This one is an especially interesting mix: honey, ricotta, dill – and an egg.

A recipe came immediately to mind when I saw those ingredients, though. In 2008, I won a cookbook called “Covered in Honey” in a recipe contest at Joelen’s Culinary Adventures, and made Scones with Honey, Rosemary and Goat Cheese. So I thought, why not replace the rosemary with dill and the goat cheese with ricotta, and see what happens?

I was afraid the dill would be really strong, so I used a rather light hand with it – should have used more. The scones have a very light dill scent and flavor, but I think I could have doubled it and had a better result. The ricotta gives the scones a very creamy texture and the honey sweetens them just perfectly. This one is well worth repeating, with some extra dill – I doubled it in the recipe below.

Savory Scones with Honey, Ricotta and Dill

2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup herbal honey
1 large egg
1/2 cup cream or whole milk
1 tbsp. dill, chopped
5 oz. ricotta cheese
Additional cream or milk for glazing

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. In another bowl, lightly whisk the olive oil, honey, egg, cream or milk and 2 tsp. of the dill. Use a pastry cutter or fork to blend the ricotta cheese with the flour mixture until the mixture makes pea-size crumbs.

Make a well in the flour mixture and add the olive oil mixture. Stir with a wooden spoon until a dough ball forms. Remove the dough ball to a lightly floured surface and knead lightly, just enough to form a workable ball.

Pull off about 1/8 cup-size pieces of dough, roll each in your hands to form a ball, and lightly flatten a bit. Place dough pieces on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper or a Silpat, about 1 inch apart. Brush tops with more cream or milk and sprinkle with the remaining 1 tsp. dill. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until golden brown.

Here’s one from our recent trip to Florence, Italy, in September. Our room at the Plaza Hotel Lucchesi along the Arno River had a great view of the river and the Piazza de Michelangelo on a hill across the water. We took a bus up there one day and got some amazing photos of the city skyline. See more pix from our trip at my Flickr site.

I looked online for recipes, and found several for Straccotto, or Italian pot roast with red wine and tomatoes. I didn’t really follow a recipe for this, but sort of combined elements of several. It turned out great. I served it over rotini pasta with a green salad and garlic bread.

I’m not a big fan of red wines, but I did want to use one for this recipe. So I went to Angry Adam’s, a local wine, beer and cheese shop, for a recommendation. Randy recommended a Guenoc Lake Country Petite Sirah. It was perfect – not too dry or tannic; nice and soft on the palate.

The Parmigiano Reggiano cheese rind is not strictly necessary, but I found it really smoothed out the flavor of the sauce. I buy it from D’Italia through Amazon.com – it’s a lot less expensive that way.

Straccotto – Italian Pot Roast

3 lb. chuck roast
3 tbsp. olive oil
1 onion, peeled, halved and thinly sliced
3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 cup red wine
1/2 oz. dried porcini mushrooms (I used shiitake, because I already had them)
1 cup hot water
1 14.5-oz. can stewed tomatoes, chopped
1 sprig fresh rosemary
1 bay leaf
1 2×2-inch square of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese rind (optional but gives great flavor)
Salt and pepper to taste

In a small bowl, add hot water to 1/2 ounce dried mushrooms and set aside to rehydrate. Reserve the liquid.

Heat olive oil in a large Dutch oven. Sprinkle one side of the meat with salt and pepper, then place it in the Dutch oven, seasoned side down. Brown well, season the second side, then turn to brown the second side. Remove to a plate.

Add onions and garlic to the pot and saute till softened and lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Add the wine and deglaze the pan (stir to loosen browned bits on the bottom of the pan). Bring to a simmer and cook for a few minutes, to cook off some of the alcohol and reduce the wine a little.

Chop the mushrooms and add them to the pot, along with the reserved liquid, stewed tomatoes, rosemary, bay leaf and cheese rind. Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce to a simmer and simmer, covered, for 1 1/2 hours. Using large tongs, turn the meat over, cover, and simmer for another 1 1/2 hours.

Served over rotini with garlic bread and a green salad. Delish!

Edited to add: I realized I forgot a step at the end. The sauce was a little looser than I wanted, so I mixed 2 tbsp. cornstarch with 4 tbsp. water and stirred that in to thicken it up.

We had about 16 people over for Thanksgiving, and since we had spent two weeks in Europe, including a week in Italy, in September, naturally I wanted to serve antipasto for an appetizer.

But most people were holding out for the main event, so there was quite a bit left over. What to do with all these preserved meats and veggies? Put them in a pasta, of course! I found this great-sounding recipe and modified it for what we had and like, and it turned out great. I’ll definitely make it again.

This is my entry in Grow Your Own, the foodie event started by Andrea of Andrea’s Recipes and hosted this month by House of Annie. GYO celebrates the food we grow ourselves. We grew the basil and parsley for the pesto in this dish, and I froze pesto to use during the winter, since the basil was so prolific. The round-up of all the entries has been posted, so check them out!

Antipasto Pesto Pasta
1 medium roasted red bell pepper, peeled and chopped
1/2 cup marinated cocktail onions, halved
1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives, chopped
3 ounces salami, chopped
1/2 cup marinated mushrooms, chopped
1/2 cup marinated quartered artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
1/3 cup refrigerated pesto
8 ounces uncooked bow-tie pasta (about 2 cups)
1/2 cup (2 ounces) grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, divided
1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted

Place the roasted pepper, onions, olives, salami, mushrooms, and artichokes in a large bowl and mix gently.

Cook the pasta according to package directions, omitting salt; drain. In a small bowl, mix together the pesto and 1/4 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese; add to bell pepper mixture, and toss to combine. Add pasta to bell pepper mixture and stir.

Sprinkle each serving with 2 tsp. remaining cheese and 2 tsp. pine nuts.

Antipasto Pasta

The Cliffs of Moher on Ireland’s western coast are 800 feet high at their highest point, and five miles long. We were walking up a slate staircase toward a guard house on a hill near the cliffs when I took this picture. Over a hundred years ago, the property owner built a wall of slate there as well, to prevent people from being blown over the cliff by the downdraft.

We were pretty amazed that people were permitted to walk around that hill to go out on that ledge, though. Below is a closeup showing cracking in the rock under his feet.

Cliffs of Moher, County Clare, Ireland

Fractured Rock, 400 feet up

This is my contribution to the weekly photography challenge at PhotoFriday.com. The topic this week is Slowly.

At Admiral’s Landing on the riverfront, we were treated to a rousing call to revolution, circa 1779, and a gun salute to each of the rebelling colonies. It was great fun.

You need a good, stainless steel pan for this recipe – a non-stick pan just won’t get a good sear on the meat to make it golden-brown and delicious!

Herb-Encrusted Lamb Chops
Serves 2

4 lamb rib chops, about 1 inch thick
1 tbsp. chopped fresh sage
2 tbsp. chopped fresh rosemary
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. coarse salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
Olive oil

Remove the chops from the refrigerator and salt both sides lightly. Leave out to come to room temperature, about 30 minutes. The salt will draw moisture from the chops, which will then be drawn back in, seasoning them beautifully.

Prepare herbs and garlic and mix together with pepper in a small bowl.

When ready to cook, drizzle one side of each chop with a little olive oil; cover with herb/garlic mixture and press to adhere. Heat a large stainless-steel saute pan on medium-high heat. Add 1 tbsp. olive oil and swirl the oil around the pan. Add chops, herbed side down, to pan and cook for one minute. With tongs, turn chops over and cook for two minutes. Check temperature with an instant-read thermometer; it should be 130 degrees F for medium-rare. If it’s still a little low, cover the pan and let rest, off the heat, for about five minutes. If you’d like it more done, let cook another minute before resting.

I served this with Duchess potatoes mm mm good!