Katie at the Kitchen Door

Globally-inspired, seasonal recipes

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Food

Greatist Collaboration: Garlicky Eggplant Chips with Basil Yogurt Sauce

Last weekend was a busy one for me.  My cousin’s wedding (congratulations, Danny and Amanda!) was the big event, and I spent most of the weekend catching up with family, drinking margaritas, dancing till my feet hurt, and traveling to and fro.  By the time I got home Sunday afternoon, I was exhausted.  So exhausted, in fact, that the idea of putting together a blog post for my 5pm deadline for Greatist was pretty daunting.  Which is about the time Trevor came to the rescue.  As I sat at the kitchen table bemoaning the state of my creativity as well as the contents of my fridge, half-heartedly throwing out ideas, (“all I have is one eggplant.  I’m just going to cut it up and put it in the oven and call it a day.”), he became a man of action.  He grabbed the eggplant, sliced it, salted it, and began actually doing the things I was musing about (“maybe eggplant chips.  Maybe rub them with garlic like bruschetta.  No, maybe brush them with garlic oil.  And let’s have a sauce.  With basil.”)  By the time he was done saving the day, I was inspired, and these garlicky eggplant chips had just come out of the oven.  I snapped a few pics, and the blog-crisis was solved.

These chips, though, man were they a good spur of the moment creation!  Crispy, super-garlicky and flavorful, and hot out of the oven they were better than any potato chip I’ve had in a long time.  Plus, they’re made from eggplants, which are loaded with health benefits and low calorie, and they’re baked (always better than fried, even though eggplants do soak up quite a bit of olive oil as they bake).   All in all, a super delicious snack or appetizer.  I couldn’t stop talking about how much I liked them as we walked to dinner that night, although once I got to dinner I started talking about that… so maybe I just like food. :)

Head on over to Greatist for the recipe!

Food

Garden: Spaghetti with Summer Squash and Tomatoes

I’ve been waiting for this meal for a long time.  Since February, to be exact, from the moment I put the first seed in the first pot to sit in my bedroom window absorbing the weak winter sun.  And by this meal, I don’t mean this dish exactly – I just mean the first meal where all of the produce (well, except the garlic, we don’t get to plant that until September) could be fresh-picked from the garden, moments before preparing it.  Accomplishing this was just as satisfying (and delicious) as I thought it would be.

The garden has been far more successful than I expected.  Our random assortment of pots with store-bought dirt have turned into a lush array of greenery, and I’m so happy about it.  The highest tendrils of the watermelon are beyond arm’s reach, the cucumbers have climbed all the way up the porch and threaten to overrun the grapes, the tomatoes (started from seed!) are turning red one at a time, and the kale finally battled off the last of the cabbage moths and could provide at least 5 batches of my favorite kale soup.  Even the lemon tree has made a comeback and is covered in new leaves (!) after losing almost all of them this winter.  (This lemon tree seriously toys with my emotions.  After all my painstaking work nursing it back to health from the mealybugs, it rewarded me with over a hundred blossoms – not a single one of which managed to turn into a lemon larger than a quarter before shriveling up and falling off the tree.  No lemons this winter – any citrus experts out there have advice for me?)

This is less a recipe than a suggestion for how to use whatever’s good in your garden now.  The basic process is this: gently cook your vegetables until they’re crisp tender, then toss with pasta, or rice, or leave them by themselves.  Smother the veggies with herbs, heated only for a moment or two just to release their flavor.  Then dress the dish – I went the luxurious route, with cream and cheese, but a drizzle of good olive oil and a sprinkling of salt would have an equally wonderful effect.  Maybe pour yourself a glass of white wine, and, if it’s a nice night, take your dinner out to the garden and enjoy all the goodness summer has to offer.  It can’t be beat.

I can’t wait to share more garden-inspired recipes soon!  Especially when the watermelons (and the figs, and the grapes) are ready.  Stay tuned.  And enjoy your weekend!

Creamy Spaghetti with Summer Squash and Tomatoes

Serves 4-6

  • 1 lb. spaghetti
  • 3 TBS butter
  • 2 small summer squash, thinly sliced
  • 6 cloves garlic, minced
  • 20-30 cherry tomatoes, halved
  • 1/3 c. packed fresh parsley, thinly sliced
  • 1/3 c. packed fresh basil, thinly sliced
  • 1/2 c. heavy cream
  • 1/3 – 1/2 c. packed grated parmesan
  • 1 tsp lemon juice
  • sea salt
  • black pepper
  1. Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil.
  2. Heat the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat until melted.  Add the sliced squash and cook until tender and beginning to turn golden brown, about 7-10 minutes, flipping with a spatula once or twice over this time period.  Add the minced garlic and cook for 2 minutes longer, until garlic is very fragrant but not browned.  Add cherry tomatoes and cook for 2 minutes more, stirring.
  3. Add the spaghetti to boiling water at about this point.  Cook according to package directions.  In an ideal world, you want the sauce to be ready as the same time as the pasta, but life doesn’t always work out like that.  If your pasta is done first, rinse with cold water or drizzle with olive oil to prevent it from sticking.
  4. Lower the heat on the sauce and cook vegetables for 2-3 more minutes, stirring.  Add cream, parsley, and basil to vegetables, and cook, simmering gently, for 2 minutes.  Turn off heat, and stir in lemon juice and parmesan cheese.  Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper as necessary.
  5. If your spaghetti is just finishing, add a few TBS of the pasta cooking water to the sauce, then drain the spaghetti and immediately toss with the sauce.  If your spaghetti has been finished for a while, add as much of the spaghetti as will fit to the saucepan and heat over low heat for 2 minutes, tossing spaghetti with sauce.  When spaghetti is just heated, add it all back to the pot to mix thoroughly.  (The goal here is to get the sauce to adhere to the spaghetti and both to be hot when served).
  6. Serve hot with additional grated parmesan.

Dessert

Red Currants, Two Ways

Three years ago, I didn’t know what currants were.  I guess this isn’t really that surprising, given that I also didn’t eat broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, or other cruciferous vegetables, didn’t know how to pit an avocado, and certainly couldn’t tell you the difference between a lemon and a meyer lemon.  (Don’t totally write my three-years-ago-self off though – I did know how to prepare couscous in a dorm room without getting any dishes dirty, which I consider a feat up there with being able to completely change your clothes – underwear included – in the locker room without ever flashing anything).

Besides the fact that I didn’t really know much about food in 2009, currants haven’t really been a thing here for a long time.  You still don’t see them in grocery stores, and even at farmer’s markets, I hear a lot of people ask what they are.  Their lack of popularity is not because they’re an unlikeable fruit, although their tart-tart flavor can be off-putting at first, but rather because they’ve been banned as a crop in many parts of New England since the early 1900s due to the fact that they can carry White Pine Blister Rust.  Recently, bans have been lifted town by town as demand for the berries has begun to rise, and now, for a brief few weeks in July, you can actually get red currants, white currants, and gooseberries fairly consistently at Boston farmer’s markets.  Black currants are still a no-go, although rumor has it that there are wild bushes still around – if you know of any locations, I’ll trade you a pie for the deets.

Back to 2009.  That fall was the semester I spent in Prague, where I learned a lot of things, among them, how to cook for myself on a daily basis.  This is where I started to learn about foods I thought I didn’t like, like cabbage (a Czech staple), and goulash (which I would love a good bowl of right now).  Grocery stores were an adventure, and there were definitely recipes I made where I didn’t know what the ingredients were even after the dish was complete.  I also made a lot of pie and quiche in Prague, and have vivid memories of sitting at the kitchen table, slicing up frozen butter for a pie crust and being perfectly content.  But this is not about Prague, it’s about currants.  And Czech people eat quite a few of them.  I didn’t really actively notice them, as they’re usually mixed with other berries, but frozen fruit mixes contained them, cheesecakes were topped with them, and I liked them.  It wasn’t until I got back to the U.S. and went to buy some at the store that I learned you can’t get them here – which clearly set me on a mission to find them.  Long story short, 2 1/2 years later and I got my hands on some, which I quickly turned into two things – red currant and meringue pie, and red currant chutney.

I really enjoyed both these recipes.  The pie, well, it’s different, in the best sort of way.  Not what I typically think of when I hear “fruit pie,” the sweet, airy meringue is punctuated by bursts of tart red currant, with a buttery crust to ground the flavors.  It’s ethereal, surprising, and totally delicious.  It would be the perfect sort of thing to serve at a picnic, when you need something light to finish off the meal, or for a pretty, feminine treat at a bridal or baby shower.  Or for dinner on a Monday night, if that’s more your speed (hint: it’s definitely more mine).  I promised Trevor I would save him some for when he gets home from his business trip Friday, but given that I’ve already had three big slices, I’m not sure how good the chances of that are.

The chutney is also a real treat – with a flavor vaguely reminiscent of sweet and sour sauce and a smooth, jammy texture, it’s delicious on toast, as a condiment, or straight out of the jar.  The currant gets mellowed out a lot during the cooking process, so it’s less of a standout flavor, and the seeds are strained out as well.  Whereas when I’m eating the pie I’m thinking “currant! meringue! currant!” with every bite, with the chutney it’s just “mmm, chutney.”  I had the chutney spooned over toasted sourdough and melty fontina cheese alongside a cold glass of raspberry lambic for dinner on both Friday and Saturday nights last weekend – lazy summer cooking at it’s best.  (Can I take a moment to express how amazing raspberry lambic is?!  It’s like someone distilled raspberries – not sugary-sweet raspberry syrup, but fresh, sun-ripe, forest floor raspberries – into a bottle and then gave it the added bonus of giving you a buzz.  If it weren’t $10 a bottle, I’d be drinking a lot of it.  Tangent over.)  Since currants are newer to the American palate than many fruits, many people seem mystified by what to do with them beyond toss them into a berry mix.  If you happen to find yourself with some (maybe you bought a box at the market because they’re just so pretty and now can’t figure out how to use them) – I highly recommend both these recipes.

Red Currant Meringue Pie

Adapted slightly from Heather Homemade.  Serves 8.

  • 1 1/2 c. flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 c. butter, very soft
  • 1 c. white sugar, divided
  • 1 tsp lemon extract
  • 2 eggs, separated
  • 2 tsp cornstarch
  • pinch cream of tartar
  • 1 c. white and red currants, washed and stemmed
  1. In a large bowl, whisk together flour and baking powder.  Stir in butter, 1/2 c. of white sugar, lemon extract, and the 2 egg yolks until evenly moistened.   Knead with your hands several times to bring dough together, form into a smooth ball, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 1/2 an hour.
  2. Preheat oven to 325°F.  Press chilled dough into a 9 inch tart pan, forming a crust a little less than an inch thick that also wraps up the sides of the pan.  Bake the crust for 25 minutes, until golden, then remove from oven and cool for 10 minutes.  Increase oven temp to 400°F.
  3. Whisk 2 egg whites until frothy, then sprinkle cream of tartar over, and whisk vigorously until egg whites are stiff.  Whisk in cornstarch, then gradually add remaining 1/2 c. of sugar to egg whites, whisking vigorously between additions.  Whisk until whites are stiff and shiny, then gently fold in currants.  Smooth currant filling out on top of the pre-baked pie crust, then bake for 12-18 minutes, until most of the meringue top is golden brown.  Remove from oven and let cool/set.  Serve at room temperature on same day.  Refrigerate leftovers (although this will make the meringue begin to “weep”).

Red Currant Chutney

Adapted slightly from Fresh Juice.  Makes about 1 1/2 c.

  • 2 c. red currants, washed and stemmed
  • 1/3 c. sugar
  • 3 TBS apple cider vinegar
  • 1/3 c. water
  • 1 TBS vegetable oil
  • 1 TBS whole mustard seeds
  • 10 whole black peppercorns
  • 10 whole cloves
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 1/2 tsp ground ginger
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 large onion, chopped into small pieces
  • 1/8 to 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper, depending on your heat tolerance
  1. In a small saucepan, bring currants, sugar, vinegar, and water to a boil.  Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer until currants begin to fall apart, about 10-15 minutes.  Careful, this is a recipe that’s likely to boil over (and make a mess!), so leave your lid somewhat ajar or give it a stir frequently
  2. Strain red currant mixture through a fine sieve, catching the juice in a bowl.  Press down on the currant solids to extract as much juice as possible.  Discard the solids, reserve the juice.
  3. Rinse out the saucepan and return to stove.  Heat vegetable oil in saucepan over medium-low heat.  Add mustard seeds, peppercorns, cloves, cinnamon stick, ginger, and salt, and fry until mustard seeds begin to pop, about one minute.  Warning, the hot mustard seeds can pop quite forcefully and splatter oil, so work quickly and carefully, removing pot from heat if need be.
  4. Add the onion to the spices, and cook over medium low heat, stirring occasionally until onions are golden brown, about 10 minutes.  Add currant juice and cayenne pepper to pot, and stir.  Bring to a simmer, and simmer, uncovered, for about 15 minutes, until the sauce has reduced and thickened.  Let cool and refrigerate for up to two weeks.

Note: This wasn’t written as a canning recipe, so I’m not sure if it has enough sugar/acid/other preserving elements to work, but if that’s your thing and you can figure out the safe ratios, I think it could work really well!  If not, I’m sure you’ll be able to use this up pretty quickly.

Food

Greatist Collaboration: Stone Fruit Salad with Lemon-Lavender Syrup

How great is July?  Coming back to a garden that has doubled in size in a week, walking through the Copley Square farmer’s market that’s just bursting with produce, eating meals composed entirely of vegetables because they’re just that good – it’s definitely a season of plenty.  In fact it’s so plentiful that I’m torn between the natural inclination to eat smaller, lighter meals in this hot weather and the desire to eat as many eggplants, tomatoes, beans, cherries, peaches, plums, and berries as I can during their short season.

In particular, I can’t get enough of stone fruit.  Sweet cherries eaten ice cold from the fridge, plums so perfect that the juice dribbles down your chin with every bite, peaches baked until hot and bubbly under a buttery crumble – these fruits of summer are so fleeting that in my opinion, it’s worth eating as many of them as you can while they’re around.  There are many great single fruit recipes for each type of fruit, but they also marry well with one another, whether in a luscious cobbler or a simple but addictive fruit salad like this one.

I don’t know about you, but for me, the words “fruit salad” conjure up an image of a sad, not quite cold enough bowl of mushy bananas and unwanted cantaloupe, with a straggling strawberry or two that the pickers left behind.  You know, the kind of fruit salad you used to find at every picnic, bbq, and pool party; the one that played second fiddle to the hamburgers and dirt cake.  This salad is an entirely different story.  Elegant, colorful, and slightly floral, with no filler fruits that get left behind, everyone in my family had at least 3 servings at dinner, even after eating these turkey cobb sandwiches, which were easily the most delicious sandwiches I’ve ever made.  Inspired by the just-blossoming lavender plants in my mom’s Maine garden, I decided to drizzle the fruit with a lemon lavender syrup, which truly tied the whole dish together.  You can use whatever stone fruits you have lying around – just make sure the salad is served cold, and give it an hour or two to soak in the lavender flavor.

Head on over to Greatist for the full recipe!

Other stone fruit recipes to celebrate July:

Spiced plum butter

Cafe Sperl plum squares

Boozy cherry brownies

Cherry cream cheese danishes

Cherry chocolate ice cream

Spiced apricot couscous

Dessert

Bailey’s Fudge Ripple Ice Cream Sandwiches

Well, after 12 days of sunbathing, swimming, running, cooking, drinking, and catching up with family and friends, vacation is officially over.  This morning, at the very gray hour of 4:30am, we climbed into the car and made the long drive back to the hot and humid city.  I even had to go to work this afternoon.  Sigh.  But vacation ending isn’t all bad: I missed Trevor a teeny-tiny bit plus it’s good to be back in the garden – while I was gone the watermelon plant grew at least 3 feet, set out its blossoms, and is now covered in tiny watermelons.  The cherry tomatoes started ripening, there’s two baby figs on the tree, and we harvested our first summer squash this afternoon.  And it’s really nice to no longer be the whitest person in my office.  The bright side.

I’m not going to lie, I’m starting to nod off as I type (getting up that early is not really my jam), but I wanted to wrap up a wonderful vacation with a super summery treat – homemade ice cream sandwiches filled with Bailey’s Fudge Ripple ice cream.  Some ice cream recipes – like this one – are super simple, stir it together and throw it in the freezer types… this recipe does not fall into that category.  Making the ice cream itself is a bit time consuming, and when you throw in making the cookies and assembling the sandwiches it’s definitely only the sort of thing you’d do on vacation, or when you really felt like tackling a kitchen project.  However, the rich, slightly boozy, intensely coffee-flavored ice cream with a dense oreo ripple sandwiched between two soft chocolate cookies that is the result?  Worth the effort.  Even if that effort includes scraping off and reassembling your perfectly shaped ice cream sandwiches after not quite closing the freezer door overnight, not that I’m speaking from experience or anything…

Anyways, if you’re also getting back from a blissful vacation, I’d recommend looking at these and then buying a pint of Ben & Jerry’s to fill the void.  If you’re lucky enough to still be on your blissful vacation, enjoy every second of it, and take the time to make yourself a little treat.

P.S. 100% disclosure?  I think I enjoy the classic $1.00 ice cream sandwich a tiny bit more than these (although maybe I’m just a purist).  But the ice cream recipe itself is totally worth making – serve it over  a brownie with a little bit of boiled down Bailey’s syrup for a real treat.

Bailey’s Fudge Ripple Ice Cream

Adapted from The Red Spoon, with a little inspiration from Tasty Kitchen.  Makes about 1 quart, or enough for 6-8 ice cream sandwiches.

  • 1 1/4 c. Irish cream liquer, such as Bailey’s, divided
  • 1 1/2 c. whole milk
  • 3/4 c. sugar
  • 1 c. whole coffee beans
  • 1 tsp instant espresso
  • 1/8 tsp salt
  • 1 1/2 c. heavy cream
  • 5 egg yolks
  • 2 c. oreos or other chocolate cookie
  1.  Pour 1/2 c. of the Bailey’s into a medium, heavy bottomed saucepan.  Heat over medium heat until simmering gently.  Simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the Bailey’s is reduced by half.  Pour into a bowl and set aside.
  2. In a food processor, pulse the oreos until they are fine crumbs.  Add 1/2 c. of the Bailey’s and pulse until a thick paste is formed.  Scrape into a bowl and set aside.
  3. Add whole milk, sugar, coffee beans, instant espresso, salt, and 1/2 c. of heavy cream to the medium saucepan (no need to wash in between uses, just scrape that yummy Bailey’s syrup into the milk mixture).  Stir briefly to combine ingredients.  Heat over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, just until the milk begins to simmer.  Remove from heat, cover, and set aside for 1 hour, to allow the coffee beans to steep.
  4. After the hour has passed, gently rewarm coffee-milk until hot to the touch, but not simmering.  In a medium bowl, thoroughly whisk together the egg yolks.  In a large bowl, pour remaining 1 c. of cream, set a large mesh sieve on top, and set aside.  Carefully pour the hot coffee-milk mixture over the eggs, whisking vigorously as you do so, to temper the eggs.  Still whisking, pour the egg and milk mixture back into the saucepan and cook for 5-10 minutes until the mixture has thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon, stirring constantly (a wooden spoon works better than a whisk here) to keep the eggs from scrambling and frequently scraping the bottom.
  5. When the custard has thickened, pour through the mesh sieve into the remaining cream, to strain out the coffee beans and any cooked egg bits.  Discard beans.  Stir the cream and coffee custard together, then add the remaining 1/4 c. of Bailey’s, as well as the 1/4 c. of reduced Bailey’s syrup, and stir to incorporate.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled, at least 4 hours or overnight.
  6. Process the chilled custard according to ice cream maker instructions.  As the mixture churns, line a 9×13 glass pan with tinfoil.  Microwave the chocolate fudge ripple (Bailey’s and oreo mixture) for 30 seconds and stir, just to make it spreadable (don’t let it get too hot!)  When the ice cream is finished churning, spread it into the glass pan.  Dot the top with the fudge ripple mixture, then use a spatula to quickly but gently fold it in to the ice cream.  Cover with plastic wrap and freeze until firm, at least 1 hour.

Ice Cream Sandwich Cookies

Adapted from The Cookie Dough Lover’s Cookbook via Brown Eyed Baker.  Makes 24 cookies (12 sandwiches).  Note: although I pretty much always make baked goods by hand (I don’t own a stand mixer), this is one recipe where I’d recommend using a mixer if you have one – the dough is very stiff and hard to work with, and I ended up kneading it by hand to get the best results.

  • 1 stick (1/2 c.) salted butter, softened
  • 1 1/4 c. light brown sugar
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 c. cocoa powder, sifted
  • 1/2 tsp instant espresso powder
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 c. flour
  • 4 TBS room temperature water
  1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
  2. In a large bowl, cream together softened butter and brown sugar until fluffy.  Add vanilla and stir in.  In a separate bowl, sift together cocoa powder, salt, baking powder, and instant espresso.  Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and stir until fully incorporated.
  3. Add 1 c. of flour to the dough and mix until incorporated.  Add 2 TBS of water and stir until dough is even in color and moisture.  Repeat with the remaining 1 c. of flour and 2 TBS of water.  If necessary, knead by hand until dough is smooth and workable.
  4. Lightly flour a work surface and rolling pin.  Roll half of the dough out into a rectangle 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick, and use cookie cutter to cut out rectangles.  Transfer to a baking sheet and freeze for 10 minutes.  Repeat with remaining dough.  Bake cookies for 7 minutes until just done.  Don’t overbake!  Let cool for 3 minutes on pan, then transfer to a cooling rack and cool completely.  Freeze cookies for at least 1 hour before assembling.

Ice Cream Sandwich Assembly

  1. Remove the cookies from the freezer.  Tear out 6 medium-sized rectangles of plastic wrap, and lay two cookies side by side on each square.
  2. Working as quickly as possible, remove ice cream from freezer and use rectangular cookie cutter to cut through ice cream.   Slide a large spatula under ice cream rectangle, holding cookie cutter in place as you work, and transfer the ice cream to one of the cookies.  Immediately sandwich the cookie, pressing down gently, wrap in plastic wrap, and put in freezer.  Repeat with remaining cookies and ice cream.

Asian and Indian

A Summer Dinner: Cold Sesame Noodles with Veggies

So here I am in Maine.  On vacation.  My first ever real-person vacation, to be exact.  It’s been really nice, with just the right amount of activity, and just the right amount of rest… and there’s still four whole days left.  Tomorrow my 3 best girlfriends from Duke begin to arrive, and things will be a little busier, but in a good way.  I’m envisioning margaritas, long tanning sessions, catching up on love lives and gossip, and some wholesome Maine activities for good measure.  So far though, other than Trevor’s too-short visit, things have been quiet, rejuvenating.  Just me and the fam.

I’ve gotten up to a little bit of everything while here.  I learned to wakeboard, which is a major accomplishment, given my track record with sports where you’re dragged behind a boat.  I also ran 8 miles down the most beautiful stretch of road I’ve seen in ages, another major accomplishment – the last time I ran anything more than 5 was in October.  It feels really good to know that I’m capable of running that far.  It helped that I took my camera along to take pictures of the butterflies and wild turkeys.  I also giggled through 21 Jump Street with Trevor.  I ate bowlfuls of the sweetest, creamiest mangoes I’ve ever tasted that our Indian friends brought during their visit.  I had piping hot popovers slathered with salty butter and strawberry jam at Jordan Pond House, after a gorgeous 7 mile hike in Acadia.  (You know, it just feels great to have moved that far before noon!)  I picked blueberries even though they’re not quite ready, because I couldn’t wait until next time.  I sat on the sandy beach of a deserted island and read my book and ate a turkey sandwich, then watched a curious seal check out our boat.

I’ve also devoted a fair amount of time to checking out some cookbooks that have been gathering dust on my bookshelf, updating my recipe lists and plans, and of course, cooking.  I’ve made Bailey’s ice cream sandwiches that were a total pain in the ass, but worked out in the end, a bubbly stone-fruit crisp, arugula salads with hearty chunks of avocado, Mexican stuffed sweet potato skins, and a handful of other recipes I’ve been wanting to try.  Tonight, after a long day on the water, dinner was a simple bowl of cold, sesame noodles with crisp veggies and honey-roasted peanuts.  They were super yummy, and just the kind of simple, cooling, flavorful dinner that’s perfect for a hot, summery day.  I served them with this warm cucumber and coconut dish, which was also quite good.  Enjoy this for now, and I should be back soon with more shots of Maine, and maybe even some ice cream sandwiches.

Cold Sesame Noodles

A hodge-podge of these three recipes (one, two, three).  Serves 4-6 as a main.

  • 1 lb. soba noodles
  • 2 TBS vegetable oil
  • 3 TBS minced garlic
  • 3 TBS minced ginger
  • 4 TBS sesame oil
  • 3 TBS soy sauce
  • 3 TBS rice vinegar
  • 3 TBS sugar
  • 3 TBS peanut butter
  • 1 1/2 TBS sriracha sauce or other hot sauce (taste as you go!)
  • 1 large cucumber, peeled and cut into matchsticks
  • 5-8 medium carrots, peeled and cut into matchsticks
  • 5 scallions, trimmed and sliced thinly
  • 1/2 c. chopped cilantro
  • 1/4 c. sesame seeds
  • honey-roasted peanuts, for garnish (about 2-3 TBS per serving)
  1. Cook soba noodles according to package directions.  Drain, rinse in cold water, drain again, and set aside.
  2. In a small frying pan, heat vegetable oil over medium heat.  Add garlic and ginger and saute for 2-3 minutes, stirring frequently, until fragrant and garlic is just beginning to brown.  Remove from heat and add to a medium bowl.  Add sesame oil, soy sauce, rice vinegar, sugar, peanut butter, and sriracha to bowl with garlic and ginger and whisk vigorously to combine.  Sauce should be smooth.  Taste for flavor and heat and adjust ingredients to your taste as necessary.
  3. Pour sauce over cooked noodles and stir to combine.  Stir in cucumber, carrot, scallion, cilantro, and sesame seeds.  Serve chilled.  Garnish with peanuts.

Boston

Fresh Apricots & Spiced Couscous

Last Sunday Trevor and I dropped by Wilson Farm, a 128 year old, year-round farm, garden center, and grocery store in Lexington.  We sort of went just to check it out, and I had no idea that the store would be packed with the most beautiful produce I’ve seen in a long time, so I was a little under-prepared (i.e. no grocery list).  Even though my practical side was telling me that I already had too much produce in the fridge to use up before vacation, I ended up leaving with several pounds of fresh apricots, nectarines and plums that were too luscious to resist.  We also bought two grapevines (but successfully talked ourselves out of buying a 2nd fig tree, even though it was on sale), but that’s a story for a different day.

By the time we got home it was late afternoon, and I was sort of exhausted.  I set the fruit out on the table, most of it already at its peak ripeness, and began to get stressed out.  About fruit, yes, don’t make fun of me.  I wanted to use it right away, but the ice cream maker wasn’t ready, I didn’t have anyone to eat a giant crisp, and I just couldn’t get inspired.  I kind of agonized over this, and finally decided to put the fruit away and plan something for dinner the next day, but not before noticing that one of the plums was dented and beginning to leak.  I grabbed it and stood over the sink and bit into it, and instantly realized that my agonizing had been super pointless – you don’t need to think about what to do with perfect summer stone fruit, you just need to eat it.  Room temperature or straight out of the fridge, sweet-tart juice dribbling down your elbows, it’s the best, most refreshing treat in the world.  It reminded me that this has already been said, more eloquently than I’ll ever be able to put it:

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold

~This Is Just To Say, by William Carlos Williams

The next morning I repeated the simple treat, and again Monday night for dessert, but I still wanted to use some of the fruit for something bloggable.  I turned to Ripe, Nigel Slater’s gorgeous book that’s organized fruit by fruit.  All of the recipes Nigel shares are quite simple, with a handful of choice ingredients and a technique that’s usually fit into one small paragraph.  But simple can be revelatory as well, and while the strawberry section, for example, provided little new inspiration (strawberry jam, strawberry ice, strawberries and cream), the apricot section is packed with amazing ideas.  A “Frenchified” casserole of lamb, apricots and rosemary; an apricot pilaf with yogurt sauce; broiled apricots with mascarpone; an iced apricot and black currant terrine – all ideas that are both simple but not at all boring.  I started with this spiced apricot couscous, which made a lovely, easy weeknight dinner, and if I find more fresh apricots and some black currants at the same time, that terrine will be a must.

In other news, we arrived in Maine on Wednesday afternoon, and I’ve been meaning to post since then, but days have been super packed, in the best way possible – learning to wakeboard, eating fried fish sandwiches at Bagaduce, recovering from sunburns with long naps, hiking and popovers in Acadia, campfires and toasty smores, sparklers and roman candles, evening runs, and long sangria-filled dinners with friends.  Trevor is here through tomorrow, then my girlfriends come up next weekend, but in between, I’m sure I’ll have time to share something deliciously Maine-y with you.

Spiced Apricot Couscous

Adapted from Ripe.  Serves 4.

  • 1 c. couscous
  • 1 c. vegetable stock
  • 1 TBS good olive oil
  • 1-3 tsp harissa
  • 1 preserved lemon, cut into small pieces
  • 1 small bunch cilantro, stemmed and chopped
  • 2 shallots
  • 1 TBS butter
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 6 whole cardamom pods
  • 1/4 tsp dried chile flakes
  • 5-6 ripe apricots, pitted and cut into 1 inch pieces
  • 1/4 c. dried currants or raisins
  • sea salt
  • black pepper
  1. In a small pot, bring the vegetable stock just to a boil.  Add the couscous, then turn off heat immediately, cover, and let stand for 10 minutes.
  2. Heat the butter over medium heat in a large frying pan.  Add shallots and saute until translucent, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes.  Add cinnamon stick, cardamom pods, dried chile flakes, chopped apricots, and currants or raisins.  Season with salt and pepper, and add 1 c. warm water to pan.  Leave to simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, until apricots are very soft and sauce has reduced and thickened.
  3. Fluff up couscous with a fork, and transfer to a large bowl.  Stir in olive oil, preserved lemon, and cilantro.  Add 1 tsp of the harissa, stir to incorporate, and taste for heat.  My harissa is very hot, so 1 tsp did it for me, but the level of heat can vary greatly, so taste as you go and stop when you’ve hit the heat that you like.
  4. Pour hot apricots into a separate bowl.  Serve the couscous, then mound the spiced apricots on top.  Serve hot.

Cookbook

Cookbook of the Month: Super Natural Every Day

Sometimes I plan out the “Cookbook of the Month” early on and cook from the book just so I can write a thorough review.  And sometimes I just happen to cook from one book so much that it naturally becomes the book I want to feature.  This month has been one of the latter kind.  Super Natural Every Day, by Heidi of 101 Cookbooks, is not a book that needs much introduction.  As one of the first and most popular food bloggers to grace the internet, I can’t imagine that there are many people in the food community who haven’t heard of her, or her three natural foods cookbooks (Cook 1.0, Super Natural Cooking, and Super Natural Every Day) .  Like many others, her blog is the one that originally inspired me to start my own – it was the first that I followed, and I still look forward to her posts, which invariably feature healthy recipes packed with ingredients I love.  However, I’ve never really felt the need to buy one of her cookbooks, perhaps because her site is already filled with recipes I want to try.  When I found this one in the library though, I figured I’d take it home and flip through it, and I ended up cooking from it all month.

All of Heidi’s recipes are vegetarian, and very health focused.  They are also decidedly unfancy – mostly they’re hearty one-bowl salads that are just the kind of thing I love to make and eat at the end of a busy work day, with just enough leftover to throw in a tupperware for lunch the next day.  Over the course of the month, I tried several recipes that I really enjoyed – this kale, coconut, and wheatberry salad, orzo salad with broccoli pesto and avocado (although Trevor said I already had too many recipes like that to share it with you), and, my favorite, broccoli gribiche – a warm salad of hard-boiled eggs, potatoes, broccoli, and a tangy sauce of vinegar, mustard, capers, and fresh herbs that is oh-so-French.  On my immediate shortlist?  Couscous-Stuffed Tomatoes, for whenever tomatoes start to look really good, and this Macaroon Tart with Blackberries, as soon as I get up to Maine and visit my favorite blackberry picking spots.  I have plenty of other recipes dog-eared in the book, and am moving through them much quicker than I do with most books, but really I’m not surprised – summer is the perfect time for the kind of produce-heavy, quick-and-easy cooking Heidi showcases in her book.

I was planning on making this salad last night, when, ahem, it was still June.  But then I really, really wanted a hamburger, and only Boston Burger would do.  So I decided you wouldn’t mind too much if June’s cookbook was posted on July 1st, gave in, and had a delicious burger with guac and pico de gallo (although, for maybe the first time in my life, I actually couldn’t finish the whole thing), sweet potato fries, and a frosty Blue Moon.  It was so worth it.  But tonight, I got back to my healthy, bloggerly ways, and made this black bean, roasted cherry tomato, and feta salad, with a perfectly ripe plum for dessert.

This salad is something special – cherry tomatoes roasted with maple syrup until they taste like candy, hearty black beans, crunchy toasted almonds, and fresh feta cheese.  If you use really good ingredients to start, it’s the kind of salad that tastes like way more than the sum of its parts.  Because the flavors seemed very Mediterranean to me, I threw in some fresh oregano and thyme for another layer of flavor.  Definitely give it a try (or at least try the oven-roasted cherry tomatoes – you’ll never look at cherry tomatoes the same way again), and if you’re vegetarian, or just the kind of person who likes to eat easy but filling vegetarian meals, I wholeheartedly recommend Heidi’s latest book.

Black Bean and Oven-Roasted Cherry Tomato Salad

Adapted slightly from  Super Natural Every Day.  Serves 4.

  • 4 c. cooked black beans (or canned beans, rinsed and drained)
  • 1 recipe (about 1 cup) oven-roasted cherry tomatoes, see below
  • 3/4 c. slivered almonds, toasted
  • 1 TBS lemon juice
  • 4 oz. high quality feta cheese, crumbled
  • Sea salt (optional)
  • Extra virgin olive oil (optional)
  • Fresh oregano (optional)
  • Fresh thyme (optional)
  1. In a large bowl, toss tomatoes (and their roasting oil), beans, lemon juice, and toasted almonds.  Crumble feta on top and gently stir in.  Taste for seasoning.  If necessary, add additional lemon juice, olive oil, or sea salt.  If you’d like, add a small handful of chopped fresh oregano and fresh thyme and stir in.  Serve at room temperature.

Oven-Roasted Cherry Tomatoes

Recipe from  Super Natural Every Day.  Makes about 1 cup.

  • 1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes
  • 1/4 c. olive oil
  • 1 TBS maple syrup
  • 1/2 tsp sea salt
  1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
  2. Wash tomatoes and remove/discard stems.  Slice each cherry tomato in half and place cut side up in single layer on baking sheet with rim.  In a small bowl, whisk together olive oil, maple syrup, and salt, then pour over the cherry tomatoes, doing your best to get some oil on each tomato.  Roast for 45-60 minutes, until tomatoes begin to caramelize.  Let cool, then store in a glass jar topped off with extra olive oil (will last up to one week in fridge). Enjoy in your favorite salads, or just eat straight out of the jar.

Drink

Greatist Dinner Party: Chickpea Burgers, Tabbouleh, and Strawberry Lassis

Recently, a good friend of mine sent me an email asking for a few recipes she could use for a dinner party she was hosting with friends.  She wanted two to three recipes, preferably with a theme, and easy enough to prepare with friends on the spot.  She and her friends wanted to use the party partially as a way to learn to cook better, as well as just a chance to catch up and eat good food.  A simple enough plan.

Two catches – one, she’s one of the least kitchen-savvy people I know – cooking is just not really in her interest set.  (Illustration: she once asked me if sauteeing onions in olive oil was one of those fussy things that only I did while we were making soup.)  Two, she’s a health nut.  Like, super fit, eats primarily superfoods, drinks only green tea and water, will only eat one bite of dessert ever kind of healthy.  Actually, I’m a little bit jealous of her self-control and love for vegetables – if I loved leafy greens like she does, I’d probably be 3 times as energetic as I am now.  Anyway, knowing that nothing could be too fancy and that I couldn’t sneak any cheese or butter or cream or bacon (all my favorite ingredients, noooooo!)  into the meal made it a bit more challenging to come up with recipes for her.

As I thought about it, I realized that this was the perfect situation for a Greatist post.  Greatist is all about trying to make making healthy choices easier and more fun, and dinner parties are pretty fun, right?  I imagine there are plenty of people out there looking for simple, healthy recipes to use when entertaining that will still impress their friends.  So, as I was sending recipes back to my friend, Greatist Dinner Party was born.

For this first dinner party, I chose Middle Eastern recipes as the theme, partly because many Middle Eastern recipes manage to pack tons of flavor into a dish with very little fat – that’s the beauty of herbs and spices!  Also, the recipes I chose – baked chickpea burgers with tzatziki, traditional tabbouleh, and strawberry-rosewater-buttermilk lassis – are all dishes that are easy to make ahead and stash in the fridge until go-time.  In terms of health, it’s a super balanced meal – tons of herbs and veggies, protein from the chickpeas and the Greek yogurt, a manageable amount of carbs from the tabbouleh and pita/burger bun, and fruit and cultured dairy from the lassis.  Even though I wasn’t having friends over, I prepared everything as if I was and sat down to a very delicious lunch Sunday afternoon, so I can attest to the fact that this menu is easy and relatively quick to prepare and super, super delicious.  My favorites were the chickpea burgers (so flavorful, and baked to boot!) and the tzatziki (the garlic really kicks it up a notch).  Got leftovers?  Crumble a chickpea burger into a tupperware with leftover tabbouleh and drizzle with tzatziki and you’ll have a filling to-go lunch that will give you something to look forward to all morning.

Head on over to Greatist for the chickpea burger recipe, and see below for all the yummy accompaniments, as well as a little schedule I put together if you need help planning out your prep time!

P.S. My friend reported back that the dinner party was a success – they made and enjoyed all of the recipes.  So maybe she’s not as kitchen-impaired as I thought :-)  Next time, you’re getting a challenge, girl.  xo.

Greatist Dinner Party – Middle Eastern

Dinner party plan of attack (I think I’ve been fairly generous with the time you will need as a single person preparing the meal – with friends, you could easily divide and conquer and take less than an hour overall.  As far as cooking implements, you will need – 1 cutting board, 1 knife, blender, food processor, 1 saute pan, 2 large bowls, fine-mesh colander, 2 medium bowls, utensils/measuring implements):

  • 5:00 – peel, chop and salt cucumbers, leave to drain in colander.
  • 5:05 – prepare tabbouleh ingredients: slice/chop/mince tomatoes, scallions, parsley, mint, mix together with spices, lemon juice, and olive oil.  Set aside in a large bowl.
  • 5:20 – make smoothies: wash, hull, and quarter strawberries, blend with other ingredients, and refrigerate until ready to serve.
  • 5:30 – remove cucumbers from colander, pat dry, and add to food processor with dill, garlic, and lemon juice.  Process until smooth, mix with yogurt, season to taste, cover, and refrigerate until ready to serve.
  • 5:40 – rinse bulghur in colander, let drain 5 minutes, fluff with fork, then add to other tabbouleh ingredients.  Mix together, cover, and refrigerate until ready to serve.
  • 5:45 – preheat oven.
  • 5:50 – clean up break: wash blender, colander, and various utensils/measuring items.  Rinse out food processor.  Rinse off cutting board and knife.
  • 6:00 – peel and chop onion.  Saute in pan with olive oil for 5 minutes, then place in large bowl.
  • 6:10 – prepare chickpea burgers: peel and chop carrot, peel garlic, pulse remaining ingredients in food processor.  Mix with breadcrumbs and spices.  Prepare baking sheet, form into patties, brush with olive oil.
  • 6:30 – cook chickpea burgers.  While waiting, clean up remaining dishes, wipe down counters.
  • 6:45 – remove other items from fridge.  Toast hamburger buns.
  • 6:50 – dinner is ready!

Traditional Tabbouleh

I’ve shared a tabbouleh recipe before (actually, it was another Greatist post…), but it was a souped-up all-in-one version with lentils and feta cheese to make it a complete meal on it’s own.  This version is a more traditional version, heavy on the herbs with just a bit of bulghur wheat – although I chose to use a bit more than David recommends to make it a more substantial salad.

Adapted from David Leibowitz.  Serves 4 as a side.

  • 1/4 c. bulghur wheat
  • 20 grape tomatoes, finely diced
  • 4 scallions, roots and dark green tips removed, thinly sliced
  • large bunch parsley – about 3 c. packed leaves
  • 20 large stalks of mint – about 3/4 c. packed leaves
  • 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp ground allspice
  • 2 tsp lemon juice
  • 1/4 c. olive oil
  • kosher salt, to taste
  1. Wash herbs, shake or spin dry, and remove leaves from stalks, leaving as little stalk as possible attached to leave.  Discard stalks.  Gather herbs in a bunch and finely slice into thin slivers, working with a handful at a time.  Add to a large bowl, along with diced tomatoes and sliced scallions.
  2. Place bulghur wheat in a fine-mesh colander and rinse under cold water for about 1 minutes.  Let drain over a bowl for 5 minutes, then fluff with a fork.  Sprinkle bulghur wheat over salad.  Stir in cinnamon, allspice, lemon juice, and olive oil and check for seasoning.  Salt to taste.  Refrigerate until serving.

Tzatziki

This is hands-down the best tzatziki I’ve ever tried.  Usually, I go the lazy route and just toss some cucumbers and a bit of dill into a bowl of yogurt, but the slight extra effort required for this recipe is 100% worth it – the finely blended garlic, lemon juice, dill, cucumber, and salt makes this a totally addictive and healthy dip.

Recipe adapted from Kalyn’s Kitchen.  Makes about 1 cup.

  • 1/2 small cucumber, peeled, and seeds scooped out of center with a spoon
  • kosher salt, to taste
  • 1/4 c. dill fronds, thick part of stems removed
  • 1 garlic clove
  • 1 c. plain Greek yogurt
  • 2 tsp. lemon juice
  • black pepper, to taste
  1. Finely chop cucumber, and place in colander over bowl.  Sprinkle with a small amount of salt, and let sit for half an hour.  After half an hour, pat cucumber dry with a paper towel, and add to food processor with dill, garlic, lemon juice, and a bit of black pepper.  Process until smooth, then stir into yogurt.  Season to taste with salt, and additional pepper if needed.  Refrigerate until serving.  Will keep in fridge for a few days.

Strawberry and Rosewater Lassis

Adapted from Pairs Well With Food.  Serves 4.

  • 1 1/2 lbs fresh strawberries, hulled and quartered
  • 1 1/2 c. cold buttermilk
  • 3-4 TBS honey, depending on sweetness of berries
  • 1 tsp ground cardamom
  • 1 1/2 tsp rosewater
  • 1/2 c. ice
  • chopped pistachios for garnish (optional)
  1. Add all ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth and frothy.  Taste for sweetness and add more honey if necessary.  Serve cold, with chopped pistachios if desired.

Dessert

Summer Bucket List & Cherry-Chocolate Ice Cream

Now that it’s officially summer and my nutso-busy project is (fingers-crossed) winding down (although I could be headed back to Spain in July), it’s time to get serious about summer.  It’s only for a few months a year, people!  This will be my first summer as a real person, meaning no vacation and no play-with-little-kids-in-the-sun-all-day summer job, and I’m already missing the dog-day boredom of waking up late, lying about in the sun and drinking lemonade, but I’m determined to make every weekend count.  So, I’m making a list (because, let’s face it, if you’re a list person you’ll always be a list person) of the 10 things I have to do this summer:

  1. Go to the Cape.  I grew up spending summers in Falmouth and man do I miss the breeze, the foggy sea glass walks with my mom, the marshes, the seashells on the roads, and so many other tiny details.
  2. Pick strawberries berries of some kind.  I think I may have missed strawberry picking season, but I certainly ate my fill.  I’ve got plenty of time for raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries though.
  3. Learn to start the grill.  Or at least grill one thing.  I’m fairly certain I put this on my summer list last year but it appears I never actually published that list, so you can’t hold me accountable for not doing it.  I’m super jumpy around hot things, but Trevor can probably bully me into learning.
  4. Make Cassis!  I searched everywhere for some fresh black currants last year with no luck.  This year I’m 100% determined to find them.
  5. Visit the Harbor Islands.  I meant to do this all summer last year and never got around to it.
  6. Ride my bike!  I just need to bite the bullet and buy a helmet… Man, I hate helmets.
  7. Train for a half marathon.  I put this on here dubiously, given that I’m currently at about 5 miles max… and have been for the past 5 years.  But I told my mom I’d do one in October, and my knees aren’t bothering me anymore (knock on wood), and my metabolism seems to have abandoned me, so… I’ll do it.
  8. Do a producer interview.  This is an idea I’ve been toying with for a long time – meeting and interviewing some of the super-committed food professionals in the area, but haven’t gotten around to.  I’d love to do it, and summer is the perfect time.
  9. Plan a trip for this fall.  Now is the time to travel, and I keep putting it off for this reason or that reason.  This year has gone by so incredibly quickly, and I never managed to plan more than a weekend away.  I’m young, employed, and relatively free – I’ve got to start doing the things I dream about!
  10. Make at least 3 kinds of ice cream…

… starting with this one.  Because it’s been really hot, and I just finished eating my first batch of ice cream (from March!  Who knew I had such self-control?)  Plus, I’m trying to work my way through at least a few of my bookmarked recipes for each super-seasonal fruit or veggie this summer, and cherries are in now.  Of course, cherries are pretty perfect straight from the fridge, but as the new owner of a cherry pitter (yes it’s a super-specific gadget, but it’s super easy to use and I’m totally happy with the $8 I spent on it), I’ve been using them other ways as well.

 

This ice cream, adapted from Technicolor Kitchen, is my favorite that I’ve made so far.  Of course, I’ve only made 3 others – meyer lemon buttermilk, roasted cinnamon, and lemon-basil sorbet – but this one was the most like one that I’d order at an ice cream shop.  I never seem to be able to get my homemade ice cream as solid as I want to (any tips on that?), but this froze fairly well.  The cherry flavor is sweet and intense, and the white and dark chocolate chunks add a little texture.  The addition of cassis just before freezing gives it a lovely floral, slightly boozy layer that really makes it shine.  It reminds me very much of the black raspberry ice cream my mom always ordered at Benson’s when we were on the way home from the beach (p.s. if you’re ever in Eastern Mass, you must try Benson’s – pair it with a trip to Crane’s Beach and a stop at the Clam Box for a true New England experience).  I never really liked that flavor as a kid, but I think it’s more of an adult thing – a little bit more intense and musky.

I’ll keep you posted on my summer activities, especially the food-related ones.  Hope you all are getting started on whatever summer activities you’re dreaming of!

 

Cherry and Two-Chocolate Ice Cream

Adapted from Technicolor Kitchen.  Makes 1 quart.

  • 1 1/2 c. pitted ripe sweet cherries (from about 3/4 lb. cherries)
  • 3/4 c. whole milk
  • 1 3/4 c. heavy cream, divided
  • 1/2 c. sugar
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp lemon juice
  • 2 TBS creme de cassis
  • 3/4 c. chocolate chunks – mix of dark chocolate and white chocolate
  1. Add pitted cherries, milk, sugar, salt and 1 c. of the heavy cream to a large saucepan.  Heat over medium-low heat just until it begins to steam, stirring occasionally, then lower the heat to the lowest sitting and let sit for 15 minutes, crushing the cherries gently against the side of the pot with the back of a wooden spoon about halfway through.  After the 15 minutes is up, remove from heat.
  2. Pour the hot mixture into a blender and blend (always be careful blending hot liquids) until smooth.  Pour into a large glass bowl, and stir in remaining 3/4 c. heavy cream.  Cover with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for several hours or overnight until completely chilled.
  3. Before assembling the ice cream maker (if your ice cream maker is like mine, the bowl should have been sitting in the freezer for at least 12 hours), remove the cherry cream from the fridge and stir in the lemon juice and cassis.  Set up ice cream maker, and process cherry cream according to directions.  About 1-2 minutes before the ice cream is done, pour in the chocolate chunks and let mix in.  Remove the ice cream from the ice cream maker and freeze for another 1-2 hours before serving, to let it harden up a bit.  This is delicious served with an extra drizzle of cassis.