Cooking With Stanley Week 22
Cooking with Stanley is going to feature a lot of fish in the next few weeks. This week we have two different fish dishes, next week we'll have a reprieve but then the next few weeks will be under the sea. I think while I was planning this series, I decided to get the fish done as much as I could in large chunks of time. Fish also tends to be lighter, especially with Italian food so I think that also played a large part in my planning. I tried to plan meals as they coincided with seasons so it would make sense for the lighter dishes to be in summer. So I hope you guys like fish because you're in for one heck of a catch.
MENU 1st Course: Fettuccine with Asparagus and Shrimp Main: Tuna Tiepedo in the Chianti Cucina Style Side: String Bean Salad Dessert: Cream Filled Cannoli You may have noticed before that the first course can often be a form of pasta. This will happen more as we continue with the series. In a lot of Italian homes, pasta will serve as the first course followed by a meat and vegetable. Even growing up Italian, this is something new to me. I grew up with one or the other for dinner unless, of course, there was meat included in the pasta. When I first started this series, I would make whole batches of the pasta as if it were the only thing we were eating. I've since learned to tone it down and halve the recipe, much like I did for the Fettuccine with Asparagus and Shrimp. I did not buy raw shrimp for this meal, I got the pre-cooked frozen shrimp in a package. I'm sure it's not ideal but it works. I actually really liked this dish. It was full of flavor and the tomato sauce was incredibly fresh. It was light and perfect for spring. The asparagus was cooked just enough and added extra pops of color to the pasta. I'd definitely make this for dinner on a regular weeknight. It's fairly simple. The Tuna Tiepedo was another light dish. Tuna steaks are pan-seared with a very simple seasoning in olive oil, sliced and thrown over a bed of arugula pre-tossed in a red wine vinaigrette. The spiciness of the arugula pairs really well with the simplicity of the tuna steaks. All the flavors meld nicely and this acts as a great main course to the pasta. The light quality it has makes you feel satisfied without feeling full especially with the hearty tuna steaks. The string bean salad was delicious. It was fresh, tangy and would make a great side to almost any meal. This is also very easy to throw together but if you use two different beans like I did, you need to boil them separately because the wax beans need more time in the pot compared to regular hericot verts. For dessert, I made my very first cannoli! My family, even though Italian, is not big on cannoli. We're more traditional cookie people I guess you could say. I am simply not someone who enjoys cream filled anything. The filling for the cannoli was fairly simple and it was actually pretty good too. It called for liquid cinnamon flavoring but I couldn't find it anywhere, so I just used regular cinnamon instead. I used regular sized cannoli shells from a local Italian market we have in my town but I should have gotten the mini ones. Even though these are delicious, too much cream filling is just too much. The recipe actually called for the mini ones but I misread. They're spot on. Cannolis are meant to be served small. So tell me, are you looking forward to the under the water version of Cooking with Stanley coming up the next few weeks or are you excited to go back to the real meat?
