In the Kitchen

While my family was visiting last weekend, I asked my mom to make her cinnamon rolls for us. (Because if I'm too tired and hot to make them myself then my mom should make them right?) Actually, if you haven't already heard, I'm not a big fan of baking, and bread items are particularly intimidating for me. However, now that I've watched/helped my mom make them TWICE I think I can be a big girl and start making them myself. Anyway, the point of this post is to talk about how delicious these cinnamon rolls are.

I can't ever find cinnamon rolls that I love as much as these. The frosting is my favorite part (I think it's my grandma's recipe) and somehow mom gets enough on them so that you never hit a dry spot the entire time you're eating them. She made a ton of them too and they were HUGE so we got to enjoy them all week. Believe me, if you've never eaten one of my mom's cinnamon rolls...you wish you had. Thanks again mom.

Despite my baking hesitations, I really enjoy cooking and tonight's dinner was delicious. I had some leftover cream from the cinnamon rolls and thought I'd better use it rather than let it go to waste. The recipe is from Cathy Hess out of Jen's family cookbook which Jen was nice enough to give me after I begged her incessantly. (I love the food the Hess family eats).

This Citrus Cream Sauce would be so delicious with a white fish or crab as a main dish; and, of course it was good with just pasta. I added marinated artichoke hearts because we had some we needed to use and tomatoes because I have so many that I add them to pretty much everything. It also calls for mint and basil but since I didn't have mint on hand I doubled the basil and it was still great. The recipe is super easy, and I would recommend it to anyone (especially you Gail).

Pasta with Citrus Cream Sauce
1 Cup heavy cream
2 Tbsp. cognac or dry sherry
Zest of 1 lemon
Zest of 1 large naval orange
1/2 tsp. coarse salt
2 Tbsp. fresh mint, chopped (about 3 sprigs)
12 leaves fresh basil, shredded or torn
1/2 lb. linguini, cooked al dente (obviously I used bowtie and...still good)
1/2 Cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese

In a skillet over medium-low heat, warm cream. Add cognac or dry sherry, zest of lemon and orange, and salt. Simmer 7-10 min. Add mint and basil. Toss hot, drained pasta with sauce and grated cheese.