Published by mel on October 8, 2008 in entree, recipe and sides & bites.
Photo Credit: Agustin Sanchez
It’s been 2 months since our big trip out to the Pacific Northwest and I’m still trying to recreate some of the dishes we had out there. One of my favorite meals was at Higgins in Portland. We weren’t really in the mood for a fancy place, so we sat at the bar and ordered from the “bistro” menu. Of course, the Mussels with chorizo and polenta caught our eye right away. So did the house-cured charcuterie plate, the local beers and the shortbread cookie with basil ice cream and nectarine syrup (which reminds me…I have to make this!).
So, back to the mussels. I finally made them over the weekend and they were every bit as magical as I remember them from Portland. The broth was bright and flavorful and spicy from the chorizo, the polenta added a nice heft to the broth, and the mussels were the perfect briny contrast to the chorizo. I ate until I was too full and washed it all down with a cold, bitter beer.
Honestly, this might just be the perfect recipe for mussels. But if mussels aren’t your thing, this “broth” would be perfect for shrimp, lobster or even chunks of fresh fish. In fact, you can even skip the seafood and substitute chicken or omit the extra protein altogether and think of it as a thin chorizo polenta soup. Just delicious!
Continue reading ‘Mussels in Chorizo Polenta Broth’
Published by mel on October 7, 2008 in entree, recipe and sides & bites.
Photo Credit: Agustin Sanchez
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Awhile back, the Ile de France cheese company sent me a free wheel of Camembert cheese to blog about. Since one would be insane to turn down free cheese, I accepted and made roasted fig, prosciutto and camembert “sushi” drizzled with honey. Nothing better than creamy cheese, fruit, cured meat and honey. Nothing.
I guess it was a success because Ile de France sent me some more free cheese. This time, a large piece of goat cheese and the chance to submit my recipe for a chance to win $1,000! Free cheese and a chance to win some cash? Yes please. So, I invited my photographer friend and co-worker Augi and his wife Meli (one of my homeys from high school) over for goat cheese tartlets.
Photo Credit: Agustin Sanchez
I made a simple tart crust, which I stuffed into mini-muffin tins for appetizer-sized tartlets. Because I couldn’t decide on just one filling, I made five. And it can’t hurt my chances in this contest, right? Here were the 5 finalists:
- Cracked Pepper Smoked Salmon & Dill (my favorite, I think) - #4 in photo above
- Dried Apricot, Almond and Honey (Tom’s favorite) - #1 in photo above
- Roasted Fig - #3 in photo above
- Cardamom and Mustard Seed-spiked Butternut Squash - sadly, not pictured
- Caramelized Onion & Pear (my second favorite) - #2 & #5 in photo above
Photo Credit: Agustin Sanchez
The point here is that you can have fun with the fillings and the possibilities are endless. Each were tasty little bites and my guest photographer snapped away while I cooked and sipped from a Red Hook ESB. A perfectly relaxing Sunday afternoon.
Continue reading ‘Goat Cheese Tartlets, 5 Ways’
Published by mel on October 2, 2008 in entree, recipe and sides & bites.
Lately, I’m loving big, delicious sandwiches full of meats, cheeses and “slaws”. I tried looking up the definition of a slaw, but all I got was “sliced cabbage”, which isn’t really what I had in mind. Here’s my definition. Slaw (n.): A crunchy mix of thinly sliced vegetables and herbs, dressed with mayonnaise or vinaigrette, and usually served as a side or topping with a sandwich. There. I feel better. Now I can use the term slaw as loosely as I have been and we can get back to talking about the sandwich.
I like to think of this sandwich as a transition meal between Summer and Fall. The fennel and basil make it taste Summer-fresh, but the green apple definitely says Fall. The rest of the sandwich is a neat little stack of prosciutto, Saint Albray Cheese — a creamy, Brie-like, spicy cheese — and the slaw. It was perfectly simple, a nice balance between meat and cheese and vegetables, and absolutely delicious!
Continue reading ‘Prosciutto Sandwich w/Basil Apple Fennel Slaw’
Published by mel on September 29, 2008 in entree, recipe and sides & bites.
It’s officially Sports Food season. Baseball playoffs are coming soon (go Red Sox!), college football is in full swing (go Eagles!) and the NFL is taking over Sundays and Mondays (go…uh…). This means lots of nachos, 7-layer dip, pizza, buffalo wings, blue cheese and other assorted Sporty Foods.
I happen to love Sporty foods. Last year, I made delicious chorizo nachos and boneless (organic and whole wheat) buffalo fingers for the Super Bowl. It’s all about bold, hearty food that pairs nicely with a beer, or two, or three… But soup? Can soup be a Sporty Food? Why yes, yes it can. This weekend, I made Loaded Baked Potato soup. Thick, creamy, topped with bacon, cheese and hot peppers, this soup can definitely hold its weight during the baseball playoffs or a football tailgating session.
You can set your soup station up like you would a taco or baked potato station: a big pot of soup, bowls and toppings. Begin with your potato soup and layer on as many toppings as you’d like. Go crazy here – anything goes. Personally, I’m all about bacon bits, cheddar cheese, chopped spinach, sour cream and jalapenos. It’s a fun, Sunday kind of soup, even if you’d rather curl up with a good book or episode of Gossip Girl (What? Everyone has their guilty pleasures…) than a football team.
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Published by mel on September 23, 2008 in breakfast, entree, recipe and sides & bites.
If asked to choose my favorite condiment, I may just have to go with hot sauce. Though mustard — especially the spicy, grainy kind of mustard — would be a very close second. When you’ve got the right hot sauce, it can add subtle and delicious flavor, as well as heat. When you’ve got the wrong kind of hot sauce, it can taste vinegar-y or so overpoweringly spicy that you can’t taste anything else.
This homemade hot sauce has 4 ingredients: dried chiles de arbol, a touch of honey, a dash of apple cider vinegar and water. The chiles de arbol are spicy and smokey and give this hot sauce a unique flavor that has some of the chipotle’s smokiness, but isn’t as overpowering.
And if asked to choose my favorite dish to dress with hot sauce, it would be eggs. Without a doubt, eggs and hot sauce are best friends. Last night, I made corn tostadas with refried beans and cheese, baked until crisp then topped with fried eggs, avocado, cilantro and hot sauce. Delicious and wholesome, it was a great way to kick off the week with a little spice.
Apologies for the ugly picture. I had the wrong lens on my camera and was too hungry to notice.
Continue reading ‘Easiest Homemade Hot Sauce’
Published by mel on September 19, 2008 in entree, recipe and sides & bites.
I see on the news that it’s starting to cool down in some places. Not here. It’s still getting up to 90° most days, but the humidity is starting to let up. And so, it’s time for soup. Warm and hearty soups full of beans and grains and vegetables. Yummy soup that fills you up and comforts you on a bad day.
I love soup. It’s so good for you, comes together in just a few minutes and you’ve only got one pot to wash when you’re done. A few years ago, when I still lived in a place where it snows in winter, I discovered bean and barley soup. It sounds so simple, I know, but there’s something about red kidney beans and barley that taste amazing together.
For this soup, I added in some hot Italian chicken sausage to really make it a meal and some smoked paprika and lime to perk it up. It’s the kind of soup I’ll make on a Monday morning and eat for lunch the rest of the week with some whole grain bread or crackers. It’s thick and flavorful, stick-to-your-ribs goodness.
Related: Simple Sausage & Red Lentil Soup
p.s. See if you can spot me in the spoon. Hi guys!
Continue reading ’stick-to-your-ribs sausage, bean & barley soup’
Published by mel on September 18, 2008 in entree, recipe and sides & bites.
If you’re looking for a lovely Sunday afternoon meal for the Fall, these meatballs are for you. They simmer lazily in Parmesan Shitake broth while you read a book or take a nap. They’re great with a crusty piece of bread, on top of pasta or straight out of the pot if no one’s looking.
Adding ricotta to your meatballs will take them to a whole new level, making them soft and tender and almost creamy. They’re delicate and hearty at the same time. A quick sear and they go straight into a broth flavored with Parmesan rinds and sauteed Shitake mushrooms. The meatballs cook through in the broth, infusing it with meaty goodness. Cooking meatballs in broth may seem weird (where’s the marinara?), but they’re so flavorful that it would be a shame to cover them with sauce.
I served these with homemade gnocchi for an excellent Sunday Supper.
Related: Weeknight Meatballs for when time is short
Continue reading ‘veal & lamb ricotta meatballs in shitake parmesan broth’
Published by mel on September 15, 2008 in entree, recipe and sides & bites.
Have you ever tasted homemade gnocchi? I’m not talking about the stuff that’s shrink-wrapped and powdery in the pasta isle of your grocery store. Not that I’m knocking store-bought gnocchi — it’s perfect for quick weeknight meals and satisfies the potato pasta craving. But there’s nothing like real, homemade gnocchi. They’re much less dense than the pre-packaged kind — soft and pillowy, like a dumpling, but still as sturdy and chewy as you’d expect.
I was first introduced to homemade gnocchi when I was a mere pre-teen punk. My parents were close friends with an Argentinian couple who made them once a month. In Argentina, it’s tradition to make gnocchi on the 29th of each month and serve them with a dollar bill placed under the plate to attract prosperity (more over at Wikipedia). I can’t remember how the gnocchi tasted, but I remember it was good. Delicious, even.
I made an enormous batch this weekend as a special Sunday Supper for Tom’s birthday and served them with lamb and veal ricotta meatballs in a hearty Parmesan and shitake broth (recipe for those later this week). While making gnocchi may not be for the beginner cook, they’re not as difficult as you might think. Just keep a box of pasta in the pantry in case something goes wrong.
The most difficult thing about making gnocchi is that measurements are a rough guideline and you’ll have to go by feel for a lot of this. There are a lot of variables that make giving precise measurements tricky — potato sizes vary, egg sizes vary, altitude affects dough, etc. So, here’s a rough recipe, along with tips and pointers for getting your dough just right. I encourage you to give these a try. Unlike fresh pasta, fresh gnocchi is much more difficult to find at the store and definitely worth the extra effort for homemade.
Update: Forgot to mention that I froze 2/3 of the gnocchi I made since it was a double batch and only 5 people came for dinner. (I always make too much.) To freeze fresh gnocchi, just cover the parchment paper with another sheet of parchment and roll it up like a fruit roll-up or sushi roll. Gently place the rolled parchment into a gallon-sized freezer bag and seal, making sure you push as much air out of the bag as possible. The layers of parchment will prevent them from sticking together or getting freezer burn when they freeze.
Continue reading ‘how to make homemade gnocchi’
Published by mel on September 12, 2008 in entree, recipe and sides & bites.
This week I saw some things at the grocery store that I’d never seen before. They were in the produce department, right next to the cartons of black mission figs (buy one get one free this week! yay!). They were big, round, purple and the label said they were grapes. Muscadine grapes. But, these were unlike any grape I’d ever seen before.
First of all, they were huge. About the size of a big gumball, I’d say. The skin looked more like the skin of a plum than a grape. And they were very, very dark purple — almost black. I bought some because I was intrigued, and because they were half price. I was so intrigued that I ate one as soon as I got home and immediately googled them. According to Wikipedia and the label on the inside of the carton, Muscadine grapes are native to the U.S. and reach their peak during the hottest months of the summer. They thrive in hot and humid places, which explains their appearance at my local grocery store. Muscadines are used to make wine and preserves and are full of healthy goodness.
And the taste? Delicious. Same juicy sweetness of a purple grape, but much meatier, like an apricot. The only downside is their size. Muscadines aren’t very conducive to popping in your mouth like regular grapes. These are definitely 2-bite bad boys, which rules them out for snacking in my book.
I contemplated using them to make a sauce for pork chops, but didn’t have any pork in the fridge. I did have some fresh greens and goat cheese, though. So I candied some pecans and made a salad. A really good salad. The sweet and juicy grapes were a perfect contrast to the tangy goat cheese, and the spiced and candied pecans added just the right amount of sweet crunch. I could eat this salad every day.
Muscadine grapes get an A+ in my book, but this salad would be just as delicious with your standard red or purple grapes. I think the pecans steal the show anyway…
Continue reading ‘green salad w/grapes, goat cheese & candied pecans’
Published by mel on September 11, 2008 in entree, recipe and sides & bites.
Is it wrong to dress tofu in chimichurri? Maybe. But, it makes a damn good sandwich. Chimichurri is a delicious Argentinian sauce usually drizzled over freshly grilled meat, and most often over skirt steak. It’s made by blending olive oil, parsley (I like Italian Parsley myself), lemon juice, garlic, red pepper flakes and salt together like you would a pesto. The bright green sauce is rich, herbal, tangy and a little spicy. Just the thing for grilled meats, and apparently just the thing for spicing up an otherwise bland piece of tofu.
As you all know, I’m by no means a vegetarian. I love my bacon, beef, pork and lamb. Seafood, too. Yum! So, it may seem surprising that I’ve also grown to love tofu. You just can’t think of it as a meat substitute. It’s no replacement for steaks and burgers, but it has its own unique flavor and texture. I love how it soaks up its marinade and develops nice, crisp grill lines. Paired with some greens and piled onto toasted pumpernickel, it made a hefty and flavorful sandwich.
My beef-jerky-loving Midwestern man ate it up and asked for seconds. Chimichurri and a grill are always a winner, and can probably turn the most rabid tofu haters into tofu lovers.
Related: Steak Sandwiches with Chimichurri Jicama Slaw
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