Italian Shrimp Scampi Low Carb Zucchini "Noodles"

I'm not sure what sparked my craving for shrimp scampi, but I couldn't get the buttery, lemony shrimp pasta dish out of my mind. I've been trying to eat healthier though, so figured I could experiment with some zucchini noodles. Now, if you have a Zoodle Slicer or a Veggetti or whatever, this would go a lot faster, but I found julienning the zucchini worked just fine. It was actually quite therapeutic to slice and slice the zucchini until I had a colander full of thin strips.

Of course, you can use regular spaghetti noodles with this recipe if you wish, but I thought the buttery, lemony zucchini noodles and shrimp totally hit the spot.

Lasagna with Salmon and Spinach

I've made regular Lasagna with Meat Sauce and Vegetarian Lasagna with Broccoli, Kale, and Zucchini. I got a little more creative with Vegetarian Lasagna with Feta Cheese, Spinach, and Tofu. I've even blogged Pastitsio (Greek "Lasagna").

This Lasagna with Salmon and Spinach is more of a Swedish/Italian fusion. Not that I came up with it on my own. I actually saw it on the menu at IKEA - Covina, and mentally made a note to try making it at home. I used cheap frozen salmon filets, because the good stuff I save for eating fresh.

I prefer to bake the salmon first using my go-to Baked Salmon with Lemon Pepper Seasoning to bring out the flavor. Baking also makes sure the salmon flakes easily before adding it into the lasagna. A nice bechamel sauce and spinach goes far in disguising mediocre salmon so the final result was mighty tasty. Of course, if you want to splurge and use fresh salmon, by all means do so, but just a little suggestion with the frozen salmon so you can save your pennies.

I actually made my version at the beginning of the year, when I was thinking of recipes for Lent. Then on a recent visit to buy tickets for the IKEA (Swedish Crayfish Party) - Burbank, figured I should order it for comparison.

The verdict?

My version is much better.

Of course. ;)

Lasagna with Pumpkin and Spinach

I didn't have time to make a proper bechamel sauce for the pumpkin spinach lasagna I served at my holiday Sriracha party so it was a bit dry. Everyone ate it, but my ego was affected. I knew I could do better!

A fall squash lasagna didn't quite fit with nephew's luau-themed 2nd birthday party, but I can't eat a whole pan of pasta by myself! I have to make it when there are plenty of people to finish it. Except, the pumpkin spinach lasagna was sooo good, I kind of wish I saved it all for me.

I chose to include pasta sauce in my version to lighten the heaviness of all that bechamel sauce and cheese. Otherwise, I think just pasta and squash and cheese may be a little one note? It's one thing to eat smaller portions of Pumpkin Ravioli, but another thing entirely when eating lasagna. The squash, pasta sauce, cheese, spinach, and Italian sausage all worked together to create a lasagna that was perfect for the cold winter months.

Italian Clam and Shrimp Fettuccine

I still had a few cups of leftover broth from making Moules Frites (Belgian Mussels with Fries) that I didn't want it to go to waste. The flavor was so tasty that I decided to turn it into a pasta dish, and added shrimp and clams.

Of course, if you didn't make mussels, you can still make this Clam and Shrimp Fettuccine. Just use chicken broth or wine instead. A quick and easy dinner in the time it takes for the noodles to boil.

Italian Baked Ziti with Ground Turkey, Sausage, and Zucchini

Now that several of my cousins are married, they've split off to have Thanksgiving dinner with their significant others' sides of the family. So a couple of years ago and this year, cousin Q's older brother hosted a pre-Thanksgiving for the cousins. Since I was also hosting Thanksgiving at my house, I decided to make Italian Baked Ziti with Ground Turkey, Sausage, and Zucchini to serve at both dinners.

With the oven running constantly on Thanksgiving day, this baked ziti is easy enough to make ahead of time and simply reheated on the day of. The zucchini is my attempt to add some more vegetables into this dish since being smothered in tomato sauce and cheese makes anything taste good. It's not that different from my Italian Lasagna with Meat Sauce recipe, substituting out the wide noodles for penne or other short, round pasta.

Italian Roast Chicken with Basil, Rosemary, and Thyme

I've made my Basic Salt Pepper Lemon Baked Chicken so many times that I can't believe I haven't blogged before the variation of adding Italian herbs such as basil, rosemary, and thyme.

I've made baked chicken often enough that it's beginning to be, well, not that special anymore. But on this evening, my darling niece was joining me for dinner, well, and my brother too. And you know I only make my roast chicken for those I love.

While I was prepping the salads I was serving with dinner, a freebie bottle of wine from d'Alessandro Winery was delivered. A nice bottle of wine to go with my roast chicken? Could the timing be any better?

Dragon Fruit Granita

This year's crop of thanh long (Vietnamese dragon fruit) haven't ripened on the vine yet, but triple-digit temperatures means I long for something cold and soothing.

Meal, Ready-to-Eat: Chicken Cavatelli

One of my dad's customers gave him a bunch of MREs (Meal, Ready-to-Eat), field rations used by the American military. My dad said he remembered the rations tasting better, having traded for them during the Vietnam War so he could try American food. I don't know how much of that was nostalgia or truth. What my dad ate were either MCIs (Meal, Combat, Individual rations) or LRP (Long Range Patrol rations) which were replaced by the MREs in the early 1980s.

Fish Piccata

Sooo...

... this recipe has been sitting around since November 2009.

That's not too long of a wait, right? :P

Quick and easy dinner. Just lightly breaded fish, fried, then a lemony caper sauce. I used one of those $1 frozen tilapia fish packets from Albertson's for this, but if I were to do it now, I'd more likely use frozen basa filets that you can buy in bags of multiples. Otherwise, the recipe is pretty basic and very simple.

Italian Portobello Mushroom Pasta

If you love mushrooms as much as I do, sometimes you really don't need much else to enjoy them. A quick saute to soften the mushrooms with some chopped garlic and onions for flavor. Toss with plain pasta.

I used a few portobello mushrooms for this, although they're really just mature crimini mushrooms so you can use those instead if you'd like.

Now, the big question is, do you say portobello mushroom? Or portabella mushroom?

Zuppa Toscana (Italian Tuscan Soup) alla Olive Garden

Is Zuppa Toscana a real Italian soup from Tuscany? Or an Olive Garden creation? I suspect the latter since Google turned up pages and pages of copycat recipes.

In any case, it's a simple soup that I've made many times through the years, but evidently not since January, when the last set of these photos were taken.

Not that I really needed to consult any of those recipes since there are so few ingredients: Italian sausage, potatoes, and kale in a lightly creamy broth. I've substituted the kale with collard greens sometimes with good results. I like red potatoes best for this, but ordinary russet potatoes are fine too. Replace the cream with milk if you want it to be less fatty. Heck, I've even substituted bratwurst for the Italian sausage. At the core, if you keep the basic ingredients of sausage, greens, and potatoes, this recipe is very adaptable to whatever you have on hand.

Giordano's Stuffed Spinach Pizza - Chicago - Illinois from Gourmet Pigs

In the pizza wars, only one pizza reigns supreme for me.

Because there's only one pizza for which I get cravings. For the buttery, flaky crust. For the deep dish stuffed spinach goodness. For the liberal amounts of tangy tomato sauce on top.

Sure there are other deep dish pizzas and other stuffed pizzas, but only Giordano's stuffed spinach pizza comes with heaping amounts of nostalgia for my undergrad days. For snowy winters and having to decide whether to brave the cold for Sunday dinner or stay in the dorm and make do with a bag of popcorn.

The stuffed or deep dish pizzas I've tried in California, NorCal and SoCal, just aren't the same. So I was way excited when Gourmet Pigs came back from Chicago with a frozen stuffed spinach pizza for me. Yippee!!!

You can order the pizzas half-baked and frozen at the restaurants and they'll have it ready for you to take on the plane. One of my college friends did this once. On the way to take me to the airport, she said she had to make a pitstop, and came out with two frozen pizzas for me to take home. Way cool.

Il Sole Restaurant - West Hollywood (Closed)

While I'm not one to chase after celebrities, every once in a while, I end up dining at some of their hangouts. And so it was that when I was invited by Kelsey Beniasch of Wagstaff Worldwide to dine at Il Sole Restaurant in West Hollywood, I couldn't pass up the opportunity.

After all, Jennifer Aniston, Britney Spears, Hilary Duff, Orlando Bloom, Cameron Diaz, Courteney Cox-Arquette, David Arquette, Rod Stewart, Ellen DeGeneres, Portia de Rossi, Robert Downey, Jr., Jerry Seinfeld, Brooke Shields, Lisa Kudrow, Sharon Stone, Sheryl Crow, and Sting have all been photographed here.

The restaurant welcomed back Executive Chef Issac Rivera, who worked at Il Sole almost a decade before, and who recently came back from traveling and working throughout Italy. Rivera brought with him some new recipes and a Sunday prix-fixe menu; the restaurant wasn't open on Sundays before.

Since Il Sole was small, dark, and intimate (probably why it was popular with celebrities), joining us were just two others, Gourmet Pigs and SinoSoul.

Nonna Pizzeria - South Pasadena

To be fair, the day after eating at Mamma's Brick Oven Pizza and Pasta - South Pasadena, cousin Q and I went to Nonna Pizzeria, which supposedly features the recipes of the original owner of Mamma's Brick Oven, to compare differences. The nonna (Italian grandmother) featured in this restaurant used to be pictured in the original Mamma's Brick Oven logo. Nonna Pizzeria is owned by the granddaughter of the nonna pictured, and is the daughter of one of the original owners of Mamma's Brick Oven, the one who gave allegedly sabotaged recipes to the new owners of Mamma's Brick Oven. Got all that?


I don't know if the current owner of Nonna Pizzeria was mixed up in the whole Mamma's Brick Oven fiasco or not, so I tried to keep an open mind when we dined there. The menu was similar with pizzas by the slice, pizza rolls, and garlic knots.

Mamma's Brick Oven Pizza and Pasta - South Pasadena

In March 2008, cousin Q suggested we try Mamma's Brick Oven Pizza and Pasta in South Pasadena for lunch. I'm rather indifferent to most pizza, except for the occasional nostalgic pangs for Giordano's Chicago-style stuffed spinach deep dish and Bollini's Pizzeria Napolitana - Monterey Park if I want something more gourmet. Not to say that I don't like pizza, just that I'm pretty easy to please.

The mamma in the name is not the original mamma of the restaurant. Cousin Q told me there was a bit of controversy with the restaurant. A quick Google search after I got home turned up several Chowhound posts about a dissolved partnership, rumors of embezzlement and sabotage, and dueling pizza parlors. But since I'm not in the habit of writing about rumors, I will point to this Pasadena Weekly article that indicates it wasn't all speculation.

The current owners, a husband and wife team, bought the business from the original partners, one of whom named the restaurant after his Italian mamma. The pizza recipes were supposed to be handed over with the sale, but the new owners were given faulty recipes instead. It took weeks for the other partner to sneak out the original recipes, but by then, the new owners had hired a pizza consultant and the restaurant's new recipes were supposedly better than the originals. Pretty crazy, right? It gets crazier, the not-so-stellar partner's daughter, granddaughter of the mamma in the name, then opened a pizza restaurant on the same street, the next block over and named it Nonna Pizzeria - South Pasadena, after her grandmamma.

Now, it's really crazy! And competitive!

Or is it?
 

Ado Ristorante - Venice

For my birthday, Gourmet Pigs took me to the cutest place. Yes, the food was good too, but don't you just love restaurants converted from quaint little houses?

We were running a bit late and she tried to call to tell them, but couldn't get through. So when we showed up, we had to wait for a table. To make up for the inconvenience, the owner poured us complimentary prosecco while we waited. I love little touches like that.

A Tiramisu and a Thank You Dinner

Back in August 2008, my friend DP insisted on making a "proper" tiramisu and that I had to photograph it because my cheater's version of tiramisu with Sara Lee poundcake just didn't cut it. :P


Hey, she might not like it, but plenty of other people like my recipe just fine. But, my friend does make the best tiramisu so if she wants to make one for me, far be it for me to quibble.

Osso Bucco (Italian Braised Beef Shanks)

As I said, "The Black Chook" sparkling shiraz from Silver Lake Wine went wonderfully with Osso Bucco (Italian Braised Beef Shanks). Actually, osso bucco is supposed to be made with veal, but I used ordinary beef shanks.

I was wandering the grocery store aisle when I saw a small package of beef shanks for only $2.something. So cheap! Of course, I bought it. Mmm. Look at that marrow. That's gonna make the stew so fatty and delicious.

Blanca - Newport Beach (Closed)

Before all these blogger dinners sponsored by public relations companies, the only dinner I had gone to was sponsored by my advertiser, FoodBuzz. This was back in August 2008. And except for meeting up with a group of Orange County food bloggers in early 2007 at Vien Dong Restaurant - Garden Grove, I hadn't actually met up with any other large group of bloggers. My how the landscape of foodblogging has changed since then.

Anyway, even though Blanca in Newport Beach is now closed, the area is still worth a visit if you want to check out the yachts or grab a gondola ride around the harbor.

Spaghetti alla Bolognese

I've made plenty of spaghetti through the years. Chopped an onion, diced some garlic, sauteed in olive oil, added in ground beef, and then dumped in a jar of pasta sauce. Basic. Filling. Good.

Sometimes, if I wasn't feeling too lazy, I'd make Spaghetti and Meatballs instead of a big pot of sauce.

And recently jazzed it up with the Chinese version, Zha Jiang Mian (Chinese Fried Sauce Noodles aka "Chinese Spaghetti").

But what I really wanted was something more-ish. Time to make a proper spaghetti with bolognese sauce. No more jars of pasta sauce. Well, there is a large can of whole tomatoes in the recipe, which I then crushed by hand, but bolognese sauce has less liquid than you might think. What stands out for me is the addition of bacon and red wine, and the finely diced vegetables. Can't resist how those peas just pop out at me.