I first had spaghetti al tonno in Germany, in an Italian restaurant in Herrsching, a village on a lake that was near where we lived. I’ve loved the dish ever since. Prior to that, my only experience with tuna fish was in a sandwich, drowned in mayo. Even though I love a good tuna sandwich now and then, this dish will win most of the time.

I found a spaghetti tonno recipe on About.com that I’ve been using for the past few months. I’ve cooked it so many times, I am starting to give it my own stamp. I decided that I like to use diced tomatoes instead of tomato sauce, and I add a bit more wine. But really, the recipe is good as is. It’s actually a video. Check it out here .  It’s such a simple dish to prepare, and it looks like I got it at a restaurant.

I took the hens out of the freezer for Christmas dinner but we ended up going out to a movie and then to dinner. It was just my husband and I and even though I cook all the time (and love it) I felt like a needed a break.

So today, I am cooking Cornish Game Hens which are probably small chickens. I roast chickens all the time so I wonder, how hard can it be to cook the hens? I plan on preparing it simply. I’ll rub the skin with olive oil, season it with salt and pepper, and put it in the oven in the roasting pan.

A whole chicken takes about an hour and  a half to roast. I’m thinking a hen will be a lot shorter than that. Would I like to do something fancier? Maybe - but I don’t think it is a good idea for the first time roasting them. It never is! This is what I did for my first Thanksgiving turkey. Each year, I got a little more complex with the preparation and it got easier (and tastier!)

I’ll let you know how it goes.

This recipe is always a crowd pleaser. This is my mom’s version. She uses dill and scallions to add flavor. We eat the low fat version most often but when we bring the dish to a party, it’s always full fat.

Ingredients:

1 lb. fillo, defrosted in refrigerator if frozen

3, 10 oz. packages of spinach, washed and thoroughly dried

7 large eggs

1 bunch scallions, sliced thin (should yield about 1 cup)

1 lb. feta cheese, crumbled

1 tsp. dried dill or 1 tbs. fresh, chopped dill

½ pound butter, melted

Instructions:

Note: I use a 15 inch round pan. If you want to use something rectangular, use a 10×16 pan or something comparable.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Clean spinach and cut off the stems. Transfer to a large mixing bowl. Whisk eggs together in a medium mixing bowl and add to the spinach. Add scallions, crumbled feta, and dill. Toss with your hands or a pair of tongs until all the ingredients are well blended. Melt butter in the microwave or stove top (don’t burn it!). Using a pastry brush, brush the bottom of the pan with a layer of butter. Place two sheets of fillo on the pan so that the bottom is completely covered and brush with butter. Place two more sheets of fillo down on the pan and brush with butter. Repeat two more times until eight sheets line the bottom. Spread spinach mixture evenly over the fillo. If the fillo is going over the sides of the pan, fold it over the spinach mixture. Place two sheets of fillo on top of the spinach and brush with butter. Repeat until there is no more fillo left. Pour remaining butter over the top. Cut three diagonal slits across the top and bake uncovered for an hour until golden brown on the top.

Low fat substitutions. You could use less butter, light butter. You could use half fat free cottage cheese and ½ lb. of feta instead of all feta.

One of the best cooking tips that I know is to always keep a container of pesto in the house. You can either make your own or buy it - I get mine from either Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s - both are excellent. There’s so much you can do with pesto. I love making salad dressings or last minute pasta dishes out of it.  So, I thought I’d share with all of you some of the many things you can do with pesto.

• Make salad dressing. Stir together 2 tbs olive oil, 1 tbs vinegar, and one teaspoon of pesto for a delicious salad dressing.

• Use it as a marinade. You can prepare the dressing, above, and actually use it to marinate meat or chicken. You can also spread the pesto on chicken, seafood such as salmon, or steak before grilling or baking.

• Quick pasta dish. Toss pesto in with some pasta. I like using ziti or rotini but you can use anything. Sometimes I mix in a small amount of tomato sauce and cream.

• Roasted vegetables. Roast vegetables such zucchini and eggplant. (Sprinkle vegetables with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Spread them out on a baking sheet, and bake for 45 minutes.) When vegetables are done, transfer to a serving bowl and toss with pesto.

• Spread for crackers and bread. This is much tastier than butter! I like to spread the pesto directly onto those Wasa crackers or on a piece of whole wheat bread.

• Pesto Cheese Dip. You can mix 2 tbs of pesto with 8 ounces cream cheese for a quick cheese dip.

Do you have any ideas for things you can do with pesto? Share them in the comments!

That is the name (or roughly) at a dish I enjoyed over the weekend at the Cape Neddick Lobster Pound in Cape Neddick, Maine. The chef made a scampi that included baby shrimp and fiddleheads and poured it over the seared salmon. It was served with vegetables and rice - both of which seemed slightly out of place. Truth be told, I would have been content with just what was on my plate and some bread. But I ate the veggies anyway because it was broccoli and I always feel bad leaving such a healthy vegetable on my plate.

Fiddleheads are only around during the spring. But as I was about to dig in, my husband looked over at my plate and declared that the fiddleheads looked a little like asparagus. He’s right. So, if I were to replicate this dish in the off season, I would use asparagus as a replacement for the fiddleheads.

Of course, if I were to make it I’m sure it would taste a lot different than it did at the Lobster Pound - my cooking always does. I always seem to prefer the restaurant’s dish in these occasions. But if I do hit the kitchen, I’ll take detailed notes so that you all can enjoy a replica of this dish.

I thought I’d take advantage of the fact that asparagus are in season. So, dinner tonight was pan seared bison steaks with roasted asparagus.

Unfortunately, I didn’t write anything down. But I can try to describe for you what I did.

To roast the asparagus, I snapped the ends off and laid them in a single layer on a baking dish. I preheat the oven to 350 degrees, sprinkled the asparagus with oil, salt, and pepper, and roasted it for about 15 minutes. I took it out of the oven and sprinkled them with lemon juice.

To prepare the steaks, I sprinkled each side with salt and pepper and let it sit for about five minutes before I seared it. I let the steak cook for about six minutes each side. When both sides were done, I transfered it to a plate and let it sit. I poured about a cup of wine in the pan and scraped all the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. After the liquid reduced by half, I added two tablespoons of butter and let it melt.

I poured the sauce over the steak after I plated it and before I put the asparagus down. I didn’t want the sauce to go on the asparagus so I waited.

It was really satisfying. I prefer bison over beef because of its taste, and it’s a lot leaner.