Nick Stellino's Pasta Alla Russa

The kids and I like to watch Create TV on PBS and my son, after catching a 13 pound lake trout that we smoked, thought that this dish looked good.  We tried this dish tonight and while my son really liked it the rest of us just kind of tolerated it because the flavor was so strong.  I like my smoked fish on cracker, but this was worth a try and if you are a person who likes a lot of the smoked fish flavor this is a good recipe to try.

Bow tie pasta in boiling water to el dente. 

 I the mean time...

Saute together

Butter

Add finely chopped shallots

Minced garlic

Smoked fish

Vodka

Clam juice or chicken stock & Tomato sauce

Salt & Pepper

Cream

Cook sauce down a little

Add el dente pasta & a few peas.

cook to done

Top with Parmesan cheese 

Serve

Our home smoked Lake Trout

Recent Meals

I do like to keep an account of meals that I have made for future inspiration for those weeks I just can't think of anything to make.

• Eggplant Parmesan - Used Eggplant from the garden

• Swiss Steak -   Family says this a make again

• Chicken Curry - because everyone likes this one 

• Sweet and Sour Chicken

• White Bean Soup

• Potato Soup

• Seared Coho - My son and I cough this fish ourselves on lake Huron.  It was wonderful along with some rice and roasted Brussels sprouts with bacon.

• Stuffed Peppers - Daughter's favorite so I thought her how to make them.

Summer Shrimp Pasta

This pasta dish turned out to be one of the best pasta dishes that I have made is a long time.  the balance of flavors was just  right and I was proud to use many items from my back yard...WOOT! (I know, woot is so dated)

Put a large pot of heavily salted water on to boil for the pasta.  The pasta I used was Barilla Plus curly Q pastas, about half a box.

In a large saute pan I added

1 medium light green zucchini, rough chopped into 1/2" to 1" chunks (from my garden)
1 medium yellow summer squash, rough chopped into 1/2" to 1" chunks (from my garden)
2 medium to large tomatoes, rough chopped into 1/2" to 1" chunks (from my garden)
4 large cloves of garlic, sliced thin or roughly chopped  (from my garden)
1 Tablespoon olive oil
a dash of salt

I sauteed this on low covered for about 5 minutes, until the water boiled.

I dumped the pasta into the boiling water and then quickly cleaned about 1 pound of raw shrimp (took about 3 minutes)

In the saute pan I pushed the softened squash tomato mix to one side and place the cleared side over the burner and added about 1/2 cup white wine and let it cook down a little.  Dump the shrimp into the saucy area, and by now the pasta should be just barely al dente.  Scoop the pasta over the shrimp.  once all the pasta is added stir all together, if more liquid is needed add some pasta water.

season with salt and pepper to taste and add fresh oregano  (from my garden), about 1.5 tablespoons.

Cover pot until done, pasta just the way you like it...for me about 2 minutes.

Dish up into a serving bowl and drizzle with a little olive oil and a squeeze of some fresh lemon.

Birthday Cake

My 11 year old daughter made me this cake for my Birthday...She has become a wonderful Baker!

100 have you tried list

the items underlined and italic are items I have tried.

1. Venison - grew up on this and I love it

2. Nettle tea

3. Huevos rancheros 

4. Steak tartare

5. Crocodile - does alligator count? 

6. Black pudding

7. Cheese fondue

8. Carp

9. Borscht

10. Baba ghanoush - I do live right next to Dearborn MI after all.

11. Calamari

12. Pho - I have many very close dishes but not this exact one

13. PB&J sandwich

14. Aloo gobi

15. Hot dog from a street cart

16. Epoisses

17. Black truffle

18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes

19. Steamed pork buns

20. Pistachio ice cream

21. Heirloom tomatoes - grew some this year

22. Fresh wild berries

23. Foie gras

24. Rice and beans

25. Brawn, or head cheese

26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper

27. Dulce de leche

28. Oysters

29. Baklava

30. Partridge 

31. Wasabi peas - I have had Wasabi with my sushi, is that the same thing

32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl

33. Salted lassi

34. Sauerkraut

35. Root beer float - ginger ale floats are great too

36. Cognac with a fat cigar

37. Clotted cream tea

38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O

39. Gumbo

40. Oxtail

41. Curried goat

42. Whole insects 

43. Phaal

44. Goat’s milk - Grew up on this, took years to be able to drink cow milk

45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120

46. Fugu- I don't know how to do strick through on blogger so I will just state it - nope, not worth it.

47. Chicken tikka masala

48. Eel

49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut - every friday when I worked

50. Sea urchin

51. Prickly pear

52. Umeboshi

53. Abalone

54. Paneer - is on the menu this week as a matter of fact

55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal - I at one time worked at MickyD's

56. Spaetzle

57. Dirty gin martini

58. Beer above 8% ABV

59. Poutine

60. Carob chips

61. S’mores

62. Sweetbreads

63. Kaolin

64. Currywurst

65. Durian

66. Frogs’ legs

67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake - a good friend used to own an elephant ear cart, she made good money.

68. Haggis

69. Fried plantain - I have made this

70. Chitterlings, or andouillette

71. Gazpacho - I have made this

72. Caviar and blini

73. Louche absinthe

74. Gjetost, or brunost

75. Roadkill - several different kinds

76. Baijiu

77. Hostess Fruit Pie - It gave me a tummy ache

78. Snail 

79. Lapsang souchong

80. Bellini

81. Tom yum - oh yeah I think all the shel fish would kill me

82. Eggs Benedict

83. Pocky

84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.

85. Kobe beef

86. Hare

87. Goulash - both kinds

88. Flowers

89. Horse - nope but I have had moose

90. Criollo chocolate

91. Spam - oh yeah baby

92. Soft shell crab-swelled up like a balloon, with hives

93. Rose harissa - if this is the same as harissa then yep, thanks Warda I do love it so.

94. Catfish - not much of a fan

95. Mole poblano

96. Bagel and lox - I made lox last week

97. Lobster Thermidor

98. Polenta - since I was a kid

99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee - best coffee ever

100. Snake

Beef and Cabbage Stir-Fry

This is just a quick recap of what I made for dinner last night, I do not want to forget what I did because everyone loved this dish.  There are no measurements because, truth be told, I don't really measure.

10 oz beef.  I just got the beef steak that was on sale.
soy sauce
rice wine
brown sugar
Korean garlic chili paste
Vegetable Oil
1 T. grated ginger
1 large onion, thinly sliced
2 cups cabbage, thinly sliced
1 carrot, cut into matchsticks

Cut the beef very thin and if the steak is thick cut again to make almost matchsticks out of the beef
Marinate the beef in enough soy sauce, rice wine, brown sugar, chili paste, and ginger to cover

stir fry the onion, set aside
stir fry the cabbage, set aside
stir fry carrot, set aside
drain the beef and set marinade aside
stir fry the beef for about 2 minutes, until cooked about 2/3rd s of the way through, set aside
add the marinade into wok and cook until bubbling.  add all the set aside ingredients into the wok and cook to mix well with the sauce and all is heated through.
Serve with steamed rice.

I would like to try this with a little plumb sauce added to it as well.