Post #103 ~ Mussels with Tomatoes, Fennel and Caramelized Shallots

As you might have noticed, it's been a while since my last post.  Actually, it was a while since the post before that one, too.  In truth, this final semester has been a really busy one for me (as well it should be, seeing as it's my last!).  In the past four months, I've conducted a study, assisted in a study, compiled date from my own study, analyzed said data and written a dissertation.  I'm defending May 2 and walking May 11.  I can't believe how quickly it's all gone!

So, in sum, I've still been cooking, but not blogging about it quite as much.  Tonight I really felt like returning to basics and cooking a favorite meal (but with a twist) and writing a post.  For those of you who know my blog, you realize that this means a post about insalate caprese, ratatouille or mussels, and hopefully by now you know the theme of tonight's dinner.

I was researching some different ways to make mussels, and happened upon an ingredient I had never before considered: Fennel.  I don't have a ton of familiarity with fennel, outside of the rogue seed that appears on a slice of pepperoni pizza, or the anise-flavored cookies I binge on at least once every other Christmas.

But I had seen and heard great things from my favorite chefs on my favorite cooking shows, so I decided it was high time I dallied with this flavorful bulb.  So here's what you'll need for tonight's meal:

~ Mussels (between 15 mussels - about 2/3 pound - and one pound, depending on your appetite)
~ 1 shallot (sweeter than onion, IMO)
~ 2 cloves garlic, crushed
~ 3 roma tomatoes
~ 1 bulb fennel (although I only used about 1/3 of it)
~ Fresh parsley (although many other herbs would have worked well)
~ Dry white wine
~ Coarse-ground sea salt
~ EVOO
~ Baguette

I started some EVOO smoking in a pan, and tossed in the sliced shallot to caramelize, tossing it once as I sliced everything else.  Next, I sliced the fennel.  Once knife slice told me I was making a good decision, as a spicy, familiar-yet-new aroma filled the air.  Into the pan it went, and the aromas only got better as it joined the sweet, savory scent of the caramelized shallot.  Things were heating up rather quickly, so I added some white wine.  There was lots of steam, so I stepped back and added more gradually, eventually equalling about a cup.  Next went the romas, coarsely chopped.  I added some parsley at this point, as well as some salt.  I turned up the heat and let them really cook.  I crushed in two cloves of garlic and added more parsley, and savored the aromas.  After rinsing the mussels, I slid them into the pan and covered the whole deal.  I let it simmer for 4 minutes, my usual time for cooking mussels.

In the mean time, I did useful things like put dishes in the sink, ingredients back in the fridge, sliced the bread and poured and sampled the wine.  All was well in the world.  After 4 minutes, I put the mussels into a bowl and grabbed the plate with the bread.  I was halfway into the livingroom when I swear I could hear Mireille Guiliano (see #17) yelling at me all the way from France.  So I set myself down at my kitchen table and really enjoyed the meal.  I mean, as I've said before, this is a meal for which you should eschew napkins in favor of a towel.  Hands and bread are the utensils here, with a fork at the ready as a last resort (or to avoid burned fingers).  The resulting broth was tremendously flavorful, and there was plenty of it and the other ingredients to compliment the mussels.

The fennel was amazing.  It kept a crunchiness to it, but was cooked to a satisfying done-ness.  It added an intensely spicy (as in aromatic, rather than "hot") dimension to the meal and complemented the bright, biteyness of the parsley and the acidic flavor of the romas beautifully.  The wine I chose for cooking and drinking was a Romanian Pinot Grigio by Dreambird.  It was citrussy with a nice balance of mineral.  It complemented this seafood dish like a fresh squeeze of lemon compliments a fillet of haddock.

All in all, an immensely satisfying meal.

Yours in the love of good food and wine,
AL


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The blogger is not an experienced chef. She takes no responsibility for the quality of the meals prepared while following her advice. Use your own judgment regarding cooking times and proper food handling.

Post #102 ~ Quick and Savory Onion Soup

It all started with my mother putting some weekend leftovers in a bag for me to take with me this week.  As usual, she was finding lots of other things to squirrel away in my tote.  She's a good mama.  So I had only one reply in mind when she held up a handful of onions and said, "Want some of these?"

Sure!

Upon arriving back at my apartment, I noticed that I had about six baby heirloom tomatoes left in my crisper which were starting to look sad and wrinkly.  They were good for tossing or stewing, and I can't bear to toss food. In fact, I find it kind of a fun game to see what meals I can throw together using a few of these and a little of that - stuff that would be thrown out but could also come together to make a meal or two.

And so, the onion gift and sad little tomatoes were an inspiration for me to throw together a quick soup for lunch today (and a second bowl for later this week!).  So this could be a quick meal for two, or... two quick meals.  Or the title of a very strange children's book.

Here's what you'll need:

~ One cooking onion
~ Several sad little heirloom tomatoes
~ Two or three cloves garlic
~ Splash (or two) of whatever red wine you have lying around.  I'm fairly sure white would have worked fine, too.
~ Four beef bullion (more or less, according to your taste)
~ One bay leaf and random herbs on hand (I used dried oregano and basil)
~ Tsp sugar
~ Tbs or so EVOO
~ Coarse ground sea salt

I used a medium sauce pan, even though I'm fairly sure it's not normally conducive to soup.  I was only making a small batch, anyway, and I think the expanded surface area helped it to cook quickly.  I halved the baby heirlooms and diced up the onion, and tossed them into the pan with some EVOO and salt.  I let them sauté away before adding some sugar and letting them caramelize.  While they were cooking, I boiled two cups of water and poured it over the bullion and bay leaf in a separate cup.

I chopped up the garlic and added that to the onion and tomato.  By now, things were starting to smell super good.  I added the wine and then the broth.  I sprinkled some herbs over all and let the soup simmer away, stirring here and there, for about 15 minutes as I ran around tidying my apartment.  Then I spread some bread with some leftover hummus (about a tablespoon full that I had saved with the hopes of using it for something later!).  I popped the bread in the toaster oven as I turned off the heat on the soup.

When the toast was done, I ladled some soup into a bowl and enjoyed the meal that came from leftover ingredients!  And there's more for this week!

Yours in the love of good food and the "waste not, want not" mantra I grew up with,
AL


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The blogger is not an experienced chef. She takes no responsibility for the quality of the meals prepared while following her advice. Use your own judgment regarding cooking times and proper food handling.

Ninety-Ninth Post (One more!) ~ Cooking with Lentils

This past week, I was on a cruise with my family in the Caribbean to celebrate my grandmother's 80th birthday.  I've got to say, all the good food made me really miss blogging.

Don't get me wrong - I've been cooking and eating LOTS of good food over the last few months - I just haven't been blogging as much as I'd like.  Hopefully, that shall change.

Certainly the inspiration to reach 100 posts will help nudge me!

So, while we were on this cruise, I ordered a phenomenal pork roast dinner.  The pork was fork-tender.  The bread was crackle-perfect and the wine robust.  But what really stole the show for me (I'm sure to the chef's chagrin, should he have known) were the perfect little lentils spread under the roast.  I was immediately reminded of how much I love these little beans.  Perhaps it's because they're tied to a memory.

When I was a junior in college, I had a schedule during the winter months that allowed me to take a morning class and then drive back to my apartment for a breather before heading off to night classes.  I had, if I recall, about an hour and a half total for a break.  I'd throw my bags on the floor, take off my shoes, and prepare a hot lunch.  More often than not, it was a bowl of Campbell's soup (I wasn't such a cook back then).  One of my favorites was lentil soup.  I'd line up a re-run episode of Frasier on my DVR, sit with a heating pad on my back to relieve the chill and eat hot soup, relish in a good laugh, and, though I didn't know it at the time, build memories of my very first apartment and independent young adulthood, memories that will stay with me, steeped in nostalgia, forever.

So as I tasted the lentils, these memories came to me, and I told them to my family.  We talked about how food can be so closely tied to memories, and I resolved myself to return home and blog the very first meal I cooked.

Which happened to be lentil soup.

About which I knew absolutely nothing.

So I hit up AllRecipes, and came across this one.  I decided that my first foray into lentils would be well-instructed.  If this venture went well, I'd continue on unassisted.  One of my favorite aspects of soup is that it can be (and in my and my mother's opinions, SHOULD be) a laissez-faire kind of thing.  I decided to alter the ingredients a little to make it a bit more "throw-in-a-pot-and-walk-away."

Here's what you'll need (and as you can see, I followed the original recipe very closely but with a few substitutions in method - I'm not trying to pass this recipe off as my own!):

~ 1 (12 oz.) bag Wegmans pre-cut, pre-washed course mirepoix 
~ 1/4 cup EVOO
~ 2 cloves chopped garlic (although I think I'd press it next time)
~ 1 tsp each dried basil and oregano
~ 2 bay leaves
~ 1 (14.5 oz.) can tomatoes in whatever form you can find them in (I ultimately found "diced in juice")
~ 2 cups dried lentils
~ 8 cups water
~ good handful baby spinach, rinsed but not cut
~ splash red wine
~ fresh oregano
~ salt

I pre-measured everything before I even turned on the pot.  Doing so makes for faster dump-and-go soup-making.  While the original recipe calls for chopping onions, carrots and celery, I decided to cheat with the pre-made mirepoix.  I started the EVOO simmering and dumped in the whole bag.  I let it cook until the onions were nearly translucent, then added the garlic and the herbs (and wow, did THAT smell good!).  I added a good amount of salt at this point.  I let it cook the recommended 2 minutes, and added the tomatoes, lentils and water.  I walked away for an hour and change, coming back to stir it occasionally and take in the fantastic aromas.

Finally, I turned off the heat and let it sit for about an hour until I was ready to eat.  I turned it back on and added the final ingredients.  The original recipe calls for vinegar.  In my opinion, wine just makes me happier than vinegar.  Unless we're pouring it over curly-cue french fries.  So I added a splash of the Carmenere I got for this meal.  The recipe also calls for sliced spinach, but I opted to go for baby leaves so I wouldn't have to do anything to them.

I let the soup bubble for a few minutes while I changed into my PJs and poured the wine (mine is a comfortable household).  I ladled the soup into my bowl and topped it with a bit of fresh oregano.  Then, I grabbed my soup, grabbed a crusty rosemary roll from Wegman's bakery to go with it and grabbed my glass of Carmenere and sat down to enjoy.

This Chilean wine, by Arboleda, was on sale at the wine shop right around the corner from my old apartment (see?  I told you I was feeling nostalgic!).  It's full, ripe, rustic, and steeped in berry flavor.  It made a fine companion to this meal.

The soup also did not disappoint.  The lentils were tender and flavorful, the vegetables were perfectly cooked, and the fresh oregano gave a punch of bright flavor to the stewed ingredients.  I feel as though I may have found a new favorite bean!  Versatile enough to be a side or a main course (as well as being healthy AND inexpensive), this is not the last you shall read of lentils from THIS accidental chef!

Yours in the love of good food, wine, and nostalgia,
AL


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The blogger is not an experienced chef. She takes no responsibility for the quality of the meals prepared while following her advice. Use your own judgment regarding cooking times and proper food handling.

Ninety-Seventh Post ~ Hearty Tomato Vegetable Soup

Today's high was 63 degrees, and I was in heaven in my jeans and hoodie.  I'm what you might call an "Autumn-Winter" person, and today's weather made me feel the change of the seasons and rejoice with it.

And what better way to rejoice than through cooking?

I decided to make a pot of vegetable soup to enjoy throughout the week.  With that decision in mind, I went a little nuts in Wegman's produce department.  Here's what I got, but you can choose any veggies you wish!

~ Carrots, onion and celery (for the classic mirepoix base that my family seems to gravitate toward for all things soup)
~ Acorn squash (if Autumn were a veggie, this would be it)
~ Portobello mushroom (for the sheer sake that I've never cooked with one before)
~ Largish tomato
~ Zucchini (locally grown, of course)
~ Handful leftover fingerling potatoes
~ Fresh herbs (rosemary, sage and oregano - As Wegmans didn't stock any, I found myself giggling over the pun-ready thought, "Why, I won't have any THYME this week!")
~ Four beef bullion
~ Dash white wine
~ Sprinkling of white pepper
~ One clove garlic, coarsely chopped
~ ...And one mystery ingredient which shall be exposed later

So I went home and set to merrily chopping my veggies.  I had about a half-pot full of water (my traditional dutch oven in which I make all my soup) boiling at this time, and into the pot went the coarsely chopped celery, onion and carrots, soon to be joined by the dash white wine and herbs.  Next went some fingerlings.

I pierced the squash and microwaved it for one minute to make slicing it easier.  Then I cut it in half, scooped out the seeds, and cubed it and tossed it in the pot, skin and all.

Next went the portobello, the zucchini and the tomato, skin on as well.  After that went the garlic and the pepper.  By now, things were starting to smell real good.  The problem was that it was tasting a bit bland.  I added some beef bullion and a bit more salt, but to no avail.  Just at that moment, my mama called.

: : PAUSE : :

Somewhere in our ancient history as humans, mothers leaned with their daughters over the crude vessels they had fashioned to hold the night's stewed offerings, whispering to them that if they just added a pinch more of that, or a dash more of this, it just might be a bit more like they remembered it from their childhoods.

Truly, life has changed little since then.  I cheerfully announced that I was making a stab at vegetable soup for the first time, and my mother suggested...

Spaghetti sauce.

Seriously.  I was a little befuddled too.  "Or," she said, "I would add V8 juice to our vegetable soup.  That's what gave it that kick you liked."

So THAT'S why the V8 juice would show up in our cart when I would join my mother for trips to the store.  God knows I'd never DRINK the stuff...

: : UNPAUSE : :

So since I didn't have any V8 juice around, I thawed out a frozen third of a jar of Wegman's spaghetti sauce from the freezer and dumped it in.  The soup slowly took on a more minestrone appearance and smell and - yep - it started to smell more familiar.

(I peeked at the ingredients, and aside from the olive oil, all of the ingredients in the spaghetti sauce were ones I had added already - onion, tomato, salt, spices, garlic... but perhaps in more concentrated form).

I slowed it down to a simmer, tasting here and there.  I'm new at vegetable soup, and after turning off the heat and letting it sit for a while, I was surprised to find that the rind of the squash stayed in tact with a bit of flesh left, but the pulpier parts of it seemed to naturally incorporate into the broth, giving it a wonderfully sweet taste and rich texture.

I enjoyed a bowl of it for dinner along with a few slices of a multigrain baguette and a glass of Tall Poppy Shiraz.  All in all, a satisfying meal that I'll enjoy throughout the week!

Yours in the love of good food and wine (and a few words from the wise),
AL

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The blogger is not an experienced chef. She takes no responsibility for the quality of the meals prepared while following her advice. Use your own judgment regarding cooking times and proper food handling.

Ninety-fifth Post ~ Prep Ahead Mussels with White Wine, Garlic, Herbs & Tomato

After I get done lecturing, I feel emotionally, mentally and physically exhausted, in a really rewarding kind of way.  Typically, I do call-ahead take-out from Panera, where I can grab my healthy, foodie meal to go, drive back to my apartment, and collapse in front of my TV to dine on panini, salad and a nice glass of wine.

But I'm trying to think outside the lunchbox for some easy alternatives.

Enter mussels.

You all know my love affair with these mollusks - easy, inexpensive, quick and oh-so-yummy.  What's not to love?  It's a quick meal in and of itself, but I thought I'd do some prep to make it even quicker.  My efforts paid off.

Here's what you'll need for tonight's meal:

~ Mussels (1 lb does it for me - unfortunately, Wegmans misplaced the special order I had called in early this morning, and I ended up having to wait for a while with two exceptionally apologetic and friendly seafood staffers while they painstakingly looked for the code to ring up a single pound of mussels, which is not a usual purchase.  Hence the call-ahead.  But we found it - #6755.  Immortalized herein)
~ White wine (tonight's was a lively Portuguese Gazela vinho verde - as clear and effervescent as sparkling water - but with a great deal more citrussy, fresh character!
~ Garlic (1 clove)
~ Fresh herbs on hand (savory, thyme and oregano for me!)
~ 10 or so pieces of oven-roasted tomatoes from the Mediterranean bar.  Super yummy.
~ 2 tbs. butter
~ Coarse-ground salt to taste

In the afternoon, I prepped the broth.  Into my pan went some white wine, garlic, tomatoes, herbs, two pats of butter and salt.  I slapped a lid on and put it into the fridge.

End of story.

I came home this evening with my pound of mussels and a baguette, let the pot come to temp while I greeted my puppy and set my bags down, and then started it simmering, rinsed the mussels and plopped them in.  They cooked covered for 3 minutes while I poured myself a glass of chilled wine and sliced the baguette.

Not 10 minutes in the door, I was sitting down to one heck of a savory meal.

Panera, you know I love you - and I'll probably see you Thursday.  But this was a great way to kick off my week!

Yours in the love of good food and wine,
AL

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The blogger is not an experienced chef. She takes no responsibility for the quality of the meals prepared while following her advice. Use your own judgment regarding cooking times and proper food handling.

Eighty-fifth Post ~ Savory Marinated Strip Steak

Easy to prepare, quick to cook - what's not to love?

Here's what you'll need for this meal:

~ Strip steak
~ Soy sauce
~ Garlic (jarred or crushed)
~ Whatever fresh herb you have on had (wait for it - OREGANO!)

Place the raw steak in a zip-lock bag.  Pour in an ample amount of soy sauce.  Not only does soy sauce add a delicious flavor to meat, but it also tenderizes steak!  One of my favorite meals as a child was my mom's soy-sauce steak over buttered toast - read about it here!  (And pardon the photo - that was before I had a camera with a "food" setting!)

Put about a teaspoon of garlic into the bag along with a sprig of whatever herb you might want - seriously - the herb could really vary anywhere from rosemary to sage to marjoram to thyme - the sky (er... earth?) is the limit!

Let the steak marinate in the refrigerator while you get some work done.  Get the steak out before you're ready to cook so it has time to get back up to room temperature.

Preheat a toaster oven or other heating apparatus on broil at about 375-400 degrees.  Put the steak - marinade, herbs and all - onto a tin foil lining and broil for around 5 minutes or until it's cooked to your preference.

I served the steak with some leftover ratatouille - a perfect pairing for the savory flavors of the salty soy sauce and zesty garlic!  Naturally, I also had a glass of French Maid with it...  Hey - I'm snowed in - give me some credit for varying the ingredients on hand!

Yours in the love of good food and wine,
AL

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The blogger is not an experienced chef. She takes no responsibility for the quality of the meals prepared while following her advice. Use your own judgment regarding cooking times and proper food handling.

Eighty-third Post ~ Ratatouille

I will confess that around the new year of 2009, I watched a certain computer animated film by Pixar and Disney, and, well, Gusteau's catchphrase of "Anyone can cook" just may have helped push an idea of a cooking blog over the edge from "Hmm, I wonder..." to "That's it - I'm starting a cooking blog!"

This is, of course, the titular meal and a classic in its own right.  Ever since the film, I've been clipping out recipes for this Provençal dish; photos of beautifully arranged veggies are pinned up next to devil-may-care tossed ones.

So last evening, I decided to give it a whirl.

Here's what you'll need:
~ Garlic (jarred or a couple cloves)
~ 1 eggplant (a smallish one)
~ 1 zucchini
~ 1 golf-ball sized onion
~ 1 orange or yellow pepper
~ One small container roasted tomatoes in oil
~ EVOO
~ Coarse-ground sea salt
~ Herbs of choice (I chose fresh thyme and oregano)

Start a hefty amount of olive oil smokin' in a large skillet.  Chop up the eggplant and toss it around a bit.

: : PAUSE : :

I guess I had had a stressful day.  I hadn't realized it until that point, but chopping up that eggplant felt good.  Next came the zucchini.  CHOP CHOP CHOP CHOP-CHOP.  Then the pepper.  CHOP-CHOP!  CHOP-CHOP!  Then the onion.  WHACK-CHOP-CHOP-CHOP-CHOPPA-CHOPPA-CHOP.  With each chop I felt a bit of the day's frustrations leave me.  And a bit more, and a bit more...  This is my new favorite "I've had a bad day" meal.

: : UNPAUSE : :

So - ahem! - toss the chopped eggplant around the oil a bit and add some garlic.  Chop up the zucchini, pepper and onion and add that all in turn.  Open the container of roasted tomatoes (hopefully they come packaged in oil - because the oil is delicious!) and it all in.  Add some fresh herbs at this point.  If it starts sticking, add a bit of water to create some steam.

Let the whole deal simmer, covered, until the veggies are tender.  I served this with a crusty loaf of pain de compagne and it was a perfect textural partner for this savory, filling meal.  I paired it with a cabernet sauvignon by French Maid (it seemed fitting!) and it was wonderfully fruity, balanced and bright.

All in all, a successful meal!
Yours in the love of good food, wine, and the outlets they bring us (both creative and physical!),
AL

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The blogger is not an experienced chef. She takes no responsibility for the quality of the meals prepared while following her advice. Use your own judgment regarding cooking times and proper food handling.

Sixty-sixth Post ~ "Italian Classics"-Inspired Tilapia

This post could be titled "An Ode to Wegman's Italian Classics." I have had a long-standing love-affair with Wegman's Italian Classics seasoned breadcrumbs. Just the right amount of parmesan. Just the right amount of basil. Just the right amount of salt. My habitual "comfort food" dish of late has been chopped chicken tenderloins rolled in these savory morsels and sautéed in EVOO... but I have found yet another use for them: fish!

In the mood for something home-cooked yet quick this evening, I grabbed a fillet of tilapia as I zoomed through Wegmans. At $1.87 for this hearty serving, tilapia is not just yummy - it's cheap! I had intended to do something fun with the leftover cilantro and lime I had in the fridge, but my attention was grabbed by something in the chilled prepared pasta aisle - Wegman's sun-dried tomato and basil pesto. Who could resist something that enticing? Into my cart it went. So here's what you'll need for this meal:

~ Fillet of tilapia (light and flaky is the key - you could probably substitute halibut, monkfish or catfish as well)

~ Italian seasoned breadcrumbs

~ EVOO

~ Wegman's (or your local wonder-market) sun-dried tomato and basil pesto

~ Green beans

~ Scallion

~ Jarred (or crushed) garlic

~ Coarse-ground sea salt

Dump some frozen french-cut green beans into a pot with some water. Snip in one scallion and some jarred garlic. I couldn't even be bothered to crush any fresh garlic tonight. Scallions are one of my new favorite on-hand items. They add so much flavor to a dish without being overwhelmingly oniony. Let those simmer until they're done to whatever level you like your beans cooked. I like french-cut green beans al dente, so I turned them off just about as soon as they really started simmering.

Into a pan put a little jarred garlic and about a tablespoon of olive oil. Start it heating. Generously coat the tilapia fillet in the seasoned breadcrumbs and set it carefully into the hot oil. As I flipped it, I would sprinkle some more breadcrumbs over it so that it gave it a little extra crispiness.

As soon as the fish is done (it won't take long!) serve it on a plate and spoon a bit of the pesto over it. A little goes a long way - believe me! I saran-wrapped the rest of the pesto and put it in the freezer - I am envisioning it tossed with some pasta (tortellini?) along with some breaded pork tenderloins for a quick and savory dinner sometime in the near future.

I added a little butter to the beans, topped the tilapia with pesto and served it with a Chenin Blanc from MAN Vintners of South Africa - a gift from Nozomi and her husband. It was fresh and citrussy but heartier than a Sauvignon blanc. It paired with the lighter tones of the tilapia but also stood up to the zesty, savory quality of the pesto. A good match!

Yours in the love of good food, wine, and occasional culinary shortcuts,

AL

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The blogger is not an experienced chef. She takes no responsibility for the quality of the meals prepared while following her advice. Use your own judgment regarding cooking times and proper food handling.

Sixty-fifth Post ~ Salmon with Zesty Avocado-Peach Salsa

While searching for healthy yet filling summer dinner recipes, I happened upon a recipe for grilled salmon over mango salsa.

Now, I neither possess a grill nor a penchant for mangoes, so I decided to mix the original recipe up a little. And then I kinda got carried away "customizing" it to my personal tastes and preferences. So here's what I ended up needing for tonight's meal, when all was said and done:

(Note that I am preparing this for two, but if preparing it for one, I would make it exactly the same way but with one salmon fillet - I feel that the salsa would be wonderfully accompanied by tortilla chips for lunch the following day)

~ 1 or 2 salmon fillets (about 6 oz. each)

~ 1 large ripe Haas avocado

~ 2 peaches* (or one monster peach, which is what I ended up with!)

~ 2 roma tomatoes*

~ 1 jalapeño*

~ 1 lime

~ fresh cilantro

~ 1 can corn*

~ two scallions*

~ 1 clove of garlic

The asterisks indicate ingredients that I "customized" - I substituted peaches for mangoes, one and a half roma tomatoes for cherry tomatoes, a jalapeño that I seeded first rather than packing in all that heat, added a half a can of corn to give it a little more oomph, and scallions instead of onions, as they are a little milder in taste.

Set aside some time before you're actually going to bake the salmon. The salsa is best if it sits and melds for a bit. This dinner is quite easy to make, but it requires a bit of chopping, slicing and dicing. It is a task made much easier with the proper tools - in this case, a chef's knife, a paring knife, a peeling knife, and kitchen scissors, all direct from the beautiful knife set my dad gave me as a Christmas gift!

So time to get your get your slice 'n' dice on!

I started with the avocado.

:: PAUSE ::

Now here's a strange habit, but I'm going to share it with you, dear readers: my 60-second avocado hand treatment. Whenever I make anything with avocado, I end up with a ton of it on my hands. Instead of washing it off immediately, I rub the avocado all over my hands, then rinse it off under warm running water and towl my hands dry. It leaves my skin amazingly smooth. I also end up smelling a bit like an avocado, but there are trade-offs in life.

:: UNPAUSE ::

So after [ahem] dealing with the avocado, I diced up the peach, squeezing the juice out of the peel into the bowl. Next went the romas. I scooped out a little of the tomato "innards" first. I used my kitchen scissors to snip in a good handful of cilantro - which has to be one of my favorite fresh herbs next to thyme and basil. I added about half of a small can of corn, the scallions (which I snipped into the bowl rather than cut), a crushed clove of garlic, the juice of one lime, and the jalapeño.

:: PAUSE AGAIN ::

Sorry. But this merits saying. I have a medium-to-moderate spicy tolerance. I can eat jalapeños, but only in very small quantities - and I'm best if their seeded first. All the heat of a pepper resides in the seeds and inside pulp, so I scooped it out with the smaller end of a melon-baller (a trick I learned at one of Meg's Pampered Chef parties!) and then, with a very sharp paring knife, minced the bugger. Actually, I only added half of it to the salsa, reserving the other half in a prep bowl so that it could be added later by someone else who may have a higher spicier index than I...

And then I attempted to add the zest of lime. It turns out I lack a zester. I thought I had one; perhaps it was a dream. In any case, I decided to attempt to use a cheese grater. Remember what I had said about the right tools making a job really simple? Well, the wrong tool can really complicate things. Thankfully I was working over a prep bowl and NOT the salsa, as I ended up grating a good deal of my own knuckle along with the lime on my first pass down the grater. So there is no lime zest in this salsa. No blood, either.

:: UNPAUSE ::

So now you've got all your ingredients in the salsa - toss it a few times and then cover it tightly - trust me on this - and refrigerate it while you bake the salmon.

As previously mentioned, rather than grill the salmon, I opted to bake the fillets, which I had skinned by the helpful guy at Wegmans. I rubbed them with a juicy slice of peach and ground some salt over them and sprinkled on a bit of pepper before baking them for about 15 minutes. About halfway through the baking, I brushed them with some olive oil.

Serve the salmon atop an ample bed of salsa with a garnish of cilantro, if you so choose.

I served this meal with an amazingly refreshing sauvignon blanc from South Africa by Graham Beck. I got it on sale 50% off at Global Wine, my favorite wine shop (for reasons like that!). It was grassy, citrussy, and paired perfectly with the dish.

All in all, a successful meal!

Yours in the love of good food, wine, and the joy of customization,

AL

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The blogger is not an experienced chef. She takes no responsibility for the quality of the meals prepared while following her advice. Use your own judgment regarding cooking times and proper food handling.

Sixty-first Post ~ Simple (but pretty!) Insalata Caprese

Okay, dear readers, I understand that this is my third post about the simply joy of mozzarella and tomatoes.

But I think that it merits repeating that this is just about the freshest, most appealing combination of foods - especially in the hot summer months. And this presentation makes it all the more fun - your guests will think they're getting the royal treatment, and you'll think you've found the perfect solution to that question of "what to feed them while the meat is still cooking."

I saw this unique way of presenting insalata caprese on my cruise on the Celebrity Millennium. It was one of their every-night options for the salad course, and I've got to say I indulged quite regularly, and then bookmarked the concept to bring home as a "souvenir."

Here's what you'll need for this dish:

~ Roma tomato
~ Mozzarella ball (roughly the same size as your tomato)
~ Dash of olive oil
~ Dash of lemon juice
~ Dash of balsamic vinegar
~ Course ground sea salt
~ A few snips of fresh basil
~ Salad greens of your choice

Cut the tomato and mozzarella and place them on your plate. Drizzle a bit of the olive oil over it and add a few drops of lemon juice. Snip up the basil and arrange that around the caprese with your greens on the opposite side of the plate. Add a few drops of balsamic to the plate and grind some salt to taste over the top.

And here's the best part - you can pop it in the fridge ahead of time, so that as your guest enters you can whip it out for immediate dining joy!

Yours in the love of good food (and the wine that surely would come with the next course!),
AL

Fiftieth Post ~!! ~ Quick and Light Insalata Caprese

Today the girls invited me out to lunch for sushi. You all know how much I love sushi AND girl-talk, so this was one painful invite to turn down. Today needs to be spent focused on the books.

...But a girl's still gotta eat, right?

...And it's got to be packed with goodness to create a day of massive productivity...

...And it's gotta be darn quick.

So, in keeping with the theme of summery goodness, here's what you'll need for this ingredients-to-tableside in less than 5 minutes Insalata Caprese:

~ Prewashed grape tomatoes

~ Fresh basil

~ Mini mozzarella balls

~ Lemon

~ Balsamic vinegar (see August's post on Insalata Caprese before you jump to conclusions on this one!)

~ Ground sea salt

In a bowl, combine your mozzarella and grape tomatoes (sliced if that's your thing). Squeeze the juice of less than half of a lemon over the whole thing. Snip up some fresh basil, add a dash of balsamic, ample salt, and toss.

Enjoy!

Yours in the love of tasty, quick lunches,

AL

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The blogger is not an experienced chef. She takes no responsibility for the quality of the meals prepared while following her advice. Use your own judgment regarding cooking times and proper food handling.

Twenty-Sixth Post ~ Caprese Salad à la Accidental Chef with Mixed Greens

Ah, caprese... many years of my life I was drawn to this simple, colorful salad only to find it lacking in taste. Apparently, for many years, I hadn't been eating the right kind of caprese. After a weekend touring the Ohio wine country, I have Meg to thank for turning me into a fan of all things caprese (and in return, I succeeded in turning her into a fan of chardonnay - although she still prefers stainless to oak barrels, but we can work on that!).

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So in any case, I got hooked. It just took one particular caprese (from CK's Steakhouse at the Quail Hollow near Cleveland, OH) served with a hint of balsamic, the freshest, most flavorful tomatos I've ever tasted and a salty mozzarella to turn me. From that moment on, I knew that caprese salads would be an important part of my summer culinary capers.

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The day I got back, I rushed to Wegman's to get the ingredients to make it at home. So here's what you'll need to create the dinner pictured above, including one ingredient that I forgot:

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~ Tomato (I chose a large, locally-grown one)

~ Mozzarella (fresh is best)

~ Greens (I chose organic mixed from Wegmans - normally expensive, but the amount I bought cost just under 50 cents)

~ Olive oil

~ Balsamic vinegar (I used the balsamic marinade from past posts)

~ Lemon juice

~ Salt/pepper

~ Fresh basil (how, how, HOW could I have forgotten? The morning after I cooked this I woke up, watered my basil plant in the window and smacked myself. Guess this just means I'll have to make it again)

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::PAUSE::

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I read up on it a bit online, and I guess there's something personal about how everyone makes a caprese and whether their rendition qualifies as a true caprese or not. Technically, it shouldn't even have greens with it, but I liked the variety. At one point I encountered a thread containing a flame war - an all-out, no-holds-barred vicious flame war - regarding whether or not to use balsamic. It was then that I decided to go it alone. I'd do it my way, and if it was not quite "caprese" enough for some people, well, then I'd ask them to remember that everyone is different! After all, chicken soup consists mainly of chicken, onion and celery, but I'd dare anyone to say that their homemade chicken soup tastes exactly like someone else's!

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::UNPAUSE::

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So here's how I made MY caprese salad à la Accidental Chef:

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Slice the tomato. I have to say that the home-grown was a good pick - it was the first time in my life that I actually picked up a piece of tomato that didn't have anything on it and ate it. It was awesome.

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Drizzle some olive oil over the tomato and let the slices soak in it. Now, here's the really controversial part: Drizzle a tiny bit of balsamic over the tomato slices and let THAT soak in. Fend off flames from angry readers.

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Slice the mozzarella. In retrospect, my slices of tomato and mozzarella were a little thick. I would suggest cutting them a bit thinner than I did, just to give it more variety on the plate.

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Layer the mozzarella and tomato on the plate. Place the greens next to the arrangement. Add a bit of balsamic to the greens. Squeeze some lemon juice over the whole plate and add some salt and pepper. Add fresh basil, if you remember. If you wish, you can set it in the fridge to chill and meld before you eat it.

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Given the origins of the caprese salad, I felt it only appropriate to serve this fresh dinner with an Italian pinot noir (Cadonini vineyards). It tasted of sun-ripened strawberries and raspberries but was still earthy enough to balance out the richness of the dark greens and saltiness of the cheese. A wonderful pairing for a hot summer night!

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Yours in the love of good food, wine, and the joy of broadening your culinary horizons,

AL

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The blogger is not an experienced chef. She takes no responsibility for the quality of the meals prepared while following her advice. Use your own judgment regarding cooking times and proper food handling.