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My picture looks nothing like the picture attached to the recipe. I had no parsley. This pasta is full of bright summer flavor. I am not an anchovy fan. So, I did not put the raw anchovy and garlic paste into the sauce. I sauteed it in the 1/2 cup of olive in warm pasta pot and continued with the recipe. I will make this one again!

Food means different things to different people. Food is a passion for me. This meal touched my soul! I do not make risotto often because of the time involved, today was the perfect exception. I was so going to cop out and make my chicken meatball filling and roll it in my leftover swiss chard and bake it in tomato sauce. Until I found a chicken meatball recipe that set my wheels to spinning! I totally changed the meatball recipe.

Meatballs

2 Slices of Italian loaf crust removed and torn into pieces

1 c of Chicken stock

1lb of Ground chicken

1 Egg beaten

1 Clove of garlic grated

Salt

Pepper

1/2 Tsp of cinnamon

1/4 Tsp of nutmeg

3 Tbls of chopped Pistachios

1 Tbls of chopped parsley

Sauce

2 Medium shallots minced

1/2 cup of white wine

1 1/2 Tbls of lemon juice

1 Tbls of butter

Soak your bread in the broth. When the liquid is absorbed squeeze out the liquid and put the bread in large bowl. Add the ground chicken, egg, garlic, salt, pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, pistachios, and parsley. Mix by hand. Form into meatballs a little larger than a walnut. Warm 2 tbls of olive oil in a skillet. Dust the meatballs with flower, shake off the excess and brown them on all sides. Set the meatballs aside. Add shallots to the pan and cook until soft, add the wine and cook until reduced by half. Add your meatballs back to the pan and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes until the sauce thickens. Add butter and lemon juice to combine and serve over the risotto.

This pie has a ginger snap crust.

1 1/2 c of Ginger snap crumbs

2 Tbls of Brown Sugar

6 Tbls of Melted butter

Combine sugar and crumbs in a bowl and add in butter in increments until combined. Press the mixture into a pie plate and bake at 350 for 10 minutes. Let the crust cool on a baking rack 15 minutes.

Filling

1/2 c and 2 Tbls of key lime juice

1 can Sweetened condensed milk

4 Egg yolks

Blend yolks and milk with a whisk attachment until well combined then add in the lime juice. Pour the mixture into the cooled crust and bake at 350 for 15 minutes. Cool on a baking rack and chill in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours.

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I hate that I can not find a link for this dish to share with you. It is so amazing! This comes from Chef Floyd Cardoz’s cookbook Flavorwalla. I checked it out from local library.

This recipe is for 1 Naan bread. I bought a Naan pizza crust. So, i doubled the spinach part of recipe and used 3 times the amount of mozzarella called for. I added some castelvatrano olives and topped with fresh lemon basil when it came out of the oven.

Lemon so screams summer to me. I substituted lemon juice for the vinegar in the dressing recipe and added diced mozzarella.

Fattoush is the Middle Eastern version of panzanella. A way to use day old pita. You toast them in olive oil to make a crouton. I seasoned mine with salt, pepper, and cumin. Then you basically make a greek salad. Romaine, tomato, cucumber, red onion, feta, olives, add radish and mint. The dressing calls for pomegranate molasses which I could not find, so the dressing is lemon juice, honey, olive oil, salt, pepper and ground sumac. I seasoned the pork with Middle Eastern spices, coriander, cumin, and all spice.

I skipped the shortbread part of the recipe and used a good quality ginger cookie crumbled. I also added strawberries in the last step of the compote.

Friday nights taco leftovers inspired breakfast. A cripsy flour tostada topped with canned fire roasted chile refried beans, scrambled egg, the beef taco filling, queso fresco, cilantro and a lime cilantro crema. The piece de resistance was a blackberry lime mimosa! I bought fresh berries at the farmers market yesterday.