Fish curry

Fish curry, originally uploaded by *April*.

Ingredients:

10 oz. cubed butternut squash
5 oz. cauliflower florets
1 can (13.5 oz) full fat coconut milk
13 oz. vegetable stock
1 lb. mahi-mahi filets, thawed if previously frozen and cut into bite size chunks
1 large red bell pepper, cut into chunks
1 large yellow bell pepper, cut into chunks
1/2 white onion, medium chop
cilantro (for garnish)
1 tbsp. red pepper flakes
3 tbsp. red curry paste
olive oil
lime juice


Saute red and yellow bell peppers and onion over medium flame in a deep pot with a little bit of olive oil. Stir in onion and cook until translucent and peppers begin to soften. At this point stir in the red curry paste, red pepper flakes and the coconut milk and vegetable stock. Mix together with a long handled spoon. Stir in butternut squash and cauliflower, and reduce flame to medium. Cook until vegetables are crisp-tender, and add the cubed fish. You will only need to cook the fish about five minutes or until the flesh becomes white and opaque.

Serve over basmati rice with a sprinkling of cilantro and a sprtiz of fresh lime juice.

Grilled queso blanco

Grilled queso blanco, originally uploaded by *April*.

Queso blanco is a creamy, soft, and mild unaged white cheese that originated in Spain and spread to Mexico and other American countries. The name queso blanco is Spanish for "white cheese", but similar cheeses are used and known throughout the world by different names.

It is made by pressing the whey from cottage cheese. It is very similar to cheeses called pot cheese and farmer cheese. It has also been compared to Indian paneer and to a mild feta. Queso blanco is considered to be one of the easiest cheeses to make. It is a fresh and slightly salty cow's milk cheese, whereas queso fresco may be made from a combination of cow's and goat's milk. They may both be eaten straight or mixed in with various dishes. Some versions of these cheeses melt well when heated, but most only soften.

Queso blanco and queso fresco make a creamy addition to recipes, and are often used as a topping for spicy Mexican dishes such as enchiladas and empanadas, or crumbled over soups or salads. Meltable versions are used to make quesadillas.

In Peruvian cuisine there are several recipes that mix queso fresco and spices to make a spicy cold sauce eaten over peeled boiled potatoes, examples including papa a la huancaina or ocopa.

Queso blanco and queso fresco also exist in Portugal and are called "Queijo fresco."

One of the easiest ways to enjoy queso blanco is to thickly slice it, and grill it over a high flame until brown and bubbly. When one side is fairly seared, flip it with a spatula, and grill the other side. Serve it with crackers, olives and artichokes.

Comfort

Comfort, originally uploaded by *April*.

As a child, I hated pumpkin pie. Despised. Loathed.

Now, I can't get enough of it.

We made a delicious pumpkin pie in a delicious Pâte Brisée (all butter crust). I made the crust and baked the pie - Patrick made the filling.

Ingredients for the crust:

* 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling
* 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, very-cold
* 1 teaspoon grey sea salt
* 1 teaspoon white sugar
* 4 to 6 Tbsp ice water

Directions: Place the sticks of butter in the freezer overnight so they are thoroughly chilled. Remove from the freezer and slice into 1/2-inch cubes. Combine flour, sea salt, and sugar in a food processor; pulse 4-5 times to mix. Add butter and pulse until the mixture resembles small peas. Add ice water 1 Tbsp at a time, pulsing until mixture just begins to clump together. If you pinch some of the crumbly dough and it holds together, it's ready. If the dough doesn't hold together, add a little more water and pulse again. If your dough is a little too damp, sprinkle a little extra flour on your board during kneading. Remove dough from food processor and place on a clean surface. Gently shape into 2 discs. Knead the dough just enough to form the discs, do not over-knead. You should be able to see little bits of butter in the dough. These small chunks of butter are what will allow the resulting crust to be flaky. Sprinkle a little flour around the discs. Wrap each disc in saran wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour, and up to 2 days. Remove one crust disk from the refrigerator. Let sit at room temperature for 5-10 minutes in order to soften just enough to make rolling out a bit easier. Roll out with a rolling pin on a lightly floured surface to a 12-inch circle; about 1/8 of an inch thick. As you roll out the dough, check if the dough is sticking to the surface below. If necessary, add a few sprinkles of general purpose white flour under the dough to keep the dough from sticking. Carefully place onto a 9-inch pie plate. Gently press the pie dough down so that it lines the bottom and sides of the pie plate. Use a pair of kitchen scissors to trim the dough to within 1/2 inch of the edge of the pie dish. Prick sides and bottom of empty pie with the tines of a fork.

Save the second disk of dough - either freezing or in the refrigerator for a day or two.

Filling:

I've tried many different variations on pumpkin pie - using fresh pumpkins, and nearly every possible combination of spices. Perhaps it's just nostalgia - but to me there's no reason to fix what's not broken. For that reason - I tend to rely on the recipe on the back of the Libby's can of pureed pumpkin with minor modifications.

Ingredients:

* 3/4 cup white sugar
* 3/4 teaspoon high quality ground Cassia Cinnamon
* 1/2 teaspoon French grey sea salt
* 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
* 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
* 2 large or extra-large eggs
* 1 (15 ounce) can LIBBY'S® 100% Pure Pumpkin
* 1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 425 F.
2. Combine sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger and cloves in small bowl. Beat eggs lightly in large bowl. Stir in pumpkin and sugar-spice mixture. Gradually stir in evaporated milk. Pour into pie shell.
3. Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 F.; bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack for 2 hours. Serve immediately or refrigerate. (Do not freeze as this will cause the crust to separate from the filling.)

As a little secret - I find that baking in a pyrex deep dish glass pie plate is the easiest way to make the crust flaky and avoid unpleasant sogginess.

Rosemary bean soup

Yesterday we got our first flurries of the season. It was another brisk day today, and this morning before I left I poured some white beans into the crock pot with the intention of making something with them when I got home.



This was what we ended up with... and it was very, very good.

Ingredients:

3/4 of a bag of white beans (can be navy beans, Great Northern Beans - even Cannellini beans)
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon cracked fresh black pepper
1/2 teaspoon spicy red pepper flakes
3/4 tube vegetarian sausage (I used Gimme Lean - though meat eaters could use any spicy sausage of their choosing)
1/2 red onion, sliced and caramelized
2 tablespoons butter
1 oz. goat cheese per serving
fresh rosemary
spicy paprika

Mix all ingredients except for goat cheese, onion, butter and sausage into a large crock pot. Add water to cover, and cook on low for 9 hours or until beans are tender. Mash 1/2 of beans with potato masher until broken apart and residual water in crock pot is thick. Add a few sprigs of rosemary to the pot. Grill vegetarian sausage, while simultaneously caramelizing onions. When sausage is lightly browned, crumble and add to serving bowls. Split caramelized onions amongst serving bowls. Ladle in finished soup, stir in 1/2 oz butter into each bowl, top with 1 oz. of fresh goat cheese. Sprinkle with spicy paprika.

Serve with a fresh green salad and homemade cornbread.

Tip of the day - A cure for overripe tomatoes

This past summer our next door neighbors were exceedingly generous with tomatoes fresh from their garden. The problem was, though, that with a newborn baby and no sleep - I often would forget the tomatoes on the counter for a few days and end up with a disastrous mess of mealy tomatoes that had to be chucked to the compost heap.

Sadly, I forgot that there's an easy way to salvage overripe tomatoes. Place the overripe tomato in cold water and add a little salt. Let sit overnight. In the morning, you'll find the tomato has firmed up and is less mealy.

If that doesn't work, you can always run them through the food processor or blender and reduce down to make a sauce. And I may have mentioned it before, but never store tomatoes inside the refrigerator. It causes them to break down faster. Instead they should be stored at room temperature, away from direct sunlight.

The great search for 40"

When we bought our home last fall, our kitchen had an operational though largely out-of-style 40" white electric range. It is older than we are, though I'm sure it's doled out plenty of family meals over the years.

It is... a behemoth.

A monster whose main oven cooked unevenly, nevermind the left side oven that was non-operational. The oven ran hot, and made baking less of a science and more of a fervent prayer at hitting the lottery. A few months ago, Patrick began whispering that we should replace it, then it really started acting wonky. We wanted something sexy... a dual fuel range that would fit our design aesthetic. We started looking at Vikings, and I almost had a coronary when I realized how expensive they were. In the end, it didn't matter. The Vikings only come in 36" or 48". A 36" meant we'd have an awkward gap where the old range had stood, and the 48" meant we'd have to knock out a wall or remove our prized St. Charles metal cabinets. Neither was an acceptable option.

Apparently Frigidaire and Kenmore (allegedly the same product) are the only companies who even make what we were looking for. We had a plumber come out last week to pipe the gas in, and the new stove will be put in Tuesday.

It's not a Viking, but you'd think it was by how delighted I am.

Hot Buttered Cider

Hot Buttered Cider, originally uploaded by *April*.

Perfect for snuggling up with someone you love or a good book beneath a down comforter on a cold autumn evening.

Ingredients per serving:
6 oz. good quality apple cider
1 cinnamon stick
1/3 teaspoon of butter (approximately, a little more or less won't hurt)
1 oz. Calvados
1 tsp. brown sugar
sprinkle sea salt
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
1/8 tsp. allspice
1/8 tsp. cloves
1/8 tsp. cinnamon
sprinkle dried lemon peel

For multiple servings, increase ingredients as appropriate.

In a kettle, mix all ingredients except the cinnamon stick and heat until butter has melted and mixture is very warm. Pour into warmed mugs (to warm, simply fill with hot water and pour it out once the mugs have warmed). Garnish with a cinnamon stick.

Coto de Imaz 2001 Reserva

Coto de Imaz 2001 Reserva
Originally uploaded by p2wy

Rich and complex with a lot of berry.... I should've written this one up after one glass rather than three. Went very well with Cuban rice, black beans and plantains tonight

Call for freezer recipes

We just got back from a long vacation through the upper peninsula of Michigan, and I'm refreshed and happy to be home. My house is full of workers installing our new bamboo flooring in the kitchen. This means, however, that I don't have a stove for the next two days. So my cooking will have to be a bit more delayed.

In the meantime, I'm asking for your help. My maternity leave is officially over in two weeks, and I have to go back to work, which means a 2+ hour commute each way. Have any suggestions for a freezer-friendly non-meat recipe? We bought a new deep freeze and I'd love to have some things stashed away for when I go back to work.

Veggie Burritos

Preparations, originally uploaded by *April*.

You may be wondering if this is strictly a vegetarian recipe site. It's not. Patrick and I were both raised in Texas, where BBQ brisket is ubiquitous. Somewhat reluctantly, I've helped process a deer and make homemade venison sausage. I still swoon at the smell of bacon, which conjures up childhood memories of fresh crisp waffles. As I've gotten older, I've given up meat from time to time. Patrick really is a pescetarian - as he'll occasionally fold (once every few months) for sashimi at our favorite sushi place in Andersonville. I knew he didn't eat meat and when we moved in together. While he was never militant about it, I just never really brought it into the house. It's sort of a pain to cook for one, so I never ate it at home. Over time, the habitual consumption of meat was simply replaced with healthier alternatives in our house.

Many times friends turn up their noses at the idea of a vegetarian meal. I assure you, though, that there are so many vegetarian food options that you'll never really miss the meat. I'm not a big fan of meat analogs (I prefer the real thing or nothing), and have to admit that my health has vastly improved since I've cut meat out of my diet. And, as an added bonus eating meat-free is substantially cheaper and lets me splurge on the things that I truly love like good wine and cheese. I may be able to give up meat completely, but I just can't give up cheese. No offense to my vegan friends. Let's just say it's a good thing I live so close to Wisconsin.

Here's a great recipe for veggie burritos that utilize nopales. Ingredients not pictured: jarred jalapenos (and juice), chipotle tabasco, a can of Meijer's refried beans with lime, shredded colby jack cheese, spices for the guacamole and flour tortillas.

While most people are familliar with the majority of these ingredients, I wanted to include information about the nopale or nopalito - as I know a lot of people pass by them in the produce section because they're afraid of what they will taste like or simply don't know what to do with them. For those of us that don't eat meat nopalitos impart a hearty meaty texture that is usually only a function of a soy derivative. While you can buy the individual prickly pear leaves, it's much easier to just buy the processed, chopped product usually sold in little baggies. My local grocer doesn't carry them - but every Latin grocer I've visited has them freshly in stock.

Here's information from wiki about nopales (often referred to as nopalitos when already processed and cut around here).
--
Nopales are a vegetable made from the young stem segments of prickly pear, carefully peeled to remove the spines. They are particularly common in their native Mexico. Farmed nopales are most often of the species Opuntia ficus-indica, although the pads of almost all Opuntia species are edible.

Nopales are generally sold fresh or canned, less often dried to prepare nopalitos. They have a light, slightly tart flavor, and a crisp, mucilaginous texture.

Nopales are commonly used in Mexican cuisine in dishes such as huevos con nopales (eggs with nopal), or "tacos de nopales". Nopales are also an important ingredient in New Mexican cuisine, and are gaining popularity elsewhere in the United States.

Nopales are very rich in insoluble and especially soluble dietary fiber. They are also rich in vitamins (especially vitamin A, vitamin C, and vitamin K, but also riboflavin and vitamin B6) and minerals (especially magnesium, potassium, and manganese, but also iron and copper). Nopales have a high calcium content, but the nutrient is not biologically available because it is present as calcium oxalate, which is neither highly soluble nor easily absorbed through the intestinal wall.

Addition of nopales also reduces the glycemic effect of a mixed meal.

------

To make delicious veggie burritos, thinly slice a sweet red pepper and one third of a red onion. Heat a grill pan (a skillet with raised grill embedded) on medium heat and spray lightly with olive oil. Put the pepper and onion over in the pan over medium heat. Add 8 oz. of sliced baby bella mushrooms, and cook about 5 minutes or until the vegetables start to soften and the onions become lightly translucent. Add diced dethorned nopales and cook for 2 minutes or so. Add one diced tomato and a handful of fresh organic spinach. In a separate pan, heat the refried beans. Add a few tablespoons of jarred jalapeno juice to the sizzling vegetables. Drizzle some chipotle tabasco over the vegetables. Smear a tablespoon or two of the heated beans in the middle of a heated flour tortilla. Spoon in some vegetables, a squeeze of lime, some homemade guacamole, sour cream if you'd like it, a sprinkling of shredded cheese, and tuck in the end and roll it up. You'll never notice there's not any meat in these.

Product Plug

This blog was intended to be a "recipe" book for some of my favorite meals and a log of my favorite wines and drinks. Nonetheless, I would be utterly remiss if I didn't direct you to the freezer section of your local Whole Foods (the only national chain that I know who carries this delight) to find the Talenti Roasted Almond Gelato. It's pricey, about $6 for a pint but worth every penny. The undertones of honey and the crisp roasted almonds make this incredibly rich gelato a heavenly treat. Go find it, you won't be sorry. We've had it plain and topped with a homemade Michigan blueberry sauce (so easy - just take a cup of blueberries and heat them until the fruit starts to break apart. Add a few spoons of cane sugar or stevia syrup and continue cooking until thickened. You can even throw everything together in a pyrex dish and use the microwave for about two minutes on full power if you're REALLY in a hurry).

Tip of the Day - Basil Storage

Freshly cut basil is best stored right on your kitchen counter. Put the basil in a glass and fill it with water just until the stems are covered. If you occasionally change and freshen the water, the basil will keep for weeks and may even develop roots. Don't store it in the refrigerator as the leaves will be more apt to wilt and the cellular walls will start to break apart. If you regularly pinch off leaves from the stems, you may even have new leaves sprout.

If you've been remiss in pinching back the flowers on your basil, fret not. You can snip them off, wash them and use them in your salads.

Gulden Draak Ale

Brewed by: Brouwerij Van Steenberge N.V., Belgium

Style / ABV: Belgian Strong Dark Ale/ 10.50% ABV

A malty, almost cloyingly sweet mahogany brown Triple Ale with a creamy thick head. The Brouwerij Van Steenberge beer has a light hoppy taste but is primarily a pronounced sweet toffee flavor. It's very close in taste to a Barley wine, and thus would probably be best as a dessert or "sipping" wine. The bottle is painted white, to protect the delicate beer from light. It can be aged, much like wine for a number of years.

Holland International Beer Festival - Haarlem 1995: overall winner - best beer.

Silver medal in the International Beer Competition: Chicago 1996.

Silver Medal Dark Ales.at the California Microbrew Beer Festival 1995.

From Global Beer:

On the top of the Belfry of Ghent, one of the proud cities of Flanders, you can find the Gulden Draak or Golden Dragon, a large statue of the famous animal. In all fairy tales, in all cultures, it is always the dragon who defends the treasure. In their belfries, the European cities kept their treasures that included their gold and also documents proving the privileges they received from the monarch.

Legend tells us, it was the Norwegian King Sigrid Magnusson who granted the exotic statue to the emperor of Constantinople (now Istanbul, Turkey) during the crusade of 1111 CE. If you look closely at the picture, you can recognize Scandinavian cultural influences. The dragon looks almost like a Viking ship. The beast has no legs, it has wings, a sharp tongue and pointed ears. You clearly see the seams between the armor-pieces.

A century later, during another crusade, is was the Fleming Baldwin IX, who had become the emperor of Constantinople. He liked the animal so much, that he moved the golden statue to his home country. Since he was the emperor, he wasn't really stealing. He brought it back to his hometown Biervliet, a small village north of Ghent. It must be a coincidence or maybe it is providence, but "Biervliet" means "stream of beer'.

A few years later, the guys from the high spirited city of Brugge (Bruges) couldn't stand the fact that a tiny village as Biervliet had such a nice statue. Thus, one cloudy night, they attacked Biervliet and captured the Golden Dragon to take it back home. I guess again, you cannot talk about theft, when you take the prize after winning a battle, can you?

The very, very proud citizens of Ghent, didn't like it at all, that the team from Brugge (which is the 1996 soccer-champion of Belgium, by the way) played in their backyard at night. So, when the time was right and the power balance shifted in their direction, Ghent went to war with Brugge in 1382. Prize: the Golden Dragon. From then until now the statue of the "Gulden Draak" sits on top of the Belfry. Except for the short periods, when the beast has to come down to take a bath, to be reinforced, maintained and to be put some more golden shining armor on.

Tip of the Day - Keep peppers fresh longer

To keep chili, bell or sweet peppers fresh longer - remove the stems before storing in the refrigerator's produce bins. 

Tip of the Day - Stabilizing Bowls and Cutting Boards

A handy trick I learned from my great-grandmother... 

There are few things more irritating than trying to chop items quickly and having your cutting board slipping on the countertop. The solution? Grab a kitchen tea towel and run it under the faucet until it's wet. Wring it out a little so it's still fairly damp. Flip your cutting board over so the "wrong" side is up. Place the tea towel on the cutting board and pat it down a little so it sort of sticks to the cutting board surface. Flip the cutting board back over, so the wet towel is underneath. Your cutting board will now stay put while you're chopping things up. 

This concept also works great underneath mixing bowls when beating items by hand. 

More recipes coming soon, I promise. We've been remodeling our kitchen this week and the best thing I've made in there this week has been reservations for dinner out. I do have newly painted walls and cabinets, new hardware and a sparkly new vintage backsplash. I do not, however, currently have a kitchen floor. We're down to the bare plank subfloor, and since you can see slivers of the basement from the kitchen through the planks, I've been a bit leery to spend too much time in there as of late. 

Tip of the Day - Celery Storage

After harvest, celery still produces and releases ethylene. Ethylene is a gas that causes the vegetable to go limp with time by breaking down the cellular walls and leading to moisture loss. When celery is packed in plastic, it will spoil faster as the ethylene gas is trapped. If you store celery in aluminum foil, however, it will stay crisp for weeks in your refrigerator.

In a pinch, wayward celery can be revived by cutting off about an inch from both ends and submerging the stalks in a bowl of ice water for 30 minutes.

Vegetable Soup

Tonight's a soup night..., originally uploaded by *April*

A standard disclaimer - all measurements are approximate, as I never measure while I'm cooking.

Ingredients:

1 white onion, diced
olive oil
1/2 cup Very Hot Rotel tomatoes and chilies
1 chopped red bell pepper
2 stalks chopped celery
2 cups of sliced carrots
1 tbsp. chopped garlic
1 16 oz. can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 15 oz can canellini beans, drained and rinsed
1 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
1 cup mixed mushrooms (I use champignon, abalone, shimeji and shiitake)
1 tbsp. rosemary
1 tsp. oregano
1 tsp. Tony Chachere's Original Creole Seasoning
1 tbsp. McCormicks' spicy montreal steak seasoning mix - (salt, black pepper, red pepper, dill seed, coriader seed, garlic, dill, paprika)
2 28 oz. cans of water

Saute diced onion and garlic in olive oil. Add chopped vegetables and cook 5 minutes over medium heat. Add canned tomatoes and drained beans. Add mushrooms and spices. Cook over medium heat for 30-40 minutes, until vegetables are tender.

Serve with rolls with herbed butter.

Apple Pie

There's always one., originally uploaded by *April*.

I can't explain why (sacred geometry? fibonacci sequence?) but apple pie just tastes better when the slices are spiraled inside.

INGREDIENTS:

1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie (You can cheat and use premade if you're in a hurry)
1/2 cup unsalted butter (do NOT use margarine. Only butter)
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup water
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. cinnamon
8 medium apples - peeled, cored and sliced

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Melt butter over low/medium heat in a heavy sauce pan. Slowly stir in flour to form a roux. Add white sugar, brown sugar and water; bring to a boil. Reduce temperature, and simmer 5 minutes. Add vanilla and cinnamon, stir. Do NOT simmer longer than this or you will start making caramel-y type sauce and while the pie will still taste good, it will not be "pretty."

Meanwhile, place the bottom crust in your pan. Fill with apples, in a swirled pattern - mounded slightly. Cover with a lattice work crust. I use a cookie cutter and cut out the crust and gently overlap the shapes. Gently pour the sugar and butter liquid over the top crust. Pour VERY slowly so that it does not run off.

Bake 15 minutes at 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C), and continue baking for 35 to 45 minutes.

Excellent paired with butter pecan ice cream and a splash of amaretto.

Dueling Sauce Tortellini

Partial ingredients, originally uploaded by *April*.

Ingredients:
Package of fresh tortellini
1 medium white onion
1 tbsp. chopped garlic
olive oil
1 16 oz. can diced tomatoes
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tbsp. dried rosemary
1 can tomato sauce
1 cup red wine
1 roasted red pepper
Freshly cracked black pepper
1 cup cheese
1 egg
1 cup milk
1 tsp white flour
2 tbsp. butter
Fresh basil

Sauce #1:

Dice 1/2 medium white onion. Saute with 1 tbsp (roughly, I don't measure when I cook) chopped garlic in olive oil until onion is tender and translucent. Add 1 can diced tomatoes (I usually use fresh, but they were a bit iffy looking at the store last night). Saute until tomatoes start to lose their shape a bit, add 1tsp. red pepper flakes, 1 tsp. garlic powder, onion powder, and 1 tbsp. rosemary. Add 1 standard size can of tomato sauce (not the little ones) and pour in a cup or so of red wine. Liberally add freshly cracked black pepper. Simmer until consistency is thick.

Sauce # 2 - Melt 2 tbsp. butter in a saucepan, add 1/4 chopped white onion. Stir until the onion is translucent. Add flour and make a roux. Quickly stir in cheese (I typically use a romano blend, but you can use literally any kind. This time I improvised with some cream cheese, Havarti and provolone) and milk. Stir constantly until cheese is melted and mixture thickens. Finely chop red pepper and add to sauce, or use an immersion blender for smoother results.

Cook tortellini according to package directions. Separate into servings and top each with a ladle of red sauce on one side and the roasted pepper cheese sauce on the other.

Top with julienned basil.

Tip of the Day - Chocolate curls

To make perfect chocolate curls to adorn drinks and desserts, thoroughly chill the chocolate in the refrigerator or freezer. Use a vegetable peeler on the longest side of the chocolate (so, if you're using a regular bar, turn it so you're peeling down the narrow lengthwise edge). Keep the curls cold until you need them in the refrigerator.

Tip of the Day - Can't find your rolling pin?

While making pastry, if you can't find your rolling pin, or need an extra one - simply fill a straight sided wine bottle with cold water and recork. The cold water will make the pastry easier to roll.

Beet stalks and gorgonzola

Beet stalks and gorgonzola, originally uploaded by *April*.

Take the stalks of one bunch of fresh beets and cut into 1 inch pieces. Saute in a tbsp of olive oil until crisp tender (about 5-7 minutes). While still warm, garnish with a tbsp per person of gorgonzola cheese. Drizzle balsamic vinegar over the top and serve as a side dish or easy summer lunch.

Watermelon, Kalamata and feta salad

Watermelon, kalamata and feta salad, originally uploaded by *April*.

Ingredients:

4 cups of seedless watermelon, balled or cut into large chunks (a stainless steel coffee scoop works very well for an improvised melon baller)
3/4 cup kalamata olives, pitted and drained
3 oz. feta cheese, crumbled
1/4 medium red onion very thinly sliced
fresh cracked black pepper
2 tbsp. olive oil
2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar

Mix oil, vinegar, olives and onion. Toss lightly with watermelon and garnish with cracked black pepper. Serve slightly chilled or at room temperature.

While the salad can be made immediately before serving, I found it's best to let the flavors mingle for a few hours prior to serving.

Tip of the Day - How to Keep Cast Iron in Top Shape

I lived with my great-grandmother for most of my teens, and she cooked almost exclusively in a set of well-seasoned cast iron pans. Cast iron cookware cooks evenly without dreaded hot-spots and will last your entire lifetime if you take care of it properly. As an added bonus, it's often inexpensive and can be used for "fat-free" cooking. It can be used on the stovetop or in the oven, it won't warp and clean-up is amazingly easy. Eating food cooked in cast iron also helps with iron absorption in the diet, and can cut down on anemia. When I was pregnant my midwife actually suggested I switch to cooking in cast iron to increase my iron levels.

Cast iron cookware can often be purchased from garage sales or thrift shops for next to nothing. Even if the piece is rusty or greasy, it's easily fixed and will be a welcome addition to your kitchen. You can also buy new cast iron pieces, that will have a gun-metal grey appearance but they will require "seasoning" (described below) before you can use them.

Cooking with Cast Iron

It's very important to pre-heat the pan before cooking your food. Sprinkle a few droplets of water into the pan before adding food. The water droplets should sizzle and skip around the surface of the pan. If the water immediately disappears when dripped into the pan, you need to turn down the heat as the pan is too hot. If the water bubbles in the pan, but doesn't sizzle and evaporate, the pan is too cool. It is CRUCIAL to never pour large amounts of cool liquid into a hot cast iron skillet, as it can cause the pan to break. Another important reminder is that cast iron handles are very hot when the pan is heated, so be sure to use potholders.

Seasoning

All cast iron cookware must be seasoned for proper use. If a pan is properly seasoned, it will work just like non-stick cookware made with Teflon - and the pan will not rust. Cleanup is a breeze with a properly cured cast iron pan. Seasoning simply is a process by which oil is absorbed into the pores of the cookware. You can tell if the cookware is properly seasoned because it will be a uniform black surface. To season cast iron, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Wash the cookware with hot soapy water and a stiff brush. Rinse and dry. Completely coat the inside and outside surfaces with melted shortening, lard, bacon fat or vegetable oil. Rub it in with a folded paper towel. Place the cookware on the middle rack of the oven and bake for 30 minutes. Carefully remove using a potholder and dry any pools of oil. Return to oven and bake another 30 minutes. You MUST do this with any new cast iron cookware, and may need to repeat this again if you notice that food is sticking in the pan or that bits of the seasoning have flaked off and the pan is rusting.

Cleaning

To properly clean your seasoned cookware, let the plan cool completely and wash with dishwashing soap and water. Do not let the pan soak or let soapy water sit in the pan. Rinse and dry. Do NOT put cast iron in the dishwasher. Turn a stove burner on low and place the cleaned pan on the burner for a minute or two to ensure that all water is evaporated. While the pan is still hot, lightly oil the inside of the pan with vegetable oil, shortening, food grade coconut oil/butter or lard. Turn the burner off, but leave the pan on the burner for a few minutes. Wipe off any excess oil with a paper towel. If you see rust on the pans, you can use barkeeper's friend on the pans before re-seasoning. Or, for an all-natural approach, rub some rhubarb on the rust. Rhubarb is high in oxalic acid which chelates the rust and makes it water soluble. You can simply wash the rust away.

Never store food in cast iron, as the food will take on an unpleasant metallic taste. Tomato sauces and other acidic foods that are cooked in cast iron may look a little darker than normal due to the increased iron levels, but they will taste the same.

Ruffino Reserva Ducale Oro

The soul of Chianti Classico

Riserva Ducale Oro, produced for the first time in 1947, is an evolution of the wine Riserva Ducale, which saw the light in 1927.

There are no words to describe exactly how much this wine means to Ruffino. Riserva Ducale Oro is a modern classic. It tells the tale of the quality evolution which has characterised the last 50 years of Italy's fine wine production.

Riserva Ducale Oro has a distinctive style, recognizable through the decades of the twentieth century. It conveys the ancient traditions of its homeland. This wine is an intrical part of the history of the people of Chianti Classico. Its nature reflects their strong character, their innate will to find new challenges, their passion for the extraordinaty territory which is their home.

"Terroir" is a word that defines the relationship between soil, climate and human intervention. The interaction of these components results in the characteristics which are often defined as a wine's typicality, identity and personality.

Being well aware of the importance of terroir, the House of Ruffino has searched continuously for the ideal Ruffino wine. In the years after World War II, this research led to the creation of Riserva Ducale Oro, as a natural development of the Riserva Ducale and as a symbol of a new challenge which Ruffino set itself in the Chianti region: what is the real quality and ageing potential of Chianti Sangiovese.

Research was conducted in order to further develop the quality of Chianti Classico Sangiovese. The best vineyards in the Chianti Classico area were selected in different areas where different soils, microclimates and exposures would lead to the creation of a Chianti Classico Riserva able to express the richness of this marvellous territory with its many, inimitable, precious characteristics.

Riserva Ducale Oro undergoes a long ageing period in botti, the traditional Tuscan ageing casks. It is an extraordinarily complex Chianti Classico Riserva featuring a solid structure and elegant perfumes - a truly golden wine.

This wine, which celebrates its 60th anniversary in 2007, bears a particular significance to Ruffino.

Riserva Ducale Oro is today, at the end of the first decade in the new millennium, as it was in 1947, its first year of production, a sincere, honest wine that honours its home region. A wine of breeding, personality and style, recognisable vintage after vintage to anyone who drinks it. A wine that has travelled widely and won awards and appreciation all over the world.

Riserva Ducale Oro is produced only in the very best vintages. One of this extraordinary wine's main features is, in fact, its longevity. Some of the best vintages in the past 50 years include: 1949 and 1955, 1970 and 1975, 1983 and 1985, 1990, 1999, 2001 and the recent 2003.

--- The previous text was from the manufacturer. My review on this one will be short and sweet. We loved this wine. It's an intense garnet red and has undertones of plums, vanilla and ripe cherries. It's a full-bodied wine, so definitely not for the faint of heart, but it's so rich, and so delectable that we were wishing we had another bottle. There were faint whispers of cardamom and coffe with a sweet hint of chocolate. I would buy this wine again and again. A fabulous chianti.

Tip of the Day - Keep Olive Oil Fresh

Many people have a hard time keeping olive oil fresh once they bring it home from the store. Exposure to sunlight, heat and air can turn the oil rancid, and make it unsuitable for cooking. If the oil has a buttery taste, it's likely turned bad.

It's best to keep your olive oil (all oils, actually) away from light and away from the heat of the stovetop or oven. I store mine in a roll-out shelf under the kitchen counter, so they're still easily accessible for cooking and protected from light. Another important tip is to make sure that the bottle is tightly capped. You can refrigerate most grades of olive oil (it's not recommended for extra virgin olive oil though, as condensation can develop in the bottle and affect the flavor). If the oil is cooled in the refrigerator, it may temporarily become cloudy and viscous - potentially even solidifying. Once the oil is warmed back up to room temperature, the oil will clarify and is fine to use. Some cooks keep their olive oil in their wine cellar - and decant only a small amount for normal kitchen use. Unfortunately, I don't have a wine cellar so I can't attest to this method - though I find that the cabinet works just fine.

I typically just store the oil in the bottles it comes in, though you can successfully store it in tinted glass, porcelain or stainless steel containers. Never store oil in plastic (as it can absorb harmful chemicals) or reactive metals.

Cucumber water

We've all heard how important it is to have an adequate fluid intake, especially during the summer months. For me, since I'm nursing Julian, it's especially important that I drink a lot of fluids. However, I'm sick and tired of plain water, and if I drank juice constantly I'd be far over my calorie limit for the day.

The solution? A tip I picked up while traveling in Sweden - cucumber water. Simply take a scrubbed cucumber, and slice it and add to a pitcher of ice water. Let it sit for a few minutes and enjoy. The cucumber adds a subtly sweet flavor that's a refreshing change to plain water. And best of all, it's still virtually calorie free and allegedly works to detoxify your skin. I can't verify those claims, but can attest that it tastes wonderful.

Delectable

Delectable, originally uploaded by *April*.

A wonderful weeknight dessert.

Halve fresh figs (I used green California figs, though you could also use mission). Serve two or three per person. Swirl french vanilla yogurt on small serving plates. Top with halved figs, and drizzle 2 tsp. organic honey on each plate. Sprinkle with lavender.

Amazingly good.

Not your mama's mac and cheese.

Not your mama's mac and cheese., originally uploaded by *April*.

Ingredients:

1 box rotini
1 cup skim milk at room temperature (you can use a higher fat content milk, we just don't ever have any in the house, so I used what we had)
2 cups shredded cheese (you can use any type - I used about 1 cup of a gouda infused with vegetables, and then 2 slices of crumbled muenster and 1 cup of a mix of monterey jack, medium cheddar, queso quesadilla and asadero cheese)
1 heaping tbsp white flour
2 tbsp butter
1/3 white onion, diced (can be omitted if your family won't eat onions, but the taste won't be as rich)
freshly cracked blacked pepper
2 tsp brown mustard (NOT yellow mustard - do not omit)
4 flatbread crackers (or 8 regular crackers) - crushed

Put a large pot of water on high heat to boil. In another large saucepan, melt butter. Add onions and stir until translucent. Make a roux by adding one heaping tbsp of white flour and stir constantly until flour is incorporated completely and golden brown. Turn oven on to 325F. Add milk and cheese to roux. Stir in 2 tsp brown mustard to sauce - I promise you will not taste mustard in the finished product, but it will taste much richer than regular mac & cheese. Stir constantly until sauce is smooth. Drain pasta, pour into a buttered casserole dish. Pour sauce over pasta and stir to coat. Sprinkle with crushed flatbread and bake at 325 for 15 minutes until heated and bubbly with a slight hint of golden brown on the top.

This makes a LOT of food. But it's very good. A hint - if you're reheating it, put a little milk in the pasta before you reheat it so it doesn't dry out.

Served with a raddichio and butter lettuce salad with peeled english cucumbers, rainier cherries (a yellow fleshed fruit that's a cross between a Bing and a Van cherry) and diced purple sweet peppers, with a basic balsamic dressing.

Yophuria

When we were in Whole Foods, I saw a bottle of Yophuria while walking between the frozen section to dairy to pick up my lovely delicious Fage yogurt. We eat a lot of yogurt in this house, and we love wine. So wine plus yogurt... sounded intriguing. I'd never heard of anything like that before.

The company website provides the following snippet -
------

A new product from Germany just made our wishes come true: YOPHORIA!

Take the known proven benefits of moderate wine consumption. Now add the vitamins, minerals and immune system boost of delicious yogurt. Combine with a luscious fruit taste and a fizzy sensation, and top it off with absolutely no fat or cholesterol! You have a heavenly refreshing adult beverage that you can enjoy at the beach, at a party or with someone special.

While others are raving about the latest drink fad that are sure to pack on the pounds and provide zero benefits other than love handles and a hangover, you can savour the flavor of Yophoria's Natural Fruit Wine and Yogurt in our glamourous Champagne-style bottle, guilt free!

Mouth-watering flavors such as Peach and Strawberry are currently available, while you will soon be able to enjoy the taste of Apple or Blueberry!

Yophoria is the Smart Choice in adult beverages. Try one today!
------------
My review isn't as glowing. Let's just say that it was far from making my dreams come true, but then again I've never dreamed of alcoholic yogurt. Perhaps I need to expand my horizons. I thought it tasted odd, not bad really - but the effervescent peach-yogurt-wine taste was just too much for me, I guess. One little bottle just filled two saucer style champagne glasses. Honestly, I took one sip and gave the rest to Patrick. When he asked for his review, he gave a thumbs up and said he liked it "mucho."

It was a great concept, but I think it was a bit lacking in execution. He loved it.

I think this is something we're going to have to agree to disagree on.

Daily Tip - Personal space while sautéing

When sauteing, make sure that you leave enough room amongst the pieces of food so that you can see the bottom of the pan. If you have too much food in the pan, the food will lower the temperature of the pan and create a lot of steam. Excess steam will prevent even browning.

Another tip for sauteing is to make sure the food you add into the pan is dry - you can simply blot it with a kitchen cloth or paper towel.

Tip of the Day - Chocolate Cake Secret Ingredient

Anytime you're making a chocolate cake (either from scratch or pre-made mix), include a tablespoon of distilled white vinegar. You won't be able to taste the vinegar in the finished product, and you'll be amazed at how moist and springy your cake will be.

Smashed new potatoes with garlic scapes, shrimp and broccoli

Smashed new potatoes with garlic scapes

Cut up scrubbed new potatoes (estimate 2-4 small potatoes per person) and one cut up garlic scape per serving and cover with water. Drain, and just cover again with water (the first round helps eliminate some of the starch from the potatoes). Cook over medium high heat until fork tender. Drain. Mix in a splash of milk and 1 oz. per serving of goat cheese. Smash with a potato masher. Sprinkle with Hawaiian black lava sea salt.

Garlicky shrimp

Put 1 tablespoon of butter into a non-stick frying pan and combine with 2 tbsp. sodium free seasoning blend (I use a Kirkland organic blend - a Costco product) and 1 pound of thawed shelled shrimp. Stirring gently, cook until shrimp turn bright pink.

Serve shrimp and potatoes with fresh steamed broccoli. The extra sauce from the shrimp makes an excellent topping on both the broccoli and the potatoes.

Daily tip - flavorful ice cubes

My first semester of law school, I started drinking coffee in earnest.

It's been a torrid love affair since.

When I first started practicing law in Miami, I would have a large (16 oz. minimum) cup of coffee on my way to work while stuck in traffic on I-95. Sometimes it took just that much to get me through the Golden Glades interchange, and I'd have to stop on the way for another. Then, once at work, I'd easily down another 5-6 cups before 3 p.m. when it was time for cuban coffee. While living there, I got hooked on iced coffees, since the weather doesn't often dip below 70 degrees - there's not much use for hot coffee.

When I got pregnant with Julian, I gave up coffee cold turkey as soon as I found out. I was not, let's say - a pleasant person to be around during the "detox" phase. Now that he's here, I still occasionally have a cup or two, but not nearly as often as I used to indulge.

Last week, I was reminded of a tip that I loved to use when still living in South Florida. Freeze coffee (even with cream and sugar, if that's how you take yours) into ice cube trays, and pop them out into freezer bags once frozen. Use these instead of regular ice in your iced coffee and you won't have a diluted drink when the weather is swelteringly hot.

You can use this same principle to prevent any drink or punch from being watered down.

Gooseberry and Blueberry Crumble with Maple Yogurt

I'd never cooked with gooseberries before I saw them in the farmers' market a few weeks ago. They're good, though surprisingly tart. Apparently the growing season is only three to four weeks long, so make sure that you snap them up when you see them in the market or grocery store. With their slight wine taste, and rhubarb for most recipes. I combined them with sweet blueberries to try to ameliorate the lip puckering tartness.

Ingredients

2 cups gooseberries "topped and tailed" (the ends pinched off)
2 cups fresh blueberries
1 scant cup sugar
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
maple yogurt (I used Wallaby, an Australian style yogurt I found at Whole Foods. You could use plain vanilla yogurt and mix in a tablespoon of good maple syrup though and have close to the same taste)
mint, for garnish

Directions

Wash the fruit and place it in an ovenproof dish (I used a deep pyrex pie pan). Sprinkle generously with sugar. Make the crumb topping next by cutting the butter into the flour with a pastry blender or you can use your fingers. Stir the brown sugar and cinnamon into the crumb topping, and sprinkle over the fruit. Bake at 350 degrees F (180C) until the top is browned and the fruit begins to bubble, about 30-35 minutes.


Remove from the oven and let cool a bit, spoon it out into dessert dishes, top with maple yogurt and a sprig of mint.

Daily tip - how to make the tears stop

On more than one occasion, I've stood over the cutting board with tears streaming down my cheeks until I learned the following tricks. Why? Onions, like all members of the allium family are full of amino acid sulfoxides, which give these vegetables their distinct bitter flavor. When onions are sliced, enzymes called allinases are released and react with the sulfoxides and create sulfenic acids. Sulfenic acids are extremely unstable and can form syn-propenethial-S-oxide. Why does this matter? It's this chemical that irritates your cornea and ciliary nerve in your eye and makes you tear up.

How to resolve this? There's a few options. Refrigerate onions thoroughly, or stick them in the freezer for just a few minutes (be sure not to let the onion freeze) before you slice them. Another alternative is to cut off the top but leave the root on the onion. Or, you can cut onions under water or soak them before slicing. Interestingly, onions with a higher water content (Walla Walla, Vidalia, etc.) do not cause as many tears. Of the "normal" generic onions, white onions have the most water, followed by yellow and then red.

Following yesterday's tip - another way to prevent tearing is to use a very sharp knife. A sharp knife does less damage to the onion's tissue and thus doesn't release as many allinases.

The most basic way to stop the watershed? Cut the onions in a well ventilated area.

Goat cheese and spinach scramble

We don't eat eggs often, and when we do - it's almost always a weekend morning. This scramble pairs goat cheese, fresh peppers, red onion and spinach and is accompanied by buttermilk biscuits with sweet cherry spoon fruit and fresh baby roma tomatoes.

Ingredients

4 eggs, beaten
1 small sweet red pepper, diced
1 small yellow pepper, diced
1 slice red onion, diced
1 large handful fresh spinach
4 oz. soft goat cheese
cholula
freshly cracked black pepper

Tear the spinach into small pieces. In a non-stick skillet over medium heat, soften the peppers. Add the beaten eggs and begin to scramble. Once eggs have begun to set, add the spinach and goat cheese. Once eggs are set, split among plates and garnish with diced red onion, black pepper and a few splashes of cholula.

Daily Tip - Knife Storage

Perhaps more than any other item - a cook's most important tool is a properly sharpened knife. One of the biggest mistakes that people make, which can seriously damage the knives and unintentionally hurt someone is improperly storing kitchen knives. 

You have a few different options on how to store (and transport - should it be necessary) your knives. 

1.  Plastic sheaths - often used by people who store knives in a drawer, or for transport purposes. To use these, simply insert the end of the knife into the notch as if you were slicing and then ease the rest of the knife into the sheath. These help keep knives sharper longer. 

2.  In-drawer storage - typically made of wood or high density plastic - this is a great option if you have an extra kitchen drawer to set aside for this purpose. Unfortunately, I don't have the drawer space, so I can't use this option. 

3.  Counter blocks - typically made of resin or wood, they keep knives within arm's reach on the countertop and sorted. So you bought your knives separately and not as a set? No worries - a knife block can be purchased on it's own (and hold up to 20+ knives, plus room for a sharpener, kitchen shears, etc.). This is what we use, and an extra tip - if there are vertical slots in the block, store the knives blade side up, so you don't dull the knife while it's just sitting in the block. 

4.  Wall mounted block - these can be a great option depending on your storage space. You'll need to measure carefully with your longest knife to make sure that removing that knife won't be impeded by cabinets or other equipment. 

5.  Under cabinet storage - great for small kitchens. In my first apartment, I had ONE drawer (that was about six inches wide, tops) and a measly bit of countertop that was at most a foot square. This would've been ideal for that place. 

6.  Knife rolls - although these are generally used only by professionals and hunters transporting their knives to and from work.  When I was taking the brown line on the el everyday to and from work, there must have been a culinary school close by - as there would be numerous people on the train in their houndstooth chef pants and with their knife rolls. I always tried to ride in the car with them, as I figured at least if trouble broke out - someone would be well equipped to defend themselves! In the interest of safety, the best option is to transport your knives individually sheathed. 

The old adage is definitely true - a dull knife is a lot more dangerous in the kitchen than a sharp one.  If you're lamenting how dull your kitchen knives are, fret not. You can sharpen them at home using a sharpening steel, a sharpening device or a whetstone. If you're worried about improperly sharpening your knife - many kitchen specialty stores will do it for you, or can recommend someone in your area. For those of you in the Chicago area - on Saturdays at the Naperville farmer's market "Tony" does an excellent job.  At the entrance, you'll see him with his giant whetstone wheel. 

Strawberry Bread

My favorite part of summer is eating fresh berries with a splash of cream. This bread can be served with vanilla ice cream for dessert, or could be sliced and used in place of plain bread for delicious french toast.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups sliced fresh strawberries (this is roughly approximate to 1 pint - a lot of times I throw in a few extras)
1 cup granulated white sugar, divided
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2/3 tsp Vietnamese Cassia cinnamon. If using "regular" cinnamon, use a full tsp.
2 eggs
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 stick of melted butter (not too hot! - just barely melted)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease and flour or use non-stick cooking spray inside a standard size loaf pan. Rinse, core and slice the strawberries. A bonus hint for the day - a tomato corer works wonders for coring strawberries. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup of the sugar. In a large mixing bowl, blend together the remaining sugar, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. In a medium bowl, beat the eggs until just foamy, add the vanilla and melted butter. Stir in the strawberries. Combine the two mixtures, blending until the dry ingredients are just moistened through. Scrape the batter into the pan and bake for 60-70 minutes, or until a toothpick of piece of uncooked spaghetti inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove the pan from the oven and cool on a wire rack for 20 minutes before removing the bread from the pan.

The first time I tried this recipe (largely adopted from one we picked up while perusing Penzeys Spices - www.penzeys.com) I wasn't so sure about the cinnamon and strawberry combination, but after we ate the loaf we agreed it was heavenly. I buy my cassia cinnamon from Penzeys, and while it's spicier and more intense than regular cinnamon the taste is incredible.

There are a few things that I think one needs to spend money on to buy quality kitchenware namely... good properly sharpened knives, good cookware, and good spices. Once you've used good quality items in these categories (it took me 25 years before I did for some of them!), you'll never go back to using just any old thing.

After the requisite cooling time, I took the bread from the oven and ate a piece with Garofalo burro di buffala - a pale gold butter made from buffalo milk and Ficoco, a fig and cocoa spread from Croatia.

Daily Tip - Avoiding sticky situations

When measuring ingredients such as honey, corn syrup or peanut butter, lightly coat the measuring spoon or cup with non-stick vegetable oil spray. You won't lose any of the ingredient due to it sticking to the container, and you won't change the taste of your finished dish. 

Cucumber Cayenne Salad

Since we had such a late lunch, we had a simple summer salad for dinner tonight. It was bursting with fresh flavors. The recipe follows, though you could vary it quite a bit and end up with a similarly tasty result.

Ingredients

2 medium to large cucumbers, trimmed, peeled and diced. (you can seed them, but honestly, I think that's just wasting food - and the difference isn't really noticeable in the end product)
1 tsp salt
1/2 bunch cilantro leaves, chopped (if you leave the stems in, be sure you chop these finely)
1/2 cup Mexican crema or sour cream
3/4 cup plain yogurt
2 tbsp fresh lime juice (or 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice)
1 lime (for garnish)
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1/3 medium red onion, diced
1 large ripe tomato, diced
1 cup roasted corn (I used the frozen bagged variety from Trader Joe's, though any cooked corn, or drained canned corn would also be good in this recipe)
1/4 to 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (cayenne pepper goes a LONG way, but we like things spicy in our house, so we tend to overindulge)
lettuce (for serving)

Directions

Whisk together the Mexican crema, yogurt, lime juice, and cayenne pepper. Add the remaining ingredients and toss lightly. Refrigerate for a few hours to let the flavors marry before serving. Best served slightly cooler than room temperature. Garnish with a quartered lime and a tiny sprinkle of cayenne pepper over freshly washed butter lettuce leaves. While our is primarily a vegetarian household (Patrick is, I still eat meat on the rare occasion), this would also be great with chilled cooked shrimp added.

Garlic and brie ravioli

Garlic and brie ravioli, originally uploaded by *April*.

It's no secret that I love the abundance of fresh vegetables available in the summer. Today's "linner" (lunch served so late it might as well be dinner) was a delightful blend of fresh vegetables and tender cheese stuffed pasta.

Ingredients

1 package of garlic and brie stuffed ravioli. (You can use any fresh cheese stuffed ravioli. We bought a package of garlic and brie stuffed ravioli from Costco today that seemed perfect for this).
4 baby roma tomatoes
1 very large handful of organic fresh spinach leaves (another item we use almost daily that I typically purchase at Costco, I think it's an Earthbound Farm offering)
2 oz. per person of baby portobello (really, portobello mushrooms are crimini mushrooms) mushrooms, quartered
1 large zucchini, cut into half-moons (cut in half and sliced)
1 teaspoon jarred diced garlic per serving
balsamic vinegar (splurge on really good balsamic vinegar, as a little goes a long way. We use an aged balsamic vinegar from modena that we picked up from Whole Foods)
1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and julienned
splash olive oil

Directions

Put a large pot of water on to boil. Spray a grill pan/skillet with non-stick cooking spray and turn the stovetop heat on medium/high. Grill the mushrooms, zucchini, and yellow bell pepper until tender and slightly charred. Add the ravioli to the boiling water with a splash of olive oil (the oil prevents the pasta from sticking together or overboiling). Add the fresh spinach and stir frequently until spinach is wilted. Drain ravioli using a colander.

Plate ravioli, and then split vegetables up evenly amongst servings. Top with 1 tsp. jarred chopped garlic per plate along with quartered baby roma tomatoes. Drizzle 1 tbsp. balsamic vinegar over each entree.

Wine, and me.

Wine, and me., originally uploaded by *April*.

Escudo Rojo is a winery spawned by the company Baron Philippe de Rothschild in 1997, that owns the famous Bordeaux winery Chateau Mouton Rothschild. This esteemed parentage is evidenced in the smoothness of this wine, which marries the traditional Chilean tastes with the more refined aura, and reduced tannic taste of a French wine.

The blended wine (a chilean Carménère (said to be a clone of Cabernet)- a variety originally planted in the Medoc region of Bordeaux, France and used to produce deep, full-bodied wines and the occasional blend, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Syrah) has very spicy cinnamon and pepper undertones. We've bought this wine a few times now, and have a few bottles ageing in the cellar, but would wholeheartedly endorse it as a wine to drink "now." While some wines need to be paired with food in order to bring forth their bouquet, this one is easily served on its own as well.

Carménère favors a long growing season in moderate to warm climates. During harvest time and the winter period the vine fares poorly if it is introduced to high levels of rain or irrigation. This is particularly true in poor-soil plantings where the vine would need more water. Over-watering during this period accentuates the herbaceous and green pepper characteristics of the grape. The grape naturally develops high levels of sugar before the tannins achieve ripeness. If grown in too hot a climate the resulting wine will have a high alcohol level and low balance. Carménère buds and flowers three to seven days later than Merlot and the yield is lower than that of the latter grape. The Carménère leaves turn to crimson before dropping.

Carménère is produced in wineries either as a single-variety wine (sometimes called a varietal wine), or as a blend usually with Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet franc and/or Merlot.

5 Fruit Salsa

Yummay!
Originally uploaded by p2wy

Would be really good to make this time of year....

1/2 a pineapple (or almost)
1/2 a cantaloupe (or almost)
8-12 strawberries
some cilantro
3 kiwis
1 orange
1/2 a red sweet pepper (almost)
6 or so serrano peppers
lime juice-a-go-go

Chop all by hand or with a food processor, mix and enjoy with chips or as a side-dish. Much hotter than you'd expect (you can of course make it with fewer peppers).

Daily tip - Is the egg fresh?

This tip is inspired by a recent twitter from a friend wondering if an egg that was in a carton past it's sale by date was still good to use. 

To see if an egg is still good - put the egg (still in it's shell!) gently in a bowl of full of 2 cups of cold water and 2 tablespoons of table salt.  If the egg sinks to the bottom it's good to use. If it floats, it's too old for use and should be discarded. 

Generally, eggs are good for about three weeks after you buy them.

Daily Tip - Too much salt?

I'm certainly not perfect when it comes to cooking duties - as evidenced by my homemade currant jam that turned into currant candy yesterday when I let it boil for too long while Julian was screaming his little head off. That said, I thought it may be helpful to offer a "daily" tip regarding kitchen how-to that I've learned over the years.  A lot of this advice was given to me by my recently departed great-grandmother affectionately known as "Granny." 

Today - what to do if you're a little more Dennis Kuchinich than Pat Robertson when it comes to the salt... 

You essentially have a few options, depending on what it is that you're cooking. Your options are as follow: 

1.  add brown sugar or refined white sugar. Just a teaspoon or so may suffice depending on how much salt you've added to it. 

2.  if it's a soup or stew, add a thick slice or two of peeled raw potato - it tends to "suck up" the salt in the dish. 

3.  add a lemon juice drop by drop. Lemon juice tends to neutralize the taste of salt, but you have to be careful that you don't overpower whatever you're cooking with the taste of lemon. 

4.  make another batch of what you're cooking, without adding any salt, and mix them together and freeze half. Obviously, this isn't necessarily an easy fix. 

5.  if you've had a really bad day, and say - the entire top came off the salt shaker and you poured half a shaker worth in your dish - my advice? Open a bottle of wine and order take-out. Sometimes, that's just what you have to do. 

A bountiful summer...

Dinner, originally uploaded by *April*.

A dear friend of ours was out of town this past week, and she offered her weekly CSA farm share to us in her absence. So, our home is currently overflowing with gorgeous produce. Last night's dinner was an easy weeknight affair - a pan seared Don Lee veggie patty (by far the best prepackaged veggie patty we've found to date. We get them at Costco - and they can be stored either fresh or frozen. A package of 14 costs about $10, and they're wonderful. The package touts them as "A delightful harvest of fresh carrots, onions, celery and bell peppers are blended with bread crumbs, delicate seasonings, and crunchy sunflower seeds to create a patty that is light and moist, yet firm enough to grill").

Accompanying the meal was roasted sugar snap peas with grey fleur de sel, garlic spinach with cheese and pan fried summer squash. Recipes for each of these yummy sides follow:

Roasted sugar snap peas Preheat oven to 375. While the oven is heating, pinch the ends off fresh sugar snap peas. Make sure you have enough for each person, and place them in a single layer on a cookiesheet. Spray with olive oil and put in the oven about 10 minutes. When removed, sprinkle with a tiny bit of grey fleur de sel.

Grey fleur de sel or Sel Gris is a coarse, moist, organic sea salt, hand gathered from the coastal area of Brittany near the town of Guérande, France. Rich in minerals, it is unprocessed, unrefined, and unadulturated. It remains a light grey, almost light purple color because of the clay from the salt flats where it is collected. The Grey Sea Salt is not collected by machine but by hand using traditional Celtic methods.

All that aside, it's just tasty - and a teeny little pinch goes a long way.

Cheesy Garlic Spinach A variation on this dish is served in our house almost every week. Wash fresh spinach leaves (about two cups or so per person - they cook down substantially). Place in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat and stir often. Add a teaspoon of water if necessary to prevent leaves from sticking. Spoon in a heaping tablespoon of minced garlic (we use Spice World - in a blue labeled jar). The garlic can be omitted if you like. After the spinach is wilted, stir in 1 oz. of smooth melting cheese per serving. We usually use soft goat cheese but last night used a four cheese shredded Mexican blend. Stir until cheese is melted and sprinkle with freshly cracked black pepper and a sprinkle of salt-free seasoning blend.

Summer Squash Melt 2 tbsp. butter in a cast iron skillet. In a shallow dish mix 2 tbsp. white flour, 1 tsp. black pepper, 1 tsp. paprika, and any other spices of your choosing. I typically use a mix of garlic, onion powder, thyme and greek oregano. Thinly slice a summer squash and dip slices in water (you can use a beaten egg or milk, but the water works almost as well and is fat/calorie free. Dredge each dampened squash slice in the flour mixture and place in the skillet. Allow squash to brown on one side, and then flip. Cook about 5 minutes on each side. I personally like mine a little darker than golden, so I let them cook a little longer. If necessary, drain excess butter before serving.

2005 Terrazas De Los Andes Reserva Malbec

Delicious, originally uploaded by *April*.

We are not wine snobs, but we're not exactly novices either. For years one of my favorite getaways has been to vineyards across the country - and in France. I try to pick up a few bottles of local wine from each place we vacation. Almost any trip to the grocery store, Costco or specialty market finds a bottle or two nestled in amongst the organic produce in our basket. It's almost a compulsion. We're hoping to eventually convert part of our basement into a wine cellar, but for now the dark cool temperatures work well for our burgeoning collection. Hint to my dear husband, as far as our vacation this summer goes - I'd love if we could work some vineyard visits in...

Last night's choice was a 2005 Terrazas De Los Andes Malbec. It's from the Mendoza region of Argentina and was laced with deep blackberry flavor. It smelled almost floral, with a slight hint of cinnamon, chocolate and pipe tobacco. This bottle was in the $10-$15 range from Costco, I believe.

Malbecs are named in homage to the Hungarian peasant who first introduced that particular grape varietal to France. They were once solely grown in France, but they were introduced by the French architectural engineer Michel Pouget in 1868 to the mild climate on the slopes of the Argentinean Andes. The Mendoza area turned out to be so well-suited to growing the grapes (and producing a less tannic-driven variety than that in Cahors) that France has essentially thrown in the towel on this varietal. An interesting tidbit of information - while the grape is Argentina's shining glory - the wine makers almost completely decimated the vineyards during the 1980s when a "vine pull" program reduced the total planted acreage to less than 10,000. The grape is also grown in Chile, France (very limited), the cooler portion of California (where it is used to make Meritage), Washington, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, British Columbia, southern Bolivia and Northeastern Italy.

Malbec (and Tannat) are the varieties of grapes with the highest polyphenols called oligomeric procyandins (OPS), that make red wine good for your health.

This particular bottle was rated 88 points by Wine Spectator, and for the price was an excellent buy. As we eat only vegetarian meals at home, I can't attest to the pairing with meat - but imagine that it would do nicely with grilled items as it complemented the slight char on our summer squash.

One caveat - the wine did leave the tell-tale red wine drinker stigma of dark splotches on the teeth and along the gumline so be sure to rinse well after water and brush up before bed!

"Clean out the fridge" Queso

Comfort food
Originally uploaded by p2wy

Any queso recipe must have Velveeta, otherwise the consistency gets all wrong.

1/3 a thingee of velveeta
good amount (1/2 cup?) of chihuahua cheese
1/4 cup of mozzarella cheese (what i had left)
couple of pinches of fresh grated parmesan
4 roma tomatoes (chopped)
1/4 cup (roughly) chopped cilantro
1/2 cup nopalitos (prickly pear cactus...get the prepared "nopalitos" rather than actual nopales, unless you're a masochist)
some red onion
dried serrano pepper seeds from 10 or so peppers
lime juice

warm in a double boiler and garnish with queso fresco and cilantro.

Gratin of Zucchini, Eggplant and Chickpeas with Goat Cheese

As I was pulling tonight's dinner (Gratin of Zucchini, Eggplant and Chickpeas with goat cheese, recipe follows) out of the oven, Benny came tearing into the kitchen and hopped up on the chair next to the table where I set it to cool. He didn't actually eat any (the same cannot be said about the squash I sat out on the table today).

Gratin of Zucchini, Eggplant and Chickpeas with Goat Cheese

Greatly inspired by the recipe in the Williams-Sonoma Vegetarian cookbook.

Ingredients

1/2 cup dried chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
1 medium eggplant
2 medium zucchinis (courgettes)
1 tbsp. olive oil
2 small white onions, sliced
1 large sweet red bell pepper
2 tbsp. minced garlic
1 cup chopped tomatoes (you can use any kind, I used a combination of yellow cherry, grape and an heirloom red)
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
1 tsp. chopped fresh thyme
1 tbsp. no-salt added herb blend (I used Kirkland - the Costco brand)
kosher salt
fresh cracked black pepper
1/2 cup crumbled goat cheese
1/4 cup grated goat or fresh parmesean cheese

Directions

Pick over the chickpeas and discard any damaged peas or stones. Rinse and drain. Place in a bowl, add plenty of water to cover, and let soak for at least three hours.

Drain the chickpeas and place in a saucepan with water to cover by 2 inches. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low, and simmer, uncovered until tender, about 45-60 minutes. Drain and set aside.

Cut the eggplant and zucchini into slices about 1/2 inch thick. Set aside. In a large non-stick frying pan over medium heat, warm the olive oil. Add the onions and red pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft - about 10 minutes. Add the chopped eggplant and zucchini and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until just lightly browned, about another 10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add the red pepper flakes, chickpeas and spices. Simmer for about 10 minutes.

Cut the tomatoes into small chunks, and combine in a 9x13 baking dish with the crumbled goat cheese. Pour the vegetable mixture into this dish, sprinkle the grated goat cheese or parmesean over the top. Bake until golden and bubbling around the edges, about 20 minutes.

Let cool for 10 minutes before plating. Serve with an herb green salad.

Stuffed Poblano Pepper and Strawberry Guacamole

On one of my first visits to Chicago, Patrick and I made stuffed poblano peppers. Hands down, it is perhaps one of the best meals I've ever cooked. A flavorful burst of serrano peppers and soy chorizo, delicious melted mexican cheeses and fresh produce from the local Mexican grocery. And... we both got food poisoning from something in it, and were violently, violently ill. We've always pegged the soy chorizo as the culprit - and have never eaten it since, but who knows what it really was that made us so ill.

The recipes for this go around - still delicious but guaranteed not to make you sick - are as follows:

Strawberry guacamole:
2 ripe avocados
minced dehydrated garlic
1/4 to 1/2 of a white onion, diced
red pepper flakes
juice of 1 lime
sprinkle kosher salt
1/2 jalapeno pepper (you can seed and devein it to decrease spiciness - but it marries nicely with the sweetness of the strawberries)
6-10 sprigs of fresh cilantro [leaves only, discard the stems into the compost pile]
1 cup hulled diced fresh strawberries [if possible, get these straight from the garden or from a farmers' market - they're often much more flavorful than the strawberries sold in the grocery stores]

Directions: mash avocado flesh into somewhat chunky paste, adding garlic and red pepper flakes to taste. I'm not going to tell you an amount because we like garlic and peppers both more than most people do. Mix in juice from one lime to prevent guacamole from discoloring due to oxidation. Dice strawberries and onion and gently spoon in to the avocado mixture to avoid overly smashing them. Finely dice jalapeno and add in as much as you'd like for a bit of fire. Lightly chop the cilantro leaves and fold in. Sprinkle in a tad of kosher salt, give it another stir, and it's good to go. A tip for the guacamole from Patrick, if you're not going to serve it right away, take saran wrap and mash it down on the surface of the guacamole - the lack of air will prevent the guacamole from discoloring.

For those of you with a Meijer around, the Meijer Organic Corn Tortilla chips (they come in yellow and blue) are delicious.

Stuffed Poblano Peppers
one large pattypan squash
one large vine ripened tomato
one fresh jalapeno
one fresh poblano pepper for each person you're serving - this recipe made three)
1/2 cup roasted corn (I used Trader Joe's - in their freezer section. It's delicious and easy, though fresh would've been even better)
1 large sweet red pepper
1/2 white onion
1 pint of baby portobello mushrooms, cleaned and quartered
2 tbsp. crumbled queso fresco
3 tbsp. jarred jalapeno juice
1/3 cup shredded cheese per pepper. I used a four cheese mexican blend from Costco - but some Habanero Jack would've been great too.
Adobo Sauce - I used Dona Maria paste, and follow the direction on the back of the jar to reconstitute enough to drizzle over the peppers.

Directions

Cut all the vegetables except the poblanos into small pieces. Grill on the stovetop in a non-stick skillet until tender. While these are cooking, make a t-shaped cut close to the stem of each poblano and slice it down the length (being sure not to cut through the back of the pepper). Place into a baking dish and broil until the outer skin of the poblanos start to bubble up and char.

Remove cooked vegetables from stovetop and mix in 2 -3 tbsp. jarred jalapeno juice. Stuff the peppers with the vegetable mixture, and then the shredded cheese. Drizzle adobo sauce over the peppers and sprinkle crumbled queso fresco on each pepper. Bake in 375 degree oven for 20 minutes, until heated through and the poblanos are tender.

The poblanos are also good stuffed with beans (refried or whole) and basically any combination of vegetables that you have.