Sherry – Rosemary and the Goat

Mazetti AKA Johnny Marzetti

This recipe bring back memories of my adventure into cooking.

One of the first things I was looking for in our new home, (fast forward to 2024) was a special place to put all my cookbooks. The day I wanted to make some choux puffs (cream puff shells) to use for a tea sandwich I knew where to look; not on the internet but the same book I have gone back to for almost 55 years for making cream puffs or a savory shell to use for a tea party and that was my Good Housekeeping cookbook.

Now, the book. Upon opening it, I thought I would start sneezing, and I did. Not only had it been in storage for 4 years, it has been around my house for 55 so it has a really musty smell. There are so many recipes I want to revisit and try to update from this book and the Mazetti (aka Marietta) recipe is one of them. The GH version calls for canned tomato soup and that is something I never liked anyway so this version is a little old and a little new and perfect for a weekend dinner for the family.

December 21, 2024 By Sherry

Fish/Seafood/ Soup

My Favorite Gumbo

What more is there to say than — GUMBO

I did not grow up eating gumbo. In fact, the only gumbo I ever heard of was Campbell’s Chicken GUMBO soup that my mother used to make her Sloppy Joes. (recipe)

There are so many different kinds of gumbo with different ingredients and ways of preparing it. I like a really dark roux which I make in the microwave. Some use a lighter roux. Some use tomatoes (I do) which is creole version and no tomatoes would be cajun recipes. I love okra in my gumbo and I still use a little file powder at the end of cooking.

Do you put your rice on top or on the bottom? I personally like a shallow pasta type bowl with the rice in the middle and ladle the hot steaming gumbo around the rice. Do you like cornbread (me)? Or, do you like French bread? If it were homemade French bread I’d go for that but not the soft tasteless French breads from the grocery. I don’t think you can beat a good cornbread.

November 20, 2024 By Sherry

Entree/ Pork

Smoked Ham with Spiced Apricot Glaze

So delicious you will not want to wait until Easter to make it.

I have to give all the credit of this recipe to my husband, (Papa G, GA, or papagsmokinroundtop (instagram). He has honed his bar-b-quing skills since he was a teenager and he watched my dad bbq. Along the way of our 55 years of marriage he has picked up many skills in the culinary world.

Growing up, and that has taken a very long time, we always had ham for Easter dinner (or lunch). The ham was always baked the same way. My mother would cut criss crosses in the fat of ham and insert whole cloves and then toothpick pineapple slices all over the ham. The glaze was pineapple juice mixed with brown sugar and some mustard. Always delicious not matter who made it for Easter. And, of course we had to have deviled eggs and usually potato salad and I knew just about anything my mother made would be delicious.

October 19, 2024 By Sherry

Entree/ Fish/Seafood/ Pasta

Chili Crisp Shrimp Scampi

Another pasta dish for the cooler months to come.

Nothing says you can’t eat pasta in hot weather but this was such a homey dish that I started thinking of the cooler days to come. I think this dish would also be great served cold or even room temperature. It would be great to have it made and in the refrigerator and just pull it out a couple of hours before you are ready for dinner.

So one morning when I’m sitting at my computer planning some upcoming menus which I have done for the last 55 years of married life and I received the link to this recipe from our son Scott (Chicago) and after reading through the recipe I had everything need to make it for dinner that night. I was at the bottom of my chili crisp jar but had just enough to make this dish.

October 4, 2024 By Sherry

Fruit Dishes/ Morning Foods

Fruit in Prosecco

Spanish influence!

On a narrow cobblestone street somewhere in Seville, Spain back in 2010 we were breakfasting in the courtyard of a cute little restaurant. I remember having tomato toast (a first for me) and the waiter brought us two glass (see picture below) of fruit, which I was sure was canned fruit cocktail topped with Prosecco. It was delicious and it just took me 14 years to get around to making it. I’m not sure why I waited. I almost always for fruit and Prosecco in my refrigerator and always looking for something a little different to serve company.

Every trip we have ever taken I have journaled all of our restaurants and the foods we had and everything we saw and bought while on vacation. There have always been a few ideas that I want to recreate when I get home and some of those ideas take years to get around to making.

September 15, 2024 By Sherry

Entree/ Pasta/ Uncategorized

Lemon Ricotta Pasta & Spinach

Easy peazy meatless meal!

We love our meats. Whether it’s chicken, pork, beef, fish or or even game like quail, rabbit or venison we want it grilled, bbqd, or roasted as part of any delicious recipe we might find surfing online or something GA might find on YouTube. He watches a lot of grilling and bbqing shows so he is always coming up with something with a little different twist from the norm.

We do occasionally eat a meatless meal; sometimes it is all vegetables and sometimes it is a good pasta dish. Since I have pantry full of different shapes of pasta that I can’t seem to stop myself from buying, I always have the urge to look up a new pasta recipe. That’s when I came across this recipe from theclevermeal.com website and I just knew we would love it. This dish could always be served with some grilled or roasted meat but it’s great on its own and it is so quick and easy to make.

August 30, 2024 By Sherry

Pork/ Sauces

Tonkatsu Pork with Sauce

This recipe has been around awhile!

Back in our early married life (55 years ago now) I use to make a few Japanese dishes and not sure why I stopped but I did. I’m going to revisit some of those recipes soon and give them another chance.

I happened upon this recipe (and online they all seem to have the same ingredients) in my latest Cooks Illustrated magazine and then googled some online recipes, tried and really liked it. The CI version used flour to dredge the pork but several online used cornstarch, which I used and Cooks Illustrated did not include a sauce recipe with their recipe and that was one of the best parts of the dish.

August 28, 2024 By Sherry

Pasta/ Poultry

Chicken Fettuccini with Mushrooms and Asparagus

I love the creaminess of fettuccini!

Lately I’ve been focusing more on afternoon tea parties than the “what’s for dinner” question I get late every afternoon. I love making tea foods and planning the party and it is a lot more work than throwing something together for dinner. But while looking for some ingredients for making a new scone I realized the pantry needed a little TLC.

Seems like I reorganize my pantry every week. Before we moved into our new house and renting a little 850 square foot house, my pantry was a broom closet that my husband converted into a pantry. You wouldn’t believe what I could get into this tiny pantry. Now I have this huge pantry that holds not only food that would last me a year (not really) but every pan and gadget I own and believe me I have a pan for every need. You name it – madeline, donut, barquette molds, flower molds, cannoli forms, Charlotte pan; if you can think of it I probably have it and I have used probably 99% of them at one time. If you ever need a special pan and live close by, you can borrow one of mine.

August 21, 2024 By Sherry

Salads

Arugula Spinach Watermelon Salad

No feta with this watermelon!

Over the last umpteen years I’ve seen so many, like kazillion, watermelon and feta cheese recipes. I’ve never really been a feta cheese fan so why not trade out some good blue cheese; a little more tasty I think.

I would love to have watermelon growing out on our property but we haven’t really started planning where a garden will be. We have so much sun now we could put it anywhere. So, when I can buy a good watermelon in the middle of summer I buy it knowing that it will probably be really juicy and bright red on the inside.

July 16, 2024 By Sherry

Garnish/ Salad Dressing/ Salads/ Sauces

Basil Pecan Pesto

My first harvest of basil.

Moved in, unpacked, art hung. I just finished two big projects I’ve been putting off for 4 months and that is reorganizing/labelling my craft closet and relabelling my 40+ spice jars so they all match. Next up the outside. We have a temporary outdoor kitchen started and enough that PapaG can get his home bbqing done but not what he has planned out in his head.

We have started a few plants and herbs in pots so far. A bay leaf tree that I paid a small fortune for and it’s dying or at least half of it is dying (as of today it is almost gone). The herbs on the other hand are going crazy. We have so much basil and every week I take a cutting a start rooting in water so we have even more. Don’t ask me what I’m going to do with all of this but for right now I made pesto.

I love making pecan (or walnut) pesto because it is a lot less expensive than pine nuts and I have about 20 pounds of pecans in my freezer that my sister sent me.

July 5, 2024 By Sherry

Appetizers/ Egg Dishes/ Morning Foods

Avocado Toast #2

Take 2!

Back in 2016 I made an avocado toast after having something similar at Willa Jean’s restaurant in New Orleans. Well this is take 2.

I love boiled eggs in/on just about anything. Who doesn’t love a good egg salad, deviled eggs, or boiled eggs and cottage cheese (my favorite lunch)? Potato salad would not be the same without chopped boiled eggs. And what would a good ham salad be without some chopped egg?

This avocado toast is done with a baguette and with the grated boiled egg it is easier to eat with your hands than a knife and fork. I love the other version with the toasted French bread and perfectly poached egg but you will want to eat that one with a knife and this new favorite version of mine is a little messy, so you will want to lean into your plate while eating it. I love a squeeze of lime over the finished toast and I didn’t have any red onion or I would have added some finely chopped to the layers.

June 20, 2024 By Sherry

Fish/Seafood/ Salads

Black Rice Salad with Soy Glazed Salmon

Forbidden rice meant for the emperors

I was looking for another recipe to use my black rice and came across several black rice salads and got me thinking to try and put an Asian spin on it with some glazed salmon. It was delicious and we ate the leftovers of the salad for a couple of days.

Black rice or forbidden rice was once reserved for the emperors and used in Chinese medicine to ensure their health and long life. Everyone else was forbidden to eat it.

June 8, 2024 By Sherry

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