You guys, I feel like cooking again. I took a break from the blogging and the kitchen but I can’t stay away. Starting fresh with a new blog name I’m excited for the food adventures ahead.
I leave you with a recipe.
*This is a recipe from Smitten Kitchen
I have made a few versions of a tomato tart but I have to say that as much as I love puff pastry, it’s hard to beat a good pastry crust. Now….don’t freak out and go buy a refrigerated pie dough. It takes less than 10 minutes and you have everything you need in your kitchen. If you don’t have flour, butter and salt on hand, then maybe you shouldn’t be making a recipe with the word “galette” in it, you catch my drift?
Galette is a French word describing a free form pie or pastry, basically saving you time and effort of fitting the dough perfectly into a pie tin. Also allowing you to pull off a fancy yet rustic and mouthwatering dish without much effort.
These ingredients all together make the perfect meal to kick off summer. Don’t forget your glass of wine.
Ingredients
PASTRY DOUGH
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 to 5 tablespoons ice water
FILLING
4 Shallots, diced (about 1 cup)
2 tsps Extra Virgin Olive Oil + more for drizzling
8 oz Goat Cheese
2 – 3 Tbs Honey
3 – 4 Heirloom Tomatoes, sliced
1/2 tsp Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper
2 Tbs Fresh Thyme
1 Large Egg, beaten
Directions
Blend together flour, butter, and salt in a bowl with your fingertips or a pastry blender just until mixture resembles coarse meal with some roughly pea-size butter lumps.
Drizzle 3 tablespoons ice water evenly over mixture and gently stir with a fork until incorporated.
When the dough begins to hold together (If it doesn’t hold together, add more ice water, 1/2 tablespoon at a time, stirring until incorporated, then check again) turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface.
Gather the dough and gather into a ball and then shape into a flattened disc. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and place in refrigerator for at least one hour.
While the dough chills, in a skillet combine shallots and 2 tsp of olive oil. Saute over medium-high heat until shallots are lightly caramelized (about 10 minutes), then remove from heat to cool.
Preheat oven to 375F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper, sprinkling the top with a touch of flour.
Using a floured rolling-pin, roll out the chilled dough into a 1/8″ thick sheet, then transfer to parchment-lined baking sheet. Crumble goat cheese in all over the rolled-out dough but leaving a rough 2 inch border along the edges. Drizzle a good serving of honey over goat cheese, then evenly top with caramelized shallots. Layer the sliced tomatoes over the goat cheese and honey and then liberally season them with salt and pepper. Give a good drizzle of additional olive oil over the tomatoes, and then sprinkle with the thyme.
Fold up the edges of the pastry dough around the tomatoes, then brush the crust with the beaten egg. Bake galette for 45 minutes to 1 hour until the crust is golden and the tomatoes have begun to char, then cool for 10 minutes before serving.
Part of me was embarrassed to admit that I have never made a wedge salad before. But another part of me was like, ‘girl, you’ve been making a deconstructed wedge salad for years’…so I am good with this realization. Shane is a consistent orderer of the wedge salad, me, not so much. When I decided to make it, I really didn’t know what it truly consisted of, aside from Iceberg lettuce, blue cheese and bacon…really what else do you need?
After some minimally intense research, I found that I didn’t know the extent you could take the wedge salad to. Breadcrumbs, onions, tomatoes and it doesn’t end there. In reality you can add pretty much anything you want, eggs, avocados, chorizo, dried fruit, we could take this to a whole new level. However staying true to the wedge salad lovers, this is what I did and would do again and again.
*Salting the tomatoes drains excess water, saving your salad to have runny tomato juices throughout.
*Quick pickling the onions helps cut down the sharpness and allowing a more fresher flavor.
*I didn’t make my own blue cheese dressing, I always have some decent store bought in my fridge. Add a little milk to the pre-made dressing to lighten it up just a tad, this helps it spoon over the lettuce perfectly.
Ingredients
2 small tomatoes, diced
Kosher salt
1 small red onion, minced
White wine vinegar, for soaking onion
4 ounces chopped bacon
2 ounces fresh bread crumbs (about 1/2 cup)
4 Tablespoons crumbled blue cheese
1 head iceberg lettuce, outer leaves discarded and quartered through core so that each quarter holds together
Directions
Set a fine mesh strainer over a bowl and add diced tomatoes. Sprinkle liberally with salt, and toss to combine. In a small bowl, add onion and pour enough vinegar on top to cover. Let tomatoes and onions stand while you prep the other ingredients.
In a small skillet, cook bacon over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until crisped, about 5 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to a paper towel-lined plate to drain. You should have about 2 tablespoons rendered fat in the skillet. Add bread crumbs and cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until browned and crisp, 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate to drain and season liberally with salt and pepper.
Arrange lettuce wedges on plates and spoon dressing on each. Drain quick-pickled onions and sprinkle all over salads, along with drained tomatoes, bacon, toasted bread crumbs and blue cheese.
Serve and enjoy.
*Recipe adapted from Serious Eats
I am pretty sure I can eat a spicy peanut sauce on anything, maybe even bathe in it. I used to make peanut noodles once a week for dinner just for myself. Now thanks to the spiralizer I can make them with veg and save myself the carbs.
Ingredients
3 Zucchini or yellow squash sprialized
1 carrot sprialized
2 Tbsp Coconut oil
1 Onion, chopped
1 chopped Chilli or crushed red pepper
2 heaping Tbsp Peanut butter
1 can Coconut milk
splash of Fish sauce
Directions
Heat the coconut oil in a large frying pan. Add your chopped chilli, chopped onion and fry until soft.
Add your peanut butter, followed by coconut milk and fish sauce. Stir until all combined and creamy on a low heat.
Add your zoodles and stir just until they are warmed through. Don’t over cook them, we don’t want them soft.
Serve with a spritz of lime just and cilantro. This would be good with soba or linguine noodles if you don’t want to bother with the veggie noodles.
How have we been eating asparagus without pesto for all these years? Fail! The compliments these two give each other is something from a love story, a perfect pairing.
Topped with creamy burrata, this is a perfect side dish to anything.
Ingredients
1-2 bunches of asparagus
1/2 lemon
2 Tbs. Olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Burrata
Pesto, you’re favorite homemade recipe.
Directions
Begin by making your pesto and set aside.
Preheat oven to 425. Place asparagus on sheet pan and drizzle with olive oil, a good squeeze of lemon and salt and pepper.
Roast for 15 minutes.
Top with burrata and a few spoonfuls of pesto. Break open that ball of creaminess and dive in.
*recipe adapted from The Londoner
I am crushing hard on Israeli couscous right now. It’s the perfect vessel to deliver all the flavors while lending the perfect pearl of chewiness. The textures in this dish are meant to be and the punch of mint is where the magic happens. I am pretty confident that if you were to throw in some golden raisins, it might be even better.
The first time I made this, I used the well known red radish that you can find at pretty much any store. 
This time, Farm Fresh To You was featuring watermelon radishes for this weeks delivery, so…..
Watermelon radishes do not taste like the summer melon. They have a mild flavor but visually resemble the fruit with their green exterior and rich pink middle, such a pretty vegetable.
It doesn’t matter what type of radish you use, actually go ahead and use a bunch of different types, types you have never tried…what do you have to lose?
Ingredient
1 cup uncooked Israeli couscous
1 small shallot, finely chopped
1/4cup olive oil
1 tsp lime zest
1/4 cup lime juice ( about 2 limes)
kosher salt to taste
pepper to taste
1 bunch radishes of your choice (about 12 ounces), chopped (2 1/2 cups)
1/2 English cucumber, chopped (1 cup)
1/2 cup roasted, salted pistachios, coarsely chopped
1/2cup chopped fresh mint
Directions
Cook couscous according to package directions. Set aside to cool.
In a large bowl whisk together shallot, olive oil, lime zest, lime juice, salt, and black pepper.
Stir in couscous, radishes, cucumber, pistachios, and mint.
Taste for seasoning and then let sit in the refrigerator for an hour.
Taste for seasoning again. Enjoy!
I have always loved dining on a whole roasted fish, faces don’t scare me. I mean I sucked the brains out of a chicken head in China! But cooking a whole fish was intimidating because one….how do you know it’s really a fresh fish, aside from the eyeball test…and two….. where do I get a whole fish from? Well, luckily we found a local wholesale fish market that serves all the finest local restaurants here. Catalina Offshore is where all the chefs go to get their seafood, so now when I eat at a restaurant and I order an amazing Branzino or Salmon, I know where they got it. Priceless in my opinion. Not only because you know exactly what you are putting into your body and where it came from but NOW, I know that I can also make that same dish, just as good, for a lot less chaaaa-ching!
We all know I have talked Chrissy Teigen’s cookbook to death, but in all seriousness, I think she and I share palates. I could cook through the book and probably not be disappointed in anything. When I decided on cooking a whole fish for the second time in my life, I wanted to do what she did, clearly can’t go wrong!
Team Players
1 (2 lb.) whole fish, white striped bass or branzino
Kosher salt and pepper
15 cloves of garlic, finely minced
1 Tbs olive oil, plus more for drizzling
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 lemon, sliced
3-4 springs of herbs, thyme, rosemary, sage
1 lbs heirloom tomatoes, slices or cut into wedges
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil for easy cleanup. ( just do this with anything you roast)
Place fish on the foil lined sheet and season like its your job all over with salt and pepper.
In a small bowl, combine the garlic, olive oil and red pepper flakes and then rub it all over and inside the fish. Place the lemon rounds inside the cavity along with the herbs.
Arrange the tomatoes underneath and around the fish, then drizzle the whole party with olive oil.
Roast until fish is flaky, 20 minutes should be perfect.
Serve right away.
AND don’t forget the fish cheeks, the best bite of the entire fish!
I took my first Sur La Table cooking class last weekend. The theme was exploring Sicily which is one place in Italy I have not been. There were six of us in the kitchen and it started out with our chef walking us through the footprint of the class.
After a brief introduction and a quick knife skill refresh for some (obviously not me because I am amazing) we started on our first course.
Caponata, the Sicilian sweet and salty version of ratatouille. The longer it sits the better it gets. Served on a toasted baguette with a drizzle of olive oil, it makes a wonderful starter.
Second course was a Fennel and cara cara orange Insalata, now I am pretty sure those oranges are not Italian but…..I kept my mouth shut. Raw fennel isn’t my favorite, I much prefer fennel seeds, but this salad shined.
The main course was grilled hanger steak with castelvetrano olive tapenade. The castelvetrano olives are Sicily’s most used bright green snacking olive. It has a meaty, buttery and mild flavor, absolutely delish.
We marinated the steak in olive oil, lemon, garlic, fresh herbs and red pepper. Showered it with flaky sea salt and then grilled to our liking, rare obviously.
The tapenade started with poaching some garlic in olive oil and then we sat it aside to cool. The olives, capers, anchovies, lemon and red wine vinegar all got to know each other in the food processor. Just enough to marry the flavors but still have some texture. It paired very nicely with the grilled steak.
Dessert was Cannoli tartlets and we actually started them early in the class. We made a basic pastry crust with the addition of some marsala wine. It hung out in the fridge for a half of an hour before we rolled out the dough and cut into small circles and then pressed them into a muffin tin. They baked for about 20 minutes until golden brown and firm.
The filling for the tartlets was a delicious mixture of mascarpone cheese, ricotta, vanilla bean paste, zest of an orange and powdered sugar all whisked together until combined.
The filling was spooned into the tartlet shells and then we sprinkled chopped dark chocolate pieces and pistachios on top. It was very tasty.
It was a really fun class and I am looking forward to taking another one soon. At the end of class our chef asked me if I was a spy for the Food Network, I asked her why she thought that and she said it’s because my knife skills were great. Insert told you so.
I have already remade the hanger steak and it might be one of my favorite cuts right now, absolutely buttery and delicious.
We had a Global street food themed dinner party last weekend and the food was all so good. I made Andrew Zimmern’s crab cake recipe and it’s by far the best I have ever made and up there with some of the best I have ever had. He keeps the recipe simple so the crab shines.
I bought some jalapeño tarter sauce to serve with it but honestly it didn’t need it, just a squeeze or two of lemon is the only teammate they need.
Ingredients
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 large egg, beaten
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon Tabasco
1 pound jumbo lump crab meat, picked over
20 saltine crackers, finely crushed
1/4 cup canola oil
In a small bowl, whisk the mayonnaise with the egg, mustard, Worcestershire sauce and hot sauce until smooth.
In a medium bowl, lightly toss the crabmeat with the cracker crumbs. Gently fold in the mayonnaise mixture. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
Scoop the crab mixture into eight 1/3-cup mounds; lightly pack into 8 patties, about 1 1/2 inches thick. In a large skillet, heat the oil until shimmering. Add the crab cakes and cook over moderately high heat until deeply golden and heated through, about 3 minutes per side.
Transfer to a platter and serve with lemon.
*Recipe from Food and Wine
This recipe came together over a day. I ended up having all the ingredients on hand, and it worked out very nicely.
Ingredients
1/2 cup plain yogurt
Salt and pepper
Hefty pinch of Cayenne pepper
1/2 shallot, peeled and minced
1/2- 1 tsp. saffron threads
Juice of 1/2 blood orange, or to taste
2 halibut fillets
1 Tbs butter + 1 Tbs olive oil
In a small bowl, with a fork whisk yogurt together with salt, Cayenne and shallot. Rub saffron between your fingers to crush it, then stir it into the yogurt mixture. Let sit for about 20 minutes . Before cooking the fish, add the blood orange juice, taste, and adjust seasoning.
Season halibut with salt and more Cayenne, (if you don’t like spicy, replace with white pepper or cracked ground pepper). Place butter and olive oil in large nonstick skillet and turn heat to medium high. When the butter melts, add fish, sear for about 4 minutes then turn. Continue to cook for another 4-5 minutes until done.
Serve fish warm or room temperature, with the yogurt sauce on top. Add extra Saffron or Cayenne , if you wish.
I served this over wild rice and riced cauliflower along some farm fresh roasted carrots.
The Art of Thyming 