all said that we simply could not taste another drop of wine. After all, we had tasted about 25 or more wines that day. But as the old saying goes, a good time was had by all, and kudos to Koko who planned this outing for us!

Photos by Isabel Martinez

Don Corley discussing his Colony Cellar Winery

Gary & Tim tasting

The group at Retreat Hill -Koko, Darien, Jose, Isabel, Karen, Michele, Lisa, Tim and Gary

The group on a hill of Bluebonnets

Wine glasses

Bluebonnets