This recipe can be found in How Easy is That?, page 195.
Even though Salmon with Melting Tomatoes had a built-in side dish, I still needed one more thing to truly round out the meal. Enter: Couscous with Toasted Pine Nuts.
I still had some pine nuts from when I made gremolata a few weeks back. At least that’s where I think I used the pine nuts originally. I can’t really remember. So many recipes. But I wanted to use them up since I didn’t really know how long they would “keep.” I was storing them in the fridge since they are nuts, after all. And since nuts have oil, they can spoil! (Thanks Rachael Ray)
Luckily this recipe used them all up. Sadly, I will have to buy them again at some point and fork over almost $10 for like 5 ounces of nuts. But that’s a story for another time.
This recipe can be found in Cooking for Jeffrey and on Food Network’s website here.
Friday was another Lenten Friday which meant I had to avoid meat in the recipe that I made. Seeing as this blog is primarily an Ina Garten-cooking blog, this was somewhat of a challenge. Many of Ina’s recipes are not vegetarian, with the exception of her some of her soup and pasta recipes. Even the vegetable side dishes she has are not really designed to be served as the main meal.
So, it took a little work to find one that would fit in with the restrictions. Thus, I turned to Google and typed: Ina Garten vegetarian recipes. This helped and after combing through some results, I settled on a pasta dish.
It’s time for another Cookbook Review post! And I am so excited to share this one with you. This is one my all-time favorite cookbooks!!
I discovered The New Mediterranean Diet Cookbook by Nancy Harmon Jenkins a few years ago when I stumbled upon online articles discussing the benefits of the Mediterranean Diet. The book sounded wonderful and I had to rush out to a bookstore to get it! Luckily the Barnes & Noble near by college campus had one in stock.
This cookbook continues to be one of the best cookbooks I’ve ever read because, to me, it reads like a novel. Jenkins does a great job of creating an Eat, Pray, Love style narrative about her family’s time in Italy.
Whether romanticized or not, I fell for it and wanted to be her! (Okay, I’ll be honest: I re-read parts of it to write this review and I STILL want to be her!)
One of the other aspects of this book that I like is that it is not just a cookbook. It also explains what the Mediterranean Diet is and how you can “Make the Change” to the lifestyle. Only after around 40 pages do you see any recipes.
But when the recipes do come, let me tell you…YOU WILL LOVE THEM!!
We all experience headnotes in cookbooks. These are the little paragraphs that precede the recipe that sometimes tell how a chef created the recipe or how it can be served. Headnotes in this book are no exception, but Jenkins includes beautifully written paragraphs that also teach the reader how to cook the recipe’s main ingredient, for example. Other times the headnotes are filled with wonderful anecdotes about her time in the Mediterranean region.
One of the positives of this cookbook is in the vegetables section, Jenkins takes the time and space to break down commonly used vegetables in the Mediterranean Diet. Each vegetable has 1 to 3 recipes that feature it, ensuring the budding Mediterranean chef how to incorporate them into their new diet.
Believe it or not, the Mediterranean Diet is not a big fan of the dessert course. I know, right? But this book does include more than a dozen sweet treats to satisfy your sweet tooth. While many are fruit-based, they will almost surely satisfy any sweet-tooth.
Writing this review has made me fall in love with it all over again. I’ll have to make something out of it soon!
In the headnotes to the recipe, Ina says (and I’m paraphrasing) that everyone needs a quick, easy, and flavorful sauce recipe. And after trying her Weeknight Bolognese I think I’ve found it!
This recipe was super simple. It reminded me of the “old Ina” (which is the Ina I knew and loved before I started this blog) meaning that I always found her recipes to be easy. This sauce recipe came together in a little over 30 minutes but it tastes as though it cooked all day. It also seems adaptable enough to increase the amount made or to omit the beef to make a true marinara-style sauce.
The flavor in this recipe is the real hidden secret.
There are so many layers of flavor in this sauce. I never thought nutmeg in an Italian sauce would taste so good. That is just one of many different flavors. Since I did not have crushed red pepper flakes, I did a quick Google search to try to find something else. I substituted chili powder and I think it only intensified the flavor. Red pepper flakes aside, this recipes uses a lot of black pepper. Which seems to be a theme in Ina’s savory recipes.
Add in some heavy cream, oregano, basil leaves, and red wine and this sauce will surely be a winner for you as well!
I think this one needs to go on the Favorites Lists!
Excuse the messy bowl. This was taken right before I sat down for my second helping! Yes, I forgot to take one before eating my first serving…..forgive me. I’m trying to remember to take them and make them look halfway decent!
