Mr. Prof designer home

Along with the grilled shrimp from the previous post, we had the eggplant rollatini SP made and some grilled sausages my parents brought over:


... along with Caesar salad with homemade dressing and croutons:


I love making my own salad dressings. They always taste so much fresher.

Just in from my pal Teresa Cano at Garden Antqs Vintage...

Our gang made the pages of a Texas magazine!







We were at the fabulous open house at Leftover's in Brenham Tx.

There's TOT (Teresa of Time Worn Interiors), Linda (Willow Nest) and moi.


And Gwen (Miss Frenchie's), Theresa (Garden Antqs Vintage), Lisa (La Rustique Market) and Lauri (Chippys).

How fabulous!!

One of our favorite restaurants for special occasions serves a grilled shrimp with anchovy butter appetizer that I've always wanted to try making at home. We had some jumbo shrimp leftover from Christmas Eve dinner and my parents were coming over, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity.


I grilled the shrimp until they were just barely cooked through. The smoke from the charcoal grill is imperative for this recipe since that's what gives the shrimp most of its amazing flavor. For the anchovy butter I melted a few tablespoons of butter in a pan and then added half a tin of anchovies. The anchovies melted into the butter, which I then drizzled over each serving. A squeeze of lemon adds brightness to the dish, accentuating all the flavors.

SP wanted to make something homey and delicious one cold winter day, so he bought a bunch of eggplants and set about making eggplant rollatini.


He used some of the fresh tomatoes my mom and I canned last summer in the sauce and it was phenomenal. You could really taste summer in every bite.



Eggplant Rollatini
Lidia Bastianich

3 cups whole-milk ricotta
tomato sauce
2 medium eggplants
coarse salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup olive oil
3 eggs
all purpose flour
1 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
3 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley
black pepper
8 oz fresh mozzarella cheese, cut into 1/4" sticks
8 fresh basil leaves

Preheat 375 F.

Trim the stems and ends from the eggplants. Remove strips of peel about 1" wide from the eggplants, leaving about 1/2 the peel intact. Cut the eggplant lengthwise into 1/4" slices and place them in a colander. Sprinkle generously with coarse salt, tossing to expose all slices, and let drain 1 hour. Rinse eggplant under cool running water, drain thoroughly and pat dry with paper towels.

Pour olive and vegetable oils into a medium skillet over med-high heat. While the oil is heating, whisk 2 of the eggs and 1 teaspoon coarse salt together in a wide, shallow bowl. Spread flour in an even layer in a separate wide, shallow bowl. Dredge eggplant slices in flour, shaking the excess off. Dip the floured eggplant into the egg mixture, turning well to coat both sides evenly.

Add as many of the coated eggplant slices as fit without touching and cook, turning once, until golden on both sides.

Stir the ricotta, 1/2 cup grated cheese, and parsley together in a mixing bowl. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Beat remaining egg in a separate bowl and stir into ricotta mixture. Pour 1 cup tomato sauce over the bottom of a 10 X 15 baking dish.

Lay one of the fried eggplant slices in front of you with the short end toward you. Spoon about 2 tablespoons ricotta filling over the narrow end of the slice and top it with a mozzarella stick and a basil leaf. Roll into a compact roll and place seam side down into the baking dish. Repeat with remaining eggplant slices, placing rolls side by side. Ladle remaining tomato sauce over eggplant rolls to coat them evenly. Sprinkle remaining cheese over top.

Cover dish loosely with aluminum foil and bake until the edges of the casserole are bubbling and filling is heated through, about 30 minutes. Let rest 10 minutes before serving.

Another pizza:


... this one has pepperoni and black olives hidden under the blanket of melted mozzarella.

Sometimes I put the cheese on first and then the toppings and sometimes the other way around. How do you do it if you make homemade pizza?

When we bought our present home, we fell in love with the overall style of it... the wide trimwork around the windows, the wainscoting, tall ceilings, and big porch. We had to make changes to it however, to make the house our own. Here are some before and after pictures of the kitchen. As you can see, the kitchen had a contemporary flair. I went back and forth on the thought of changing the cabinets altogether, but decided to work with them instead.

We took off the top set of cabinets and added some arrangement up on top. I think it looks less overwhelming. We also took out the cabinets above the oven and replaced them with a stainless hood for a more streamlined look. Still contemporary, but more modern country.

The existing sink was incorporated into the Corian countertop.

We snatched up 4 ft. old surgeon's sink for $100 on Craigslist. It was taken from a local hospital. It had a very awesome crackle finish glaze, but there was so much discoloration that we couldn't keep it as it was. We had it refinished for $300. So, for $400, we got a truly unique piece for our kitchen! (Have you seen the prices of farmhouse sinks? This was a good buy!) We got it because we loved it aesthetically, but it's actually extremely practical, especially for our large family of 8! Do you know how many dishes and giant pots we can hide in there? There are dirty dishes in this picture in fact!

I used a simple linen curtain for underneath. The sink itself makes for a very handy towel holder. I love the look of the dish towels hanging over the front, and it has proved to be very practical as well!

There used to be a half wall with pillars seperating the kitchen from the living room. I wanted a more open feeling to the whole space so we tore the wall down. The living room used to be a huge vaulted ceiling but we floored it in. That will be another post for another day.

Another Craigslist find was an old dark wood buffet that we made into an island. The frame holding the mirror made the perfect brackets, so we took the mirror out, flipped the brackets upside down and attached them to the back for the overhang. We cut out the panels on the front doors, and replaced them with wire sheeting and backed them with gathered linen fabric. Of course, we painted the whole thing a bluish-green and replaced the hardware. My handy husband made the top with furniture-grade pine. We mixed two colors of stain until we got the perfect color. We love the result and if we ever move, this island is coming with us to our next home! The whole thing probably cost us $350.00.

Of course, I had to distress the paint finish!

For bar stools, I found inexpensive wood ones from TJMaxx. One of the spindles on the top was broken so I decided to make little back slipcovers for them. I found two plaid Ralph Lauren pillowcases from HomeGoods and used them to make the slipcovers. The ruffles were already there... so perfect. I made bows from the fabric for the sides.

For kitchen accessories, I found these adorable spice jars from Anthropologie that are perfect for the top of the range. They hold spices and tea bags. LOVE them.

The top of the fridge holds some cookbooks and a handy basket to hold odds and ends. I found the fabric label from Michaels. It says "grow where you are planted". The dogs came from Sundance.



The vintage locker baskets on top of the cabinets came from a local antique store. I was thinking of making fabric liners for them, but I ended up keeping them plain and empty. I sort of like them just the way they are.



To the right I have a mixed arrangement, including a Red Wing antique crock. I had fantasies of collecting a whole slew of Red Wing crocks and lining them up, but the price deterred me. :) I enjoy the one I bought off ebay.

Last but not least is picture of my trashcan. Who takes pictures of their trash cans?! One of the blogs I frequent, Remodelista , highlighted these trashcans on their blog one day. Ironically, a day or two before they posted about them, I found one at TJMaxx for a steal.




Thanks for stopping by and looking at our kitchen!

I've got a map urge today -- it's never very far away frankly, and it's one of those design elements my husband Ben will also go for (as opposed to skulls, for instance). I found these two rooms via Design Crisis.

Lovely.

I've had these images from a very old issue of Martha Stewart in my inspiration file for a long time.


For an especially affordable set of large maps, check out the USGS maps of your locale. For $8, you can order maps of any location that are around 6 square feet.