Last night I had this dream I was cooking lasagna with Martha Stewart, I was her BFF. We went groceries shopping and back to her fabulous well-decorated house. She told me about some of her parties and we laughed while cooking amazing lasagna. When I woke up I told my husband my dream and he laughed because I always have some dreams with celebrities, and most of the time with some food involved. I already had dinner with Elisabeth Tailor where we ate steak and fries (I know, crazy right?) and now cooking lasagna with Martha. But from my dream the feeling left in my mind was that I really miss my BFFs, I miss them a lot they are like family to me. Move to a different country have some downsides, you have to learn the language, the life style, and traditions and make totally new friends. Of course it’s very exiting but leaving your family behind and BFFs is really painful. I became very protective of my feelings lately, because I made wonderful friends when I lived in Australia and it was very painful when I had to leave. So I guarded myself here and didn’t get too involved with anyone. But I can tell you I really miss the BFF ‘thingy’. And NY doesn’t help much with this predicament; people here are always running somewhere. I am always running somewhere. Not much time left to socialize or make friends. And among Manhattan women if you say that you actually use your stove and oven, they look at you like you are from another planet. They say: Really? With a look of confusion. I can understand that, most of the apartments here, the kitchens are so small and unequipped that it’s hard to believe you can actually use it. But I was lucky enough to find this place that have a reasonable size kitchen, sure I have to store pots and pans inside my micro, but I can’t complain. I know, the recipe today should be lasagna, but nope, it’s too hot for bubbly lasagna. I made a Caponata salad with orzo instead.
Caponata Salad With Orzo
For the Caponata:
- 2 Zucchinis cut in cubes
- 1 Eggplant cut in cubes
- 1 Yellow pepper
- 2 Potatoes cut in cubes
- 1 Red onion
- 2 Cloves of garlic shaved
- Green olives
- Salt and pepper
- Red pepper flakes
- Oregano
- Olive oil
- Orzo
First I roasted all the vegetables with some salt, pepper, oregano, red pepper flakes, and olive oil. In a 400F oven for approximately 25 minutes, cooked the orzo in chicken broth and drained, setting a side to cool down a bit. Then I tossed all the vegetables and the orzo with some “Dill vinaigrette” (I know, I use this vinaigrette in almost all my recipes) but what can I say? It works for us we absolutely love it.
For the Dill vinaigrette:
- ½ cup olive oil
- ¼ cup lemon juice
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- Salt and pepper
- ½ cup of chopped dill