Aug
17
Peach Gazpacho
Filed Under All, Soups & Stews
Here’s one that uses a triumvirate of summer yellow to make a shining bowl of sunlight. Fruity, spicy, exotic, unexpected, and quite, quite healthy, this cold soup is guaranteed to make your guests do a double-take. Finish with a dollop of yogurt, as in the pic, or throw in some chunks of peaches. Or tomatoes. Or, for a real spicy finish, add minced Pickled Jalapeños. And don’t forget the wine: A steely, grapefruity NZ sauv blanc is the way to go here.
Peach Gazpacho
makes about 2 cups
3 peaches (about 1 pound), pitted & peeled
1 large yellow tomato (about 8 ounces)
1 large yellow pepper (about 8 ounces)
1 clove garlic, pressed
1/8 teaspoon cumin
1/8 teaspoon curry powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
Purée all ingredients in food processor or blender and chill. Taste for salt and serve.
Aug
12
Mashed potatoes, truly one of the very best ways to prepare the humble root vegetable, sometimes seem in need of a bit of a makeover. You can add cheese, or bacon, or garlic, and that’s great, but what if you need a little more color? Enter the fabulous purple potato. Rich, creamy, and available at most upscale supermarkets, they are just waiting for you to give them a try. And if you mash them and add a bit of cream, they reach a sublime lavender color. And how often have you wished your plate had more lavender on it? (Hint: The cool answer is “often.”) Personally, I think there’s just not enough lavender in the whole world, on or off a plate.
Lavender Mashed Potatoes
2 pounds purple potatoes
2 heads garlic, cloves peeled
1/2 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
1/4 cup heavy cream, at room temperature
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
Cover potatoes & garlic with cold water in a large pot and bring to boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium and cook until potatoes are tender, about 20-30 minutes, depending on the size of the potatoes. Drain, mash, and add remaining ingredients. Cover and heat over very low heat for 5 minutes, stirring once or twice. Taste for salt and serve.
Aug
7
The hamburger is certainly a staple of American dining, and although beef is considered to be the king of the burger, there are solid reasons to consider a pretender to that throne. Some would argue that the mighty hog’s flesh holds more flavor, succulence, and tolerance of high temperature cooking. You be the judge. I’m definitely leaning pigward. Use whatever your favorite barbecue sauce happens to be, or come up with your own recipe for sauce.
Barbecue Porkburgers
serves 4
1-1/2 pounds ground pork loin, not too lean
1/4 cup barbecue sauce
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
8 cloves garlic, pressed
1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke (optional)
1/2 teaspoon salt
Combine all ingredients, form into 4 patties, and refrigerate for 1 hour. Heat 12-inch cast-iron skillet over high heat until very hot, then fry burgers, 5 minutes per side. Serve on fluffy buns, topped according to your dearest porcine whim.
Aug
3
Nothing says summer like peaches, and although many baked fruit desserts are wonderful, served warm they don’t help those of us who keep the thermostat on the high end stay cool. So I thought I’d come up with a little fruit crunch specifically designed to be eaten cool. With its quick stay in the oven, the fruit doesn’t lose its shape & texture, and the flax topping provides a happy, healthy crispiness. A night in the fridge firms it up nicely, and with a cold glass of milk, maybe you can even turn the A.C. off!
Peach Blueberry Oat Crunch
serves 9
1 cup oats
1/2 cup flour
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
8 tablespoons butter, well chilled
2 pounds fresh peaches, pitted & cut into eighths
1-1/2 cups fresh blueberries
1/4 cup toasted flax seeds
Combine oats, flour, brown sugar, & spices in medium bowl. Cut butter into 1/2-inch bits and blend into oats mixture, using a pastry blender, two knives, or your impeccably clean (and not too hot) fingers. Press half of mixture in bottom of 9-inch square glass baking dish. Arrange peach pieces on top of oat mixture, then scatter blueberries into the gaps. Press remaining oat mixture onto fruit and sprinkle flax seeds on top of that. Bake in 400º oven until brown & crispy, but not burned, about 30 - 40 minutes. Remove from oven, allow to cool, then refrigerate for at least 12 hours.
Jul
30
Besides being another great excuse to get a water smoker, 
Smoked Duck Fettuccine
serves 4
3 tablespoons + 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 pounds red onions, peeled, halved along the axis, & sliced 1/2 inch
8 ounces white button mushrooms, sliced 1/2 inch
3 large ribs celery, sliced 1/4 inch (about 1/2 pound)
6 green onions, white & light green parts only, sliced 1/8 inch (about 1/2 cup)
1/2 pickled jalapeño pepper, sliced 1/8 inch
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
flesh from one smoked duck, chopped into bites (about 1 pound)
1/4 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup hot water from pasta pot
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 handful fresh basil, sliced thin
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 pound fettuccine, cooked 1 minute less than package instructions
finely grated Parmesan cheese
Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in large sauté pan over low heat. Add onions and sauté slowly, stirring often, until onions are dark and well caramelized, about 1 hour. The trick here is to sauté slowly enough that the onions don’t crisp at all, but with enough heat so that the onions caramelize gradually and fully. Remove onions from pan.
Add 2 more tablespoons olive oil to sauté pan and apply high heat. When oil is almost smoking, add mushrooms and sauté, stirring often, until mushrooms are golden, about 5 minutes. Add celery and continue to sauté until celery just begins to brown, about 2-3 minutes. Add green onions, jalapeño, duck, salt, & caramelized onions. Stir, then add pasta water & wine. Continuing to stir & scrape up any sticky bits from bottom of pan, add lemon zest, lemon juice, basil, & balsamic vinegar, and stir well to combine. Simmer for a minute, taste for salt, plate, and top with freshly ground black pepper and Parmesan cheese.
Jul
26
All right, this one is for all of you who have a juicer collecting dust in your basement/attic/most-difficult-to-get-at cupboard. The juicer is a fabulous way to enjoy refreshing, healthful beverages you create out of the most beautiful specimens of fresh fruits & vegetables you can find at the store. And it’s kind of fun, too. If you don’t have a juicer yet, don’t despair. You can buy one for money. Here’s the one I use: John’s Juicer.
Disclaimer: Juicing fruits and vegetable, while good for you, is not as good as eating the whole fruit. The juicer separates the fiber, skin, & cellulose of whatever you’re juicing from the juice (uh, hence the name, I guess), and so it may look like you’re drinking a handful of carrots, it’s not quite that way. Although you can reserve the pulp the juicer creates and use it to make muffins, cakes, etc. More on that in another post.
For now, here’s the favorite juice of bunnies, and one of mine as well.
Rabbit Juice
makes about 3 cups
1 pound fennel bulbs
1 pound carrots
1/4 pound fresh cranberries
1/4 pound fresh ginger
2 cloves garlic
Process in juicer according to manufacturer’s instructions. Chill if desired.
Jul
21
Sweet Potato Vichyssoise
Filed Under All, Creamy, Soups & Stews
I love cold soups. Cooling off in the summer means more than just turning on the AC; the more cold foods you eat, the cooler you’ll be. And sipping a cool spoonful of delicately smooth vichyssoise is a treat that everyone should enjoy often. And sweet potatoes? Better for you than their white cousins, and certainly more interesting. I think the consistency of the soup is actually better with sweet potatoes.
(Note that I have not put salt in the ingredient list; you will need to make your own salt evaluation based on the saltiness of your stock.)
Sweet Potato Vichyssoise
makes about 2-1/2 quarts
2 pounds sweet potatoes or yams, peeled & chopped 1-1/2 inch
3/4 pound leeks (white & light green parts only), rinsed well, sliced 1/2 inch
12 cloves garlic, peeled
1 jalapeño pepper, stemmed, seeded & chopped
6 cups chicken stock
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
3/4 cup cream
chives
Over high heat in large pot, bring sweet potatoes, leeks, garlic, jalapeño, stock, & spices to boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer slowly for 45 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool for a half hour or more. Purée in batches in blender or food processor, whisk in cream, and chill for at least 4 hours. Even better after 12 hours. Taste for salt & serve topped with chives.
Jul
17
This is one of my favorite picnic dishes. The interplay of rich, smoky chicken with sweet & crunchy apples & celery is irresistible. If you don’t have a water smoker,
Smoked Chicken Salad
makes about 4 quarts
1/2 cup kosher salt
1/4 cup sugar
2-1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 cups toasted pecan halves
1 fennel bulb, cored & sliced 1/2 inch
4 ribs celery, sliced 1/2 inch
2 Granny Smith apples, cored & chopped 1 inch
1 cup raisins
juice of 1 lemon
3/4 cup mayonnaise
Dissolve sugar & salt in 1 quart water. Combine with chicken in 1-gallon zip-lock back and brine for 1 hour. Remove chicken from brine, rinse well, dry, and coat with olive oil. Smoke in low-temperature water smoker
In large bowl, toss chicken with all ingredients except mayonnaise. Add mayonnaise and toss again. Serve immediately, or chill & serve within a day or two.
Jul
12
My favorite way to make quesadillas is to bake them, because you can make a bunch at once. I find that just a quick spray of canola oil on the cookie sheets is sufficient. This recipe uses mozzarella, which may not seem like the most obvious choice for quesadillas, but give it a try and you’ll be hooked. If you can’t get fresh chorizo where you shop, you should really shop somewhere else; but if you’re just too stubborn for that, Italian sausage would work in a pinch. Mexican chorizo is spicy, but I prefer the Salvadoran version, available in some areas, which is tangy, but not overly picante.
Chorizo Quesadillas
serves 4
1/3 pound fresh chorizo, removed from casing
1/4 cup minced yellow onion
1/2 pound mozzarella, grated
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon dried sage
8 10-inch flour tortillas
Sauté chorizo & onion in medium skillet over medium-low heat, breaking up chorizo, until onion is soft and chorizo is fully cooked. Remove to plate and allow to cool.
Preheat oven to 400º. In medium bowl, combine mozzarella, cilantro, sage, & cooled chorizo mixture. Soften tortillas 2 at a time by heating in microwave for 30 seconds. Place one tortilla on lightly oiled cookie sheet, top with 1/4 of cheese mixture, then spread mixture evenly to within a half-inch of edge of tortilla. Top with another tortilla and press together to seal.
Repeat with remaining tortillas and cheese mixture, then bake in 400º oven for 6 minutes, flipping once halfway through. Cut into wedges, and serve.
Jul
5
A rum fruit punch can be a sickly-sweet, cliché of an American tourist’s bad taste….or it can be a refreshing, tongue-tingling, splash of vacation in a glass. In this one, the tang of the passionfruit is tempered by the red, red sweetness of the watermelon. And passionfruit seeds, in case you didn’t know, are quite edible, with a lovely delicate crunch. Any rum would be good, but I prefer white rum with this one.
Bonaire Passion
serves 4
3 cups seeded, cubed watermelon
pulp (with seeds) from 2-3 passionfruits (about 1/2 cup)
1/4 cup pineapple juice
3/4 cup rum
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
Purée all ingredients in blender or food processor. Pour over ice in tall glasses. Serve with an iced-tea spoon to stir up the passionfruit seeds.
