Planning a Wedding and Oh yeah, cooking too - Greek Ziti Ragu

When Zach and I got engaged, I thought I would end up blogging away about the wedding planning process.



I thought food blog readers were a similar target audience so it would be nice to sort things out via this blog, with a recipe to accompany every step of the way. I am now two months in to my 6 month engagement, and I do not think I have really mentioned the crazy world of wedding planning. If this is not something that interests you, forgive me for starting now.

You do not need a lot of time to plan a wedding. In fact, I prefer the condensed process which will all start and end before there is too much time to dwell on all the things I am including and not including in the process. What you do need is a lot of advance notice.

Every vendor, specifically the ceremony and reception venues need to be booked so far ahead time. I found myself running out of options for a reception venue before I even started looking. And the date we picked, the Florida Gator Football bye weekend of October 22nd? Forget it.

We started throwing out alternate dates, pending the availability of the reception spaces we were drawn to. By the time we found the location we ended up booking, there were two dates available within months of our original date: September 18th (a Sunday) and September 11th (a Sunday). For obvious reasons, we went with September 18th.

Our wedding celebration will be at the Winter Park Farmers’ market in Orlando, Florida, a location originally brought up by Zach’s mom (who originated several other successful ideas like the greyhound breed of dog we ended up adopting, my beloved cast iron skillet, my sewing hobby and the easy-peasy crock pot). The place is perfect for us. It is nice enough for an event such as a wedding, but not stuffy or cookie-cutter the way so many reception locations can be. The farmers’ market has loads of character and old-school charm with its red brick structure and hanging bulb lights. It used to be a train station, but has been converted to serve as a venue for weddings and other events as well as a farmers’ market every Saturday. Zach and I are big fans of farmers’ markets in general so it just seems really appropriate that we celebrate or marriage at one.

The ceremony will be at Loch Haven Park which is just behind the Menello Museum of Art, about 10 minutes away from the market. The criteria for a ceremony location for was “a big tree”. I just wanted to get married under a big tree. This is of course, weather permitting which means a lot more in Florida during hurricane season than it would somewhere like California in the fall.

We made a "save the date" movie trailer instead of the traditional save the date postcards. I am posting it below for your viewing pleasure...



I am well beyond the venue booking at this point in the process, but more on that later. For now, I will leave you with THIS:



Greek Ziti Ragu

(a recipe by Rachel Ray - makes 5-6 servings)

2 tablespoons EVOO (extra-virgin olive oil)
1 1/2 pounds ground lamb (I used beef)
Fine sea salt and black pepper
2 sprigs fresh oregano or marjoram, leaves finely chopped (about 1 tablespoon)
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped 1 onion, finely chopped
1 large fresh bay leaf
1 cinnamon stick
1 small red chile pepper, such as fresno or cherry, finely chopped
About 3 tablespoons tomato paste
A small handful pitted kalamata olives, finely chopped, or 2 tablespoons black olive tapenade
1 cup dry white wine 1 1/2 cups whole milk
A few grates fresh nutmeg
1 pound ziti pasta
1/2 pound brick greek feta cheese, drained and finely crumbled
A handful each flat-leaf parsley and fresh mint, finely chopped

Heat a large dutch oven over high heat. Add the EVOO, 2 turns of the pan, and the lamb; brown the lamb, caramelizing the meat to deep brown. Add lots of black pepper, sea salt, the oregano (or marjoram for a milder taste), garlic, onion, bay leaf, cinnamon stick and chile pepper and cook for 7 to 8 minutes to soften.

Add the tomato paste and olives (or tapenade) and stir for 30 seconds. Add the wine and deglaze the pan; add the milk and reduce the heat to a simmer. Add nutmeg to taste and simmer the ragù while you cook the pasta.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil, salt it, add the pasta and cook until al dente. Drain, reserving 1 cup of the pasta cooking water. Return the pasta to the hot pot with half of the finely crumbled feta. Discard the bay leaf and cinnamon stick. Add the ragù to the ziti and stir, adding in the pasta cooking water as necessary to move the heavy ragù around the pasta. Serve in shallow bowls topped with the remaining feta and the finely chopped parsley and mint.

Sometimes Sides Take Center Stage

Say that 10 times fast.



I made a roasted chicken for dinner. I am still impressed with myself every time I pull out a whole, beautifully cooked bird from the oven. I am not sure why because it is really one of the easiest things to do, but it just looks so pretty. However, last night I made a roasted chicken with a spicy rub that looked much better going into the oven than it did coming out. It is not the recipe's fault. It is just that I was supposed to slow cook the thing, and seeing as how I wasn't able to start until about 6pm, I kind of rushed things a bit. The spicy rub charred, and turned black. It actually didn't look so bad once I rubbed the charred part off a bit.



While the chicken was still delicious, and the spicy rub flavor was the bomb, it fell behind the star of the evening's meal, the Mediterranean couscous.



I have never made couscous before. But sometimes you need an escape from the same old rice and potatoes. I liked this recipe because it was basically the starch and the vegetable in one. It could definitely even be the main dish in a vegetarian meal. It was so flavorful and pretty healthy (due to the vegetables, not the couscous since it is basically teeny weeny bits of pasta). I cannot wait to experiment with this weird little food some more, but I don't know that I will be able to beat this recipe.



Tracie's Couscous Salad

(recipe adapted from Paula Deen)

1 box flavored couscous (garlic or Parmesan), cooked (I used toasted pine nut flavored couscous)
1 can chickpeas
1 red bell pepper, finely chopped
1/2 Vidalia onion, chopped (I used a shallot)
1 English cucumber, peeled, seeded, and finely chopped
1 tomato, chopped
1/4 cup fresh parsley leaves, chopped
1/2 cup kalamata olives, chopped
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup olive oil
2 to 3 limes, juiced (I used lemon)

*Be sure to chop everything nice and small so that nothing is too chunky. This is the kind of thing you eat with a spoon

In a large bowl, toss all the ingredients with the olive oil and lime juice, to taste.

Under the Sea

Have I ever mentioned my baton-twirling days? Maybe I have not because they lasted about a minute, and I do not mean a minute; I mean a minute. I was in the third grade, and my best friend Michelle and I decided it would be a great idea to twirl some batons to the song, "Under the Sea" from the Disney movie, The Little Mermaid for the elementary school talent show. We literally knew how to do the following:

*twirl the baton vertically
*twirl the baton horizontally
*pass the baton in a figure eight motion between my legs

If it is hard to imagine the combination of the above three "tricks" being entertaining for the length of an entire song, that is probably because it would never have been considered entertaining by any stretch of the imagination ....at the time at least.

A video of this exists. I believe it is in the form of a VHS tape in my friend Meagan's collection of insanely horrible and embarrassing videos from our childhoods. It is probably somewhere between the 4th grade solo I sang in a jean jumper of "The Wind Beneath My Wings" by Bette Midler and the lip sync I did with some gal pals of "Say You'll Be There" by the Spice Girls in 6th Grade (I was Scary Spice).

I don't know if my struggle with enjoying seafood began with the great "Under the Sea" fiasco of 1994 or not, but for as long as I can remember I have never been a fan. While I would enjoy the occasional fish stick, I never grew up liking salmon, shrimp, scallops, trout, sea bass, crab, lobster...none of it. I am just now beginning to slowly explore the world under the surface of the sea. Here is where I am at:

Shrimp ...yes please
Salmon ...eh, no thanks
Sea bass ...wonderful
Tuna ...never!
Scallops ...okay
Crab ...sometimes
Crab Cakes ...of course!
Sushi ...yes please
Tilapia ...okay
Calamari ...eh
Halibut...YES YES YES (thanks to the recipe below)

Under the Mediterranean Sea:

(recipe from one of my favorite food blogs, Everybody Likes Sandwiches)

2 large potatoes, scrubbed and cubed
1 small onion, quartered
4 cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1 t dried rosemary (plus additional sprinkle for fish)
2 T olive oil
1 t coarse salt
pepper to taste
1/4 c green olives
1 T capers
2 filets of fish (I used halibut)
juice of half a lemon

Heat oven to 400 degrees. In a foil-lined walled cookie sheet, evenly line the pan with the cubed potatoes and large onion chunks. Drizzle with half of the olive oil, rosemary, salt and pepper and toss everything around with your hands to coat. Bake in oven for about 25 minutes until starting to brown.



On a plate, season the fish and the cherry tomatoes with salt and pepper and a bit of rosemary and coat with the remaining olive oil. Use your hands to make sure everything is covered with the oil and spice.



Push the potatoes to one side of the cookie sheet and place the fish and the tomatoes on the other side. Fill in remaining gaps with olives and capers. Squeeze lemon juice onto the fish and tomatoes.



Return tray to oven for another 20 minutes or so, until fish is cooked and tomatoes are roasted and wrinkled. Transfer onto plates and serve.