Campanelle and Pesto Pasta Bowl

The other day, a Facebook friend posted a funny comment about this being zucchini season and that everyone should begin locking their cars ... yeah, it's zucchini season all right ! My counter is starting to become cluttered with zucchini and cucumbers. By next week, I'll be threatening SB with death if he brings any zucchini into the house that is larger than a  ... you know! Sorry, but THAT is the perfect size for cooking. What can I say?

IHCC - Royal Potato Salad

Oh, what a warm green mess this is and oh, how utterly delicious! I found myself humming Mellow Yellow as I peeled eggs last evening while making Yotam Ottolenghi's Royal Potato Salad.  Whirling the basil, parsley, Parmesan and pine nuts in the blender made me giddy with the luscious shade of green that resulted. I switched over to trying to remember the Seuss text to 'Green Eggs and Ham'. Whenever, I plopped warm potatoes and eggs, pesto, and peas together and added some mint and tossed, I could tell by the texture, color, and scent that we had a winner here!

Summertime Flavours ... Cinnamon-Basil Ice Cream

Silent Bob is the biggest fan of ice cream that I have ever known. He has been known to sit down with an entire half-gallon and slurp his way blythely toward the bottom of the container before being shamed into saving some for others. He's an ice cream fiend!

Since summer is on its way I got thinking about his ice cream cravings.  So, this week, when we made our pilgrimage to the town library, I brought home a book devoted to ice cream and cold desserts. I've been leafing though it for the past few days, bookmarking yummy ice cream, sorbet, and sherbet recipes.

Minestrone Soup with Tortellini

There is nothing better than soup for supper! With fresh bread alongside, it just can't be beat for the end of a busy day. And the kicker is ... when you make a big pot of soup, you can have leftovers for lunch for the next couple days ... mmm! Am I right? Huh? Huh?

Green Beans ... Very Special.

'Green Beans'  is the recipe title. In the text, it says this preparation is 'very special'; this, from a collection of  'colonial recipes' published years ago by The Old Farmer's Almanac.  Well, I've had the booklet for years and have finally gotten around to making this version of summer green beans. It has been chilly and damp and stormy and depressing for the past week, here in New England.  It's a good thing that I have new-born kittens to cheer me or I'd surely have crabbed at Silent Bob and the dogs, bitched at my children for not even giving one surly comment about why I don't bake more often those cute cookies I posted yesterday, sent a nasty letter to Boston Red Sox management about John Lackey and his 'lack thereof', and gone to ground (or bed) with a good book, a pot of herbal tea (or something stronger) and a hot water bottle.

Orecchiette and Peas ...

Pasta and I have an easy relationship ... we're always there for each other. We bond over all sorts of occasions. Don't feel like cooking? No problem. Just boil some water and make a plate of linguine fini and herbs. Need an easy salad for a picnic ... use that light tangy rotini and crispy veg in vinaigrette salad! Feeling blue? Tortellini with four gooey cheeses wil drag you out of that funk! Feeling sniffles and chills?  Need a warm soup fix? Make that chicken noodle soup! I always say that I am the 'queen of pasta' ... just put it on my gravestone, folks!

Bocconcini Stuffed Meatballs in Pesto Tomato Sauce

Just look at those little devils! They were so tasty! I am pretty in love with this recipe. It's that Rachael Ray recipe I told you about in yesterday's post ... and this time I got pictures ... and plenty of sprinkled basil and parsley!  First of all, bocconcini are, apparently, little bocci balls of mozzarella cheese swimming in a salty brine ... I didn't have them hanging in my fridge, but I did have a block of mozzarella. I cut up a slab into six little cubes and used them. How did I use them, you ask?

Green Goddess Salad Dressing

Here is a winner ... I'm such a 'know nothing' when it comes to salad dressings and so I get all excited and flutter-y when I discover a new way to slather up the greens.

Tonight, we're, once again, eating up the tomatoes. No surprise there ... but I bought this wonderful head of hydroponic Bibb lettuce and pulled our weird volunteer cross between cherry tomatoes and plum tomatoes from the vines. A wedge of the lettuce and slices of tomato created the perfect stage for this Green Goddess Dressing that comes from good old Ina Garten. 

I'm tellin' ya, folks ... think a cross between pesto and aioli mayonaisse. It is heavenly! Make it, eat it up, enjoy it! A word of advice ... divide the recipe if you're cooking for one or two. This dressing has to be fresh ... I don't think storing it more than one day will do anything for the flavors. The garlic will get  too tangy and brash ... an insult to the taste buds. I, myself,  will be working over time to get measurements correct for just enough dressing for two salads so that we can have it and have no leftovers.

Do fresh. It's best!

Green Goddess Salad Dressing

courtesy of Ina Garten's barefoot contessa at home

Ingredients:

1 c. Hellman's mayonaisse

1 c. chopped scallions, green and white sections

1 c. fresh basil leaves

1/4 c. freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 tsp. anchovy paste

1 tsp. kosher salt

1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

1 c. sour cream

Place all the ingredients except the sour cream in the bowl of a handblender and process until smooth and the dressing has tiny green flecks of color. Add the sour cream and process just until combined. Frefrigerate until ready to dress the salad.