Rigatoni with Cauliflower: A Traditional Sicilian Dish with a Touch of Moroccan Influence

I've written here before about my unfortunate lack of culinary heritage or familial culture of food, and how I love to find and create meals that could have been cooked for me by my fantasy grandmother or imaginary mom.

Well, my friend Salvatore de Simone never had to worry about any of that.  He grew up eating this rich and comforting Sicilian pasta and cauliflower dish, a meal his grandmother used to make and one that his mother, Luisa, still cooks for him - with just a few additions of her own.  Yes, I am a bit jealous! 

Awards Season ... and Introducing the Tasties!

When I started Tasty Trix a mere 4 months ago, I had no idea there would be prizes involved.  But I suddenly find myself the shocked and humbled recipient of not one, but four awards from fellow bloggers. Apparently we are in the middle of awards season, kids, and I have caught the fever! (I've even created my own award, The Tasty, as you'll see below.)

A Spicy Bloody Mary ... Because I'm Sure It's 5 O'Clock Somewhere

It's Friday afternoon,  and I keep daydreaming about cocktails. Not such a strange occurrence, I assure you!  But perhaps it's the rain and the sudden chill in the air that has me already looking forward to my Sunday brunch drink.  I love  the warm kitchen, the smell of onions and frying potatoes and eggs and toast ... but most of all, I love kicking back with a good brunch cocktail.

In the spring and summer, I gravitate towards light, fizzy cooling drinks. Think pomegranate juice and Prosecco, mimosas,  or a Bellini.  But come fall I want the hearty heat of a spicy Bloody Mary.  The thick vegetable juice, the celery stick, the tangy pepperoncini - it's practically a meal in a glass!

Kaddo Borawni ... Kind Of

What do you do when one of your favorite go-to restaurants lets customer service go right down the drain and the staff starts treating the clientele like cattle? Simple: You figure out how to recreate your favorite dishes at home.

Nabeyaki Udon ... Aaah, That's Better

The other weekend, Poppa Trix and I felt like total garbage: sore throats, dizzy, achy, sleepy, runny noses - the works.  Fortunately, we had made a trip to Asian supermarket extraordinaire H-Mart before we got too sick to go anywhere, and so we had all the makings for a blissfully soothing nabeyaki udon soup. 

Beer Batter Quick Bread with White Bean & Tomato Soup

It was 6 pm on a weeknight. I am (almost) ashamed to admit that I had already changed into my comfy pajamas.  In contemplating dinner, I realized that all I really wanted in the entire world was some home baked bread and a hot bowl of soup.  Running to a bakery was out of the question, and I was too hungry to wait. What to do?

Who Wants Banh Mi? Me! Me! Me!

Calling a banh mi a Vietnamese sandwich and leaving it at that is a bit like saying a po'boy is just a New Orleans sub. It's not wrong, but it doesn't exactly convey the full splendour  of the thing.  

Like a po'boy, a banh mi is made with a light, airy baguette that's soft on the inside and crunchy on the outside.  Fillings and proteins can vary, but some of the flavor combinations that make a banh mi so distinctive and addictive include preserved daikon radish and carrot, mayonnaise, jalapeno, cucumber, and fresh cilantro.

Olive & Herb Focaccia

People who know me well tell me that I'm dramatic. That's a nice way of saying that I can get worked up over just about anything. I don't just like things, I adore! them. If something isn't quite right, I despise! it. The nuns tried to beat the crazy out of me for many years, but (partly just to spite them) I have learned to embrace the fact that I am a bit of a spaz.

I have found ways to harness and temper my spazziness - yoga, boxing, and cooking are all good outlets for my obsessive compulsive tendencies. But I was never really drawn to baking.  For one thing,  I'm just not into making sweets. On the savory side of things, even though I love fresh baked breads, the whole notion of working with dough seemed incredibly intimidating. I think the degree of necessary precision is what made me so wary. It just didn't seem like someone with my level of nervous energy and lack of patience would take to it. In other words, I was certain I would make a huge mess.

Creamy Potato and Leek Soup

For my  first seasonal dish of autumn I decided to make a creamy potato and leek soup. To avoid packing on layers of insulation around my midsection, I used just a tiny  bit of actual cream and made up the difference with plain Greek-style yogurt.  The soup was still thick and hearty, and the yogurt lent a very subtle and pleasant pungency to the soup. This is an easy dish that tastes even better the next day.

Creamy Potato and Leek Soup

• 2 leeks, tops removed and chopped fine
• 1 yellow onion, chopped fine
• 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 medium Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and diced  into 1/2 inch cubes
• 1/4 cup cream
• 3/4 cup Greek yogurt
• 3-4 cups vegetable broth 
• leaves from about 4-5 springs of thyme
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1tbsp butter
  
• salt and pepper, to taste

 In a stockpot, saute the leeks and onions in the olive oil and butter until soft. Add the garlic, 1/2 the thyme, and a pinch of sailt and pepper. Saute a few more minutes.

Add the potatoes and broth. (Add just enough broth to cover the potatoes plus about 1/4 of an inch.) 

Simmer  until the potatoes are tender. 

Taste the broth and season with thyme, salt, and pepper to taste.

Working in batches, do a rough puree of  3/4 of the soup in a food processor. 

Add the puree back to the soup and add the cream and yogurt. Stir well.

Bring back to a simmer and season to taste. 

I served my soup with homemade focaccia bread, the subject of a future post.