Celebrating Independence Day!

We had a lovely weekend!  The weather has been beautiful, the food was great and Monday was a vacation day!
Saturday we spent the day in Boston for Harborfest, we walked all over the city, enjoyed an amazing lunch in the North End at Damianos and dessert & cappuccino at Cafe Vittoria.  Right before we headed back home we watched a skirmish between the militia and red coats...want me to tell you how it ended ;) Enjoy some photos of the day!

On Monday we tried to have a lovely picnic at our favorite park but lightning sent us home pretty quickly!  Instead we grilled back home and enjoyed some delicious Garlic Lime Chicken Kabobs. Recipe to follow soon! I hope you all enjoyed your weekend. Enjoy!

Busy Weekend = Quick Meals

Well, we never did have the salad with goat cheese and lemon-mustard vinaigrette on Friday night. Instead, we went out and enjoyed the beautiful weather at a park with the dog. It was windy, but gorgeous. We decided to stop at Khaophums for some tea and an appetizer. It is a delicious restaurant for thai food and extremely reasonable in price. We enjoyed some jasmine green tea, lemonade, steamed veggie dumplings with a ginger sauce and the best crab rangoons I have ever tasted. I quite honestly eat here for the rangoons alone. We came home and a few hours later decided to have some homemade bruschetta, neither one of us was interested in slaving over chopping up the newly purchased veggies. Chopping the basil and tomatoes took all of 2 minutes, broiled the bread with some garlic and butter and we had a very lite Friday night meal. 
Saturday: Out and about! We enjoyed lunch at La Carreta, complete with delicious sauces and ice tea. The sweet husband and I shared a vegetarian dish with an enchilada, tostada and burrito. Oh and with a side of guacamole, of course. For our dinner we did make the Portobello White Pizza I had planned for the evening:


Ingredients:
1 bag of pizza dough
1 ball of mozzarella cheese
8oz baby portobello slices
6-7 basil leaves
part-skim ricotta cheese
salt, pepper
parmesan cheese


Either make the dough yourself or purchase bagged dough from your supermarket. We prefer whole wheat but had to deal with white instead. Preheat the oven to about 375deg. You want to make sure your dough is about at room temperature in order to stretch out to the desired size. Spread some olive oil on a cookie sheet and carefully push and pull the dough to the desired thickness and size. Dice the portobello mushrooms, and slice the mozzarella cheese.

Brush the stretched out dough with some olive oil and sprinkle some garlic, s/p and parmesan cheese. Bake for about 10-12 minutes, or until light brown. Layer the pizza with the mushrooms, basil, mozzarella cheese, spoonfuls of ricotta and top with parmesan cheese, pepper and garlic powder. 

Place back in the oven for another 10-12 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the ingredients bubbly. Let stand for about 3-4 minutes then slice and Enjoy!

*Note: the mushrooms have a some liquid, don't worry about this just handle with care when enjoying :) 
Tonight: Our long awaited Corned Beef and Cabbage dinner!
Monday night: Quiche tarts with the Goat cheese and lemon-mustard dressing over salad. Phew!

Linguine!!

Source: mariobatali.com

So, I was wandering through my bookmarked blogs and re-found Cupcakes and Cashmere on the day she posted Mario Batali's Bologonese sauce...mmmm. I have been avoiding trying to make this dish because my Uncle Mattar used to have a killer tortellini bolognese on his menu when Frank was the chef - I mean absolutely scrumptious, long before he became Mattar's bistro. Side trip: I've been eating at Mattar's since he opened so Tortellini Bolognese probably runs through my veins, along with his out of this world Calamari (I believe I drew him a picture when I was just a kid that said, "Best Calamari in the Universe." Pretty sure it was his first award. So, first real point is that I've been avoiding trying to make it because how can you beat the best? My sweet husband has been requesting Spaghetti Bolognese for quite some time and I finally decided that MB was probably a good source. Second side trip: Never trust a skinny cook. 
It was absolutely delicious. Quite a lot of work in the chopping and dicing category but after an hour of simmering in my saute pan the house smelled like Frank's kitchen = heaven. He had promised to show me how to make his coveted Bolognese sauce and decadent Key Lime Pie but the opportunity never arose. When he opened his own restaurant (he has since retired to the upper confines of some mountain) I would regularly make a trip to the kitchen to say hello and get a glimpse at the inner workings of a gourmet kitchen.  Imagine my excitement when Ratatouille hit the theaters...
So the linguine (apparently this was a compromise between tortellini and spaghetti) and bolognese sauce was a hit and probably the best thing I have ever made. Pair it with a nice red wine and sweet peas as a vegetable and you have yourself a wonderful, filling and delicious meal!