Spaghetti Puttanesca

10 Friday Jan 2025

Posted by Bob and Robin in 5 Hour Duck, Buy Idaho, Buy Local, Capers, Classic Cuisines, Food Italian, Herbs and Spices, Merlot, Pasta, Prep Work, Recipes - BBQ, What's For Dinner?

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anchovy, black olives, capers, dinner, food, pasta, puttanesca, recipe, recipes, spaghetti

This is really a good version of spaghetti, full of flavor. I have made it before, several times, but I have no idea where the recipe is. Can’t even find it on my computer. I came across this one which is very similar to the one I have made. Fun to make, it only takes about 20 minutes as long as you have all the ingredients prepped. Have a go with it and have fun making it. A classic Italian dish.

Spaghetti Puttanesca
(Spaghetti With Capers, Olives, and Anchovies)
Source: adapted from Serious Eats
Bob and Robin Young, Boise, ID
The Captain’s Shack           10 January 2025
PDF: CS-Spaghetti-Puttanesca.pdf
Note: Pasta that packs an aromatic punch, thanks to garlic, anchovies, capers, and olives. Go light on the additional salt. The anchovy, cspers and olives have plenty.
Prep: 15 mins       Cook: 20 mins      Total: 20 mins
Serves: 3 to 4

Ingredients:
6 T (90ml) Extra-Virgin Olive Oil, divided
4 med Garlic Cloves, thinly sliced or finely chopped by hand
4 to 6 Anchovy Fillets, finely chopped (1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons)
Large pinch Aleppo Pepper
¼ c Capers, drained and chopped (about 2 ounces; 60g)
¼ c chopped Pitted Black Olives (about 2 ounces; 60g)
1 c (225g) Whole Peeled Tomatoes, preferably San Marzano, roughly broken up by hand, about half a 14-ounce can
One 5-ounce (140g) can Oil-Packed Tuna (optional)
Celtic Sea Salt
8 ounces (225g) Dried Spaghetti
Small handful minced Fresh Parsley Leaves
1 oz (30g) finely grated Pecorino Romano or Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, plus more for serving
¼ t freshly ground Tellicherry Black Pepper
Directions:
In a medium skillet, combine 4 tablespoons (60ml) oil, garlic, anchovies, and red pepper flakes. Cook over medium heat until garlic is very lightly golden, about 5 minutes. Adjust heat as necessary to keep it gently sizzling. Add capers and olives and stir to combine.
Add tomatoes, stir to combine, and bring to a bare simmer. If using, stir in canned tuna, flaking it gently with a fork. Remove from heat.
Meanwhile, in a 12-inch skillet, 12-inch sauté pan, or large saucepan of lightly salted boiling water, cook spaghetti until just shy of al dente, about 2 minutes less than package directions.
Using tongs, transfer pasta to sauce. Alternatively, drain pasta through a colander, reserving 1 cup of the cooking water. Add drained pasta to sauce.
Add a few tablespoons of pasta water to sauce and set over medium-high heat to bring pasta and sauce to a vigorous simmer. Cook, stirring and shaking the pan and adding more pasta water as necessary to keep sauce loose, until pasta is perfectly al dent olive oil, parsley, and cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately with more grated cheese at the table. Serve with a good red wine, like merlot.

Scallops with Viognier Sauce

26 Friday Jul 2024

Posted by Bob and Robin in 5 Hour Duck, Captain's Shack, Classic Sauces, Cooking Styles, Cream Sauces, Creamed Spinach, Dinner For Robin, Food - French, Food Photos, Food Prep, French Foods, Housemade Sauces, Idaho Greens, Idaho Wine, Local Harvests, Parma Ridge Winery, Photos, Prep Work, Recipe - Seafood, Recipe By: Captain's Shack, Recipe by: Robin and Bob Young, Recipes, Recipes - Seafood, Sea Scallops, viognier sauce, What's For Dinner?

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brasing, Creamed Spinach, food, recipe, recipes, Scallops, seafood, viognier sauce

As you can see, I have changed the opening graphic. I was playing around with AI and came up with several of these. It fits with the Captain’s Shack. Robin and I thoroughly like scallops, especially sea scallops – the larger ones. We also enjoy brazing them, over medium low heat, and that is important. Here is the recipe. I know, there are several recipes available for a Viognier Sauce, but this one is one I came up with. https://www.rockinrs.com/CS-Scallops-Viognier.pdf. The recipe is scaled for 2, but you can easily adjust the recipe to suit your needs without adjusting the sauce.

Notice the light braise on the scallops and it is served with Creamed Spinach. A good combination. I always put fresh grated nutmeg in all by white sauces and a cream sauce is a white sauce. If you make these, and it is not difficult, just watch the heat and cook 2-3 minutes per side, and let us know how you liked them.

Two Interesting Meal Ideas

25 Friday Feb 2022

Posted by Bob and Robin in 5-Stars, Asparagus, Basmati rice, Buy Idaho, Buy Local, Dinner With Family, Food Prep, Herbs and Spices, Housemade Sauces, Idaho Vegetables, Idaho Venison, Idaho Wild Game, Local Farmers Markets, Photos, Photos By: Bob Young, Prep Work, Recipe by Eric Rhodes, Recipe By: Captain's Shack, Vegetables, Venison, What's For Dinner?

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backstrap, balsamic, basmati, blackberry jam, recipe, Red Chard, Rice, salmon, tenderloin, Venison

Here are two dishes we made this past week. Both are delicious and fairly easy to do, especially the salmon. Take a look.

The first is a baked salmon dish that does not have a specific recipe. This time we used a local Golden Plum Jam, but normally I use a MacKays Orange Marmalade. Just make sure the salmon is dry before you spread the jam, or marmalade, on the fish. Lightly salt and pepper the fish before adding the jam and then bake for about 7 minutes in a 375 degree F oven. Enjoy.

Golden Plum Jam or Orange Marmalade Coated Salmon served on a bed of Steamed Red Chard and Spinach.

Next we have a delicious venison backstrap pan roast with a special Blackberry Jam Sauce. A mixture of reduced blackberry jam, made from fresh blackberries from our daughter’s bushes last fall, and a good balsamic vinegar and apple cider. (See the recipe) OK. So your question is, “What is backstrap?”

Venison backstraps are a cut of meat that is found along the back of a deer; alongside the spine. They are often confused with a tenderloin cut of meat. While they aren’t the same as a tenderloin, they are considered one of the most tender cuts of meat of a deer. Also, known as striploin. There are 2 ways of dealing with a venison saddle, the most common is to prepare a venison backstrap or striploin. The difference between backstrap and tenderloin is, backstrap refers to a length of loin on the back of a deer, elk, moose, etc. It’s the ribeye in beef and loin in pork. Tenderloins are the two strips of very tender meat under the loin, behind the ribs.

Recipe: http://www.rockinrs.com/Erics-Venison-Backstrap.pdf

Venison Backstrap plated with Asparagus and Mashed Garlic Potatoes

This dish would be awesome with a pork tenderloin, if you don’t have venison. Use the same recipe that is linked under the photo of the venison. If you use pork tenderloin, serve it with beets, either whole small beets or sliced, or sauteed cabbage.

Two Great Meals

04 Friday Jun 2021

Posted by Bob and Robin in 5-Stars, Acme Bake Shop Sourdough, Buy Idaho, Captain's Shack, Chef Lou, Corn, Dill, Edible Flowers, Eggs, Fennel, Food - Frozen, Food - Make Your Own Meals, Food Photos, Food Prep, Green Peas, Heirloom Tomatoes, Herbs and Spices, Housemade Salad Dressing, Idaho Dairy, Idaho Eggs, Idaho Greens, Idaho Potatoes, Idaho Trout, Idaho Vegetables, Local Farmers Markets, Local Harvests, Made From Scratch, Main Dish, Marsing, Mustard, Onion, Photos, Photos By: Bob Young, Potato Salad, Potatoes, Prep Work, What's For Dinner?

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Acme Bakeshop, Boise Farmers Market, edible flowers, heirloom tomatoes, shrimp, sourdough bread

Two Great Meals

This potato salad,the recipe is located here Chef Lou’s Potato Salad, is full of vegetables. (Pictured above) You can use veggies, or not, or choose your own. The salad has an awesome dressing of mayo, apple cider vinegar and Dejon mustard. I also added some fresh lovage to add to the “celery” flavor. Try it. Easy to make. I chilled the cooked potatoes before adding them to the sauce/vegetable mix. I also cut the potatoes in “bite sized” pieces before cooking them. Try using new potatoes and quarter them.

The second wonderful dish we made was a Shrimp Salad. (Pictured above) This was a great, summer salad and it can be made ahead of time and refrigerated. Full of vegetables and shrimp and with a creamy sauce. I added frozen peas and corn to this salad which gave a a nice texture and flavor. I also used some fresh lovage in this, too. You could probably use lobster instead of shrimp, if you are so inclined. We served it with baked Orange Kokanee – salmon – (7 min at 375 degrees F) for 7 minutes. Toasted Sourdough Wedges with butter and garlic.

Well there are two meals you can play with. Have fun and enjoy! Just don’t forget: If it is on a plate, it is edible! Don’t ever put something on a plate that is not edible.

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Orange Upside Down Skillet Cake and Egg Thread Soup with Asparagus

16 Monday Jan 2017

Posted by Bob and Robin in 5-Stars, Asparagus, Baking, Captain's Shack, Cast Iron, Dessert, Dinner For Robin, Dinner With Family, Eggs, Food, Food Prep, Housemade Soup, Idaho Eggs, Idaho Vegetables, Local Markets, Photos By: Bob Young, Prep Work, Recipe - Dessert, Recipe - Soup, Recipe By: Captain's Shack, What's For Dinner?

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Egg Thread Soup, Mascarpone, Orange Upside Down Cake

Here is a wonderful – and very easy to do – Orange Upside Down Skillet Cake that we adapted from Rachael Ray. (Recipe in PDF) Really a super, good variation on the traditional Pineapple Upside Down Cake. We topped the cake with a Tiramisu Mascarpone instead of the whipped cream. Change the orange to lemon and use Limoncello instead of Grand Marnier and you might have another variation. The variations are limitless. Then also check out the Egg Thread Soup with Aspagagus found after the cake – Eat dessert first, Life is too short! Left-Click the photos to see them enlarged.

Caramelizing the orange slices. I use a mandolin to get the thin slices.

Cake batter is poured on top of the carmalized oranges.

Cake batter is poured on top of the carmelized oranges.

The cake is cooked and is now cooling before removing it from the skillet. Nice brown edges.

Put a platter over the skillet, turn it upside down and the cake should come out easily. If not, tap it lightly to encourage it.

Cross-section of the cooled cake.

Orange Upside Down Skillet Cake
Tiramisu Mascarpone Topping

And here is the awesome Egg Thread Soup with Asparagus:

Egg Thread Soup with Asparagus

It’s been a cold and snowy couple of weeks. Spend more time in kitchen to warm up.

Wonderful 5-Hour Roasted Duck

13 Tuesday Dec 2016

Posted by Bob and Robin in 5 Hour Duck, Apple, Beets, Captain's Shack, Dessert, Dinner At The Captains Shack, Dinner For Robin, Dinner With Family, Duck, Food Photos, Heirloom Beets, Heirloom Carrots, Heirloom Onions, heirloom vegetables, Idaho Vegetables, Idaho Wine, Local Farmers Markets, Local Harvests, Onion, Petit Verdot, Photos, Photos By: Bob Young, Prep Work, Raspberries, Recipe By: Bob Young, Recipe By: Captain's Shack, Recipe by: Robin and Bob Young, Recipes - Dinner, Recipes - Sauces, Roasted Vegetables, Snake River AVA, Special Dinners, Vegetables, What's For Dinner?, Wine and Food, Wine Dinners, Wines - Idaho

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5 hour roasted duck, duck, duck sauce, Petit Verdot

Love to make this and it really is so easy. 5 Hour Roasted Duck and add to that some Roasted Root Vegetables and 5 Hour Roasted Duck Sauce, also really good with ham, and you will have a superb and wonderful dinner. A good 2013 Indian Creek Petit Verdot goes extremely well with it.

Several people have asked how to make the duck. Basically – season with Celtic sea salt and fresh ground Tellicherry Black Pepper, stuff with sweet apple and pear, prick the skin all over and cook in a 300°F oven and turn every hour for 5 hours. Last hour raise temperature to 350°F. Do not cover throughout the cooking process.

First of all, the moon must be full. If not, the recipe may not work.

Duck has been salt and peppered and stuffed with Braeburn Apple and Bosch Pear. Oven is preheated to 300°F

After each hour, turn the duck and prick the skin. This is after 1 hour. Pricking the skin at each turn, keeps the duck fat basting the duck.

At 3 hours, things happen. Starting to brown nicely.

Root vegetables are large cut and put into the bottom of the baking pan. This roasts the vegetables and keeps the duck off of the pan surface. The vegetables here are heirloom carrot, heirloom beet, local onion, parsnips and turnips.

Make stock from the vegetable pieces and the duck neck and parts. Simmer low and slow!

Lay the duck directly onto the vegetables and return to the 300°F oven. Cook for another hour.

At 4 hours last turn. It is smelling yummy now.

At 5 hours, remove from the oven and let cool, somewhat.

Yummy slices.

Here is the Cranberry/Cherry sauce for the duck.

Oh yes. Dessert – Pound Cake with Fresh Raspberries and Fresh Whipped Cream.

Crab Strudel – A Different Strudel

14 Sunday Jun 2015

Posted by Bob and Robin in Blue Crab, Captain's Shack, Dinner At The Captains Shack, Dinner For Robin, Dungeness Crab, Hard To Find Recipes, Herbs and Spices, Idaho Greens, Photos By: Bob Young, Prep Work, Salads, Salmon, Seafood, Shell Fish, Strudel, What's For Dinner?, Wines - French, Wines - Idaho

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Blue Crab, crab, dungeness crab, garlic scapes, phyllo, shell fish, strudel

Oh yes! ‘Tis the season for crab. At least the season for Blue Crab – if you can find them. (see photo below) No, that is a Dungeness crab pictured here. I suppose if you had to, you could use the Dungeness. So a little twist on the standard apple, or fruit, strudel. Let’s try a Crab Strudel with a Salmon Pasta Salad. Robin directed me on how to make the salad. It’s one she “dreamed” up. There is no recipe as such.
For the strudel, probably the most difficult part is finding the garlic scapes. What? From Mother Earth News,

…The scapes are the flower stems that garlic plants produce before the bulbs mature. Growers often remove the scapes to push the plant’s energy toward bigger bulbs, and when harvested while they are young and tender, the scapes are delicious.

And from About (dot) com,

Many gardeners simply toss their scapes in the compost, but garlic scapes are both edible and delicious, as are the bulbils. Along the same lines, young garlic plants that are pulled to thin a row are referred to as “green garlic”. Used in the same manner as green onions, these too make excellent eating.

Here is how we made the Crab Strudel. You can get the recipe above. Cheers and have fun with this.

The Green Onion and Garlic have been diced. The garlic scapes are going to be diced.

The crab has been mixed with the parsley, lime juice, sea salt and Tellicherry pepper.

Cooking the green onion/garlic scape mixture.

Mix the crab mixture with the cooked green onion/garlic scape mixture.

Brush the phyllo dough – single sheet – with butter and lightly dust with fresh bread crumbs. Handling the phyllo dough can be a challenge. Take your time and make sure the sheets are cold, but not frozen.

1″ wide row of the crab mixture is placed on the phyllo dough. Roll into a “tube” carefully.

The strudel is rolled, placed on a parchment lined baking sheet and sliced, but not sliced all the way through.

Crab Strudel
Salmon Pasta Salad

The final product of all your hard work. Hope you like it! With the strudel, we had a 2009 Cold Springs phren/ology Riesling and a 2014 Domaine Saint Nabor Gris de Gris. Both wines went very well with the strudel.

And if you wanted to know more about strudel – inquiring minds need to know, Wikipedia says,

The best-known strudels are Apfelstrudel (German for apple strudel) and Topfenstrudel (with sweet soft quark cheese, in Austrian German Topfen), followed by the Millirahmstrudel (Milk-cream strudel, Milchrahmstrudel). Other strudel types include sour cherry (Weichselstrudel), sweet cherry, nut filled (Nussstrudel), Apricot Strudel, Plum Strudel, poppy seed strudel (Mohnstrudel), and raisin strudel. There are also savoury strudels incorporating spinach, cabbage, pumpkin, and sauerkraut, and versions containing meat fillings like the (Lungenstrudel) or (Fleischstrudel).

Traditional Hungarian, Austrian, and Czech strudel pastry is different from strudels elsewhere, which are often made from puff pastry. The traditional strudel pastry dough is very elastic. It is made from flour with a high gluten content, water, oil and salt, with no sugar added. The dough is worked vigorously, rested, and then rolled out and stretched by hand very thinly with the help of a clean linen tea towel or kitchen paper. Purists say that it should be so thin that you can read a newspaper through it. A legend has it that the Austrian Emperor’s perfectionist cook decreed that it should be possible to read a love letter through it. The thin dough is laid out on a tea towel, and the filling is spread on it. The dough with the filling on top is rolled up carefully with the help of the tea towel and baked in the oven.

This is an East coast Blue Crab.

Awesome Easter Lamb Dinner

22 Tuesday Apr 2014

Posted by Bob and Robin in Acme Bake Shop Sourdough, Boise Artisan Bakery's, Boise Farmers Market, Buy Idaho, Celebrations, Dinner With Robin, Easter Dinner, Easter Lamb, Food Prep, Greens, Idaho Lamb, Idaho Wine, Lamb, Local Farmers Markets, Local Harvests, Local Markets, Locavore, Miner's Lettuce, Photos By: Bob Young, Prep Work, Purple Sage Farms, Recipe by: Robin and Bob Young, Recipes, Ridge Winery, River View Gardens, Salads, Sawtooth Winery, Side Dishes, Snake River AVA, What's For Dinner?, Wine and Food, Wines - Idaho

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arugula, Idaho wine, Leg of Lamb, Miner's Lettuce, River View Gardens, sawtooth winery

This is probably one of the best lamb dinner we have had. I adapted it from a recipe found on Epicurious. Here is the link to our adapted recipe: Arugula, Spinach and Miner’s Lettuce Stuffed Lamb. The recipe is not for the faint of heart. But it is really fun to do. Give it a try. Take your time and enjoy the process. If you don’t have an already boned leg of lamb, here is a previous post on this blog about boning a leg of lamb. Well worth the short time to view the video. How To Bone a Leg of Lamb. Enjoy the lamb. Most, but not all, of the products on our menu were from Idaho – Support Idaho Farmers: Buy Local. And we really try to do this. Here is our list: Wine – Sawtooth Winery; Lamb – Felzien Family Lamb; Garlic – River View Farms; Salad Greens and Herbs – Purple Sage Farms; Bread – Acme Bake Shop and Vegetables – Volcanic Farms. Left-Click any of these photos to see them enlarged. Cheers!

The boned leg of lamb with the stuffing in place. To bone the lamb, see the link above.

The rolled and tied lamb is “getting happy”.

The cooked lamb is resting to redistribute the juices.

Green Salad
with
Miner’s lettuce, slivered carrots and green onion
Olave Coratina Olive Oil and Agrestum Balsamic Vinegar Dressing

Wines For Dinner
2011 Sawtooth Winery Estate Grown Pinot Gris ($43.00)
2003 Ridge Vineyards Lytton East Zinfandel ($165.00 – 54 barrels produced)

Arugula, Spinach and Miner’s Lettuce Stuffed Leg of Lamb

The Entree Menu
Arugula, Spinach and Miner’s Lettuce Stuffed Leg of Lamb
Oven Roasted Rosemary Yukon Gold Potatoes
Roasted Vegetable Medley
Acme Bake Shop Sourdough Bread

The Entree Menu
Arugula, Spinach and Miner’s Lettuce Stuffed Leg of Lamb
Oven Roasted Rosemary Yukon Gold Potatoes
Roasted Vegetable Medley

Unique – Not New – Recipe Holders

26 Thursday Dec 2013

Posted by Bob and Robin in Captain's Shack, Cooking Safety, Cooking Styles, Food Prep, Help Needed, Interesting Information, Photos By: Bob Young, Prep Work, Recipes, Special Information, Things To Do

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hanger, recipe hanger, recipe holder

Some where on FaceBook a while ago, I saw this unique idea for holding a recipe “out of the way” while you are trying to create a dish. Easy enough to do and as you can see here, we have more than one in our kitchen. Give it a try. You’ll like it. (Mikey did!)

Recipe holder made from “skirt” hangers. Hang them where you are working and they are out of the way.

Williams-Sonoma Cooking Class – Pizza!

21 Friday Jun 2013

Posted by Bob and Robin in Arugula, Baking, Boise Adventures, Cooking Classes, Cooking Programs, Cooking Styles, Food Prep, Italian Food, Party Time, Photos By: Bob Young, Pizza, Prep Work, Special Events, Special Information, What's For Dinner?

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anchovy pizza, bread flour, mario batali, pepper pizza, willams sonoma

A really good experience last night attending this class. Great conversations, comments and information. For instance, in Italian cooking, “In Italy, flour is classified either as 1, 0, or 00, and refers to how finely ground the flour is and how much of the bran and germ have been removed. Doppio zero is the most highly refined and is talcum-powder soft.” [ochef.com] The recipe that was used is from Molto Gusto by Mario Batali and Mark Ladner, and calls for “00” flour. Chad Poznick, resident Chef at this Willams-Sonoma store, said to replace it with bread flour. Just remember to sift it several times to get the same “softness” as 00 flour.
Here are some photos from the class. Enjoy and please VOTE above. Also, Left-Click any of these photos to see enlarged. Goot Essen!