As a child, I assumed split pea soup was laborious and time consuming-which explained why my father enjoyed the Campbell’s canned version. However, I was delightfully surprised, when I made this soup for the first time, at how terribly easy it was to make.
Laissez les bons temps rouler. For some, Mardi Gras might evoke thoughts of beads, booze, and Bourbon Street. But for many, Mardi Gras is about crawfish boils with friends and family, hoisting children onto hand decorated ladder seats, and waking up at 5 am to secure your spot on the parade route. My Mardi Gras experience changed in 2019 – the year I joined the Krewe of Iris. The oldest and largest all-female Krewe in New Orleans was founded in 1917. Being a member of Iris has, in the best possible way, forever changed my Mardi Gras experience. Friendship is now at the center of my Mardi Gras experience.
The first meal my husband made for me was roasted root vegetables with goat cheese. He peeled beets, parsnips, and carrots, which he cut into bite sized chunks before coating in olive oil and balsamic vinegar. A few hours in the oven were an ingenious way for him to lure me into conversation. He can talk to anyone – meaning we never have an uncomfortably quiet uber ride. The vegetables finished roasting as we laughed and exchanged stories of our childhood swim teams. He topped the warm vegetables with crumbled goat cheese and reassured me that it would taste good, despite my hesitation at the thought of eating beets. I was beyond pleasantly surprised at the flavors, of which the beet was the star.
You might be asking yourself why a Sicilian girl is writing about matzo ball soup. One word. Husband. I wanted to impress my husband and what better way than homemade matzo ball soup. I set out on a quest to find a unique but delectable matzo ball soup.
I grew up on Bisquick pancakes. In the Giurintano house, the most coveted pancake was the first pancake. I know what you are thinking – this is counterintuitive. The first pancake lacks the delicious, browned butter flavored coating. But in a kaleidoscope lens that only a child can see through, the first pancake was a prized possession that we all fought to win. It had the most perfect light brown hue around the edge – as if a young tree had just been cut down and you could count the rings. And the intense liquid butter flavor was mouth wateringly good.
What’s not to love about elbow pasta swimming in a bowl of warm, creamy cheese? My childhood memories of macaroni and cheese are my mother’s ingenious version of mac and cheese. Since we always had some spaghetti noodles in the refrigerator, she recognized that she could simply pull out some already cooked noodles and cover them with a slice of American cheese. Microwave for a minute or two and mix the noodles with the melted cheese. Voila. Homemade Eris-style mac and cheese. She predated Amy’s frozen-section single serving mac and cheese by at least ten years.
This recipe was a product of the game “what is in my pantry that I can put in a risotto for dinner.” I had purchased some pre-cut squash and scallops at Balduccis (my favorite foodie grocery store when we lived in the DC area). I made squash and scallop risotto several years before when we lived on Capitol Hill using local apple cider as a marinade for the scallops. The result tasted like fall on a plate.
Quiches are a perfect way of repurposing leftovers from dinner into a delicious breakfast. The leftover caramelized onions and thyme from a chicken entrée the night before blend nicely with the leftover cheese from homemade macaroni and cheese. Feel free to substitute the cheeses for whatever you have in the refrigerator. In fact, this whole recipe is nothing but a framework for repurposing leftovers. Endless creative quiche-friendly ingredient combinations await you in your refrigerator.
