Bright Green, Like that Happy Giant. Or Shrek.

I really like things that are green. Like, really like them. My green Converse? Yeah, those are pretty much my favorite shoes. My green sweaters? Total staples of my winter wardrobe. Same goes for my green t-shirts. Love em all!

This doesn't change when it comes to my food, either. I was never one of those kids whose mother had to pester, threaten, or bribe to get them to eat their vegetables. I would wolf mine down, then ask for seconds. This especially rang true when it came to one of my personal favorites growing up: peas. I just loved peas. No clue why, but I suspect that it had something to do with a certain story my dad would always tell us having to do with eating mashed potatoes and peas off of a knife to irritate my moms mother, Mimi.

So, one of my favorite ways to eat peas, besides mixing them with mashed potatoes, was in the form of my mom's Split Pea soup. We used to have buckets of this in our outdoor freezer, and most of my siblings would groan when they saw the big tub sitting out on the counter defrosting for dinner. Not me, no sir! I got excited. Now, living on the other side of the world, I no longer have buckets of this soup at my disposal, nor do I have the time my mom would put into making it. Ok, well, that was a lie. I have the time, just not the patience to pull it off.

So, in a valiant effort to create a simple, yet equally delicious, style of pea soup, I came up with my Roasted Pea Soup. It also gave me an excuse to go out and purchase an emlusion blender, which I have wanted for some time now. 

Now, this recipe is ridiculously easy, and requires very few ingredients. Just a few carrots, a few cloves of garlic, an onion, and a kilo of baby peas. About 2 pounds, for those of you that are sitting there scratching you heads over what exactly a kilo is.

Even though everything will eventually be blended to death, it makes it all roast nicer in the oven if you cut it all up into chunks. And, as you can see, I throw everything into a bowl to help season it all evenly. I just used olive oil and salt and pepper, keeping it simple. The roasting helps to bring out the natural flavors and sugars, and concentrate the flavors of the vegetables.

I threw everything onto baking sheet, cause I don't have a roasting pan. But, if you do, use it. Makes it easier with all those peas...

Speaking of the peas, I actually roasted everything in two stages, starting with the carrots, onions and garlic; then twenty minutes later added the peas. My theory was that since the peas are small, it shouldn't take as long. If you cant be bothered to do two stages, don't. It'll be fine. Probably.

Look at all that pretty green goodness! I started getting very excited about this soup by this point. I may or may not have started eating spoonfuls of roasted peas right out of the oven. You have no proof. I will say that roasting peas, which is something that I had never done before, works really well. That's why I love roasting things; it just enhances the yumminess of it!

So, you are gonna want a very large soup pot for this, cause the blender kind of spits bits of peas all over the place. It's ok though, as long as you don't follow in my footsteps and wear something other than that cute new white sweater you just bought. Maybe wear something green, so it all blends in? Anyways, blend all the vegetables into a bit of a mush, but not smooth. You want there to be some texture to this soup. Now, I totally forgot to take pictures of this next part, but to turn this into soup, heat up a nice big box, about 4 cups or so, of chicken or vegetable stock, and add it slowly while blending it all together.

The result is this amazingly luscious soup, with heaps of texture and flavor. It's really simple, and totally awesome. And I am so glad that I have leftovers!

Enjoy this soup with some crusty bread. That's the best type of bread. Also, if like me, you like your heat, a few dashes of tabasco will do wonders for this as well! I loved it! Oh, and don't forget to dip your bread into the soup. It's better that way. Promise.

xoxo Craig

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Trifecta of Fishy Goodness

Sometimes, simple is the way to go. Especially with fish. Those of you who love fish know what I mean. You want the flavors to compliment the fish, not overpower it. This is one of those dishes; it's simple, it's fresh, and it is super easy to make. 

This started out as a recipe from Giada De Laurentiis. You may have noticed that I like her cooking. Anyways, this started as her creation, and over time has become my very own. Not that hers wasn't good; it was great. This one is just a bit simpler. 8 ingredients, plus the fish. How hard can it be? I use salmon, for the simple fact that the flavor of it can stand up to the flavors of the mustard. 

I love whole grain mustard in this. It adds texture, both visual and and to the dish itself. It's just so pretty!

And where there is whole grain, there is dijon! The flavors and textures just blend together so well it's not funny. You can also see by the unique measuring device that I am totally into perfect measurements. But not really.

In the original recipe, Giada calls for a ton of fresh herbs. These are great, but this is a go-to dish for me; I don't usually have all the herbs in my fridge, so Herbs de Provence it is! Also, I really like how you can see the little bits of dried lavender in the sauce. Pale purple against pale yellow. It's like spring!

Also, a neat trick. You know those recipes that calls for white wine, but just a splash? Unless you already have an open bottle, it's kind of a pain. So, I just use lemon juice. Works just the same!

Mix everything all together. Look at that yummy goodness. Pale yellow, tons of texture, and tang! The tang is really good here.

Smother it onto the fish. Oh, and don't be like me; add garlic (fresh or dried. Its totally whatever) to the beginning. I forgot and had to sprinkle it on. Guess that makes it 9 ingredients, not 8, but who's counting? Oh, wait... I was. Moving on!!

Bake on parchment paper. Makes for easy clean up. Promise.

This is best served with things that don't compete with the fish. Also, on a side note, I am totally in love with cous cous. This is a relatively new thing for me, and I just can't seem to get enough of it. It is starting to be my go-to starch. Yum!

Look at that crust! The best thing is, the mustard sauce totally penetrates all the way into the fish. It's great. Really it is. And, this whole dinner? Yeah, it took about 20 minutes to whip up, from start to finish. Simple, elegant, and quick? It's like the trifecta for cooks.

xoxo Craig

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Spinach, Mushrooms, Cheese & Puff Pastry. Can YOU think of something tastier?

So, I know I have been very absent lately. It was for a good cause, I promise! You see, I was playing around with a new recipe and I wanted to get it right before I told you all about it. Turns out, I came up with a super versatile little savory tart.

I started with frozen spinach, mushrooms, and some cheese. Then I started playing around. The thought that adding the mushrooms, onions and garlic raw to the tart didn't seem right to me; I mean, would that cook all the way before the puff pastry burned?

So I started with sautéing the onions, and the garlic. I added in the chopped up mushrooms then though, ok Craig, this needs more flavor. I mean, how common were those flavors? Very, in my opinion. So, as I sat there sipping my white wine and staring at my sautéing mushrooms, I just suddenly poured in about half a cup of it to the pan. I didn't even think, I just did it.

Then, I let everything sauté until there was no more liquid in the pan. That's right, little mushrooms, soak up all that flavory goodness!

Then, into a big bowl went the mushrooms and onions, and a box of thawed frozen spinach. Also, did you know how much water frozen spinach has in it? Yeah, squeeze that mess out. You don't want a liquidy mixture.

I mixed it all up, and added ricotta, mascarpone, and parmesan cheese.

I poured it over some puff pastry and baked it until golden brown. And then I stared at the mountains of leftover spinach mixture I had left over.

So I started playing around with the ingredients. I made it where it was an open tart. Then I covered it with an additional sheet of pastry. Then, I made individual puffs. Then I added artichoke hearts. Then I tried cooking the mushrooms with a hefeweizen instead of the wine. Everything I did to this worked. I love it. It's easy, versatile, and JP said he could eat it for days. And days. And then more days

Enjoy!

xoxo Craig


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Healthy Comfort Food. Or is That an Oxymoron?

So we all love comfort food. Hence the name, comfort food. But, the sad fact is that these wonderful meals are generally pretty heavy and not exactly the best for your waistline. Such a shame, cause if I could, I would eat comfort foods every night. In particular, I would eat meatloaf. I love it.

But, what luck! Oh, joy of joy's! Giada De Laurentiis has come to my rescue! She came up with one of the tastiest meatloaf's I have come across! Now, in case you have never looked at Giada's recipes, please take a moment to do so. I have 2 of her cookbooks, and let me tell you, I love them. They are full of so many wonderful things, and they give me really great inspiration for my meals. So, back to this meatloaf. It is a turkey meatloaf, with parsley, feta, and sundried tomatoes. Simple, moist, and delicious!

The recipe really isn't all that different from a regular meatloaf recipe. You use some meat (duh!), breadcrumbs, eggs and then the inside ingredients; in this case, the feta, parsley and tomatoes.

Look! The colors of Italy! Huzzah! Excuse me while I dream of Tuscany...

Per usual, you mix it all together. Be careful not to over mix it, cause the turkey will get tough. Wanna know a neat trick for this? Use a fork! You kind of fluff it all together. Keeps it from getting all dense and dry when you cook it.

Look at all that baked goodness! You can see flecks of parsley, bubbly feta cheese, and the chewy tomatoes. Yummers like crazy!

I served it with the usual potatoes and vegetables. The potatoes were super easy to make, just boil them, drain, then add some better, salt pepper, then all that leftover parsley! Hooray for deliciousness! Also, asparagus. Is there a tastier green vegetable out there? I don't think so! 

Here's a close up of the meatloaf... you know, just in case you want to join me in drooling a bit over it. Its moist, and meaty, and everything you want out of a meatloaf!

The best thing about making meatloaf, though? The awesome sandwiches you get to make the next day. Add two pieces of sourdough, some mayonnaise and a bit of dijon, then two slices of that awesome meatloaf and presto! You've got yourself the perfect lunch!

xoxo Craig

Click Here for the recipe from Giada De Laurentiis 

¡Huevos perfecta!

Can I tell you something? I know the secret to perfect scrambled eggs. No, don't laugh! I do, really! And guess what. It's not creme. Or water. Or herbs. 

It's half a teaspoon of dijon mustard. Yeup, just half a teaspoon. That and some Tabasco sauce. Just 5 dashes. That part is optional, but I really love tabasco.

Yeah, right there. Thats the secret. Guess it's not much of a secret anymore, huh? Way to go, Craig. Just tell the whole internets...

It is completely amazing how this tiny amount of mustard, almost enough that you don't really even taste mustard, is the secret to the best eggs ever.

And tabasco. God, I love that stuff. So tangy, and spicy. Its like a spicy ninja in your eggs. But, if you don't like ninja's, just leave that part out.

The other thing you do for good eggs? You cook them over a very low flame. So low that when you melt the butter into the pan, it does't brown. And when you pour the eggs in, they don't immediately start to scramble.

Wanna know the trick to really super fluffy eggs? Low flame, and just keep stirring. 

And keep stirring...

Slowly, but surely, the eggs will start to come together.

Just have patience.

Also, use a wooden spoon. It helps form a nice looking scramble.

Presto! Look at those perfect, fluffy, delicious eggs!

Serve em up with some pan-fried hash browns, and an awesome orange that you picked off of your friends tree at his country house. Yeah, cause you can do that in Australia in the winter. 

Enjoy your eggs! Also, make sure that orange you just picked doesn't start to roll off the table as you are taking pictures of your awesome breakfast.

xoxo Craig


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