Ratios

I'm an intuitive cook; I just "feel" my way through it.  I have a good foundation in culinary techniques, but it's my sense of what flavors and textures go together that defines my way of cooking. In the kitchen I don't necessarily "play by the rules;" there are no rules.  (Again, this is why I don't bake).

But there's a great book called Ratio, by Michael Ruhlman.  It offers a kind of blueprint to cooking certain basic recipes; for example, there's a ratio of 3 parts flour, 2 parts liquid and 1 part fat in biscuits.  You first learn the basic recipe/ratio, and then you can switch up the types of ingredients, add spices, etc. and create a world of variations on the basic biscuit.  This makes sense, and I realized that even though it seems like "rules" to me, it does offer me a little inspiration.

I don't necessarily look at my recipes in terms of ratios, but I have a student this semester in the chef program at Bauman College who is very new to cooking and he has opened my eyes to the ratios that exist in some of my everyday recipes.

Take pesto, for example.  I had some basil that was in the use-it-or-lose-it stage, so last night I decided to make pesto: herbs, nuts, cheese, garlic, oil.  I got to thinking about how easy it is to make variations on the theme.  I had some grape tomatoes left over from a green papaya salad I made the other day, and realized that if you were to ask basil what it likes to hang out with, it'll say "tomatoes." (And yes, sometimes I do have conversations with my food.....not weird!)

So let's sauté some little tomatoes and garlic slices....

 

 Saute them in a good amount of olive oil, so you really flavor that oil, and be sure to get every drop of it into your food processor when you make the pesto.  Cooking the tomatoes will give the pesto a deeper flavor, and it also boosts the health benefits  Tomatoes are chock-a-block of lycopene, which is helpful in reducing cardio-vascular disease and LDL levels (the bad kind of cholesterol).  Thing is, the lycopene becomes more available to our bodies when it's cooked....so cook 'em up!

A pesto always includes nuts, usually pine nuts.  I tend to use walnuts when I make pesto, mainly because I always have them in my freezer (and they're much less expensive than pine nuts).  Unlike tomatoes, nuts don't necessarily get any healthier for you when they're cooked, but toasting nuts brings out more flavor.  I chose to toast some almonds.....

 You simply need to heat a dry skillet over medium heat and add the nuts (works for any type of nut).  After a few minutes or so, keeping them moving so that they don't burn, you'll have lovely fragrant nuts.  Throw those puppies into a food processor (works better than a blender for pesto, because the base around the blade is larger, so everything moves around and get ground easily).  Let it go until the almonds are finely ground, then add the cooked tomato mixture, a couple cups of basil leaves, some Parmesan and lemon zest.  Let it rip until all ingredients are well chopped, scrape down the bowl and with the motor running, slowly stream in oil (I like to use half oil and half water to cut the amount of fat).  Once you have the consistency you like, season with salt, pepper, and a little smoked paprika.  Sooooo good!

Pesto is so versatile; toss it with quinoa pasta and fresh veggies, top grilled chicken, steak or snapper with it, spread over French bread and broil for a new spin on "garlic bread."  people often ask me how long it lasts in the fridge.  I wouldn't know...it's so dang good I use it all up immediately!

Smokey Tomato Pesto
Makes about 1 1/2 cups

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil, divided
1/2 cup cherry or grape tomatoes (about a dozen), halved
3 large cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1/2 cup almonds, toasted
2 cups basil leaves , firmly packed
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1/4 cup water
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
Salt & pepper to taste

• Heat 2 tablespoons oil in small skillet over medium high heat.  Add tomatoes and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally for 5-8 minutes until tomatoes are lightly browned and softened.
• Meanwhile heat another small skillet (not teflon coated) over medium heat.  Add almonds and toast them, tossing often to prevent burning.  Remove from heat and place in bowl of food processor.
• Process until almonds are finely ground.  Then add tomato & garlic mixture, basil, Parmesan and lemon zest.  Process until well combined, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
• With the motor running, add remaining 6 tablespoons of oil and 1/4 cup water (more or less) to reach desired consistency.
• Scrape down the sides again and add smoked paprika, a pinch of salt and pepper.  Taste and adjust seasonings to your preference.

Yum it up!!

 

Just Trust Yourself

."

It's birthday weekend...

My fifth birthday... love the cake!

Well it's the first of two birthday weekends - that's what happens when your birthday falls on a Monday; people tend to drag it out.  Sounds fun (and it is!!), but really it can be fattening.....lots of drinks and dining out!

Today was a big, fat brunch at Il Fornaio with the family, then drinks with friends.  Tomorrow is my first stand up paddleboard experience (at least I'm trying to work in something to offset the eating frenzy!) and then off to Napa with the girls for an afternoon of champagne tasting at Domaine Carneros.  Monday is more food, food, food.... lunch in Saulsalito and then dinner in The City.  Hopefully I can work a hike in there somewhere!

Tonight, I came home after having drinks with friends to my only chance of cooking for a couple days.  I'm reading this great book The Improvisational Cook, and it inpires me to just trust myself with what I have available. So here's another one of my no recipe-recipes....you can do it!  Trust yourself.

I just received some tomatoes from my friend Chris's garden (and knew that had to be the star).  I also had onions, red bell peppers, baby spinach, garlic and kalamata olives.  I was thinking pasta (when aren't I?).  I had some orzo, so I boiled some salted water and threw in the orzo.  Orzo only takes 9 minutes, the pefect amount of time to saute up some fresh veggies.  I started with onion, red bell pepper and garlic.

Then I tossed in the olives and tomatoes with a little red wine vinegar.  When you think of tomatoes, what else comes to mind....basil, oregano and parmesan.  Of course!  I clipped the herbs from my garden and shredded a wee bit of parm into the skillet.  Before draining the orzo, I saved a little of the starchy water to add to the skillet to create a "sauce" along with a squeeze of lemon. Add the orzo and the baby spinach, stirring to wilt the spinach, then season with salt and pepper, and maybe a little more vinegar.  And viola!  Yummy and healthy dinner in a flash.  It's that easy...

I always like to add some chopped nuts to my pasta, for texture, healthy fat, and protein.  Pecans and walnuts are my faves.  This was so good that it was hard to not go back for seconds....but tomorrow morning is me in a bathing suit on a paddle board, so I thought better of it.  For now, I'll be patient.  There's always tomorrow.....

Yum it up!!

Brown Thumb No More!

I am notorious for killing any growing thing (ecept my dog).  The suggestion has been made that maybe watering would help my stats.  I took it under advisement, and a couple summers back I tried growing tomatoes.  Shockingly, I was pretty successful.  Would have been more successful if I didn't live in an area flooded with little critters who coveted my crops and made off with the( literal) fruits of my labor each night while I slept, dreaming of the new recipes I would try.  But I was successful enough to get a little cocky and go for it again last summer, and added squash to my efforts.  Unfortunately it turned out to be the return of the brown thumb.  I blamed it on the weather; others blamed it on my lack of fertilizer and water.  Either way, I got nothin' (but neither did the critters).

I gave up, filled my raised bed with sand, popped in a beach umbrella, a couple loungers and some tiki torches and called it a day!

But the more I got into the idea of local and seasonal cooking, the more I thought of having my own kitchen garden.  But I was unsure and felt a little defeated.  Then a couple months ago, I helped a friend plant his beautiful vegetable garden: tomatoes, melons, squash, peppers, you name it, we planted it.  And I saw it explode in no time.  Sure, I wasn't the one tending to it, but I did plant a lot of it.....so why not try dong it for myself??

So I did, and here's what's happening in my little backyard.....

This is an "eight ball" zucchini.  I'll be using this to make my raw "raviolis".  I think I probably posted that recipe a year or so ago, so it may be time for a new and improved one.  But basically, I slice thin discs with a mandoline, soak them in a little olive oil and salt to loosen them up until they are pliable,  put a dollop of  lemon and chive infused chevre on top, fold over like a little ravioli and top with a some fresh pesto.  Sooooo tasty!  

This is my summer squash.  I already picked a couple larger ones for the Summer Squash & Corn Soup I'm making in tmorrow's cooking class.

Here's one of my peppers; not sure which kind yet, as they all look alike at this stage.  I have 3 varieties: banana peppers and sweet yellow and red.  These guys are going to be great stuffed and put on the grill when the time comes!
And of course.....my tomatoes:

Next week is supposed to get wicked hot, so I'm hoping my 4 plants start bustin' out the fruit and I see some red ones soon!  Hard to not just eat them right off the vine, but I've got lots of plans for them.  Here's one of my salsa recipes to try when these guys are good and juicy....won't be long!

Heirloom Tomato Salsa                                                                                                Makes 2 cups

2 cups diced heirloom tomatoes, about 2 large

¾ cup diced red onion

1 teaspoon diced jalapeno pepper

1 tablespoon chopped cilantro

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 teaspoons tamari

1 teaspoon cumin

·         Toss tomatoes, onion, jalapeno pepper and cilantro in a medium sized bowl.

·         Whisk the vinegar, lime juice, oil, tamari and cumin in a small bowl.  Pour over tomato mixture, stirring to combine.

·         Let stand 10-15 minutes (or longer) for flavors to develop.

·         Delicious with chips, as a Bruschetta topping, or served over grilled chicken or fish.

Believe me, if I can do it, anyone can do it!!  (Turns out they were right about the watering thing!!)  Nothing like walking out into your garden, porch, deck, balcony, whatever, and picking someting fresh to make for dinner!

Yum it up!

Roll with it!

That's my new mantra these days.  Lots of things getting thrown my way, but I'm just going to roll with it.  So why shouldn't my food do the same???

My friend and fellow food blogger, Karen Pavone, asked me if I had an entree using basil for an upcoming post she was working on. Of course my first thought was a delicious pesto chicken recipe that is my go-to dish for entertaining.  But Karen already had a pesto recipe that she was going to use, so I had to think of something different.  This is the perfect season for that though....becasue it's tomato season!  Basil always makes me think of tomatoes; they dig each other and are the perfect culinary couple. If you know me, you know my absolute love of a Caprese Salad, so I thought why not stuff that perfect combo into a chicken breast??  Oh yeah....

Start by pounding boneless, skinless chicken breasts very thin.  If you had the kind of weekend I did, here's a delicous chance to get out some frustration!  Pound the heck out of it, until it's about a 1/4" thin.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper and then layer tomatoes, basil. mozzarella cheese, and lemon slices.  Be sure to remove all the pith from the lemon or it will leave a bitter taste in your mouth, and no one likes that.

Then roll the breasts from one of the short ends, tucking the filling in as you go.  Secure with toothpicks (don't use colored ones or your chicken can end up with blue and green spots - so not pretty).  You could stop here and just coat with a little olive oil and pop them in the oven.  But I want more.  So I dredged the rolls in egg, flour and a panko mixture with garlic, lemon zest and parmesan.  Oh yeah, more is good!

Brush with a little olive oil and bake at 375 for about 45 minutes, or until chicken is heated through to 165 and lightly browned.  Slice the chicken breasts to expose the beauty inside, then pat yourself on the back for a job well done!  Pretty food!

I served this over summer squash thinly sliced into "noodles" (inspired by my dinner at Pican the other night) tossed in a tomato & basil cream sauce.  The picture is a bit of a hot mess, but dang, it was soooo good!

Yum it up!

A Scrumptious Season

Pretty soon it'll be all root vegetables, winter squash and kale, but right now the season is giving us a nice bridge.  So I put together a yummy Farm to Table class tonight.  Let's start with Dill-Spinach Dip, getting rid of my old childhood friend, mayo, and substituting Greek yogurt.  So creamy good.... dill and lemon zest gives it a bright flavor, and water chestnuts give it a nice crunch.

Next, I'm back in soup mode with Butternut-Apple Soup.  There are so many great ways to make a butternut squash soup: with curry, with cream, with green chiles, with sage, with roasted red peppers.  My favorite remains the old stand-by, with apples.  I like Granny Smith for their tartmess.

For the main dish, we made Orange Glazed Salmon with Basmati Brown Rice and Herb & Panko Stuffed Tomatoes.  I'll be so sad when tomtoes go away.  It's a loooong lonely winter and spring without these lovelies, so get them in while you can.  I'll still let canned tomatoes into my house every once in a while for tomato soup, but I'll miss eating the real thing in salads, salsas, on crostini, and roasted like tonight.

Couldn't imagine giving you just one recipe, so here they all are..... Enjoy!

Spinach-Dill Dip

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 tablespoons chopped shallots

2 scallions, thinly sliced

1 teaspoon minced garlic

6 ounces frozen spinach, thawed and drained (or 5 bunches fresh leaves)

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

½ teaspoon fresh lemon zest

½ cup Greek yogurt

1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill

Pinch salt

¼ cup chopped water chestnuts

·         Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. 

·         Add shallots, scallions and garlic and cook, stirring often, until fragrant, about 1 minute.

·         Stir in spinach and cook about 2 minutes.

·         Place spinach mixture into a food processor; pulse until roughly puréed, about 5 pulses.

·         Add lemon juice, zest, yogurt and dill, and pulse to combine.

·         Add water chestnuts and season with salt to taste.

Butternut Squash Soup     Serves 6

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon butter

1 cup chopped onion

2 stalks celery, chopped

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 3-lb butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cubed

2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and chopped

4 cups vegetable broth

2 teaspoons maple syrup

1 teaspoon minced ginger

Salt & pepper to taste

Pinch nutmeg or cayenne

·         Heat oil and butter in a medium stock pot over medium heat.

·         Add onion and celery and sauté 5-8 minutes until tender; careful not to let them brown.

·         Add garlic and sauté 1-2 minutes more.

·         Add squash, apples, and broth.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer 20-25 minutes.

·         Add maple syrup and ginger, stirring to combine and cook 5 minutes more.

·         Season to taste with salt & pepper, and add a pinch of nutmeg (for sweet) or cayenne (for spicy).

·         Use an immersion blender to puree (or a blender or food processor).

Orange Glazed Salmon   Serves 6

1/3 cup orange marmalade

1/3 cup fresh squeezed orange juice (from 2 valencia oranges)

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

2 teaspoon orange zest

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 teaspoon minced ginger

1 teaspoon maple syrup

1 ½ pounds salmon, cut into 6 pieces

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

·         In a small bowl, combine marmalade, juice, mustard, zest, garlic, ginger, and maple syrup.

·         Season salmon with salt and pepper and place in a large Ziploc bag.  Cover with marinade and refrigerate for 1 hour. (Citrus juice begins to “cook” protein, so don’t marinate for more than 1 hour)

·         Preheat broiler and place salmon (discard marinade) on baking sheet or roasting pan.

·         Broil 6-8 inches from heat for 5-8 minutes until opaque and cooked through.

Roasted Stuffed Tomatoes   Serves 6

3 large heirloom tomatoes

1 ½ cup panko

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano

1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

2 tablespoons+ olive oil

Parmesan cheese

·         Preheat broiler.

·         Cut tomatoes in half horizontally and scoop out the seeds and flesh.

·         Place in a baking dish or pan and broil until lightly browned, just a few minutes.  Let cool.

·         Set oven temp to 350˚.

·         In a bowl mix panko, garlic, oregano, thyme, salt and pepper; add enough olive oil to moisten the mixture.

·         Fill cooled tomato halves with panko mixture, drizzle with a little olive oil, and top with a shaving of parmesan cheese.

·         Bake 5-10 minutes until browned.



Salad Days

Went on a bit of a salad kick this week. A sweet couple came for their second cooking class and brought me some yummy  heirloom tomatoes from their garden.  Some people see tomatoes and think sauce; I think caprese salad.  Ooooooh it's one of the best things about summer!

Made this pretty little Caprese Stack... 2 types of tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, and basil with a little olive oil and balsamic.  Almost too pretty to eat. Almost.

And then there's my caprese-panzanella union - the Caprazella Salad....

... the same ingredients in my caprese stack, but chopped up and tossed with cubed sourdough bread that I sauteed in a little olive oil and garlic.  It's a hard choice between the two, but I think this one wins; it's the best of both worlds.

Now, I'm a fan of warm salads.  I know I'm alone in that a lot of the time, but clearly I am the only sane persoon out there.  I love to brush romaine halves with olive oil and grill them, just a few minutes, til they get a nice little char on the cut side.  But this time I didn't feel like firing up the grill - too impatint and hungry - so I sauteed some onion slices, threw in some sourdough cubes (yes, again!  I bought a whole baguette, so what do you expect me to do with it?), a few different types of tomatoes, and then tossed the chopped romaine in the skillet.  You just want it warm enough to melt the goat cheese (or bleu cheese) that you sprinkle on top...

Man, I have to stop posting so late at night...it always makes me hungry!

Look at me....I'm a farmer!

My first two potaotoes!  I'm such a proud parent!

I am notoriously bad at keeping anything alive besides myself and my dog Maxx.  Seriously.  I had a fake ficus years ago and I came home one day to find a dropped leaf  on the carpet.  But last year I managed to successfully grow 2 tomato plants, so I was feeling a little cocky and decided to try potatoes along with tomatoes this year.  I was cleaning out my pantry and found a bunch of neglected red potatoes, covered in "eyes".  So into the ground they went and two months later, I dug up my first two beauties.

As a kid I used to eat fruit and veggies from my grandparents' backyard.  Still to this day I can't find an orange in any store that is as perfectly sweet and juicy as the oranges off my grandpere's tree.  You know that the produce you buy from local farms are just better tasting than anything you could ever buy in a store.  As it turns out they are generally more nutritious, too.  But the produce you get from right outside your back door is even better than those at the farmers' market.  I think it's the added flavor of pride!

I decided to prepare the potatoes as simply as possible.  I heated some olive oil in a cast iron skillet and added a large clove of garlic, sliced in half.  Over medium heat the garlic will infuse the oil with is wonderful flavor.  I cut the potatoes into bite-sized pieces and popped them in the hot oil.  After about 8-10 minutes the potatoes were cooked through and crispy on the outside.  A little pinch of salt and pepper, and call it a day.  I wanted to taste the potato, not muddle it with a bunch of other flavors.  And they were delicious!  The flavor was not overwhelmingly different from the ones I normally buy, but there was a noticeable richer flavor to them.  Again, maybe it was the pride.

I decided to continue with my "simple prep" concept and scramble some eggs to go with my potatoes.  In  the same cast iron skillet, I added a little pat of butter (don't be afraid of butter, just respect it) and tossed in some grape tomatoes that I halved. I love pan roasting tomatoes this time of year; they are so sweet and juicy, and after a few minutes in a hot skillet, their skin starts to burst and they soften to perfection. I whisked 2 eggs with a dash of milk, salt & pepper and poured it into the hot pan.  Turn the heat to low and add a little sprinkling of sharp cheddar and in a couple minutes your fluffy eggs are ready.  I topped the potatoes with the eggs. sprinkled some chopped chives and cut myself a crusty pieces of French bread.... this is a good way to start the day.  It's simple.  It's easy.  It healthy.  And best of all, it is super delish because it is all fresh and seasonal....

The Prized Sandwich

I went to lunch with my friend Sue today for her birthday.  I was telling her about my next planned blog post - my favorite quick fix meal.  I call it my Mexicali Skillet (coming soon) and I make it when I'm really hungry and looking for something easy and quick to throw together - onions, peppers, olives, corn, spinach, black beans, cheddar, corn tortillas, spices. After I spelledf out the first few ingredients, she started to smile.  Not a "that sounds yummy" smile, but more of a "you're a nut" smile (I get those a lot from her).  When I was done explaining my "quick fix" meal, she said that in a similar positon, most people just make a sandwich.

It occurred to me that a sandwich almost never comes to mind when I'm hungry - in a hurry or not.  I really only make two sandwiches: a friend egg and carmelized onion sandwich and a caprese sandwich.

Aaaaaaah my love for the caprese sandwich.  This time of year I make a caprese salad, sometime with bread (AKA Panzanella Salad as previously posted) and sometimes not or a caprese sandwich pretty frequently.  The heirloom tomatoes available now are not only beautiful but so juicy and tasty.  And soon they will be gone.  So right about now I eat tomatoes like there's no tomorrow...literally.  There's a HUGE difference between getting tomatoes off your own plant in your backyard or the local farmer's market and those that you buy in the grocery store.  I realize that we can now buy tomatoes year round, but there is just notthing like a fresh, local, in-season tomoato (and I mean "in-seson" for us, not another country).  Once this season come to an end, I will have to wait (unpatiently) until the season comes around again before I make my beloved salad or sandwich.

Another "No recipe" recipe: sliced baguette drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar and a brush of dijon mustard,  layered with buffalo mozzarella, heirloom tomatoes, and basil.  Eat it cold or heat it in the oven until the mozz just starts to melt - yummy either way!

One more note on the seasonality of food....The culinary school I went to focused on therapeutic and holistic cooking.  One of the big take-aways for me was the notion of eating foods indigenous to our area.  We also discussed what I refer to as "hereditary" eating - eating the foods that our ancestors ate.  It made so much sense to me.  My ancestors lived on a farm in France and ate whatever the grew or raised, and they lived long, healthy lives.  And I love cooking with all the vegetables that my long-ago family used on a daily basis, thanks in great part to many years spent in the kitchen with my grandmere - my very first culinary teacher.  The idea is that our bodies- these wonderful machines that know how to have babies and fend off viruses- also know how to process food that they recognize, and utilize them in the best way possible for our ultimate health.  I think this is why I make things like the Mexicali Skillet ( I should work on a French Skillet), because it's my instinct to work with all the fresh, seasonal veggies I love and create one warm, delicous meal (and if I can make it all in one skillet and save time cleaning pots and pans, that's just an added bonus).  For me it's not just physically comforting and satisfying, it comforts my soul.

So next time, I'll share with you my Mexical Skillet....while I work on a French version.