Pasta Con Crema di Gorgonzola

This recipe is from Sophia Loren, taken from her book: Sophia Loren's Recipes & Memories. I have had this book forever and occasionally I try a recipe or two.

I made the Pasta con Crema di Gorgonzola; Pasta with Gorgonzola cream sauce. If you like the strong flavor of Gorgonzola, you will like this recipe. Though the recipe suggest using Gorgonzola dolce, I used the regular Gorgonzola since it was too much trouble trying to find the "dolce" kind.

I served a salad with Jalapeno olive oil and Peach balsamic vinegar. I also served Parmigiano-rosemary rolls I got from Trader Joe's. The pasta was very good according to my guest though my husband commented that it needed substance. I think he meant meat! I had to agree with him. Since I had a lot of left overs, I will be adding cooked chicken or sausage to give it more "substance".

The recipe is very easy and though it called for rigatoni or tagliolini, I used penne which worked just as well.

Carl's Jr. Mushroom & Swiss Burger

They call it the Mushroom and Swiss All-Natural Burger because, they claim the charbroiled patty to be grass fed, free range, no added hormones, steroids or antibiotics. That makes is sort of a healthy burger right?

This burger is just plain good and very satisfying. The bun is freshly baked and a bit hard to eat especially towards the end when the juices start to drip and part of lower bun disintegrates. So it gets a bit messy but so what....it's gooood especially with their French fries.

Standing Room; Now a Restaurant

I knew that the Standing Room in Redondo Beach was planning to open a real restaurant where you can relax and devour any of their fabulous sandwiches sooner or later. It opened in May of last year, 2014. I was just too busy to follow up......

My friend Cindy is the third person to sprain her ankle within the last 2 weeks. Then another friend just twisted her ankle the other day. Someone suggested I go ahead and wrap both ankles in preparation of a sprain! Cindy had it worse because she is currently in crutches. So, being good friends we naturally suggested we bring her dinner the other day. She lives close to the original Standing Room so it was decided we would pick up our dinner there and take it to her house.

Cindy wanted the Short Rib sandwich, better known as Shortie which I have had before and was very good; slow cooked braised short rib with spring mix & caramelized onion all stuffed in a pain de mie bread.  Sandi and I thought we would try the Dressed Hamburger which was a patty with bacon and Korean aioli, spring mix, caramelized onion, bleu cheese, smoked Gouda melted together topped with a fried egg and tomato jam. The other sandwich was one I am addicted to: the Oscar which is a soft shell crab sandwich with Thai crab mayonnaise and bubu arare balls, which was superb.  See previous blog: http://solittlethyme.blogspot.com/2014/02/standing-room-still-standing.html

It was pretty much a no-brainer to order the Truffle Parmesan Fries which was wonderful. We attacked those as we enjoyed devouring our sandwiches. All these we had with Champagne which wasn't bad at all.

Next time, when all the ankles have healed, we will have to take a trip and visit Standing Room in Hermosa Beach where we will be able to sit and eat.

Dominique's Special Kitchen

This really is a special kitchen. Last week we were there and because I left my phone at home, I took pictures from Sandi's phone of the wonderful Kale Watermelon Salad, a Ribeye, Filet Mignon and the ever so fresh and wonderful Sole. For dessert we had a Mango Panna Cotta and a Lemon Creme Brulee. The following day, Sandi's "Gallery" on her smartphone suffered a stroke! Her pictures vanished. We managed to get 1 picture of us except for the person taking the photo.  I was determined to go back as soon as possible and hopefully duplicate the meal we had.

Last night was our opportunity. It was time to take our friend Tom for a belated birthday dinner. Dominique's Kitchen was one of his favorite places to go. He especially loves their Cheese Fondue which is absolutely the best ever. We had to order some Truffle Fries which is a must if you're going to blow your diet anyway. I have said this many times in the past, that the best way to eat this is to dump the fries in the fondue; it saves a lot of time and the fries get coated evenly with the delicious alcoholic cheese. Don't worry as it won't have time to get soggy! Picture of truffle fries below is "pre" dumping.

I ordered the Watermelon Salad because I thought it was the same salad we had. It was not; because this salad had calamari which I like but Sandi does not. I asked our server about it and that's when she said that what we ordered last week was the Kale Watermelon. Tom and I liked it though I preferred the other one since it had more texture to it.

Tom ordered the Ribeye which my brother had last week and didn't get to try. I had a bite of it this time and loved the flavor. Sandi had the Sole with spinach which she had last week and wanted a rerun. I ordered the special of the evening Beef Bourguignon with their very fine mashed potatoes. I loved it and can still taste the sauce. The meat was so tender you did not need a knife.

Both Tom and Sandi suggested we only order 1 dessert. It was unanimous...it had to be the Lemon Creme Brulee. Deeelicious. I just have to remember to request them to really burn the top next time; that is if Dominique allows them to.......Thanks to Liza and Dominique who is just shrinking away (looking good)!

Sandi's Steak Dinner

She claims not to have mastered cooking steak. The other night, Sandi invited me for a steak dinner at her house. I got there and she had olives which our friend had in her refrigerator and some capers which she had to get rid of. The olives were great with the champagne. She made garlic bread from a baguettine and served it with more of the Delice de  Bourgogne cheese from Trader Joe's and a Beet hummus which was delicious, also from Trader Joe's.

She had 3 things going on her stove. Fresh corn from the cob mixed with fresh tomatoes from her garden, cucumbers also from her garden and 2 good size filet mignon which was smothered with mustard. After cooking it for a few minutes in oil and butter, she transferred the steaks in her oven while she made a sauce by adding to the pan; brandy, capers and whipping cream and of course, more butter.  When the steaks were cooked to medium from the oven, she transferred them back to the pan for a nice bath of the wonderful sauce.

The steak was perfect and the sauce was ohhh so good. The giant baked potato went well with the everything else. Butter, sour cream went in the potato and since the Delice de  Bourgogne was still on the table, I scooped some of it and dropped it in my potato. It was delicious. It was a lot to eat but we managed.

After our meal, we watched a documentary which our friends kept telling us we should see; Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief which was on HBO. Fascinating documentary and frightening as well. While we watched it, Sandi came out with dessert: Double Caramel Magnum Ice Cream Bar. That was a great, but unhealthy evening. We started talking "diet" again and agreed we cannot keep this up!

Cindy's Birthday Tea Party

This tea party ended up being a Sangria birthday party. Cindy was finally going to showcase her Belleek Irish China with the very delicate almost see-through cup and saucers. She purchased the whole set when she was in her 20's. I have known her since then and my lips have never kissed a cup of her collection.

Since most of us are not tea drinkers, she informed us she would have some Prosecco but decided to make this wonderful Sangria made with the prosecco, brandy, peach nectar and fresh peaches and nectarine. It was like drinking a really refreshing fruit juice on a warm afternoon except it went straight to our blood stream like an I.V. and felt a surge of alcohol.

Her table setting was beautiful with the Belleek china. Everything matched of course like everything in her house. The cutlery was antique which she also purchased a long time ago. She had party favors on top of each place setting. Her table setting was simple yet elegant.

The food was also simple and delicious. She had Tomato Butter and Cashew Chicken Sandwiches, Tuna-olive tapenade, a block of the most delicious cheese; Delice de Bourgogne from Trader Joe's. In addition, she had Lemon Lavender Scones with lemon curd and Blueberry Scones both from the best bakery, L'Amande, which unfortunately has closed since then. She also served a variety of macarons and since I had the first pick, I took the caramel!

After all the eating and drinking it was time to open her presents and tell stories. We were all relaxed and had a wonderful time catching up. We did miss Mertz who was flying somewhere and Ana who was out of the country. I know they were both there in spirit.

Before we left, we had to say hello to China Blue, Cindy's cat, who also matched her living room....but of course!

Prosciutto Gruyere Croissant

Never had a Prosciutto Gruyere Croissant in my life till today. This is the "special" for this weekend at  L'Amande Bakery. If you get a chance, stop by tomorrow and order this because you just never know when you will get your next chance. Imagine good quality prosciutto with Gruyere cheese on a flaky delicious croissant. Need I say more?

L'Amande Bakery is located in Torrance, at the Rolling Hills Plaza.