Still on a campaign not to stock the fridge with much of anything, I made a really good dinner tonight out of stuff that was hanging around: a half box of rotini, some milk, some cheese. Enough green and growing things to make a nice salad.

The Recipe

• 2 tbs butter
• 2 tbs flour
• 1/2 medium onion, chopped
• 1 1/2 cups 2% milk
• 4 oz sharp cheddar, grated
• 4 oz pepper jack cheese, grated
• 1/4 cup chopped parsley
• 1/2 lb pasta (I used rotini — you use whatever you like, but short tubular or curly pastas work best with this)

Spray a baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. While the pasta boils, make the cheese sauce.

Melt butter over medium heat. Add onion, cook until soft, stirring frequently. Add flour and stir thoroughly with whisk; cook for a couple of minutes. Add milk, whisking constantly. Continue to whisk until sauce thickens and bubbles. Remove from heat, season to taste with salt and pepper. Add grated cheeses, whisking until cheese melts.

Drain pasta and combine with sauce. Pour into baking dish, and bake for 20 minutes or so, until pasta is browned a bit on top and sauce is bubbling.

I served this with a salad made of greens dressed with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, yellow and red pepper strips, and kalamata olives.

Nice dinner, and the fridge is really almost empty now. One more night to go before vacation.

I’m lunching like a gourmand today. The little bit of leftover roasted chicken breast with duxelles and jambon from Saturday night’s dinner, and then the spinach-feta patties from last night’s takeout.
Looking forward to lunch hour for sure.

Jim suggested stopping at our local fine food emporium on the way home to grab some quick takeout. I’ve gotten takeout from La Cuisine a couple of times, once for myself when Jim was out of town for a conference, and once for the two of us on No-Cook Friday. The food is, simply put, amazing — healthful, organic, and delicious all at once. It’s so good I feel bad calling it takeout. The best part? It’s not even that expensive, given the quality. Will update this post once we’ve eaten.

And now, as promised, the update: Asiago Crusted Chicken Cutlets (thin, crispy, delicious), Spinach and Feta Patties (these looked a bit like potato pancakes — fresh leaf spinach, crumbled feta, not sure what was binding it together, but gosh they were good), Grilled Summer Vegetables (yellow and green squash, eggplant, onions, grilled to perfection). We spent $44 and ate a delicious dinner. I have enough leftover food for probably two lunches. Healthy. Delicious. Money well-spent.

I have a limited amount of time in which to cook tonight because we have a class at 7:00. I have very little raw material in the house because I’m trying not to stockpile much since we’ll be on vacation next week. Therefore, I have no idea what we’re doing for dinner tonight and nothing from which to prepare… it.

Last night we had pizza at Sally’s, pretty much the only place we’ve eaten pizza for more than 30 years now. People who aren’t from the New Haven area don’t understand much about the politics of pizza in these parts, but it’s safe to say that discussing pizza around here is a little like discussing religion or politics.

The bottom line is that there are two (maybe three if you count Modern) pizza places around here that are legendary: Sally’s and Pepe’s. They’re both on Wooster Street, in what’s left of New Haven’s Little Italy. What people don’t get is that most folks around here who have a strongly held opinion on the matter either eat at one or the other. You don’t eat at both. You’re either Sally’s or Pepe’s.

We’re Sally’s people. I’m not sure how that came about (Jim’s father used to take the family for pizza when Jim was little, but we didn’t start the tradition as a couple until after we married). We’ve tried both, we stayed at Sally’s. An ancient (Sally’s was founded in 1938) coal-fired brick oven bakes the pies. Thin crust, excellent sauce, and just the right amount of mozzarella — it’s elemental. It’s very good. It’s a perfect food.

We have probably discussed every important decision we’ve made and every major event that has befallen us over a Sally’s pizza. I ate Sally’s pizza throughout my pregnancy, and Jim had a small pizza for dinner on the day Bryan was born (on the house as a thoughtful gesture from Sal and Flo). Bryan teethed on Sally’s crust as a baby, and grew up thinking that this is what pizza is supposed to taste like.

Perfect food? Yeah, pretty damn close.

Today is our wedding anniversary, so last night we had dinner at our favorite spot hereabouts, Le Petit Cafe in Branford, Connecticut. This isn’t a proper review in the sense of being an objective assessment, but rather my way of recommending one of the finest restaurants in the greater New Haven area and one of the best bargains in fine dining anywhere. I’m biased — this is one of our prime “go-to” places when we’re in a mood to celebrate.

Le Petit Cafe is a restaurant in the style of a French bistro. Small and warmly decorated, it sits right off Main Street and its tiny front windows look out onto the town green. The menu is prix fixe, and currently stands at $48.50 per person for four courses, which is more than reasonable given the superb quality of the food.

When you arrive, the table, crisply set in white, is set with two small dishes, one of roasted beets and the other of olives marinated in cumin and garlic. The crusty bread which arrives soon after is house-made, warm, and served with truffle butter. The waitstaff, friendly and attentive, is well-versed in the menu. The wine list is small and affordable. The menu changes often. There are usually six appetizers, including a soup du jour, to choose from. The appetizer course is followed by a salad of organic mesclun greens simply dressed with a vinaigrette and topped with an artisanal cheese. There are six entrees to choose from, and then a dessert course. All of the desserts are made on the premises.

While the menu reflects the chef’s French training, the food is inventive yet comforting, as befits a bistro. The ingredients are always of the freshest quality, and the portions are reasonable, which makes it possible to finish what’s on the plate most of the time.

Last night I ordered the soup of the day, which was an incredible gazpacho garnished with lumps of fresh crabmeat and slices of avocado. Jim ordered the country pate with brandied cherries, served with cornichons, spiced shallot chutney, and Dijon mustard. For my entree I chose a chicken dish. The description from the menu: Roasted organic chicken breast layered with organic baby crimini mushrooms Duxelles and jambon de Bayonne, served with Spanish chorizo & jumbo asparagus ragu and lemon-thyme sauce. Jim chose the miso-glazed Chilean sea bass served with broccoli rabe and garlic confit.

For dessert, we both chose the passion fruit creme brulee. The passion fruit lent a welcome touch of freshness and acidity to the richness of the custard and the sweetness of the burnt sugar topping. The meal is paced well, which is to say that the pace is leisurely. Expect to spend a full two hours at the table without feeling rushed. The room is small enough that conversation is easy, and Chef Roy Ip circulates among the diners during the course of the evening to greet guests and make sure that everyone’s happy.

If you’re looking for a fine dining experience that won’t require you to take out a second mortgage, I can’t recommend Le Petit Cafe highly enough. You’ll feel welcome, you’ll have a memorable meal, and I can guarantee you’ll want to come back again. There are two seatings on the weekends (Friday and Saturday), at 6:00 and 8:30, and reservations are recommended.

This morning I started my day with a slice of toasted whole grain bread topped with some peanut butter. It went down pretty easily, and I felt good all morning long. If I can work some fresh fruit into this routine, that’ll be at least one fairly healthy breakfast menu in my weekday repertoire. The wonderful orzo salad I made to accompany last night’s grilled pork tenderloin made a fantastic lunch, so I don’t feel too badly that tonight’s dinner is take-out Jack Daniels chicken wings from the local sports bar.

I’m on the cusp of a no-cook weekend. Stay tuned.

Nutritional wisdom continues to promote the notion that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Unfortunately, I’m a breakfast skipper. I hate breakfast.

No, strike that. I love breakfast foods. I just don’t like eating at 6:30 in the morning, which is when I’d need to eat breakfast on a weekday. I even gave it a try for a couple of weeks, but more often than not, eating that early just leaves me feeling sick for a few hours. Not eating isn’t a better option — it’s good in the short term, but by 10 I’m famished and then having to resist the temptation to eat something less than healthful with my coffee.

According to the Mayo Clinic, people who eat breakfast are more likely to eat more vitamins and minerals, less fat and cholesterol, have better concentration and productivity throughout the morning, and experience better weight control and lower cholesterol. This all sounds good, but I need to think about how to incorporate this into my morning.

I don’t mind packing a breakfast (I’m not much of a cereal fan anyway, so the lack of milk and a cereal bowl isn’t too big of a deal at work), but I need to put a little thought into what to make. The Mayo Clinic goes on to suggest including whole grains, low-fat proteins, low-fat dairy, and fruits or vegetables into your healthy breakfast. I guess this weekend I’ll take out the cookbooks or peruse my favorite recipe sites and try to get a jump on Monday.

In need of a little Italian comfort food, I made this tonight for dinner. Sausage, escarole and beans is one of the more versatile (and delicious) things in my repertoire. Taken as a whole, it’s a wonderful meal-in-a-dish recipe — hearty, delicious, and needing nothing more than a loaf of crusty bread to round out the menu. But what’s really neat about it is that each of the constituent parts stands on its own, or in combination with either one of the other two ingredients, and depending on what else you serve it with, you can have an appetizer, a pasta dressing, a main course or a soup.

The Recipe:

• 1 lb good quality Italian sausage (sweet or hot)
• 3 or 4 large cloves garlic, minced
• 1 very large or 2 medium heads of escarole
• 1 19-oz can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Parmigiano-Reggiano

1. Brown the sausage nicely on the grill, or pop it into a 375-degree oven for about 25-30 minutes. Let sausage cool slightly and then slice diagnonally into 2-inch pieces.

2. While the sausage is cooking, thoroughly wash and trim the escarole. I find it easiest to cut the core off the bottom and then slice the heads crosswise so that I end up with strips about 3 or 4 inches wide. Put all the strips in a large colander and rinse very thoroughly (escarole can be very sandy). If you have a lot of escarole, you’ll have to do this in batches.

3. Heat 3-4 tbs extra virgin olive oil over medium heat in a Dutch oven or similar large pot (you’ll need one with a lid). Toss in the garlic and stir a bit until it softens and becomes fragrant. Do not brown it. Toss in the beans and cook together with the garlic for a few minutes. It’s okay if the beans brown just a little (kind of a pale gold — don’t burn them). Season lightly with salt and pepper.

4. Start throwing the escarole into the pot. It should still have a bit of water clinging to it from the washing. Turn it over in the pot (a pair of good tongs is excellent for this) and put the lid on. This will help the escarole release its water and cook down. Again, if you have a lot of escarole, you may have to do this in batches, adding more to the pot as the first batch cooks down (and it’ll cook down a lot, losing much of its volume).

5. After the escarole has all cooked down and it’s started to brown a bit in the olive oil, turn the heat down to medium low. At this point you’ll want to taste for seasoning and add more salt and pepper if necessary. Add the sliced sausage to the pot and mix gently to combine. Continue to cook for another 15 or 20 minutes to meld the flavors together.

Serve in dishes that are deep enough to hold some of the very good cooking juices. Grate some fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano over the top, accompany with a crusty loaf of bread (rustic breads go very nicely with this as you’ll want to be sopping up those juices), pour some wine, and enjoy. If you want a side dish, a simple plate of sliced ripe tomatoes does nicely. If they’re from a local farm or from your garden, so much the better.

The Variations:

1. Obviously the sausage stands on its own, to be served with anything else you’d like.

2. If you follow the recipe through step 4, you have escarole and beans. This is very nice as a meatless dish. I suppose you could use vegetarian sausages in this recipe, but since I don’t eat such things, I can’t vouch for its tastiness. I would personally be more inclined just to leave the meat out. In that case, I would most certainly use the cheese (unless, of course, you’re cooking for a vegan).

3. You can cook just the beans and garlic (I’d use a small skillet for this) in the olive oil and stop before it’s time to throw in the escarole. I like to cook the beans a bit more when I do this, almost until they’re breaking apart in the pan. Served over slices of toasted, broiled or grilled bread, they make a lovely first course, appetizer, or light meal. If you’re inclined to make a meal out of it, you could serve a nice green salad with it. If you mash the beans, you have a really nice white bean dip (you might want to add a sprinkle of oregano to them as they cook if you go this route). This can be served with melba toasts, or you can spread it on small pieces of toasted bread and serve like bruschetta.

4. The escarole by itself makes a wonderful side dish without the beans. Cook it in the olive oil with the garlic and simply skip the beans. You could serve this as a vegetable side with anything you like, but I think it goes especially well with a simple roast chicken.

5. Soup! The escarole and beans, with or without the sausage, make a wonderful soup! You can use chicken stock, vegetable stock, or even water to make the soup — simply add enough to the pot to achieve the desired consistency. If using the sausage, cut them into much thinner slices, maybe 1/2-inch thick.

6. Finally, pasta. The escarole and sausage (with or without the beans — I prefer without) can be tossed with the pasta of your choice (I especially like rigatoni for this).

So there you have it — three basic ingredients, not a big commitment of time, and a fairly decent range of options. Oh, and it’s really good, which is really the whole point.