Tortellini in Ratatouille Marinara

I had some leftovers piling up in my refrigerator. A little left over ratatouille, tomato sauce and some mozzarella fortunately I also had some mushroom tortellini in the pantry and so came tonight's dinner. I heated up the tomato sauce with the ratatouille while I cooked the tortellini in salted boiling water. once the pasta was done I mixed it with the ratatouille marinara and covered with the mozzarella and placed all of it under the broiler until it was all melty and a little browned. yummy, yummy it was good served with a little garlic bread.

Fig Tart so rich it makes your head hurt

1/3 cup whipping cream
1/4 cup honey
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2/3 cup sugar
3 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cups coarsely chopped walnuts
12-15 figs, cut in half

Stir 1/3 cup cream, honey and butter in small saucepan over medium heat until butter melts. Set aside. Stir sugar, water and lemon juice in heavy medium saucepan over low heat until sugar dissolves. Increase heat; boil without stirring until syrup turns golden, occasionally swirling pan and brushing down sides with wet pastry brush, about 12 minutes. Remove from heat. Add warm cream mixture (mixture will bubble up). Stir over very low heat until smooth. Add vanilla. Chill uncovered until cold, about 1 hour. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover; keep chilled.)

Mix nuts into cold caramel. arrange figs in a circular pattern around crust filled tart pan (see below) spread (pour) caramel nut mixture over figs.

Preheat oven to 400°F. Bake tart until golden, about 25 minutes. Cool. (Can be made 8 hours ahead.)

for tart crust

1 1/2 C flour
1/4 C sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 C butter
1 egg yolk
1/4 C cold water

Measure flour sugar and salt into a bowl. Cut in butter thoroughly with a pastry blender or two knives until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. In a small bowl, stir egg yolk and water together. Pour this mixture into the flour/butter mixture and mix until a ball of dough forms. Shape the dough into a disc and refrigerate at least an hour.

Preheat oven to 400F

Roll out dough and form into a 10 inch tart pan. Prick dough with fork and pre bake crust for 10 minutes. remove from oven. and fill.

The Wonderful Pea

Matar Paneer

I had this for the first time last fall, a friend made it and it was ok. I had never had it and did not know what to expect or what to think, now that I look back I am sure it was a good recipe. A few weeks ago I saw Nigella Lawson making this on her TV show and all of a sudden it sounded so yummy so I had to make it.

This is the first time that I have ever tried to make matar paneer so I read through Mahanandi and Nigella Lawson's and came up with my own combo and I think it turned out very nice for my first try, maybe add a little more spice next time and some liquid.

1/4 cup vegetable oil
8 oz paneer, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 small white onion, finely chopped
4 medium tomatoes, finely chopped
1 t. ginger, grated
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon garam masala
1/2 t cumin
10 oz bag frozen peas
salt
1/3 cup water


Heat the oil a large skillet and add the paneer cubes, in 2 batches, and fry until they are golden. Remove the golden cubes to a paper towel to soak up any oil.

Pour all but about 2 tablespoons of the oil out of the pan. Add the onion and cook until they are translucent. Add the garlic, ginger, and spices. Stir to combine and cook for one minute, add the tomatoes and cook them down.

stir in the peas and water let the peas defrost a little then add the paneer. stir to combine, cover and simmer for about 5 minutes.

I served this with rice and enjoyed every bit. I also got the kids to eat all the paneer and rice and each had at least one pea.

Ratatouille

My Mother and I took the kids to see Ratatouille last weekend and it did get me wanted to make the dish just as it made every other food lover and blogger out there want to. I have made the traditional Ratatouille before and I did like it.


My Daughter (31/2), as always, helped me make this Ratatouille. first we did my dish and she handed me each item as needed; however, when we were done there was a lot left over so I let her make her own. She layered the zucchini, yellow zucchini, eggplant, mushrooms and peppers and when she done layering I let her chose what herbs to put on it she chose the thyme and lavender that I used and then she went through my array of dried herbs and pulled out tarragon, it was not bad in the end. To tell the truth both were wonderful, better then the last time I made it.


1 small white onion finely diced
2 T olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 large clove garlic, sliced very thin
3 T. tomato paste
1 cup canned while tomatoes, pured into a sauce
1 t fresh thyme
1 t fresh lavender
1/2 t dried rosemary
1 t Serbian Soup seasoning
pepper
1 medium Zucchini, sliced very thin
1 medium yellow zucchini, sliced very thin (I would have used summer squash but they were very small so I got the yellow zucchini to try to be consistent with size)
1 Asian eggplant, sliced very thin (again to be size consistent I got the Asian)
3 large white mushrooms (I love mushrooms and add them were I can)
1 red pepper, sliced very thin (I got one that was long and narrow)
olive oil

saute the onions in 2 T olive oil until translucent and add minced garlic and cook for a minute. add in paste and cook until it fragrant and then pour in tomato sauce and bring to boil. add in, the soup seasoning half of the thyme, half of the lavender and the rosemary. Remove from heat.

Preheat oven to 400F

place a layer of sauce on the bottom of a oven proof dish. spread the thin slices of garlic on the sauce, then arrange slices of prepared vegetables concentrically from the outer edge to the inside of the baking dish, overlapping so just a smidgen of each flat surface is visible, alternating vegetables

pour a drizzle of olive oil over the layers of vegetables and sprinkle with remaining thyme and lavender and season with salt and pepper. cover with parchment cut to size and bake for about 50 minutes.
I served the Ratatouille with french baguette and some plain low-fat yogurt for a light and refreshing dinner.


I did not have any parchment so I cut a paper bag to size and it work well.

Thank you Smitten Kitchen for some direction.

some things that I want to make in the next few days

ratatouille
something with fresh figs
peach cobbler
Matar Paneer
stuffed pears
plum pudding
something asian

Blackberry Bread Pudding

3 cups stale bread, cut into cubes
2 cups milk, scalded with 1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
3 eggs, slightly beaten
1/4 t. salt
1 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. vanilla
1/2 cup blackberries

microwave for 10 minutes
The kids picking ripe blackberries at Grandma and Grandpa's house.