I don’t know about you, but I occasionally seem to find myself in a rut when it comes to cooking.  A few times a year, I think “I don’t want to make anything.  I don’t want to cook.  We eat the same thing, week in and week out.”  I’ve been lucky so far this summer in that I haven’t traveled down that road too often, but it’s always refreshing to find a new recipe, and one that your family likes.

I am a subscriber to Food Network Magazine, and often find inspiration there.  The following recipe was the cover recipe for one of their recent issues.  I made it on Sunday, hoping that I’d have some left over for lunch on Monday.  No such luck!

Although it sounds complicated, it really isn’t.  You can roast the peppers and the garlic directly on the grill if you don’t want to heat up your house by using the broiler.

Roasted Pepper Pasta Salad

Ingredients

• Kosher salt
• 12 ounces mezzi rigatoni or other short tube-shaped pasta
• 2 bell peppers (red and/or yellow), halved, stemmed and seeded
• 6 cloves garlic, unpeeled
• 1/4 cup almonds
• 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 lemon
• 8 ounces bocconcini (small mozzarella balls)
• 1 bunch fresh basil, leaves torn
• Freshly ground pepper

Directions

Preheat the broiler. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook as the label directs. Drain and rinse under cold water to stop the cooking. Shake off the excess water.

Meanwhile, place the bell peppers cut-side down on a foil-lined broiler pan, add the garlic and broil until charred, 7 to 8 minutes. Transfer the peppers to a bowl, cover and set aside about 5 minutes.

Heat a dry skillet over medium-high heat. Add the almonds and toast, shaking the pan, 4 to 5 minutes. Let cool, then coarsely chop.

Squeeze the garlic from its skin onto a cutting board. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt; mince and mash the garlic into a paste with a large knife. Peel the roasted peppers and slice into strips; transfer to a large bowl. Add the garlic paste and drizzle with the olive oil. Finely grate about 1 teaspoon lemon zest into the bowl and squeeze in all of the lemon juice. Add the bocconcini, basil, almonds, pasta, 1 teaspoon salt, and pepper to taste; toss.

Enjoy! And if you expect to have some for the next day, make sure that you set it aside before you put the bowl on the table!

This week, we combine the Recipe Box with the Color Choice Basket to celebrate the season premiere of my obsession, Mad Men. The colors here invoke the stark minimalism of the show’s opening sequence. The recipe is for a drink my husband devised when I said I wanted to drink something appropriate to the 1960s setting of the show, but I don’t like the rye that is typical for Manhattans. This drink is a hybrid of Old Fashioneds and Manhattans.

• 2 parts Bourbon
• 1 part sweet vermouth
• Dash of bitters

Combine with ice in a shaker. Shake and pour into glasses. Add a maraschino cherry (and if you want it sweeter, add a splash of the juice in the cherry jar).

And of course, unlike the characters of Mad Men, drink responsibly: stay at home to watch the premiere or have a designated driver!

* 4 tablespoons butter or margarine (divided)
* 1 tablespoon salad oil
* 1 flank steak (about 1 ½ lbs.)

Sauce

* 3 tablespoons dry vermouth or dry white wine
* 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
* ¼ teasoon Worcestershire
* 1 ½ tablespoons capers, drained well

* Watercress (optional)

Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter with the oil in a wide frying pan over medium-high heat. Place meat in pan and cook, uncovered, until meat is browned on both sides but still pink in center when slashed (5-6 minutes total.)

Transfer meat to a carving board and cover loosely to keep warm. Over low heat, melt the remaining 3 tablespoons butter in pan drippings. Mix in vermouth, mustard, Worcestershire and capers; stir briskly to blend. Cut meat across the grain into thin slanting slices. Spoon sauce over meat. Garnish with watercress, if desired. Makes 4 servings.

Martha’s notes:

I always make twice the sauce as we love it. I do NOT increase the butter however. I’ve also found it usually takes a lot longer to cook, and since it spatters a lot, use a shield, but not a lid – that just boils the meat.

• One large brisket (about 3 pounds)
• One package of onion soup mix
• One regular can of diced tomatoes or tomato puree

Place brisket in disposable pan for easy clean-up. Sprinkle the onion soup mixture over the brisket. Add tomatoes. Cover with aluminum foil. Bake at 325 to 350 for three hours.

Let cool; refrigerate overnight. Remove fat, slice the brisket, and put it back into the sauce.  Put it back in the oven for another hour or two.

This recipe can be doubled, depending on the size of your brisket. It is impossible to overcook!

Because you can’t have a Halupki recipe without a Haluski recipe, here’s Carla’s version.

Average size cabbage (perhaps soccer ball size or larger)

3/ 4 to 1 lb noodles depending on the ratio you like

2 large onions

1 lb butter  (I usually buy the store brand to cut costs slightly)

Salt and pepper

Sugar (trust me!)

Chop onion and cabbage coarsely.  Bring large pot of water to a boil.  Add cabbage and onion, bring back to boil and boil for 10-12 minutes.  We like ours fairly limp.  Drain.

Place 3 sticks of butter into large skillet and heat until melted over med high heat.  Add cabbage and onion.  Toss until butter is well mixed in.  (I usually do this in a large bowl then transfer it back to a skillet.  Helps keep the stove a bit cleaner.)

Sprinkle 1/2 cup sugar over the noodles and make sure it’s tossed all through.  Now comes the part where I can’t be too specific.  This goes according to your taste.  I usually add about 1 T of salt (sprinkled over the surface) and add pepper till the top of the mixture is fairly well covered.  (Not black but pretty heavy).  Toss well.  Now add about 1 or 2 tea. salt and about the same amount of pepper as before.  Toss again.  (You only add the sugar once.)

Now you fry turning as it just starts to brown slightly.  I can’t give a time on this as I’ve never timed it.  You just want to get it a little browned.  If it looks like it is getting a bit dry or is isn’t totally drenched in butter (lol) add the other stick.  Remove from heat and serve.

The secret ingredient is the sugar.  I got the tip from a lady who had made it at her church for years.  It really does the trick.

When you grow up in Western Pennsylvania with the legacy of a steelworker family (okay, I’ll just say it, if you’re a Hunky), stuffed cabbage, or Halupki, is a big, big deal. My grandmother made sure my mother knew how to make it for my father. When my brother got engaged, my mother gave his fiance a cooking lesson on the intricacies of stuffed cabbage. When I was pregnant with my son, my mother filled our freezer with stuffed cabbage. My sister makes a fancy version with bacon and ground turkey. But stuffed cabbage has always eluded me, so I was thrilled to see Carla’s easy version for the slow-cooker.

• 1 large or 2 small heads of cabbage chopped large
• 3 lbs ground beef browned and drained
• 4 jars (32 oz?) spaghetti sauce
• large onion chopped
• Brown sugar. I like mine sweet and non acid so I use about 1 1/2 cups. Adjust that amount to taste.
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 tablespoon pepper

Combine all. Put in 2 large crock pots. Cook on low for 5-6 hours or until cabbage is cooked through, stirring about every 1 1/2 hours.

Cook on the stove about 2 lbs of your favorite pasta. Add this to the cabbage mixture and let it soak up the juice. Or you can use rice if you prefer. You can also add the pasta or rice when you serve it.

I cook big and freeze portions for later use. You can easily cut this recipe in half.

Recipe  from Giada DeLaurentis, adapted by Yvonne

Ingredients

* 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
* 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus 2 teaspoons
* 4 anchovy fillets, minced*
* 1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
* 2 tablespoons orange juice
* 2 tablespoon thinly sliced fresh basil leaves**
* 1 teaspoon lemon zest
* 1 teaspoon orange zest
* 6 skinless tilapia fillets
* Salt and freshly ground pepper

Directions
Cook the butter and 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil in a heavy small saucepan over low to medium heat just until the butter is melted, stirring frequently. Add the anchovies and stir until the anchovies dissolve, about 2 minutes. Add the garlic and cook just until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Remove from the heat. Stir in the orange juice, basil, and lemon and orange zests. Season the sauce, to taste, with salt.

The bagna cauda sauce can be made 1 day ahead. Cool, then cover and refrigerate. Rewarm before using.
Meanwhile, preheat oven to 200 degrees F.
Sprinkle the fish with salt and pepper and brush both sides of the fish with remaining 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil. Working in 2 batches, fry the fish until just opaque in center, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer fish to platter. Cover with foil and keep warm in the oven while cooking the second batch of fish. Drizzle the sauce over and around the fish and serve.

*I used anchovy paste instead of the anchovies.
**You can substitute about 2 tsp. of dried basil leaves instead of the fresh basil.

This recipe was so good that even my youngest son, the most finicky eater in the house, ate TWO pieces of this fish.

We’re so fortunate that Natural Stitches is right across from Trader Joe’s.  We make regular stops there after work for groceries, and often, I find myself with a bag full of goodies with no plan in mind for them. This is when I play with ingredients and hope it turns out for the best.

Last week, I had a round of polenta, a package of chicken sausage, a jar of pesto, a bag of baby spinach, and a log of goat cheese. This is what I did:

Cut the sausage into slices and saute in a small amount of olive oil. Set the sausage aside, and slice the polenta into rounds and saute in the same pan until a light crust develops. Then take half the bag of baby spinach and saute until it wilts.

Spray a 6×9 pan with Pam. Layer the polenta, sausage, and spinach and top with spoonfuls of the pesto. Top with crumbled goat cheese. Set the broiler to high and broil until the cheese is melted and slightly browned.  Enjoy!

I developed this recipe when I was a poor graduate student, and it was always a hit at potlucks. It’s cheap and easy, open to endless variations, and appeals to vegetarians and meat-and-potatoes guys alike.

Saute one chopped onion in olive oil. Add one cup of rice (any rice is fine, although basmati or arborio works the best) and stir until rice is coated with the oil. Add one cup of rinsed lentils.

Season with Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper to taste. Add four cups of vegetable broth and stir. Bring to a boil, and then turn the heat to low and cover.  Cook, stirring occasionally and adding more broth as needed, until lentils are tender and rice is cooked through.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Prepare at 9×13 baking dish with cooking spray. Off heat, stir in one can of diced tomatoes and one can of green beans. (In season, stir in a pint of halved grape tomatoes and fresh, steamed green beans). Add crumbled feta cheese to taste (I’ve also used crumbled goat cheese with great success).  Spoon mixture into prepared dish. Top with grated parmesan cheese and bake until bubbly.

This dish travels well and reheats beautifully. Enjoy!

There are a lot of versions of this popular party dip, but I can safely assert that mine is the best. Make this for your next Steeler Party!

Saute 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts in butter and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper to taste. When chicken is cool enough to handle, shred into rough chunks.

Meanwhile, in the food processor, pulse to combine:

• 2 8 oz packages of softened cream cheese
• 1 cup (8 oz) ranch dressing
• 3/4 cup Buffalo Wing Sauce*
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Add chicken and pulse quickly to combine.

Pour mixture into a 2 qt baking dish and sprinkle with another 1/2 cup of shredded cheddar cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for one hour. Alternatively, you may place the mixture into a 2 qt slow-cooker and heat until bubbly.

Serve with blue corn chips and celery sticks.

Enjoy!

* If you want the dip to be hotter/spicier, add drops of Tabasco sauce to taste rather than adding more Buffalo Wing Sauce.