Yin and yang

So, my garden is full of the liberally maligned arugula. It's getting more and more peppery as it gets older, and it's a little too strong to eat very much of it raw.

I love chimichurri on steak. I wanted to make a chimichurri inspired garnish for the porterhouse we were having for dinner tonight. But, with the arugula, which was too peppery to have raw. So, I sauteed onions, diced small (too bad I used the shallots last night!)in olive oil and butter and added finely chopped arugula. I added red wine vinegar and garlic and pepper. Yum yum!

So, does arugula get more conservative cred if it is paired with steak?

I ended the meal with a great combination: a yummy red Spanish wine and chocolate zucchini bread.

Chicken soup

Picky revived the camera, so I wanted to post a picture of this beautiful soup I made in the middle of last semester. A friend from school turned puppy dog eyes on me and told me "I'm sick. Take care of me." So, I made her (and the family) my basic chicken soup recipe, but this time with shells and spinach instead of egg noodles and cabbage.

It was delicious, and she gave me caramel apples in return when she felt better! That's a good trade.

On vacation and cooking again!

And, my camera seems to be working again! Hooray, more crappy pictures!

Tonight was yummy. I made the cheesy broccoli and rice casserole from Cook's Country magazine. I substituted shallots for the onion. Sorry the full recipe isn't available. You make the long grained rice like risotto in half and half and chicken broth, and precook the onion (or shallot) and broccoli before baking it with a crumbly breaded topping.

I served it with shrimp skewers (S's favorite) and chicken wings (Z's favorite).

Picky even had two shrimp!