It's About Time

January is National Soup month. Who knew? And while we are featuring a soup in this meal, the truth is that the soup was just a vehicle for justifying the bread. We couldn’t just have bread and wine, could we?

We each independently saw the “Martha Stewart Bakes” episode on PBS that featured this fantastic bread and were determined to make it. Meg even went so far as to purchase a Dutch Oven in which to bake it.



Is this beautiful or what? Olive Cheese Bread fresh from the oven!

Timing is everything with this meal. The bread is started a day before it actually bakes. The soup can be started two days in advance or cooked completely in a single day. The poached pears are also prepared ahead and chilled. All and all, a pretty brilliant use of time.

It was Meg’s task to get the bread started for this meal, which required finding olives.  She was unable to find pitted Manzanilla olives, but purchased green California olives packed in salt water, pimiento stuffed jumbo green olives, and pitted green Sicilian-spiced olives from the deli.  After taste testing the Gruyere with each olive at least once, she selected the jumbo stuffed variety.  Out came the pimiento, (added to homemade pasta sauce), and into the bread batter.

The green California olives were over-powered by the Gruyere, but would pair well with a mild cheddar in this same recipe.  The spicy Sicilian beauties are probably best enjoyed with some red wine (lots), crusty bread and peppery olive oil for dipping.

Olive and Cheese Loaf
Martha Stewart – Martha Bakes PBS

Ingredients
3 cups bread flour, plus more for work surface
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
3/4 teaspoon instant or active-dry yeast
1 3/4 cups 1/2-inch cubes aged Gruyere cheese
1 1/2 cups pitted 1/4-inch-thick slices green Spanish olives
1 1/2 cups cool water (55 to 65 degrees), plus more as needed

Directions

In a medium bowl, stir together flour, salt, and yeast; stir in cheese and olives. Add water and, using a wooden spoon or your hand, mix until a wet, sticky dough forms, about 30 seconds, adding additional water, 1 tablespoon at a time, if needed. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature until dough has doubled in size and surface becomes dotted with bubbles, 12 to 18 hours.

Generously flour work surface; scrape dough onto work surface. Lightly flour hands, a bowl scraper, or a spatula and lift edges of dough toward the center. Nudge and tuck edges of dough to make round.

Place a piece of parchment paper on work surface and generously dust with flour. Gently place dough on parchment, seam-side down. If dough is tacky, lightly dust top with flour. Cover dough loosely with wax paper and two clean kitchen towels. Let down stand in a warm, draft-free spot until almost doubled in size, 1 to 2 hours.

Gently poke dough with your finger; dough should hold the impression. If it springs back, let rise 15 minutes more.

Ten minutes before dough has finished rising, preheat oven to 475 degrees on a conventional oven (450 degrees on a convection oven) with a rack in the lower third. Place a covered 3 1/2-quart cast-iron or enameled cast-iron Dutch oven (with plastic handle removed and screw hole plugged with aluminum foil) in center of rack.

Using pot holders, carefully remove preheated Dutch oven from oven and uncover. Uncover bread and loosen bottom with a large spatula. With the aid of the parchment paper, invert bread into preheated Dutch oven so that it is seam-side up. Cover Dutch oven and transfer to oven; bake for 25 minutes.

Uncover and continue baking until bread is dark brown but not burnt, 15 to 30 minutes more. Using a heatproof spatula or pot holders, gently lift bread from Dutch oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Why this was such a good idea. Can you say cheese?

Slow-Cooker Minestrone
From Cook's Country | August/September 2010
SERVES 6 TO 8

You can use any small pasta, such as orzo, ditalini, or small elbows. We recommend great northern or cannellini beans. Serve the minestrone with grated parmesan cheese.

INGREDIENTS
1 cup dried medium-sized white beans (see note), rinsed and picked over
6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 onions, chopped fine
4 carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
8 garlic cloves, minced
1 (28-ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes, roughly crushed by hand
8 cups low-sodium chicken broth
3 cups water
2 cups loosely packed basil leaves, chopped
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 medium zucchini, quartered lengthwise, seeded, and sliced 1/4 inch thick
1 bunch Swiss chard, stemmed, leaves chopped
1/2 cup pasta, small soup

INSTRUCTIONS

1. COOK BEANS: Bring beans and enough water to cover by 1 inch to low boil in medium saucepan over high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, until beans are just beginning to soften, about 20 minutes. Drain beans and transfer to slow cooker.

2. SAUTÉ AROMATICS: Heat 3 tablespoons oil in Dutch oven over medium heat until shimmering. Add onions and carrots and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add tomatoes and their juice and cook until pan is nearly dry, 8 to 12 minutes. Stir in broth, water, 1/2 cup basil, oregano, and pepper flakes and bring to boil; transfer to slow cooker. Cover and cook on low until beans are tender, 6 to 7 hours (or cook on high 5 to 6 hours).

3. FINISH SOUP: Stir zucchini, chard, and pasta into slow cooker and cook, covered, on high until pasta is tender, 20 to 30 minutes. Stir in remaining basil and remaining oil. Season with salt and pepper. Serve.

TO MAKE AHEAD: Soup can be made through step 2 and refrigerated in airtight container for 2 days. To finish, bring to boil in Dutch oven. Stir in zucchini, chard, and pasta; reduce heat to low; and simmer until pasta is tender, about 10 minutes.

A bottle of Chianti seemed like the perfect wine for this meal. As Chianti’s go this was not as robust as some we have had, but really, once we tasted the bread, believe or not, we didn’t care about the wine anymore.

Cranberry Cherry Poached Pears
Source: Raley’s “Something Extra”, Winter 2014
Prep: 20 minutes
Cook: 1 ½ to 3 hours
Chill: several hours
Serves: 6

1 cup 100% cranberry juice
1 cup 100% cherry juice
½ cup honey or agave nectar
¼ cup almond liqueur (or additional juice)
2 cinnamon sticks
2 lemon slices
6 firm but ripe Bosc or Bartlett pears

Stir all ingredients except pears in a large slow cooker. Peel pears and cut in half; scoop out seeds with a melon baller and add to slow cooker, turning pears to coat with liquid.

Cover and cook on high for 1 ½ hours or on low for 3 hours, turning pears over halfway through cooking. Remove from slow cooker and chill.

Remove pears and dried fruit from juices with a slotted spoon, discarding cinnamon sticks and lemon slices. Place juices in a small saucepan and cook over medium heat until reduced to a syrup; let cool.
Place pears in 6 small bowls and drizzle with reduced juices.

For an extra special presentation, top each with a dollop of vanilla Greek yogurt and toasted, sliced almonds.

Our unsolicited and biased opinions:

This was a busy week for us, and this meal was the perfect way to maximize our time.  The dry ingredients for the bread can be mixed and put into a Ziploc. The cheese and olives can be cubed and sliced respectively and stored in separate bags in the refrigerator. When you are ready to make the bread, bring the cheese and olives to room temperature before adding them to the flour. And, oh yes, no kneading is required. (The no kneading is what caught Sue’s attention, besides the ingredients, and made her think she could actually make this bread.) Meg thinks getting bread flour, which has a higher gluten content than regular white flour, is particularly important since this dough is not kneaded.

Two points worth mentioning about the soup: It’s so easy and it’s really easy. Seriously, the beauty of this soup is in how quickly it comes together, and once it is in the crock pot, you can forget about it. We made this ahead and refrigerated it as the recipe suggested. Ten minutes before the bread was done, we brought the soup to a boil and added the final ingredients. So by the time the bread had cooled ever so slightly, the soup was ready.  Timing is everything.

Unfortunately, the beans did not cook through. This may be due to our altitude. We followed the recipe times and will adjust for the next time. We would also double the amount of pasta. The recipe did not call for any salt. We added some to taste once it was served.

We chose to use agave nectar instead of honey in the poaching liquid for the pears to let the juice and the almond liqueur flavors come through. The picture doesn’t show the true ruby color of these pears. This is a visually stunning desert and has such complex flavors both tart and sweet.  We only fixed two pears but made the full recipe of the poaching liquid/syrup, and you will want to the same. It is lick the bowl good.

We would like to dedicate this meal to Bettye.  It is exactly the kind of welcoming meal we enjoyed so often around her kitchen table, catching up on news, commenting on the recipe and waiting for desert.  Sue and I were known to withhold the answer to the “What’s for desert?’ question to surprise Bettye, because truth be told, desert,(especially cookies), was her weakness.

We hope that when you prepare this meal you will gather loved ones around your table and share conversations and make memories to be cherished later.

We are glad to be back blogging.

 

 

 

 

 

Life happens . . . Hiatus

Today we regretfully take a leave of absence from “Saturday Night Specials”, due to family matters.

For twenty months we have joyfully anticipated preparing and sharing each new menu. That so many of you have viewed, and hopefully cooked, our meals is so gratifying and exciting… and we thank you so much!

We hope to resume our tasty journey in the near future and, as always, invite you to join us.

Cherry Serendipity

  

What to do with a big bag of sweet, soft chewy dried cherries?

First, macerate them in cherry Kijafa liqueur. 

Dried Cherries in Kijafa

 

Now, what to do with a big bowl of Kijafa soaked, sweet, soft , chewy, dried cherries?

It was obvious - toss with fresh peaches and scoop onto a buttery Galette crust.

 

 

  Throw it in the oven.

Dessert is covered. Perfect!

Peach and Dried Cherry Galette

Cream Pastry for 2 Crust Pie

2  2/3  c unbleached all-purpose flour
½ t salt
1 c (2 sticks) unsalted butter
7-8 T half & half

In a large bowl, combine flour and salt.  In a food processor or mixer, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  Add the half & half, 1 T at a time, until dough clumps together.  Gather the dough with your fingers.  Divide in half and form each half into a ball.  Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least ½ hour.

Preheat oven to 375

On a lightly floured work surface, roll out pastry balls one at a time to form 12 inch circles.  Lay on parchment lined cookie sheets.

Filling

6 large peaches, skins slipped, pitted, sliced into wedges
1 c dried sweetened cherries
¼ c sugar
1 T lemon juice
½ t cinnamon
½ t ginger
2 T cream
2 T turbinado sugar for dusting
1/3 cup slivered almonds

In a large bowl, toss the peach slices and cherries with the lemon juice, sugar, cinnamon, and ginger.  Let sit until the juices start to flow. Place mixture in the prepared crusts, leaving 1 ½ inches around the edges to fold over the fruit. Fold the pastry edges over the fruit. Baste the pastry edges with cream and sprinkle with turbinado sugar. Bake for 30 minutes or until pastry is nicely browned and juices bubble. 

Serve with vanilla ice cream.

Ice cream is drizzled with a little of the Kijafa!

Now what?

Let’s put some cherries with some rice, glazed turkey thighs (we already had a recipe for that) and crunchy celery.

That sounded a lot like a recipe that Meg spotted in a magazine somebody sent her by mistake.

Funny how it all comes together.

Turkey-Cherry Rice Salad

Serves: 8
Prep: 15 minutes
Source: Family Circle Magazine”, September 2013

1/3 c light mayo
¼ c 0% Greek yogurt
¼ t salt
¼ t pepper
2 c cooked whole grain rice blend
¾ lb cooked turkey breast, shredded
1 c sliced celery
1 c sweetened dried cherries
¼ c chopped walnuts
¼ c fresh parsley, chopped

In a large bowl whisk together mayo, yogurt, salt and pepper.  Stir in rice, turkey, celery, cherries, walnuts and parsley.

 

Now for some nourishment. Meg’s beautiful eggplant turned into a roasted vegetable spread to slather on toasted baguette slices. It was perfect with the wine while we followed this serendipitous salad recipe.

 

Ferrari-Carano Fume Blanc

Eggplant and Red Pepper Spread
Recipe developed by Sue & Meg For Saturday Night Specials 9/7/13
 

Serves: 4
Prep time: 1 hour 20 minutes

 

1 1 ½ lb eggplant
1 large red bell peppers
12 cloves garlic
1 t white wine vinegar
½ c Kalamata olives, sliced
1 T avocado or olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Baguette, thinly sliced and toasted, or crackers

 

Preheat oven to 400’. 

 

Wash eggplant and prick all over with a fork.  Place on a non-stick cookie sheet and bake for one hour.  Let cool.  When cool enough to handle, cut in half and remove the flesh, including the seeds, unless they are bitter.  (Taste to determine.)  Roughly chop and put into a sieve to drain.

 

While you are roasting the eggplant, char the peppers and set aside in a paper bag or covered bowl to loosen the skin.  When the skins peel easily, remove as much of the skin as possible, then remove the stems and seeds and roughly chop.

 

Press the garlic cloves.   Put all ingredients into a medium bowl, adding salt and pepper to taste.  Cover and refrigerate for several hours or overnight to let the flavors blend.  Serve with toasted bread slices or crackers.

Our unsolicited and biased opinions:

Because we featured this salad as our main course, we doubled the recipe. And we used turkey thighs, but no surprise there. We also opted to serve the dressing on the side.

Cranberry-Pomegranate Orange Glazed Turkey Thighs

The prep time in the original recipe is 15 minutes which assumes you have left over rice and leftover turkey. Starting from scratch adds about one and half hours, all of which can be done ahead of time.

We used Alton Brown’s oven baked rice recipe replacing the water with homemade chicken stock. It is fool proof and we love it.

As they say, life is just a bowl of cherries . . .

Grillin' and Chillin'

We are so enamored with the abundance of vegetables available now, we decided to go vegetarian for this meal. And what better way to eat your veggies than to grill them? We enjoyed this as our main meal, but it could also be a great appetizer for a party on the patio.

Here is a list of vegetables we selected:

Red onion
Scallions
Portobello mushrooms
Eggplant
Zucchini and yellow squash
Red, yellow and orange bell peppers
Bok choy
Baby potatoes

We opted for three sauces, as one is never enough!! And while they all have a garlic component, they are distinctive and equally delicious with every vegetable.  Don’t ask us to choose a favorite, but you could spread the left over aioli on a rock and make a meal of it. 

From bottom: Yogurt Sauce, Chimichurri, and Aioli

Chimichurri
Recipe developed by Sue & Meg For Saturday Night Specials 8/24/2013
3 cups Italian parsley leaves
2 large cloves, roughly chopped
1 small shallot, roughly chopped
3 anchovy fillets, roughly chopped
2 Tbsp. capers, rinsed
½ tsp. red pepper flakes
Zest of 1 lemon
3 tsp. red wine vinegar
¾ cup extra virgin olive oil

Add all ingredients except olive oil to a blender, blend on high. When fully blended, drizzle in olive oil until you get the consistency you desire.

Aioli
Recipe developed by Sue & Meg For Saturday Night Specials 8/24/2013

2 cloves garlic
1 Tbsp. white wine vinegar
1 egg
Salt & pepper to taste
1/3 cup olive oil
½ tsp. red pepper flakes

In a blender on high speed, mix garlic, vinegar, egg, salt & pepper until incorporated.  Drizzle in olive oil until aioli reaches thickness you desire. Remove from blender and stir in ½ tsp. red pepper flakes. Put in covered bowl in refrigerator until ready to use.

To serve, sprinkle a few red pepper flakes on top.

Yogurt Sauce
Source: “Cook’s Country”, June-July 2013

6 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
5 garlic cloves, minced
1/8 tsp. red pepper flakes
½  cup plain whole milk yogurt
3 Tbsp. chopped fresh mint (omitted in our version)
1 tsp. grated lemon zest
2 tsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. ground cumin
Salt & Pepper to taste

Combine oil, garlic, and pepper flakes in bowl. Microwave, uncovered, until garlic is golden brown and crispy, about 2 minutes. Strain garlic oil through fine mesh strainer into small bowl. Reserve garlic oil and crispy garlic separately.

Combine yogurt, mint, 1 Tbsp. garlic oil, lemon zest and juice, cumin, and ¼ tsp. salt in separate bowl; set aside while preparing eggplant.

Have we mentioned the crispy garlic? The technique uses the microwave to cook the garlic in olive oil until crispy. You not only get   fragrant garlic oil but the crispy garlic is fantastic sprinkled on the vegetables. This is a two minute dynamite process.

Being in the grilling mode, we even chose to grill some great sour dough bread that we doused with the garlic infused olive oil from the above process.

Sue got this wine with a fantastic “Groupon coupon”. Ever adventurous, she chose six bottles of red wine that she had never tried before for the amazing price of  $25.00.  It was a light and tart Pinot. We don’t think we would buy another bottle, but we drank it and  “nothing ventured, nothing gained”.

Now are you thinking, where is the “chillin”? We finally had the opportunity to make this wonderful strawberry balsamic ice cream that we have been thinking about all summer. It was well worth the wait! Meg is happy because we got to use Limoncello again. (She dreams about the Limoncello Granita from our second posting.) What elevates this ice cream from all other strawberry ice creams is the balsamic drizzle and the chiffonade of fresh basil. It is very rich and creamy and the fresh strawberry flavor really comes through. Do it now while the strawberries are fresh!

Strawberry Balsamic Ice Cream

 

Our unsolicited and biased opinions:

Eat more veggies!

Meg forgot the yogurt, so we substituted sour cream in the “yogurt” sauce. It worked really well. We omitted the mint on purpose.

There are so many variations of Chimichurri and the amount of parsley varies in each. We used a huge bunch of Italian parsley in ours.

Plant a radish, get a radish, never any doubt. That's why I love vegetables, you know what they're about! ~Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt

A Dessert Driven Dinner

So going down the path of Ernestine Ulmer who said “Life is uncertain. Eat Dessert first.”, we found dessert first and added the meal.

This all started with a recipe Sue found by following a link on a Whole Foods email. It has chocolate, it has bananas, it has spice and it has nuts! Who could blame us for building a meal around this dessert? So build we did. It is really quite easy when you get at least weekly emails from multiple recipe sites (only Sue).  It wasn’t long before we had this whole menu figured out.

Inspiration for this meal.

Frozen Bananas Dipped in Mexican Chocolate Ganache and Spicy Honeyed Peanuts

Author Notes: This rich and satisfying handheld treat marries the creamy sweetness of a frozen banana with the deep and spicy undertones of a dark chocolate ganache infused with cinnamon.

Peanuts roasted briefly in a coating of honey, cinnamon, and ground New Mexico chile, then dusted with flaky sea salt, add the perfect crunchy counterpoint, with a kick that keeps you coming back for another bite. It's one of my childhood treats -- my parents owned an ice cream parlor, and there was always a tray of frozen bananas dipped in crackle chocolate and rolled in nuts available. Now, I've recreated it for an adult palate. - indieculinary

Food52 Review: Apart from the time in the freezer, this dessert does not take much time to prepare. The spice of the chile and cinnamon in the nuts and chocolate make the humble banana a decadent treat. I enjoyed the creaminess of the banana against the dark, spicy chocolate and crunch of the peanutty brittle. - Kimberly Nichols

Serves 6

Spicy Honeyed Peanuts
1 1/2cup roasted, salted peanuts
1/3cup honey
1teaspoon ground New Mexico chile (or another spicy ground chile, like cayenne)
1teaspoon ground cinnamon
1teaspoon flaky sea salt, such as Maldon

Preheat an oven to 300 degrees F.

Dice the peanuts into small pieces; each peanut should be roughly quartered.

Stir the honey, ground chile, and ground cinnamon together, and microwave briefly (20 seconds is sufficient) or heat briefly on stovetop. You just need to warm the honey enough that it flows freely.
Toss the warm honey and spice mixture with the peanuts until coated.

Spread the peanuts on a silpat over a cookie sheet, and roast for about 10 minutes. Keep an eye on them and make sure they don't burn.

Cool. Once cooled, break apart with your hands into small bits, for coating the bananas.
Sprinkle flaky sea salt over the roasted peanut bits.

Frozen Bananas

6 medium, ripe bananas
8ounces good quality dark chocolate
4ounces heavy cream
1teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 1/2cup Spicy Honeyed Peanuts

Peel bananas and slice each in half at the midpoint on a slight diagonal.

Insert a popsicle stick carefully into the center of each banana half, pushing in as far as you can go without the stick coming out the other side.

Place the bananas on a wax paper-covered cookie sheet and place in the freezer to chill and firm while you make the ganache.

Chop your chocolate into chunks no bigger than 1/2 inch each, and place in a bowl with room for whisking.

Combine the heavy cream and cinnamon in a small pot and bring to a simmer. Once bubbling, pour over the chocolate pieces. Let sit for one minute.

After a minute has passed, whisk vigorously. A smooth ganache will come together before your eyes.
If chocolate chunks remain despite your best whisking efforts, set your bowl of ganache aside for a moment. Add some water to the pot you've just emptied of cream and bring it to a boil. Set your bowl of ganache above it, completely sealing the pot with the bowl, to create a double boiler. Give it a minute for the steam from the boiling water to heat the bowl, and then whisk again, until your ganache is smooth.

Once your ganache is smooth, dip a banana in it to coat. (Note: I've had you make a little more ganache than you'll need, for ease of banana immersion in the dipping phase. I trust you will find a yummy way to use any leftover ganache.)

Set the dipped banana onto some peanuts and press additional peanuts onto the top side. Set the banana back on the wax paper-covered cookie sheet and press peanuts by hand onto any side left uncovered.

Repeat ganache-dipping and peanut-coating process with each banana.

Return tray of bananas to the freezer. Freeze at least two hours before serving.

We know we have waxed poetic about our previous favorite margarita (the one with the fresh orange juice) but this time around we chose a more traditional version. These are very potent. They will have you dancing, but don’t dance and drive.

Our new favorite margarita

Margarita

By Erika Kotite • January 23, 2013 • 9 Comments
Source: Food 52
Serves 2

4ounces tequila
2ounces Cointreau
2ounces fresh-squeezed lime juice (plus spent lime rind)
1/2ounce agave syrup
Ice
Coarse sea salt
Additional lime wedges (for garnish)

Mix tequila, Cointreau, lime juice and agave syrup in a shaker or large measuring cup filled partway with ice and stir or shake until thoroughly chilled.

Spread salt on a plate. Rub rims of two rocks glasses with the spent lime. Turn glasses upside down in the salt. Fill glasses with ice and pour in the margarita liquid. Add lime wedge to each.

Grilling fresh corn is what makes this salad perfect for summer.

 

Grilled Shrimp, Corn, and Tomato Salad
From Good Housekeeping

Ingredients
2 limes, can use 1 more lime if needed
4 tablespoon(s) olive oil
3/4 teaspoon(s) salt
Ground red pepper, (cayenne)
1 teaspoon(s) 1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon(s) ground cumin
1 pound(s) (large) shrimp, shelled and deveined, with tail part of shell left on if you like
3 ear(s) corn, husks and silks removed
4 medium tomatoes, each cut in half and seeded
2 medium (about 4 ounces each) poblano chiles
1 head(s) green or red leaf lettuce, thinly sliced

Directions
Prepare outdoor grill for covered direct grilling over medium heat.
Meanwhile, from limes, grate 1 teaspoon peel and squeeze 3 tablespoons juice. In cup, with fork, mix lime juice with 2 tablespoons oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon lime peel, and pinch ground red pepper. Set dressing aside.

In medium bowl, with fork, mix coriander and cumin with remaining 2 tablespoons oil, 1/2 teaspoon lime peel, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and pinch ground red pepper. Brush corn and tomatoes with half of oil mixture. Toss shrimp in oil mixture remaining in bowl.

Place corn and whole poblanos on hot grill rack. Cover grill and cook corn and poblanos 10 to 12 minutes or until corn is browned in spots and skin on poblanos is charred and blistered on all sides, turning over occasionally. Transfer corn to cutting board. Transfer poblanos to large sheet of foil. Wrap foil around poblanos and allow to steam at room temperature 15 minutes or until cool enough to handle.

While poblanos steam, place shrimp and tomatoes on hot grill rack (or hot flat grill topper). Cover grill and cook shrimp 4 to 5 minutes or just until opaque throughout, turning shrimp over once. Cook tomatoes 4 to 6 minutes or until lightly browned, turning over once. Transfer shrimp to large bowl and tomatoes to cutting board.

Remove poblanos from foil. Peel off skins and discard. Cut each poblano lengthwise in half; remove seeds and membranes. Cut poblanos crosswise into thin strips; add to shrimp in bowl. Cut corn kernels from cobs; add to same bowl. Peel off and discard skin from tomatoes. Cut tomatoes into thin strips; add to same bowl. Add 2 tablespoons dressing to shrimp mixture; toss to coat.

In another large bowl, toss lettuce with remaining dressing.

To serve, place lettuce on platter; top with shrimp mixture.

Our unsolicited and biased opinion:

As usual, we went for the 16-20 count shrimp for the salad. We think the presentation is better and the shrimp are more succulent.

The recipe is written for an outdoor grill. We used an indoor Panini grill for everything but charring the poblano chilies, which we did over an open gas flame. All of this could easily be done under an oven broiler.

Grilling the tomatoes didn’t noticeably enhance the flavor, and next time around we will use fresh halved grape tomatoes. Because we love citrus, we doubled the lime zest, which was perfect for us. This is not a spicy dish, so don’t be hesitant about the cayenne. We followed the recipe and used red leaf lettuce but next time we will use romaine for its crispness.

Despite following the Spicy Honeyed Peanut recipe to the letter, we found it too sticky to easily break apart. (Notice the chunks of peanuts on the bananas.) Next time around we are going to use brown sugar instead of the honey. We still managed to glump it onto the bananas and eat them. The peanut combination would stand on its own as a topping for a sundae or eating with reckless abandon as you are making it . . .  not that we would know.

This dessert lived up to our expectations. We used a Pasilla chile which added a smokiness and slight heat to the peanut coating.

We had about a quarter cup of ganache left and combined it with some of the remaining salted roasted peanuts. Just enough for a late night snack.

Pizza Celebrazione

Sue needed an “Italy fix”, which translated into a pizza extravaganza for us. A little Chianti, a little IL Divo, a couple of great pizzas, and we were transported to Florence.

Several months ago, we took advantage of a sale at World Market and we each bought a pizza stone.  The stone came with a pizza cutter and a serving rack. We christened Sue’s stone with the goat cheese tart on a previous blog, and used both stones for this pizza party. By using both stones we were able to keep the first pizza hot while baking the second one. We now consider these a particularly good investment and a great addition to our cooking paraphernalia.

A taste of Italy.

Basic Pizza Dough

Serves: 4 as main course or 8 as appetizer
Source: “The Italian Cooking Encyclopedia”, Hermes House Press,1997

Ingredients
2 ½ tbsp. fresh cake yeast or 1 pkge dry yeast (1 T)
1 c lukewarm water
pinch of sugar
1 t salt
3 – 3 ½ c unbleached white flour

Warm a medium mixing bowl by swirling some hot water in it.  Drain .  Place the yeast in the bowl, and pour on the warm water.  Stir in the sugar, mix with a fork, and allow to stand until the yeast has dissolved and starts to form. 5 – 10 minutes.

Use a wooden spoon to mix in the salt and about one third of the flour.  Mix in another third of the flour, stirring with the spoon until the dough forms a mass and begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl.

Sprinkle some of the remaining flour onto a smooth work surface.  Remove the dough from the bowl and begin to knead it, working in the remaining flour a little at a time.  Knead for 8 – 10 minutes.  By the end the dough should be elastic and smooth.  Form it into a ball.

Lightly oil a mixing bowl.  Place the dough in the bowl.  Stretch a moistened and wrung-out dish towel across the top of the bowl, and leave it to stand in a warm place until the dough has doubled in volume, about 40 -50 minutes or more, depending on the type of yeast used.  (If you do not have a warm enough place, turn the oven on to medium heat for 10 minutes before you knead the dough.  Turn it off.  Place the bowl with the dough in it in the turned off oven with the door closed and let it rise there.)  To test whether the dough has risen enough, poke two fingers into the dough.  If the indentations remain, the dough is ready.

Punch the dough down with your fist to release the air.  Knead for 1 – 2 minutes. 

If you want to make 2 medium pizzas, divide the dough into 2 balls.  If you want to make 4 individual pizzas (in pans 10 ½ inches in diameter), divide the dough into 4 balls.  Pat the ball of dough out into a flat circle on a lightly floured surface.  With a rolling pin, roll it out to a thickness of about 5/8 – ½ inch.  If you are using a pizza pan, roll the dough out about ¼ inch larger than the size of the pan for the rim of the crust.

Place in the lightly oiled pan, folding the extra dough under to make a thicker rim around the edge.  If you are baking the pizza without a round pan, press some of the dough from the center of the circle towards the edge, to make a thicker rim.  Place it on a lightly oiled flat cookie sheet.  The dough is now ready for filling.

Baked eggplant for Sicilian pizza

Sicilian Pizza
Serves: 2

Source: “The Italian Cooking Encyclopedia”, Hermes House Press 1997

Ingredients

1 small eggplant, cut into thin rounds
2 T olive oil
½ recipe risen Pizza Dough
½ recipe tomato sauce
6 oz mozzarella cheese, sliced
½ c pitted black olives
1 T drained capers
¼ c grated Pecorino cheese
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 400’ F.  Brush one or two baking sheets with oil.  Brush the eggplant rounds with olive oil and arrange them on the baking sheet(s).  Bake for 10 – 15 minutes, turning once, until browned and tender.  Remove the eggplant slices from the baking sheet(s) and drain on paper towels.
Raise the oven temperature to 425’F.  Roll out the pizza dough into two 10 inch rounds.  Transfer to baking sheets and spread with the tomato sauce.

Pile the eggplant slices on top of the tomato sauce and cover with the mozzarella.  Dot with the black olives and capers.  Sprinkle the Pecorino cheese liberally over the top, and season with plenty of salt and pepper.  Bake for 15 – 20 minutes, until the crust on each pizza is golden.

Cook’s tip:  For best results choose olives that have been marinated in extra virgin olive oil and flavored with herbs and garlic.

Before baking.

Hot out of the oven!

Mushroom, Artichoke, and Prosciutto Pizza

Serves: 2
Source of topping: “Oprah Magazine”, June 2013
Source of Pizza Dough: “The Italian Cooking Encyclopedia”, Hermes House Press, 1997

Ingredients

1 recipe risen Pizza Dough
½ lb mushrooms, sliced, cooked in 1 T olive oil until tender, seasoned with salt & pepper
2 (6 oz) jars marinated (or plain) artichoke hearts, drained and sliced
2 c shredded mozzarella
8 very thin slices prosciutto (4 oz)
1 t ground black pepper
Olive oil to taste

Preheat the oven to 425’F.

Cook the mushrooms.  Set aside.

Roll out the pizza dough.  Add the toppings evenly across the dough.  Sprinkle with olive oil and black pepper.

Bake for 15 – 20 minutes until crust is golden and cheese is bubbly.

Before baking

New pizza and remnants of first pizza. 

Meg got a bottle of California avocado oil at Costco. We  tried it in the vinaigrette and liked it a lot. It was soft and added a round flavor to the dressing. Throw on a handful of toasted pine nuts and a salad is born.  And just to be honest here, the arugula salad was really good, but superfluous. We wanted to give the illusion of creating a healthy meal. It was really all about the pizza.

The Chianti was a purchased during a wine tasting class at Total Wine last year. We are pretty sure we have now consumed  both of our bottles and need to re-stock. It was a little over our normal wine budget at $16.99 on sale but well worth it.

La Castellina Chianti Classico

And to top off the meal, peaches and more wine – how much better can it get? This recipe, Pesche al Vino, peaches in wine,  is courtesy of Judy Witts Francini, a fellow blogger that Sue follows. Judy had the wonderful sense to go to Italy, fall in love and spend the last 20 years living in Tuscany. (Sue’s dream in another life.)

For this dessert to “wow”, the fruit needs to be tree-ripened and sweet. We used a Vino Verde, a slightly effervescent white wine that has become one of our favorites. The peaches are skinned, sliced into a serving glass, add a scant teaspoon of sugar and cover with wine. The wine dissolves the sugar and the sugar releases the wonderful juice from the peaches. We think this a perfect ending (dare we say luscious?) for any summer meal, and is so easy to fix. 

Pesche al Vino

Our unsolicited and biased opinions:

It really strained our patience waiting for these pizzas to cool a little after taking them out of the oven, but they were easier to cut and serve.

The pizza dough and the Sicilian topping came from “The Encyclopedia of Italian Cooking”. If you get the book there is also a recipe for a tomato sauce for pizza. We made our own using a tomato sauce purchased from Bella Italia here in Reno. We added our own spices and garlic before simmering to reduce it to the consistency we wanted.

When you use a pizza stone, you pre-heat it, which make it super-hot and yields a crunchy crust.  The recipe uses a metal pan, which doesn’t require pre-heating. You may need to adjust your cooking time depending on your cooking method.

Both of these pizzas would make a great party appetizer and stay warm on the stones for serving. To make serving easier, make the crust oblong to fit on the stone (or baking sheet) and cut into squares.  For a party, precooking the mushrooms and eggplant makes assembly a breeze.

Constructing a pizza consists of heaping all the things you love on a piece of homemade crust. We considered possibly 10 combinations before selecting the two we made. The possibilities are limitless, so use your imagination and have your own party (Celebrazione).


“You better cut the pizza in four pieces because I'm not hungry enough to eat six.”

  Yogi Berra quotes (American professional Baseball Player and Manager. b.1925)

Ciao!

Cool and Easy

The entire month of July is “Reno is Artown”: a month- long celebration of the arts. Today was visual arts day, and we have been on the road since 8:00 a.m. visiting at least seven of the venues. Most were in private gardens in old southwest Reno and featured painting, pottery, jewelry, glass, fiber arts, welded steel sculptures and various other fabulous stuff! It was fascinating to meet the artists and see their creative repurposing of vintage items.

 

It is now 4:30 p.m. and after a day like today, all we could think about was something easy to fix and cool to eat. This recipe has several exotic sounding ingredients - including green mango, dried shrimp and fish sauce.  We found all 3 items at the Manila Hongkong market here in Sparks. Meg is becoming a regular there and always gets assistance locating any elusive ingredient. For you locals, this is where we got the kecap manis, Asian egg noodles, sweet chili sauce, and black sesame seeds used in previous blogs.

Crab Salad with Green Mango and Coconut

 

Crab Salad with Green Mango And Coconut

 

Serves: 4 – 6
Source: “Cool Food”; Laurel Glen Publishing 2002

 

2 garlic cloves, peeled
2 small red chilies
2 T dried shrimp
2 T fish sauce
3 T lime juice
3 t brown sugar
½ c shredded coconut
1 ½ c shredded green mango
½ c mint leaves, (torn if very big)
½ c cilantro
3 kaffir lime leaves, shredded, (lime zest)
2 t thinly shredded, pickled ginger
1 lb fresh crabmeat

banana leaves (optional)
crushed roasted peanuts
lime wedges for garnish

 

Preheat the oven to 350’ F.  Place the garlic, chilies, dried shrimp, and ½ t salt in a mortar and pestle.  Pound to a paste, then whisk in the fish sauce, lime juice, and brown sugar with a fork.

 

Place the shredded coconut on a baking tray and bake for 3 – 5 minutes, shaking the tray occasionally to ensure even toasting.  Watch the coconut closely, as it will burn easily.

 

Place the shredded mango in a large bowl and add the mint, cilantro, kaffir lime leaves, ginger, coconut, and crabmeat.  Pour on the dressing and toss together gently.

 

Place a piece of banana leaf (if using) in each serving bowl.  Mound some crab salad on top, sprinkle with the peanuts, and serve immediately with lime wedges.

**Note: Fresh shredded coconut is delicious, so if you have the time, remove the skin from a coconut and shred using a vegetable peeler.  The banana leaves are for presentation only and are not edible.

Alfresco dining

We loved this salad! Every forkful seemed to highlight a different component. The green mango is crunchy and slightly tart. The mint and cilantro add a burst of freshness. The dressing is complex and rich. Every bite is a party in your mouth. And oh yeah, there is crab, too. 

 

The coconut lime cooler seemed like a perfect match for this salad. We chose it because of the similar ingredients. It was really light and refreshing.  Try to find the Taste Nirvana coconut water with “chunks” of coconut – it is worth the effort.

 

Coconut Lime Cooler

 

Serves: 1

Source: “Raley’s Extra” quarterly; raleys.com

 

Taste Nirvana Coconut Water recommended for this recipe for its nifty floating chunks of coconut.

 

3 oz sparkling water

2 oz Taste Nirvana Coconut Water
1 oz lime juice
1 oz rum
1 t chopped cilantro

Stir all ingredients together and pour over ice in a tall glass.  Garnish with a lime slice.

 

Sue recently tasted the Oikos Toasted Coconut Vanilla Greek yogurt and fell in love at first spoonful. The dessert was pretty much built around using this yogurt. Grilled pineapple and candied ginger were the perfect partners  for the yogurt. There is no recipe. Just grill up some fresh pineapple slices, dollop with yogurt and candied ginger! Be prepared to lick the plate!

 

Grilled pineapple with Toasted Coconut Greek Yogurt and Candied Ginger

Our unsolicited and biased opinions:

Using the mortar and pestle for the dressing prep was not practical. The dried shrimp are very hard and resisted Sue’s every effort to become part of the paste. She quickly said, ”life’s too short”, and got out the mini-processor. Even with mechanical help it never became a paste, which we were fine with, as it added small bits of  color to the salad. Once it was finely chopped, we added the remaining dressing ingredients to the processor.

 

 

We substituted lime zest for the kaffir lime leaves and used flaked unsweetened coconut. Those were our only changes.

This whole meal is a trip to the tropics, sans airfare . . . mission accomplished – cool and easy.