bruschetta

last time i was home visiting my mom, we decided to make bruschetta for dinner. she has the most lovely garden (in fact, it was a city garden contest winner in 2007!) and there’s nothing better on a summer evening than a light dinner and wine out there.

although people generally think of bruschetta as tomato-topped-toasted-bread, technically, bruschetta means “grilled bread rubbed with garlic and topped with extra-virgin olive oil, salt and pepper. variations may include toppings of spicy red pepper, tomato, vegetables, beans, cured meat, and/or cheese.” (there i go quoting wikipedia again…)

so, using this definition, bruschetta has got to be one of the easiest things to throw together for dinner or to feed guests. be creative!

as you see, we decided to make both a tomato version (arugula on the bottom, chopped yellow and red tomatoes and shaved parm on top) and a more unique anchovy-caper one – not for the feint of heart…!

start by toasting good (although day-old is certainly ok) italian bread. (who am i kidding?! i make bruschetta with any old white-ish bread i have lying around. honestly. enough garlic and you won’t know the difference!) then use the toast like a grater, rubbing a fresh clove of garlic all over it. drizzle with olive oil and top.

for our anchovy-caper topping, i started with anchovies, capers, a couple garlic cloves, a few pieces of fresh rosemary and cracked black pepper. (no salt, obviously, because of the saltiness of my other ingredients!)

and i used a big knife to chop it into a rough paste.

this makes for a very strong-flavored topping. i don’t think i could have eaten a whole dinner of it, but it paired very well with the sweet tomato bruschetta. and, of course, some white wine.

kosher pickles

i don’t think about pickles on a daily basis. honestly, weeks might go by when i haven’t thought of a pickle. it’s not that i don’t like them, but i really only eat them when i’m on vacation. and if you ask me, bread and butter pickles are the only way to go.

but back in july, this hungry guy i live with mentioned randomly how much he loves dill pickles. especially crispy ones.

then just a few days later, what is my “how to cook everything mark bittman 2009 calendar recipe of the day”?? KOSHER PICKLES. talk about karma… or something. but since i love a challenge (and feeding that hungry guy i live with) i decided to give it a shot.

let me just say, the hungry guy didn’t get as many homemade dill pickles as he thought he was going to get because my crew of taste-testers thought they were pretty darn good, too! i’m going to have to make more.

the recipe calls for 2 pounds of the small “kirby” cucumbers. unfortunately, all my farmer’s market had were the gigantic ones (i mean, GIGANTIC. 2 cucmbers = 2.6 pounds. yeah).

mark wanted you to cut them in halves or spears, but i’m a rebel (and dealing with truly massive vegetables), so i cut rounds instead.

throw them in a bowl with at least five crushed garlic cloves and a big ol’ bunch of fresh dill.

next, boil one cup of water mixed with 1/3 cup kosher salt and add a couple handfuls of ice to cool it down. pour over the cukes. then top with a  plate (to keep everything under the brine) and let sit about 6 hours (or longer) on the counter.

after that period, store in the fridge. they continue getting stronger-flavored, but keep for over a week…

…if you and your guests don’t munch them all first!

mama cooks

in case you missed it, there’s a new feature here at icf.

click here or the link above between moi and archives.

what we ate

one of the things i love about vacation is the challenge of cooking local, fresh ingredients (some that were swimming just a few minutes before they hit the pan…) into delicious, healthy meals in a rather rustic kitchen situation. as you can imagine, there is lots of grilling. (and a few cocktails, too!)

so, i present what we ate, a retrospective:

salad of grilled chicken, peach and onion skewers on arugula with a lime-cumin vinaigrette.

wild new hampshire blueberry pancakes, chive scrambled eggs, roasted turkey bacon and paprika tri-colored homefries with onions.

sinigang (filipino sour soup) with largemouth bass, tomatoes, green beans, potatoes, kale and onions.

ricky cocktail – whiskey, lime juice and club soda. a tart and refreshing classic invented in the district of columbia!

pork loin marinated in basalmic vinegar with red wine apples, roasted garlic couscous and green beans.

pull-apart bread french toast with peach-blueberry sauce.

champagne thursday. comes on vacation, too!

grilled portobello mushroom caps stuffed with garlic tomatoes, and an arugula salad with purple beans (fresh from christina’s garden. i used them raw because when you cook them they turn green! boo!), red pepper, onion and cold fusilli pasta.

fried (freshly caught) fish fillets in an old bay batter with homemade tabouli salad.

my yearly “green dragon” (a.k.a. “green gasoline”) cocktail courtesy of the professor. i don’t know what’s in it, but YOWZA.

bugs!! they were too cheap up there to pass up. served with melted butter and lots of napkins!

poached eggs on croutons – my mom’s style. much better than on toast, because you get a more perfect egg-to-toast ratio in each bite.

now that’s an incredible crunchy vacation.

time out

incredible crunchy flavor is going on an incredible crunchy – and much-needed – vacation.

when we come back: baking week, bruschetta, sour cherry ice cream and homemade pickles. (no, i’m not pregnant. thanks for asking.)

see you on 9.8.09.

broccoli and chicken alfredo pizza

less than two weeks before her wedding, my bestie came over for dinner and requested broccoli and chicken alfredo pizza.having just done a total diet/lifestyle overhaul, i knew that even though she was craving possibly one of the least healthy dishes i could think of (okay, not really… i’m from delaware; i can think of deep-fried oreos) she would expect me to make something remotely good for her. unfortunately, this meant no super-buttery, creamy white sauce, but i knew it could still be super tasty.

the other challenge that occurred to me right away was that i hate icky dried-out chicken on pizza, which is what would happen if i wasn’t careful.

so, i started by poaching drumsticks in organic chicken broth, which would cook them, while keeping them super moist.

(aren’t these the cutest one-use broth boxes?! they come in packs of three at whole foods.)

to the broth i added a bay leaf, four smashed cloves of garlic, some dried herbes de provence and a tiny splash of white vinegar. and enough water to cover the chicken. (just under 2 pounds of chicken needed one cup of broth and about one cup of water.)

when the chicken was done, i took it out of the pot and shredded it. the broth went into a heat-safe measuring cup and i skimmed off some of the fat.

next i made a roux (pronounced “roo”… like kanga and) of 2 Tbsp butter and 2 Tbsp flour. (start with a roux for anything you want to thicken, like sauces or soups.)

cook it briefly to get rid of the flour taste and then start adding the broth. the roux will thicken your broth, making a lovely, super-chicken-flavored sauce, which i added the shredded chicken to, along with plenty of fresh parsley and chives.

then i spread it over my (tj’s 99-cent!!) pizza crust

and added frozen broccoli and the cheese

and into the oven (for awhile… both the crust and the toppings were pretty thick) until the cheese on the top was golden brown.

i swear you will not miss the cream in this alfredo!

eggplant

wikipedia, the source of all knowledge, just blew my mind: apparently, the eggplant is NOT a vegetable. like the tomato, it is a FRUIT, or more accurately, a BERRY (because of the “small, soft, edible” seeds).

so i’m not going to lie – the eggplant is not my favorite berry. honestly, i don’t dislike it, but i’m not a huge fan and rarely buy it. but when two beautiful, round purple ones showed up in my green grocer box last week, i started worrying about what to do with them. right away i thought, slice into rounds, salt, pepper, onto the grill.

but my mom suggested i check out the boston globe magazine recipe section, which coincidentally recently featured eggplant.

rather than grilling or frying it (which takes tons of oil) they wanted you to throw your eggplants on a hot grill WHOLE (please prick them with a fork first).

let them sit (turning whenever necessary) for about 45 minutes to an hour until the skins char and the eggplants [now i’m having a problem – what is the plural of eggplant? eggplant? eggplants sounds weird] “deflate.”

alternately, they suggest putting them in a 400 degree oven and waiting for the same results (sans char, of course, or you might want to get that oven checked out…). i prefer the grill because of the resulting smokey flavor, but you work with what you have, right? right.

when they’re done on the grill, slice your eggplant in half and scoop the insides out into a strainer to drain the liquid off. then chop up the mush.

then, the globe provided several recipes for this eggplant mush. i chose the “italian” one.

into your mush, fold a cup of small-chopped tomatoes (take the seeds out before chopping), two cloves of minced garlic, a tablespoon of red wine vinegar, a 1/4 cup olive oil, 3 tablespoons of basil (or parsley, or some of both) and salt and pepper. i also added the fresh juice of half a lemon, which gave a really great brightness to the recipe.

you could stop here and just spoon this yumminess into your mouth with a toasted pita chip (or a spoon…) but i was making dinner, so two large portabello mushroom caps (oiled, salted and peppered) found their way onto the grill, some green beans were blanched, and a few ears of corn jumped into boiling water. (why am i writing like i have a magic kitchen?!)

together, this made a hearty vegetarian dinner. (he ALMOST didn’t miss the meat!)

the leftover eggplant/tomato/garlic mush may or may not have made it to work with me and some naan for lunch the next day…

steak

this week, instead of a guest blogger, we have a guest photographer! (and he’s a grade-a grill master, too!)

now THAT’S a plate of food!

[recipes for roasted garlic israeli couscous and red cabbage slaw to follow.]

summer “tapas” dinner

this was a fun little dinner i scraped together with stuff i found in the fridge. it was perfect for a hot summer evening.

of course, you don’t have to use the exact same components, but keeping the idea of “tapas” in your repertoire is very helpful.

here i had…

homemade hummus: chick peas, tahini, lemon juice, garlic or chives and olive oil in a blender (detailed directions to follow)

homemade pita chips: pita pockets cut into triangles, split apart, oiled, salted, peppered and toasted in the oven (or toaster oven) until brown and crispy

mozzarella, roasted red pepper and basil skewers: pretty self-explanatory. the peppers were from a jar.

three bean salad: one of my faves – so easy, cheap and healthy. here’s my version, but feel free to substitute ingredients as you like! one can dark red kidney beans, half a package frozen lima beans and half a package frozen green beans. dress with bottled salad dressing (i use one called “mediterranean” – sorry, mom!) and some worchestershire sauce (for “depth of flavor”), plus salt, pepper and herbs (fresh or dried) to your taste.

please serve “tapas” outside with wine, if possible.

tiny kitchen

i seriously want to be jill santopietro when i grow up.

she’s a test cook, food stylist and recipe writer for the new york times, and she does the best little cooking videos in her tiny kitchen that’s even smaller than mine. le sigh.