Easy Summer Fruit Salad

Sorry I haven't written in a while. This new job makes it hard not only to cook but take some time to shoot and write about it. But this fruit salad, taken to a potluck BBQ, was easy. The sizes don't really matter. We had some blueberries from my folks garden, some left over cantaloupe. I bought a watermelon to make up the difference.

1/1 medium watermelon
1/2 cantaloupe
1/2 cup blueberries, thought I would have used more if I'd had them
1 tbsp minced fresh mint
1/4 tspn sugar

Using a small melon baller, remove all the fruit from the water melon and the cantaloupe, reserving all the removed fruit and the empty watermelon half. Using a large metal spoon, scrape out any remaining fruit, leaving a smooth surface. Pour reserved fruit, mint and sugar in bowl and mix well. Let sit in fridge for 30 minutes before serving for flavors to set.

Pretty, simple and tasty. Would work with almost any combination of summer fruits.

Apple Pie Beauty

I've said it before and I'll say it again - my sweetie is the real baker in this house. He made this beautiful apple pie recently, using the Fannie Famer Cookbook recipe. Isn't it gorgeous? Most importantly, it tasted as good as it looked!

Mother's Day Dessert

My beautiful mom was over for brunch yesterday and I wanted to make her something special. In the dessert category, she likes raspberries or oranges with chocolate, raspberries with flan, and lemon curd, among other things. Therefore, I decided to combine some of these for what I am naming the Lemon Nell, after my mom.

It is sort of a parfait, sort of a trifle. In wine glasses, I layered lemon curd, raspberries, angel food cake and topped it off with fresh whipped cream and fresh mint from the garden. I made all the ingredients earlier in the morning, then assembled it just before serving. It was simple, summery and very sweet.

First I made the lemon curd, since it takes some time in the fridge. Whisk 4 eggs, 3/4 cup sugar and the juice of 2 lemons in a small saucepan. Add 1 softened stick of unsalted butter and lemon zest from the squeezed lemons. Stir over medium heat 10-12 minutes until thick. Pour curd into small bowl and press plastic wrap directly onto the surface. Refrigerate for at least one hour. This was the first time I've made curd, so I think it will turn out a little smoother next time. It was delicious, but I saw some lumps in it. Think occasional lumpy pudding.

Next, make a simple syrup on the stove of sugar, water, lemon, and a splash of Chambord liquor. Finally, whip cream with a pinch of sugar and about a teaspoon of lemon zest.

You could use Angle Food Cake, sponge cake, etc. Just before serving, tear cake into bite-sized pieces. Put in the simple syrup bowl and press down so all pieces are soaked. In each glass, place a heaping tablespoon of the curd, followed by 3-4 pieces of the soaked cake, and finally a handful of fresh raspberries. Do the next layer in the same order, but start with about twice as much lemon curd. Top raspberries with whipped cream and a mint sprig.

Sweets from my Sweet

I can't take any credit for this, but I still had to show it to you since we are still talking about how amazing it was. Drew made this cake from Gourmet for Easter. I am not a huge sweets fan, but even I couldn't resist a few pieces - small pieces dragged out over a while because it's just so rich. Superb!

Cheesy Rice Fritters

Gourmet's Cheddar Rice Fritters. Need I say more? These were easily my favorite dish we served on Easter. I simply can't resist fried and cheesy! Who can?

Semi Homemade Stuff

Yup, I feel a little like Semi Homemade Sandra Dee. This meal was assembled from
pre-made Southwestern Eggrolls from Entree Vous that I just fried up and Rice-A-Roni's Mexican rice. I added some homemade guacamole and some homemade cantaloupe tomato salsa. I guess the key with premade foods is to add your own very fresh touches, good veggies or fruit, etc. After frying the egrolls I sprinkled some shredded cheddar on top, stuck them under a hot broiled for about 30 seconds, and topped them with some sour cream. And, hell, everything is good with an extra-limey gin and tonic.

My salsa was as follows:

3 roma tomatoes, seeds and pulp removed, diced
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1/2 red onion, finely chopped
1 small red pepper, seeds removed, minced
1/4 of a cantaloupe, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
splash of champagne vinegar

Mix together. Let sit for an hour or so if you can before serving.

My First Souffle

(Brace yourself - Modesty is being thrown out the window) Well, I am very proud of myself! It is pretty rare that I really like something I have made, or think I couldn't have done it better, but this was it (and it will probably never happen again)!

This weekend I made my very first souffle. You hear all sorts of warnings about how hard these are, that they might fall, blah blah blah. It was simple! I used a recipe from Epicurious for a Gruyere and Parmesan souffle. The only change I made was that in place of whole milk, which I forgot to buy, I used 1/2 skim milk and 1/2 half & half.

It did take slightly longer than the recipe said, about another 5 minutes, but then it was perfect! I served it with a green salad and some chicken salad for a light Sunday brunch.

Now I can try all sorts of variations - goat cheese, chives, etc. Please let me know if you have any good souffle recipes to pass along.

Cauliflower Risotto

Right up there in my cooking nirvana with cooking a masterpiece that takes several hours and looks AND tastes spectacular is cooking something really good with no menu based on ingredients solely from the kitchen, where I didn't go out and get a single thing. That may sound like nothing to those who keep a better stocked kitchen than myself, but to me its pretty special. The other night we had some chicken with cauliflower risotto. Why make risotto (such a fabulous rich creamy warm dish) with boring odd cauliflower? Because it's what we had in the house. And it was delicious!

I'll start with the chicken. I used the method I usually use when I'm in a hurry. First I browned two chicken breasts in just a little olive oil over medium high heat. Once browned, I set them on a plate to the side, turned the pan heat down to medium and added 2 strips of bacon to the pan. When they were just starting to release their fat, I added two crushed garlic cloves. I cooked these for two minutes, stirring, then added about a cup of white wine, a sprig of fresh thyme, a rib of celery chopped and the chicken breasts. I put the lid on the pan and let cook for about another 20 minutes. This may seem a little weird, but about 3 minutes before the chicken was done, I added a handful of cherry tomatoes. One, I did it for color, two, I was concerned that with the cauliflower risotto and the chicken and the bacon that the dish needed some acidity and something to lighten it up a bit.

OK. While the chicken was cooking I cooked a large head of cauliflower (cut into florets) in a medium pot of boiling water for 3 minutes. I drained the cauliflower in a strainer, and added the cauliflower to another medium pot with a tablespoon of olive oil and, over medium high heat, cooked the cauliflower a few minutes, stirring occasionally. You want the cauliflower to get browned in a few places. Then I added 1 cup of arborio rice and stirred for one minute. Next, I turned down the heat to medium, and added 1 cup of white wine. If you've made risotto before, you know its just a process of adding liquid and constant stirring until its at the consistency you want it at. So, I alternated between white wine and vegetable stock until it was where I wanted it. Then I added 1/4 cup of grated parmesan cheese, a tbsp of butter and salt and pepper to taste. Stir and serve! I thought it showed off the cauliflower well, with its mellow sweetness contrasting nicely with the cheese and wine flavor. By the way, the risotto would be a perfect veggie main dish also, and we had enough risotto to serve about 4 people.

Vidalia Onion Fig Chicken and Zucchini Fritters

There are some fabulous pre-made sauces out there, and for Christmas we received a bottle of Stonewall Kitchen's Vidalia Onion Fig Sauce. I served it over some chicken breasts and made some zucchini fritters (recipe from Epicurious) on the side. The chicken was very flavorful and I will definitely make again. The fritters were tasty, but just too greasy, even for me. I put them on paper towels after frying, but when I bit into them it felt like a pool of grease was exploding in my mouth. Not good. And I felt a little queasy as I tried to sleep later that night. So, I'll be making the chicken again, but staying away from those fritters.

For the chicken, I took 4 chicken breasts, browned them in a tbsp of olive oil over high heat. Then I put them in a casserole dish, poured about a cup of the sauce over them, tossed to coat, and stuck them in an oven that had been preheated to 350F. They cooked for about a half an hour and were perfect.

PS - those are my favorite gougeres also on the plate.

New Year's Lamb

I wanted to try something new and exciting for New Year's Eve, so I made my first Leg of Lamb, the Roast Leg of Lamb with Fennel Butter recipe from the Epicurious website. It was fabulous! The only change I made was to use a semi-boneless rather than boneless leg (because that's what I could get at the last minute). I cooked it until it was 130F, and it was a beautiful medium rare. The sauce was extremely tasty and easy to make.

I served it with a slightly boring broccoli cauliflower gratin from Epicurious - it was good, but nothing special. However, with a lot of tasty additions - more salt, cheese, etc, it might make a nice veggie main course.

Also, we started out with some Crab Canapes from the same website, which were good with champagne.

Happy New Year!

To Hell with Teeth - the Brittle Edition

The holiday gift-making has begun! Today I made brittle for the first time, based on a recipe in this month's Gourmet. It's a little different than the normal peanut brittle. It has a mixture of nuts - pistachio, almond and cashew. It calls for sliced almonds, though I used slivered and just chopped them up, and, when I ran out of those, I used chopped pecans. What makes this brittle special, however, is the cardamom, that heavenly scented seed. Cardamom would make a lovely perfume!

I found the recipe pretty easy to do, and didn't need to put it into the oven at any point. Next I'll wrap them up and include in my gift baskets.

Mulled Cider

To keep us warm this past weekend while walking around a local holiday festival, I made my friends and I some mulled cider. It's 30 degrees out! Not fair! But the cider helped. In the local supermarket's picnic supplies aisle, I found coffee cups with lids we could carry around with us. Also, I didn't, but you should feel free to add a splash of rum to get even warmer!

Here's the recipe:

1/2 gallon apple cider
1 orange slice
1 2-inch piece ginger, peeled and cut in half
2 cinnamon sticks
4-5 whole cloves

In a medium-to-large pot, simmer all ingredients for 20-25 minutes. Makes 4 large servings, probably 6-8 small cups.

Thanksgiving Inquiries

A few people have asked me what I am making for Thanksgiving. To be honest, we are doing Thanksgiving at my Mom's and it's pretty difficult to find anything to fit in with all the dishes that are already made. I smiled when I read this comment in a New York Times article last week: "After filling out an application in triplicate and pleading my case before the committee, I received probationary approval for a dish of string beans..."

We have so many dishes on our table, and tinkering with them is just not allowed. Mom and Dad make the turkey, Mom makes stuffing, gravy, cranberry relish and mashed potatoes, along with homemade bread and hot cross buns; Dad makes brussels sprouts; and Grandma makes green beans with ham and sweet potatoes with marshmallows. For dessert, Drew is making an apple pie and a pumpkin pie, and Mom is making creme brulee.

I have lots of thoughts of how we could update some of these dishes, make them lighter, etc., but tradition will not allow it (at this point). So, what else can I fit into this meal, particularly something healthy that can be made ahead so I am not using up kitchen space? I thought about a salad, but, unless it is served ahead of the dinner (which it wouldn't be), I just don't think it fits in.

So, in the end, I have decided to make a couple of snacks for before the dinner. I am going to make this Camembert mushroom dish from Food and Wine. Also, I got ahold of a lot of shrimp, so will probably make some sort of cold shrimp appetizer.

I hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving, and please send me recipes, comments or pictures of your Thanksgiving.

Update

Yup, ended up making the cheese/mushroom appetizer from Food and Wine. I also made a shrimp salad of shrimp, tarragon, celery, green onion, cayenne, salt, pepper and a tiny bit of mayo. I served them with french bread toasts. Both were a hit, especially the first one - who doesn't love melting, gooey cheese?

Black Bean Soup

Mmmm, soaked a bag of black beans overnight. The next afternoon i drained them, and poured in 4 cups of chicken stock, one diced onion, dash of cayenne, 1-2 tablespoons of cumin (I like more than more people, so use your judgment), salt, pepper, and a can of diced tomatoes. Cooked this for about an hour and a half, until the beans were cooked through. I served this with diced onion and shredded cheddar. Usually I top it with sour cream, but we were out. Still yummy.

The end of summer

With a frost quickly approaching, I decided to cook some of my garden's green tomatoes that will probably never have a chance to ripen. I made a fried green tomato salad of arugula (tossed in a red wine vinaigrette), bacon, crumbled blue cheese, and, yes, fried green tomatoes. I served this on the side of a steak that had first been marinated in the juice from half a lime, 2-3 minced garlic cloves, salt, pepper, and olive oil, and then was grilled. Easy, simple and very yummy.

Blueberry salad

An experiment that turned out pretty AND tasty - blueberry salad. I tossed mixed greens with a few blueberries, some halved yellow pear tomatoes, a little red onion, and a white wine vinaigrette. It was delicious and healthy. I have also seen similar salads that include crab or shrimp, which I'll try next time.

I also made chicken breasts topped with pesto, and though it doesn't look as pretty as the salad it was good. Just salted and peppered two breasts, topped with pesto (a little too much, as you can see by the photo) and baked at 425F for 30 minutes or so.

Close your eyes

And imagine you are floating in the ocean, and all you hear are waves crashing and the occasional kid playing on the beach. Wait, why are there cable bills and gas bills and student loan bills floating around me? Guess you can never go back to vacation. Last week on the beach we just swam and swam, rested, read, drank, and cooked a lot. We also played a lot of games, and you can see our Carcasonne in this shot of one of the pizzas I made one night. For some reason, pizza dough has always intimidated me - as if it's so simple I am sure I'll screw it up. But this actually went well, especially for a first time. I used the pizza dough recipe from the BBQ Bible, but then didn't actually bbq it - just stuck it in the oven. The toppings are calamata olives, sliced tomatoes that we brought from our garden, basil, pepperoni and fresh mozzarella. It was very tasty, and thin just like I like it.

Yummy Pork, Yucky Rice

So, the past couple of days have had some cooking successes and some cooking duds. The successes were the dishes I made for our Fourth of July get-together. I made a grilled pork loin with a peach chutney (still trying to use up those peaches) and a tomato tart. First, we put the marinated loin on the grill. It got pretty black and crispy on the outside, and after 25 minutes and after taking its temp repeately we thought it was done. Then we cut into it and it was clearly not, so we stuck it in the oven. Took another 45 minutes there, but when it came it was perfectly cooked. The chutney was our really ripe peaches with lots of Indian spices - a great compliment to the pork.

The tomato tart was a homemade pastry crust that, just before serving, I layered with sliced red and yellow tomatoes, homemade arugula pesto, and fresh mozzarella. Well, it wasn't quite as good as it has been before and I cite two problems: One, I LOVE garlic, don't get me wrong, but there was an insane amount of garlic in my arugula pesto - sadly overwhelming. Two, I should have had more cheese, for another layer. But, all in all, the Fourth was a success, and I was very thankful for the delectable dishes my friends brought.

And now to my complete failure the next night. Obviously I tweak recipes I get from cookbooks or the Internet or cookbooks all the time based on what I can find, afford, and personal tastes. But I guess when a recipe specifically says not to substitute something I should listen to that. I made a dish from Nigella Lawson's Forever Summer - Shrimp and Black Rice Salad with Vietnamese Dressing. She clearly states not to substitute wild rice for the black rice, but I couldn't find black rice, and I thought, 'oh, I'm sure it'll be fine.' Nope. It sucked. You shouldn't have to work this hard to eat. The dressing was yummy, the shrimp was fine, the rice was crappy. Chew, chew, chew. chew. chew. Pretty miserable.

Happy Day Off!

Yay for days off, when I can get some cooking done and still lie around on the couch watching the Tour de France. Feeling energetic, yesterday morning I got up early and made blueberry muffins for my sweetheart. and well, myself. I used what I hoped was the Fannie Farmer recipe, but since we are missing that exact page from our Fannie Farmer cookbook, it was a little guesswork. I know I used too many blueberries, but I wanted to use up what we had, and they surely can't hurt. They turned out pretty yummy, and since I started a diet the other day I was good and had them without any butter or anything. Still yummy.

For dinner I cooked Nigella Lawson's Vinegar Chicken, along with some roasted potatoes and steamed broccoli. I thought the chicken was good, but not great, though Drew loved it. I think maybe if I used a higher quality vinegar it might turn out a little more flavorful. Also, instead of using a whole chicken I used some chicken drumsticks, sans skin. My roasted potatoes were nothing to get excited about, as roasted potatoes should be. The best part of the meal was the sauce the chicken was in. Next time I will skip the potatoes and just have some good bread to soak up the sauce.

In between muffins and chicken, I worked on a marinade and a chutney for the pork loin we are having today for the big holiday. I'll write more about that once its been cooked and devoured. Off to tennis in the 95 degree heat!

Chops and Spoonbread

The most successful thing in our garden right now is our sage, and I guess I should actually start using some of what's out there instead of letting it stay and look pretty. Last night Drew seared some pork chops with sage, salt and pepper, then threw in a bottle of beer and let them marinate, and cooked some yummy spinach with lots of onion and garlic. I made the Cheddar Corn spoonbread from The New American Cheese cookbook. I've made it before and it's been a hit repeatedly, but for some reason this time it was overwhelmingly salty. Also, the recipe calls for using only two egg whites, I used three, and I felt like the texture was the best its ever been. Next time I'll leave out the salt and keep the third egg white. Of course, the saltiness didn't keep me from eating it cold out of its dish on the couch this morning.