running with tweezers

stuffed

I've been on a tear of healthy Mexican inspired food since my return from Asheville (I promise there is a full post coming - birthday week and a 2 week long shoot has made it impossible to do that trip justice so far!). Spicy Chicken soup. Incredible smoked chicken quesadillas we worked up on the grill. In a blast of brilliance - and an effort to make something that would fall into the category of "make-ahead", I came up with this stuffed poblano recipe. I love stuffed peppers but always find them too filling and the rice-ish that is usually included too much. 

I have to say...I think these poblanos are one of the best things I've cooked up in a really long time. The poblanos had a bit of heat - as did the sauce - but nothing was overwhelming. You taste the freshness of the sauce and the filling, the crunch of the veggies and a slight building burn. You could add meat to these but I think the crispness of the veggie filling is a great contrast to the creamy, melted cheese and the tender pepper. This is great as a side dish or as a meal with something green on the side. 

Stuffed Poblano Peppers - makes 8 halves 

For the sauce: 

• 1 28 ounce can of tomatoes in puree - you are going to blend these so use chopped/whole/diced as long as they are good quality
• 1 jalapeno - seeded and chopped 
• 1 small yellow onion - diced  
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro 

For the peppers: 

• 4 poblano peppers - de-seeded, ribs taken out, and cut in half lengthwise
• 1 15 oz. can black beans - drained and rinsed
• 2 ears of fresh white or yellow corn - kernels cut off the cob  
• 1 small orange bell pepper - diced (red or yellow would work here, too)
• 2 green onions - chopped down to the root 
• 1 cup shredded pepper jack or jalapeno jack (which i used) - divided into 1/2 cup portions 
• salt and freshly ground pepper - to taste 
• 1/2 cup chopped cilantro

Directions: 

- Preheat oven to 425 degrees. 

- In a blender, combine canned tomatoes, jalapeno, onion and cilantro and puree into smooth. Spread into the bottom of a 9"x13" oven safe pan and set aside.

- Mix black beans, corn kernels, orange bell pepper, green onions, cilantro and 1/2 cup of the shredded cheese in a bowl and combine thoroughly. Stuff each Poblano half with the mixture and rest into the tomato sauce in baking pan. Repeat with all 8 halves. Sprinkle remaining 1/2 cup cheese over the top of the pepper and cover dish with aluminum foil. 

- Bake for 45 minutes or until peppers are tender and the cheese has melted. Remove foil and bake for another 15 minutes to finish off and brown cheese. Allow to rest for 10-15 minutes before serving. Serve immediately. 

  

say cheese

This recipe is a loooooong time comin'. While I can live on Caprese salad year round, I blame Kalyn over at Kalyn's Kitchen for making me obsess about marinating my own mozzarella. Most of the store bought/gourmet store stuff is too pungent or taste chemically. On my recent trip to Asheville, I got another healthy dose of cheese love while visiting Spinning Spider Creamery. What an amazing place. I became a cheese head yet again and made this when I got home. It's nothing cave aged or fancy, don't get me wrong. However, it comes together quickly & makes a great impression in an antipasti or as a quick touch to a simple salad. I used the larger ovolini mozzarella balls but you can use the smaller bocconcini sizes, as well. 

Marinated Mozzarella - makes 2 egg shaped ovolini mozzarella balls 

• 1 package fresh mozzarella in water - I used an 8 oz package of ovolini, which was two oval shaped balls
• 5 sprigs oregano - leaves removed and chopped 
• 2 large sprigs basil - leaves removed and chopped
• 5 sprigs thyme - leaves removed and chopped 
• 4 sprigs rosemary - leaves removed and chopped 
• 1/2 tbsp. crushed red pepper flakes 
• zest and juice of 1 lemon
• 1/2 cup good quality extra virgin olive oil 

- Mix all herbs, red pepper flakes and lemon zest in a seal-able, refrigerator safe container. Whisk in lemon juice and olive oil. 

- Add mozzarella to the container and make sure cheese is coated. Store in fridge from 

30 minutes to 

overnight.

the marinating life

It's been a week or so of some deep, serious contemplation and hard decisions. Things that I've been through in the past year finally coming together and coming to a close. You have those days where you can't think about anything so silly as food...yet you can't even fathom going to eat somewhere? It's been that way for me. I needed to make something but I couldn't be bothered to really cook. A bag full of fresh mushrooms from Tennessee and a handful of ingredients got this together in less than 5 minutes.

This recipe (originally a Tyler Florence) recipe.is for times just like that - it's a no-brainer. Easy, flavorful and delicious. It's also extremely versatile. I like the fact that the mushrooms are quickly cooked and can be served immediately at room temperature rather than having to wait for them to percolate in the fridge.

These marinated mushrooms can be eaten on some bibb lettuce, spooned over toasted bread with a smear of goat cheese, or tossed in pasta (hot or cold).

Marinated Mushrooms - makes about 3 cups - recipe originally found here

• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 pounds cremini or button mushrooms, cleaned and quartered
• 2 lemons, zested and juiced
• 1 tbsp. red wine vinegar
• 3 garlic cloves, sliced
• 1 small bunch fresh thyme
• 2 bay leaves
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

- Add 1/4 cup olive oil to a large skillet over medium heat. Add the mushrooms and cook them for about 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the lemon zest and juice, red wine vinegar, garlic, thyme, and bay leaves. Pour over the remaining olive oil and season the mixture with salt and pepper. Pour into a bowl and allow to cool. Serve at room temperature.

take a dip

Although this looks like soup, it's not - promise! I do want to take a second to remind everyone that the Souper Soup Challenge is taking place right now! I've starting getting some great entries and can't wait to see what else the challenge brings. For all of the details, see an earlier post here.

I love dips and spreads and things to nosh on. Hummus. Baba Ganoush. I'm even a sucker for snacking on all those ranchy-type dips with veggies and such. This is a quick spread that I made of roasted red peppers, cannellini beans, and garbanzo beans - three of my favorite things and items that tend to be staples around my house. I used high quality canned and jarred ingredients and this came together in minutes to take to a dinner party. If you want to soak your own beans and roast peppers, have at it! It is flavorful and not loaded down with a lot of oil or heavy creamy ingredients. You can puree this to whatever texture you desire. Serve with flavored crisps, toasted pitas or veggies.

Roasted Red Pepper and White Bean Dip - makes around 4 cups

• 1 can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 1/2 cups roasted red peppers, cut into pieces
• 2 cans cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
• zest and juice of 1 lemon
• 1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp. dried red chili flakes
• 1 tbsp. thyme, removed from stems and minced
• 1 tbsp. flat leaf parsley, chopped
• salt and fresh ground black pepper, to taste

- Add all ingredients except for the olive oil to a blender or food processor. Give it a good whirl until it is close to desired texture. Add in olive oil and blend again. Taste for salt and pepper level, add as needed and give it one last whirl. Serve immediately with accompaniments. If you refrigerate it, allow it to come a tad shy of room temp before serving - I think the flavors shine a little better.

totally stuffed

It's not often that you hear me say this...but I am completely fooded out. Stuffed. It's been a month of amazing dinners and get togethers and celebrations. There's been so much good stuff happening...and most of it revolves around food.

In the midst of all of the hullabaloo, I have found time to make trips to my local farmers markets. Winter squashes are something that I love to eat and buy with the best intentions of cooking with but they often sit around and end up going unused. I had this acorn squash at the house for several days when I decided to throw together a fridge cleaner stuff acorn squash recipe.

 I have done several types of stuffed squash with grains and meat before...but this was my first completely veggie version. I adored it. The sweetness of the squash - especially with the last minute dusting of brown sugar - plays well against the herbed barley (something that was a total crapshoot and ended up really enhancing the dish) and the chewy texture plays of the fruit. It's also a knockout of a dish and looks way more difficult and impressive than you'd like to let on.

Scented Barley-Stuffed Acorn Squash - serves 2

• 1 acorn squash - cut in half lengthwise and seeds discarded
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1/2 cup pearl barley
• 1 1/2 cups water or vegetable stock - i used equal amounts of both
• 1 star anise
• 1 small cinnamon stick
• 1/4 cup dried cranberries or other dried fruits and/or nuts
• zest of one small orange
• 1/2 tsp. chopped fresh herbs such as mint or flat leaf parsley
• salt and fresh ground black pepper - to taste

Place barley,  water and/or stock, star anise and cinnamon in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low, cover and cook for about 45 minutes, until barley is tender and most of the liquid is absorbed. Remove star anise pod and cinnamon. Fluff grains with a fork. Remove from heat but keep in a warm place.

While the barley is cooking, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Set the squash halves, cut sides up, on a baking sheet. Drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil, if desired. Cook for 40-45 minutes or until fork tender - this can depend wildly on your oven. During the last 5 minutes of baking time, sprinkle 1/2 tablespoon brown sugar on each half and continue baking so the sugar melts and caramelizes a bit.

To serve, mix in your dried cranberries or other dried fruit and nuts - walnuts would be killer in this dish. Using a microplane, zest the orange into the barley, as well. Salt and pepper your filling to taste. At the last minute before stuffing the squash halves, mix in minced herbs. Fill each half of the squash with equal amounts of mixture. Serve immediately.

the bitter truth

My life, at the end of last year, was full of more bitterness than truthfulness, unfortunately. little did i know. some things, no matter how you try and doctor them up...no matter how you season them, are tough to swallow - in life and in food. this year, we're off on a much better foot, i assure you.
Like a lot of people, I turn to comfort foods (as evidenced in the way my jeans were fitting there right after the holidays - I could still button them, though!). Cheese and bread come to the forefront of that for me. In the heart of winter chilliness, I also love all of the winter greens that are available at the market. I normally turn to chard and kale when I want to add some chewy bitterness to a recipe.
For this version of a toasty bruschetta, I experimented with rapini or broccoli rabe. It has all of the health benefits of dark greens and the touch of peppery bitterness with the benefit of eye-pleasing broccoli-esque flowers. A quick saute with some garlic and heat from red chili flakes makes the broccoli rabe a perfect wintertime - yet unusual - topping for a gooey and crusty bruschetta. Serve these when all of the ingredients are warm for maximum effect.

Broccoli Rabe Bruschetta - makes 16

• 1 loaf ciabatta bread or crusty Italian loaf bread
• 2 tablespoons good quality extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 small whole fresh mozzarella - sliced into 1/8 slices
• 1 clove garlic, crushed or minced 
• 1 large bunch broccoli rabe - tough ribs and stems removed and leaves roughly chopped
• 1 tsp. dried red chili flakes
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

- Cut one end off the ciabatta loaf and then cut 16 1/4 inch slices of ciabatta or slices of Italian loaf bread with a serrated knife.Spread out on baking sheet in preheated 350 degree oven until golden on one side, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add a slice of fresh mozzarella to each piece of bread and continue to cook for another 1-2 minutes. The level of melty-ness is up to you.
- Meanwhile, heat the EVOO in a large skillet or Dutch oven on medium-high heat. Add the garlic and cook until soft but not browning. Add broccoli rabe and saute until small stems are tender, about 5-6 minutes.  Add the red chili flakes and salt & pepper to taste. Divide evenly on the breads, heaping the greens a bit in the center. Serve immediately.

mix and munch

I like to think I am a pretty food savvy girl. I really do. Ask me to make just about anything...and I can. I also manage to have my own ideas and make up my own recipes from time to time. So how is it that I have never managed to think of the idea of making my own granola...until now?

See...it's something that I have always loved - in every shape and form. In post after post, I've prattled on about my love of things that combine crunchy, salty, sweet, and sour. Ummm...hello?  That's the very definition of granola! I had been spoiled by the stuff that Big Sky Bread Company makes...but surely I could at least come close to that level of yumminess.

I honestly didn't know where to start...so I hit the Internet looking for a recipe I felt I could build on and customize. I also wanted to try and eliminate some of the so-bad-but-thats-what-makes-it-taste-so-good parts of most of the recipes I had come across.

Katie Lee Joel (I still don't know what I think about her but her granola is darned yummy, so at least there is that) contributed a recipe to Domino  that looked like a good springboard for making my own flavor combination. I omitted the coconut - I'm kind of meh about it - and mixed up my own recipe using dried papaya, dried cranberries, and cashews. This stuff was delicious - and I was able to bake it a crispier level of doneness than most commercially-available granola. You can seriously use any mixture of fruits and nuts with the base of this granola and come out a winner - my next batch is going to have dried blueberries and almonds in it, for sure.

Katie Lee Joel's Low-Fat Granola - makes 8 cups - recipe originally found here

    * 3 cups rolled oats
    * ½ cup unsalted hulled sunflower seeds
    * ½ cup unsalted hulled pumpkin seeds
    * ½ cup flaked coconut
    * ¼ cup wheat germ
    * 1 ½ cups chopped unsalted mixed nuts (almonds, pecans, walnuts, Brazil nuts, cashews, etc.)
    * 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
    * ½ teaspoon kosher salt
    * 4 tablespoons (½ stick) unsalted butter or canal oil
    * 1/3 cup pure maple syrup
    * 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
    * 1 cup chopped mixed dried fruit (raisins, cranberries, dates, apricots, figs, prunes, etc.)

- Preheat over to 350º. In a large bowl, mix together the oats, sunflower and pumpkin seeds, coconut, wheat germ, nuts, cinnamon, and salt. In a small saucepan melt butter in the maple syrup over low heat. Stir in the vanilla. Add to the oat mixture. Add 2 tablespoons water and stir until well combined. Spread the granola evenly on a large baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes, stirring at 10-minute intervals to ensure uniform baking, until golden brown. Remove from oven and cool in the pan. Stir in the dried fruits. Store in an air-tight container.

 

they don't call it a challenge for nothing...

Wow. When I put it out there that I was interested in taking part in the Eat Local Challenge, I didn't realize what a...challenge it would be. I say that not for the reasons you think I am. There are plenty of resources in my area to utilize to eat almost entirely local - save for dry goods and grains and such. In relatively close proximity to me, there are farm stands and markets every day of the week but Sunday and Monday. For those off days, I found that a trip to the large farmers market near me provided three shopping bags of produce grown locally - going only as far as south carolina - for less than $20. It's been fun, in that regard, to use what the market provides and just wing it from there.

The problem is...that this has been a terrible week to try this. Between Downtown Restaurant Weeks plans, dad's hospital stuff (i can assure you that there is nothing local about hospital food. I'm not even sure it's food), and a day trip for a meeting with a pasta-heavy client...I haven't had a lot of time to even TRY and eat locally. The days that I have were very successful...and I am going to continue my challenge into the next week. I've also used the EC as inspiration for my upcoming Atlanta Cuisine article featuring one of the most beautiful salads I've ever made. This is something I am committed to not just next week but continuously as long as the markets and farm stands allow.

On my trip to the DeKalb Farmers Market, there was a bevy of locally grown peas. To make the decision even easier, the pink-eye peas and the field peas were in a large bin, already shelled. While it's more expensive to buy them that way...it's also more convenient during a hectic week like this past one. I used up the rest of my tomatoes from the Decatur Farmers Market and dressed it with a tangy mustard vinaigrette. To make it a little heartier, I used some barley from the pantry. This is completely optional. It does give the veggies some oomph without cloying their taste and would make a great BBQ salad to roasted chicken or grilled salmon or other firm fish.

Field Pea and Tomato Salad - serves 4 as a side dish

• 1 pint red currant heirloom tomatoes, cherry tomatoes or other small size tomato - washed and halved
• 1/2 pound field peas or pinkeye peas - picked through, cooked and cooled
• 3/4 cup barley - cooked and cooled to room temperature
• kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper, to taste
•   2 tablespoons champagne or white wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon good quality honey

Mix halved tomatoes, peas, and barley together in a bowl. Whisk together vinegar, mustard and honey. Salt and pepper the salad to taste. Allow to sit at room temperature - covered - for 30 minutes before serving or until it comes to room temperature. If making ahead of time, mix all ingredients together except for the barley and add it at the least minute so the barley doesn't get mushy!

what the -hay- is a clafoutis?

Thank Goodness for Donna Hay.

More specifically, thank goodness for my favorite blog event, Hay Hay It's Donna Day. Started by Barbara at Winos and Foodies, it's something that I *really* try not to miss...even in the most hectic of circumstances - I even wrote the round up for one from the lobby of the hospital when my mom was ill! Life has been a wild ride the past month or so...and work has been a very busy distraction for me. I've welcomed the hectic pace. However, that means I  haven't stopped to really cook anything for myself in a good while.

When Bron Marshall, the most recent winner of HHDD, announced her theme, I sort of cocked my head to the side and went..."Huh?" I had seen clafoutis in my Donna Hay cookbooks but had never attempted one. As usual, these blog events provide a great incentive to give new things a go. It turns out that this is one of my favorite things I've ever made for this blog.

The problem was, however, my lack of dessert appreciation - especially when cooking for one. Like fruity desserts well enough...but I didn't want to make a sweet version and have it be sitting around my house...just waiting for me to pick at it until it was gone. Add to that the fact that I'm trying to watch my carbs due to a pending beach getaway and my new-ish single status (yes i said it).

My friend Mike emailed me over a bunch of clafoutis recipes, a staple in his house. This version immediately caught my attention - tomatoes and basil are two of my favorite things, in case you hadn't noticed. The batter part called for very little flour, which wouldn't blow the carb farm. This was so delicious and easy to make - make your batter, throw the tomatoes in whole, and bake it. I threw on a handful of arugula for a pop of color and some bitterness with the creamy clafoutis. I also substituted Greek yogurt for regular yogurt or sour cream - the tang was noticeable and added a nice touch.

Cherry Tomato and Basil Clafoutis - serves 4 as a first course or light entree - recipe courtesy of Mike Stock

• butter for greasing
• 1 pound cherry tomatoes
• 4 eggs
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 3/4 cup creme fraiche, sour cream, or plain yogurt
• 4 tablespoons milk
• handful of roughly torn, fresh basil
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
• salt and pepper

- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease a 9 inch pie plate with butter. Beat the eggs in a large bowl, then beat in the flour. Add the yogurt and milk, beating until smooth. Stir in the basil and all but 2 tablespoons of the Parmesan cheese.

- Spread the tomatoes, evenly over the bottom of the pie plate. Pour the batter over the tomatoes and sprinkle with the remaining cheese. Season with salt and pepper.

- Bake for 30-35 minutes, until top is golden brown, and tomato juices are bubbling. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes before serving.