Beans and Pasta Casserole

Got to love that Joy of Cooking book! I've been reading more of that than anything else in the last several days!

I got a bunch of fresh green beans at PCC and started poking around JofC trying to find a new beans recipe. And I stumbled upon a couple of casserole and gratin recipes. But both asked for cream of mushroom soups - and I didn't have any (not a big fan of them creamy soups!). So, this is what I cooked up instead:

1/2 lb green beans - chopped into 2" pieces
2 cups of pasta (rotelle)
2-3 bay leaves
1.5 cups milk
1 tsp butter
1/4 cup flour
Salt'n'pepper
1/3 cup grated pepperjack cheese
1 tomato - finely minced (best to use a hand blender for this)

Cook the pasta till al dente.
Cook the green beans till tender (I just cooked both together)

Heat oven to 350F.

Heat butter, add flour and stir.
Add bay leaves and milk and stir (on simmer) till smooth and thick.
Toss the pasta and beans into this sauce.
Add the grated cheese, toss and pour into casserole dish.
Sprinkle the tomato shreds on the top.
Bake at 350F for 10 minutes.

*yay*!

The new and huge La Spiga

So, we finally got to check out La Spiga after they moved into their new location on 12th. This place is ginormous (the Lipp should've trademarked that word when he could've!). And we dindined with Vee and Martin (*yay*!)

Verdict:
The space is incredible - we were gawking at the high ceilings and the stark interior all evening. The patio is awesome - especially the chef's table. The huge inside space is well partitioned by the booths in the middle and the long couch - love that couch! And the decor is great - lots of old copper pots and pans on shelves, stark lighting, solid wooden tables, very nice.

The food - Not mindblowing, but pretty good. I'll give it a 3/5. The piadinas - as good as ever! The appetizers and salads looked a lot more interesting than the entrees. The roasted beet salad was pretty good, as was the cheese plate (especially that super creamy stinky brie!). My lentil&tomato soup was clearly oversalted and the flavors did not really stand out. The roasted potatoes were disappointing too - some of them seemed too dry, though drenched in olive oil. Pupp liked his risotto (the zucchini base was an interesting twist), Vee thought the pork was pretty decent and Martin said the lasagna was passable (this coming from the guy who makes the best lasagna I've *ever* eaten in my life!).

The wine list looks pretty impressive, and the Barolo we ordered was delicious.

International Potluck Night

a.k.a. - Serious food orgy! :)

Waaaay overdue post! A few weeks ago, I think Autumn and Lisa came up with this idea of doing a potluck where we all cooked food from cuisines that we hadn't really cooked much from before. Such a great idea. So we planned it out, May 19th was the day - at Daria's place, perfect way to warm her new house (and take her cute kitchen apart! :))

This is how we did it: each person/couple wrote out a country on a scrap of paper and we then drew lots. Daria got Vietnam, T&A got Russia, C&L - Costa Rica, A&J - Indonesia, us - Japan. And Jeremy picked Switzerland for dessert (apparently his initial choice - Australia is not sweet-friendly! :) and we picked Italy.

It was fun! And super yummy! And we kind of ended up with a good assortment of food. We tried to replicate the famous Dark Army from Vij as the drink of the eve. It turned out pretty decent, but could be better.

Basic Recipe:
===========
A shot each of lemon-ginger juice, simple syrup, mango juice, lime juice. Muddle these up with 1-1.5 shots of amber rum. Serve on ice. Sprinkle with a pinch of freshly ground garam masala. *hic*!

We started off noshing on these yummy baked plantains with guacamole and a blackbean dip (Costa Rica). The Russian entree was beety borscht along with this dark rye-like bread (lame! I've already forgotten what it actually had!). The borscht was really flavorful and smooth. The Vietnamese salad was awesome - it had mangoes, it *had* to be awesome! :) The noodle salad was super yummy too - the spicy limey dressing was seriously tasty - I was ready to drink it up! The tilapia on a bed of rice/beans/oranges/veggies was really light and flavorful.

And we made sushi - our first attempt! Obviously, spicy tuna rolls (we couldn't really find any other sushi grade fish at Whole Foods!). The tuna was so tasty - almost melting in the mouth. We marinated it in a sauce of the Snappy Dragon spicy sauce (*so* good!) along with a little wasabi. After marinating for a few hours, we rolled it with scallions, avocados and some stealth wasabi. The rolls came out looking *okay*, they definitely got better as we rolled more. And Pupp's rolling was *way* better than mine! :) But it was fun, we loved it and we'll do it again!

Dessert was this great chocolate cake with a mop of frosting - very yummy! We made this Cassata alla Siciliana - it was a serious flop! *so* sad! Firstly, the pound cake from Whole Foods was awful - dense and lifeless. And we could not find any candied fruit, so we used chopped dried fruits - NOT the same. *bleh*. I'll have to rework this recipe sometime.

Anyway, Daria's house was well-warmed (and a minor mess!). *happy*

The new Spazzo

My friend Vimla and I headed to the newly opened Spazzo in Redmond Town Center for lunch yesterday. We used to love the original Spazzo's (in the top floor of the Key Bank building when it was dishing out really fun greek food) and were really sorry to see it go.

The new Spazzo is huge, sleek and was packed for lunch, and we could only snag an uncomfortably positioned table in the bar area. We started off with ... a glass of water :) Their water was yummy - steeped with lemon and cucumber (never had that before)! We weren't super hungry so we just had the funghi with polenta and shaved parmesan - really tasty, but they went overboard with the truffle oil. The Roquette salad was great - it had a peppery vinaigrette dressing and came with these divine roasted bell peppers.

Got to go back for dinner (even if it is in boring RTC!)

The new Asteroid Cafe - good as ever!

We hit the Asteroid for a Dining Out for Life dindin. It was our first visit to the new digs in Fremont - vastly different from the original cozy layout in Wallingford. The new space is *huge*! It looks pretty cool but doesn't quite have the personal feel of the old space.

We ordered a bottle of the tried and tested Renato Ratti - yummy as ever! The appetizer of the day was bruschette brushed with 2 dips - the first one was an eggplant concoction, the second had a parsnip base - very different, it had an almost limey tangy aftertaste.

I got the Penne al Pomodoro - the goat cheese was divine - the last time I had such fresh goat cheese was at the Madison farmers' market last october! The penne was al dente, the tomatoes were fresh, all typical of good old Asteroid. Pupp got the pork special with polenta (seemed a little too runny, but tasted good). Obviously, I ate all the asparagus (Yay! for the fresh crop!) and we got a side of absolutely delicious, perfectly cooked fingerling potatoes. I can't wait to cook more of these (the Broadway Market often carries the best fingerlings!)

All in all, the meal made us *happy*! :)

Also, we noticed that they have a fabulous cocktail happy hour that lasts till midnight - a good option the next time we hit a show in Fremont.