Rachael Ray Redux

Well, per the Rachael Ray meal planner, the other sheet of puff pastry and sausage left over from the quiche are assembled into sausage rolls later in the week.  So delicious.  Too delicious.  Groans of gustatory pleasure.  Consume with gusto; lipid-lowering agents; long walk around block.

Luke said, Make this again. 

Sausage Rolls
Rachael Ray September 2011

3/4 lb Italian sausage, casings removed (the spicier the better)
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1 sheet puff pastry, thawed
1 egg, beaten

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Place parchment paper on rimmed baking sheet.  Crumble sausage and breadcrumbs in a bowl; mash and divide in two, shaping each into an 11 inch log.  Refrigerate.  Place parchment on work surface and unfold puff pastry; cut in half.  Place a sausage log on the center of each strip and brush long sides with beaten egg.  Wrap sausage in pastry and the seam to seal; do not seal the short ends.  Place on baking sheet, seam down.  Brush with egg and refrigerate for 15 minutes.  Bake until puffed and golden, 25-30 minutes.  Let rest 10 minutes and quarter each roll. (Yield 8 pieces)

There are no pictures of this.  Not photogenic.  But indulgent, satisfying and possibly the very best version of pigs in a blanket.

so cute!

Puff the magic pastry

This quiche is so delicious (the texture is so silky), easy to make and reheats well.  Next time I will add more spinach and more sausage.  I chose the spiciest sausage available, which was good because otherwise this would fall, flavorwise, into the category of Creamy Goodness Not Otherwise Specified; the spiciness added some interest.

Spinach and Ricotta Quiche

Rachael Ray September 2011

1 sheet thawed puff pastry (1/2 of a 17 oz package)

2 T EVOO

6 cups baby spinach

salt

1/4 lb Italian sausage links, casings removed

4 eggs

1/2 container ricotta

1/2 cup heavy cream

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Press puff pastry into a 9 inch pie plate and trim the excess. Prick the bottom all over with a fork, cover with parchment paper and fill with coins/dried beans/pie weights. Bake until golden ~20 minutes. Transfer to wire rack to cool. Lower oven temp to 350.

2. Meanwhile, heat 1 T EVOO over medium-high heat, add spinach and cook until wilted ~ 1 minute. Season lightly with salt and drain in colander. Add 1 T EVOO and the sausage and cook over medium-high heat, breaking up meat with a spoon and cooking through, 3-4 minutes.

3. Spread spinach and sausage in pie shell. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, ricotta and cream; pour in shell. Bake until eggs are set and crust is golden, about 35 minutes.

Keesh.

I tried a side dish from RR Sept 2011 as part of my Sweet Potato Acceptance Project (SPAP).  They are so colorful, and a superfood to boot, but I have just never liked them.  Until:

Roasted Cinnamon Sweet Potato Fries

2 lb sweet potatoes, cut into wedges (peeled in the accompanying photo, so I peeled them)

3 T EVOO

salt/pepper

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

Toss potatoes with EVOO, salt and pepper.  Roast for 30 minutes at 475 degrees.  Toss with cinnamon.

Could liking them with marshmallows and bourbon be far off?

Or in this gorgeous gratin?     

Recipe here

PS

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Whitewater Ampitheatre: David Fenley and the Good Deal

 On Thursday we went out to the Whitewater Ampitheatre, about 30 minutes northeast of SATX.  Out in the country, good music, free show, taco truck... what more could you ask for?

Thrifting has turned out to be a favorite fam pursuit... are we frugal, or are we nosy?  Estate sales satisfy both.

No address posted on signs; we were undeterred.

Stacks and stacks of "adult material".

However, my reading these days is far less salacious... 

Finding this on Sunday morning:

My dear and loving husband

Had some breakfast at a nearby cafe and perused EveryDay with RayRay

which featured these exciting items from the soon-to-be launched Missoni for Target line:

Chevron!  Corduroy!  Floppy hat!

Collected Luke then headed to Mattress Firm to buy a pillow.  Ended up spending about 20 minutes like so:

Ahhhhhhhh.

Discovered this innovation: a bed that can be cooled or heated.  Major freak-out commenced because we have serious, serious thermoregulatory issues.  One always hot, one always cold.  As of this writing have spent an inordinate amount of time considering whether this mattress would change our lives.

They look pretty happy.

Les Poissons, Les Poissons

Today was Day 1 of five nights of meals from one Sunday shopping trip courtesy of Rachael Ray. Crispy fish with creamed corn and fresh tomato wedges. (from current issue)

The breadcrumbs slid off with their mortar of grainy mustard (not stale enough? I made them yesterday) however, all was not lost, the tilapia was still delish and the creamed corn a testament to the infallibility of cream and butter and fresh sweet corn.  Tomatoes with Maldon salt (so much more than just sodium and chloride) and pepper.

Eager to try more fish recipes and work some protein-packed pelagic magic.

Commute

I am driving about 25 minutes to work everyday and picked up a few audiobooks at the base library to listen to on the way.  The first, very appropriately, was The Road by Cormac McCarthy:

A chilling, bleak, gruesome tale of a post-apocalyptic world inhabited by few survivors of a cataclysmic event that blots out the sun, leaving mankind stripped of the trappings of civilization, and without humanity.  A highly effective narrative that stayed on my mind all day, an inky smudge in my thoughts.  Luke and I finished it today, listening quietly in the garage to the closing moments of the book.

My commute a la Cormac McCarthy: [Vanity Fair did a great parody of his writing style a few years ago "Cormac McCarthy Makes Pasta with Craig Brown", but sadly it is not available online]

The woman listened to the book.  She listened though she knew it would slightly ruin her day, like thumbing through old letters, calling up waves of nostalgia to feel those pangs of love, those pangs of sadness.  She listened because she had to.  She had to.  There were four discs in the case, each silver circle a circle like the moon, or the sun that now beat into her eyes.  She listened because the story gripped her heart as a father's hand grips a child's arm in a busy street, full of panicky strength.  She drove and she listened and she drove and she listened.

That word, she thought.  Must look it up later.

And the woman continued down the road.

Thank you, thank you...

Sun Antonio

THE PRICE OF FREEDOM IS ETERNAL VIGILANCE.  

                               THOMAS JEFFERSON

... from photo-aging and sun-related cancers!

Enter:

Amazing product.  Go get it.

Goes under makeup perfectly without shine, ashenness or chalkiness.
Add large hat (I love the one I bought a few weeks ago: domed for head-cooling and bouffant accomodation) and copious cheap sunscreen for body.  

VICTORY IN OUR TIME.


p.s.  I wore Shiseido sunscreen last summer on a Mediterranean cruise and got no sun; the formulation is so good that I don't mind slathering on the recommended amount for effectiveness.