anna bakes - pear clafouti

I made this pear clafouti a few weeks ago, and it turned out so well that I made another one yesterday for a dinner my roommate and I hosted. I used Ina Garten's recipe, and it was so easy and so delicious I was surprised clafouti are not more popular! It was great warm, room-temp, and chilled. You really can't go wrong with this one. I'm looking forward to making another with different fruit - cherries, raspberries, topped with almonds... The possibilities are endless!

cooking, etc. - basil

My friend Susan gave me a kit to grow basil a few months ago. I had never really grown a plant from seeds before, so I was amazed when my basil actually sprouted -- and then continued to grow!

It is getting pretty big now, and I am starting to think of dishes to make with the basil. Like this recipe for Ricotta with Lemon, Basil, and Honey Bruschetta from Martha Stewart that I first saw on Pinterest. I will have to try it soon. I've been meaning to buy some Narragansett Creamery ricotta, which I think would be great on for this dish.

I also love this idea for Basil Infused Olive Oil from Two Loves Studio:

What's your favorite basil dish?

anna cooks - french onion soup

Last week I made french onion soup. It was a delicious and easy weeknight meal, so I thought I'd share what I did...



I basically followed Tyler Florence's recipe, but only used one large onion and a third of the rest of the ingredients to yield 2 servings. I was also sure to use a day-old roll (which I had gotten at the amazing Cambridge bakery, Hi Rise).

The other change I made was instead of putting the soup ( + roll and gruyere sprinkled on top) in the broiler, I just put it in a 450F oven for 10 minutes. I have an old oven, which doesn't do well on broil, and this method, which I read about in the french cookbook I Know How to Cook, worked perfectly well.

~ Enjoy ~

anna cooks - chicken with tomatoes and olives

A few months ago I blogged about a chicken recipe that I liked, which I found in the book Everyday Food from the kitchens of Martha Stewart Living.

There are so many great, simple recipes in the book, and I decided to share another one today: Chicken with Tomatoes, Olives, and Cilantro. I made mine minus the cilantro. Not because I don't like it, but because I didn't have any.

It just takes a few ingredients, but has a lot of flavor. You can get the recipe online here. A great weekday meal!

anna cooks - muddy buddies

Are you excited for the Super Bowl? I am - perhaps more for the food than the game, but that's all part of the fun. I'm heading to a Super Bowl watching party and I offered to bring a dessert I hadn't had in years: Muddy Buddies. Here's how I did it:

Muddy Buddies: A Photo Recipe

Get the full recipe here. 

anna cooks - fruit smoothie

I was inspired to make a smoothie after seeing this beautifully photographed post from the blog food and other stuff.

So off I went to the grocery store. I decided to make a dairy-free fruit smoothie with frozen peaches, frozen strawberries, orange juice, and bananas.

So easy, and so delicious!

anna cooks - cheese souffle

I made an individual cheese souffle for dinner tonight. It really is a misconception that souffle is hard to make. It is not the easiest thing, but it is not hard to make - even in my tiny kitchen.

I used this recipe via The Times-Picayune. The recipe originally came from the book The Pleasures of Cooking for One by Judith Jones. The souffle came out so well that I actually decided to buy the book on Amazon. 

I will definitely make this again!

anna cooks - summer fruit crostata

Sunday night I got inspired to make a summery dessert. I flipped through some of my cook books and settled on Ina Garten's Summer Fruit Crostata. The recipe originally comes from the restaurant Al Forno in Providence, RI, which has THE BEST desserts. (Al Forno was recently named one of the Best Italian Restaurants in the U.S. by Travel and Leisure Magazine.) Ina tweaked their recipe a bit to make the crostata using summer fruit rather than apples.

Here is a picture by Sohini R. via Yelp of an Al Forno made to order pear and walnut tart:

I made the crust a few hours before dinner. I don't know why I get intimidated by pie crusts, because they really are very easy. I didn't even use a food processor, but instead cut the butter into the flour mixture using two knives. I just hate getting the mixer dirty when I don't have to!

The crust turned out nice and flaky, and the mixture of summer fruits Ina recommends (black plums, peaches, and blueberries) was delicious. I will definitely make this again.

anna cooks - leftover buttermilk

I had some leftover buttermilk from making my birthday cake, so I decided to make some buttermilk muffins for breakfast. I found this recipe for chocolate chip buttermilk muffins from the blog Life's a Feast.

They were quick and easy to make, and turned out great. I'll definitely make them again!

cooking, etc. - summer pickling

I was in Newport, RI for the weekend, enjoying some beach time with friends. Being at the beach in August got me thinking about all the summer things I want to do before it starts to get chilly. One such thing is at-home pickling.

I saw this article on small batch summer pickling a few weeks ago on the blog food52. (I am a huge fan of food52, which operates on an interesting concept you can read about here.) They always have great posts from food bloggers and chefs.

The recipe comes from Ashley Rodriguez of the blog Not Without Salt, which has some amazing food photography.

I am particular interested to try pickled fennel. Maybe I'll get it together to pickle some things this weekend. First though I need to find the right jar!

anna cooks - leftover mashed potatoes

Last night I made pesto mashed potatoes. They were delicious, and I had leftovers so I decided to eat them again tonight. Instead of just heating them up though, I made a summer version of Giada's Eggs in Purgatory. I was lazy and just fried the potatoes as is, instead of adding flour and egg. I also used fresh tomatoes, instead of tomato sauce. Very good!

anna cooks - going vegan and not

My roommate and I had some friends over for dinner last Sunday. One of our guests was Yifan Luo, the author of the vegan food/ fitness blog, vegandurance. As you may have guessed from her blog, Yifan is a practicing vegan.

As a host cooking for a mixed crowd of vegans, vegetarians, and meat-eaters, deciding what to cook was even harder than usual. I ended up going with a vegetarian main-course that could be served vegan or not, depending on if you added cheese.

Since I had been craving pasta, I turned to an old Giada De Laurentiis family favorite: Rigatoni with Eggplant Puree. The recipe is available on the Food Network website, and is very easy to follow. 

I paired the pasta with a coleslaw I made using a light dressing of (vegan version) white wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar, dijon mustard, sugar, salt, pepper, olive oil, and (added only to not vegan version) a little mayonnaise.

The dinner was lots of fun, and I'm excited to try out some new vegan recipes in the future! I might start with Yifan's recipe for Raw Kale Fuel Bars (did I mention she is a triathlete!) on the blog Yum Universe.

anna cooks - crepe bar

Yesterday, a few of my friends from college and I got together to skype a mutual friend who is living in Paris. Before the skype date, I cooked a mini parisian brunch for us. I decided to set up a crepe bar, where guests could fill their freshly made crepe with whatever fillings they wanted. I just pulled out whatever I had on hand, but you could substitute your favorite crepe fillings. Here's what I laid out:

Anna's Crepe Bar

- Nutella (I got mine at Venda Raviloi in Providence, RI - they import it from Italy, and it really is better than the stuff they sell at American supermarkets)
- Fresh strawberries
- Fresh bananas
- Parisian honey
- Granulated sugar
- Butter
- Marmalade 

I used a basic crepe recipe from allrecipes.com, to which I added a little vanilla. The secret is I made the batter the day before and let it rest overnight. I then used a non-stick pan to cook my crepes, which worked perfectly. 

While I was looking for tips on the internet about how to make the perfect crepe, I found a post from the blog theKitchn on how to make perfect crepes. 

The blog interviewed pastry chef Jehnee Rains who suggests putting beer in your crepe batter. Very intriguing. I might have to try that at my next crepe bar. You can find her recipe here. 

anna cooks - pasta fritta

My roommate made a wonderful pasta dinner for us two nights ago. She used fresh pasta and a sweet pepper and olive sauce from Williams-Sonoma, which she had gotten as a gift. There was some pasta left over so the next day I decided to make pasta fritta, or fried pasta.

I first saw this recipe on the show David Rocco's Dolce Vita on the Cooking Channel. I then bought his book, which included the recipe. It is a very easy dish, devised by Italians to use up leftovers, but it is truly delicious.

Pasta Fritta - A Photo Recipe.

The exact ingredients and measurements can be found here.

Inspiration

Preparation

Execution 

Here is the clip from David Rocco's show where I originally saw this recipe:

anna cooks - dessert

Last night my friend Alyssa had my roommate and I over for dinner and an episode of Downton Abbey. I offered to bring dessert, and ended up making a twist on Ina Garten's Peach and Blueberry Crumble. I love this recipe, because you can swap the fruit depending on what is in season. For this crumble, I decided to use peaches, strawberries, and rhubarb. The result was a cute pink dessert that was perfect for our girls' night.

Peach, Strawberry, Rhubarb Crumble - A Photo Recipe.

The exact ingredients and measurements can be found here.

Step 1: Mix the fruit with lemon zest, lemon juice, sugar, and flour.

Step 2: Mix the dry ingredients until the butter is the size of peas. 

Step 3: Put the fruit mixture into ramekins and top with the crumble -- add more crumble than you think you need, because it fall down into the ramekin during baking. 

Step 4: Bake with a lined baking sheet under the ramekins at 350F for 45 minutes, or until the top is golden brown.  

Step 5: Top with heavy cream and enjoy!

anna cooks - dessert

My friend, Mara, invited me to a picnic in the North End. I volunteered to make a dessert after seeing an intriguing recipe for S'mores on a Stick on Pinterest. The recipe came from the site babble, and after reading the instructions (which include some wonderful pictures), I decided to give it a try.

I found these cute pinwheel toothpicks from iparty, which added some color and whimsy to the presentation. Overall, S'mores on a Stick were super easy to make and tasted delicious. I will definitely be making this again!

S'mores on a Stick - A Photo Recipe.

What you need:

What you do:

I added some heavy cream to my semi-sweet chocolate to make it extra decadent.

What you eat:

Yum.

See a more detailed recipe from the babble blogger JULIEVR here. 

anna cooks - lunch

What's for lunch? A Photo Recipe.

Spaghettini Aglio Olio with Last Night's Broccoli

What you need:

What you do:

What you eat:

Yum.

anna cooks - dinner

Ok, I'm going to brag a little bit -- I made a wonderful dinner tonight. I wanted to share the recipes, because the meal turned out so well. Plus it was easy to make and easy on the wallet.

The main dish was Braised Chicken with Shallots, which is available as a free recipe on the Martha Stewart webpage. I initially found the recipe in the book Everyday Food: Fresh Flavor Fast: 250 Easy, Delicious Recipes for Any Time of Day. I bought my book at Marshalls -- best place to buy cook books!

I unfortunately didn't take any pictures of my meal because my boyfriend and I gobbled it up so fast, but this is what it looked like. (Really it did!)

When I made this meal before, I served it with french bread or rice, but this time I made popovers. I had never made them before, but they were super easy and delicious! Luckily for me, my roommate has great popover cups that are stick-proof. I just used a recipe from All Recipes. It had gotten a bunch of positive reviews, which I've found to be a reliable way to  judge recipes online. 

We finished the meal with some chocolate covered orange rinds my boyfriend brought back from Paris when he visited a few weeks ago. If you find yourself over there be sure to pick some up at Un Dimanche à Paris: Le Concept-Store tout Chocolat, located at 4-6-8 Cour du Commerce Saint André - Paris 6ème.

I'll definitely be making this meal again! 

anna gifts - grandma's cookies

Printable Grandma DeSimone's Butter Cookies Recipe Card Now Available Here!

I made the rest of the Grandma DeSimone's Butter Cookies yesterday for my friend Melissa's birthday. Since the recipe makes so many, I wrapped a few up in these cute heart bags from Martha Stewart, and gave them out to people attending her birthday dinner.

I included a little printout of the custom stickers I ordered from The Paper Source in case people wanted to visit the blog to get the recipe. The stickers are meant to be personalized gift tags for holidays or after weddings, but you can customize the writing with whatever words you want! See the template I used here. 

anna cooks - grandma's cookies

For a special Easter edition of anna knits, etc., I wanted to share my Grandma's butter cookies recipe. These roll outs are great for holidays, because you can cut them into any shape you want. Below is a handwritten copy my Aunt Joanne shared with me for the butter cookies.

Grandma DeSimone's Butter Cookies
- 1 cup butter
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 2 eggs (beaten)
- 3 cups flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Cream butter and sugar.
2. Add vanilla to butter mixture.
3. Add eggs, one at a time, to the butter mixture.
4. Add flour and salt to butter mixture. Mix until dough forms.
5. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours (overnight preferred).
7. Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit.
6. Cut the dough into a manageable piece (fourths works well), and roll out the dough until they are pretty thin (a little less than 1/8 inch).
7. Cut dough into desired shape.
8. Place cookies on an un-greased baking sheet.
9. Bake for 10 minutes or until light brown edges form.

Icing
- Confectioners sugar
- Milk or cream
- Vanilla
- Sprinkles

1. Warm a few tablespoons of the milk or cream.
2. Add a splash of vanilla to the milk.
3. Slowly add the milk mixture to the confectioners sugar until a paste is formed.
4. Ice cooled cookies and decorate with sprinkles.

Ta-da!

The recipe makes a lot of cookies, so I just baked up a half recipe and put the other half in the freezer for later. 

For a more intense look, try covering the cookie in sprinkles. While they are not in keeping with Grandma DeSimone's aesthetic, I think these Valentine's Day butter cookies from The Yvestown Blog came out super cute!

Rainbow dots have also been making their way into the fashion world this season. Check out this felted rainbow bobble bag via the blog a pair and a spare.

Felting wool is something I have never explored, but hope to try it this spring. It is a great way to bring your knitting into the warmer months. 

Happy Easter!