As you already know, strawberry season is here and I have strawberries on the brain as well as in the fridge.
Farm to Table
Okay, we know about strawberry crisps, cobblers, muffins, quick breads, shortcakes, even crostatas.
Also, fresh strawberry sauce (using a blender) and cooked strawberry sauce.
Strawberries with yogurt, with cereal, straight out of the fridge.
In a smoothie (see 2 posts ago).
Hey, how about in a salad? Yeah, yeah, yeah! That’s the ticket for dinner tonight… with chicken burgers, corn on the cob and dill cole slaw. And eating outside on the back porch…aaahhhh.
One moment, please… I need to clarify something. Back where I come from, long ago and far away (actually, the Bronx), this is what we generally put in a salad:
lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, scallion, peppers, radishes, mushrooms (maybe), hearts of palm (big maybe), shredded carrots (also a maybe).
But fruit? Before dessert? Definitely NOT registering on the radar screen of yesteryear.
Back to the present, here in California, no less… bring on the fruit!
half romaine, half baby spinach
The fun stuff
I invite you to please invite any of the following fruit (depending on season) to star in your next salad:
Strawberries – excellent with a good balsamic vinegar or a maple syrup-spiked vinaigrette
Peaches – terrific roasted and cubed with a raspberry vinaigrette
Cantaloupe – awesome with arugula
Watermelon – so good with thinly sliced red onions and watercress
Apples – try an updated Waldorf with a tahini-based dressing
Pears – great with dried cranberries and cheese & nuts
Oranges – wonderful with thinly sliced fennel or jicama
Mandarin Oranges – bring on the Chinese Chicken Salad
There are tons of fruit-based salads… so please share what your favorite is in the comments section below.
bbtip: Tomatoes are fruit too! I let them star in their own salads and so I prefer not to mix them into salads starring other fruit. There’s enough bounty to let the fruit shine in their own salads. Save the healthy competition for business.
Perfect for summer dining
Balsamic Strawberry Salad
Ingredients: 1 c. strawberries, hulled and quartered length-wise 1 T. balsamic vinegar 2 c. romaine lettuce (or any greens you like) 2 c. baby spinach leaves, torn 1 green onion (AKA scallion), thinly sliced 2 Persian cucumbers, sliced in half-circles 2 t. lemon juice 2 T. extra virgin olive oil salt & pepper 2 T. chopped fresh herbs -try mint, Italian parsley, or lemon thyme, or pineapple sage (the latter 2 are growing on my back porch and they’re very aromatic! If you can find them in a nursery, get ’em, get ’em!) 2 T. nuts -lightly toasted pecans, walnuts or almonds (optional), I used pecans for this salad 2 T. crumbled goat cheese or French feta (optional)Directions:
Place cut-up strawberries in small bowl and pour balsamic vinegar over them. Toss gently and set aside for 20 minutes. This process is known as “macerating the fruit” – allowing the natural sugars in the fruit to intensify. Roasting fruit is another way to deepen flavor. Or just cut them in as-is if you have very ripe fruit and you’re in a rush.
While the strawberries are doing their thing, prepare the greens (feel free to use any combo you like). Also, I admit to never measuring greens. I figure a large handful is about one cup and then take way/add more depending on the other ingredients. Okay, I don’t usually measure the other salad ingredients, period. There, you’ve found me out.
Slice green onions and cucumbers. Toss them into greens and sprinkle with lemon juice and olive oil. Sprinkle on chopped fresh herbs. Add salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.
Lay strawberries over the top of the salad with the balsamic vinegar. Using cheese/nuts are optional but they are oh-so-good. Toasting the nuts in a dry skillet for a few minutes (until they are aromatic – do NOT leave the kitchen) enhances the flavor by bringing out their natural oils.
I like using either goat cheese in this salad for a milder effect or French feta for a more assertive addition (generally French feta is a bit less salty that Greek feta). Sprinkle cheese over strawberries, along with nuts, Toss table-side and enjoy!
In this month of July 2012, I said farewell to a friend I never met – Marion Cunningham.
When I discovered her Breakfast Book & Supper Book, I pored over them, Getting hungry and being inspired by so many of her recipes. Authentic and pure. Food you would want to share.
I had baked her soft gingerbread, more like a cake, just a few weeks ago and happened to take photos of it. Little did I know that I would use these shots very soon to express my gratitude to one of this country’s leaders of American cooking. A woman who began her career in food writing around the age of 50.
As with many of Marion’s recipes, the ingredients are simple and the procedure straight-forward. It’s a two-bowl process that can be put together in little time.
Because the crumb is very soft, don’t turn it half-way through baking (which is what many bakers do) and don’t open the oven door to peek (which is what non-bakers do). In this case, the cake rose beautifully.
Looking good
Honestly, even when I bake this and the cake comes out with a bit of a crater in the center, it’s No Problem. The house still smells dreamy and the cake tastes divine. If it should do that to you, ignore and cut into squares before serving.
Russ Parsons, food writer for the LA Times, wrote a beautiful piece to honor Marion.
This is how Russ summed up what was important to Marion – “delicious, simple food served to people who mean the most to us”. His favorite book that she wrote is The Breakfast Book and he cites her yeast-raised waffles as his favorite recipe in it. I don’t own a waffle-maker because I tend to resist appliances with a single purpose. But I just may have to put that resistance aside to check out those waffles.
Thank you, Marion. We will keep your recipes and philosophy going…
Ginger Cake a la Marion
Light Ginger Cake
Adapted from Soft Gingerbread in Marion Cunningham’s Breakfast Book, © 1987
Ingredients:
¾ c. sugar ¾ c. molasses 1 c. safflower or canola oil 3 eggs ¾ t. salt 1 t. cloves 1 t. ground ginger 1 t. cinnamon 2 c. flour ( or sub. 1 ½ c. flour & ½ c. whole wheat pastry flour) 2 t. baking soda 1 c. boiling waterDirections:
Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly grease an 8” square pan.
Beat together sugar, molasses, oil and eggs in medium bowl. In separate bowl, mix salt, cloves, ginger, cinnamon, flour(s) and baking soda. Add to first mixture and stir until smooth. Add boiling water and beat briskly until you have a smooth thin batter.
Pour into pan and bake 40- 45 minutes. Serve warm.
Makes 16 servings or 20 small servings.
I love smoothies but I don’t like to deal with the store-bought ones – they’re generally too sweet/rich/thick for my taste.
At Smoothies-R-Us (generic smoothie establishment), they hand me an over-priced 32-ouncer. I want a little smoothie. Not two pounds of smoothie. I drink and drink and drink and manage to bring the level down by a half-inch. Puleeeeze.
Tis the season for strawberries. They’re everywhere.
And they’re making multiple guest appearances on my posts.
Strawberries ready for smoothie action
OK, I was generally not the kind of person to mess around with beverage-making, specifically, smoothie-making at home.
Pick a yogurt: plain or vanilla, Greek or Regular
But I have seen the light.
I yust love that emulsifier. (I sometimes speak creatively. It’s one way I entertain myself.)
Fixin’ up a Smoothie
Thanks to my friend Kimberly for showing me (and us) the way (as Peter Frampton says sings: I want you to show me the way-hey every day…) to delicious homemade smoothies and a major thank you to her for the frozen banana tip!
Using frozen banana chunks eliminates the need for ice. Since we’re not using ice, we don’t have to compensate for the addition of water by adding more sugar. I can easily sweeten about 12 ounces of smoothie with a scant teaspoon of a mild honey.
You have five seconds: Name That Fruit
To peel or not to peel? That is the question. I tried it both ways and you know what? PEEL, baby, PEEL!
So how do you keep those peeled banana chunks in the freezer? In a zip-loc bag. But then they form a big clump and you have to give them a big HOCK (translate: bang) on the counter. That’s ok, especially if there are a few aggressive feelings you want to release. Very good. Or if you’re a pacifist, maybe wrapping single serving chunks of banana in plastic wrap or waxed paper (I’ve always liked waxed paper – it’s been around forever and it reminds me of home) will work for you. Kimberly, can you weigh in on this? Any volunteers to provide suggestions on your favorite smoothies?
I already had frozen bananas on hand waiting for (I thought) Banana Bread. But sorry,oh beloved banana bread, I have officially discovered justification for ALWAYS keeping bananas in the freezer.
And I don’t have to pull out (read: clean) the blender. After years of it sitting on the counter, I finally put it away. There!
Smoothin’ that smoothie
When you have it around, choose fresh fruit. Strawberries, blueberries, pineapple, mango, peaches, melon. You get the picture. Kimberly likes to add a small natural (no added sugar) fruit cup (the kind you might pack for lunch) to the berries. I didn’t have that in the house but I will try that method. For this round, I used, in addition to the banana, strawberries with a bit of leftover melon.
Sunshine Fruit Smoothie
Ingredients:
1 small frozen banana, cut-up (or 1/2 a large banana) 3/4 c. fresh or frozen fruit 3 T. lowfat vanilla yogurt or non-fat vanilla or plain Greek yogurt 2 T. milk 1 t. mild honeyDirections:
Pile fruit into container (or if preparing a few servings, pile into blender).
Add yogurt, milk and honey. Pulse emulsifier (or blender) and scrape down sides until well blended. Play with the amount of milk (or substitute juice) to achieve the effect you like. Keep at 2 T. milk for a thicker smoothie. Add another tablespoon or two for a thinner result.
Makes 2 small or 1 large serving.
Enjoy!
Won’t you take me to Smoothie Town?
I love pasta. I love veggies. But I notice that much as I want to, I just can’t eat massive quantities of noodles like my eyes would like. And if I eat a lot of pasta/bread later in the day, I’ve got that sluggish oh-so- heavy feeling going on. Slowing down the old metabolism. Probably related to that time-passing thing (like a fine wine, that’s it, like a fine whine wine). The past few times, in a Chinese restaurant, I ask for more veggies in the lo mein to lighten it up. It really looks like I get more noodles instead. Wassup?? as my brother-in-law Bill would say. Maybe, maybe I get an extra piece of cabbage in there. Or a piece of carrot or two.
Hmmmm. Once again, reason to turn to my kitchen, my bb kitchen, to create dishes that are NOT pasta with veggies but Veggies with Pasta. Let’s Reclaim our Veggies! Ta Da!!!!!!!
Begin with what’s fresh. What’s in season. Swiss chard, rapini, broccoli. Whatever you like… in this case – Swiss chard.
To enrich, think of selecting a bean, it can be black beans, cannellini beans, in this case, the highly versatile garbanzo bean (otherwise known as the ceci bean or chickpea).
Chop up the veggies. In this case, separate the stems from the leaves as the stems need a bit more time in the pan. Chop up some onions and garlic to saute.
Make it easy for yourself, get organized
Lots of veggies here
Before you begin sauteing, have a big pot of salted water getting to the boil. Choose your favorite pasta. I love angel hair, but in this case I like a short pasta with no hole (penne has her place elsewhere) . Little bell shapes, little ear shapes, one that love and don’t always find, called gemelli, or a cousin like this one, called casarecce, little rolled up bites of pasta.
Short pasta got no reason…
And you get this.
Swiss Chard with Lemon, Pine Nuts and Pasta
Ingredients:
2 T. olive oil 1 onion, chopped 2 cloves, garlic, minced 1 large or 2 medium bunches Swiss chard 1 T. balsamic vinegar salt & pepper pinch sugar, if needed 1 15-oz. can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained 8 oz. short pasta (or 1/2 a box) 1/2 lemon, juiced 1/4 cup toasted pine nutsDirections:
Bring water for pasta up to the boil, adding a little salt and olive oil to it.
Chop veggies while water boils.
Saute onion in oil for 3-5 minutes. Add garlic, then chard stems and saute until the chard softens slightly (a few minutes).
Meanwhile cook pasta according to directions. Drain and toss with a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper.
Add Swiss chard leaves to saute pan, stir. Season with salt & pepper and a smidge of sugar. Add balsamic vinegar. Stir in garbanzos just to heat through.
Toss with pasta. Add lemon juice and pine nuts. Adjust seasonings, if necessary.
Serves 4 as a generous main dish.
Hello all you veggie lovers! Hello all you pasta lovers!
In my previous post, I shared the birthday lunch we had for my Mom. I left the dessert for this post because it deserved its own special place. The women in my family all love coffee cake. Come to think of it, so do the men. When it came time to decide upon a dessert, it wasn’t hard. A coffee cake. A bumbleberry coffee cake.
Bumbleberry. A word evocative of freshness, lightness, whimsy. A bumbleberry breeze, sending that essence from one kitchen to another. Sounds like a name for a blog…
Years ago, I had the opportunity to visit Savannah, Georgia. A lovely old city filled with charm and history. The city was designed around 18 town squares, each with a distinctive history, its own monument, its own garden, its own story to tell. I had an afternoon to myself and decided to walk the city. Armed with my map, I would walk from one town square to the next. Never mind that I had a bum knee. I had a plan to carry out. By the afternoon’s end, I limped through the last of the town squares, with a very large potato impersonating my knee and with a deep smile inside. Walking past the homes, each with its own fanciful wrought-iron gate, through the neighborhoods, the tree-lined streets, the wide boulevards, from one square to the next… a beautiful day.
Where to eat? A friend recommended a favorite stop for him and his wife. Elizabeth on 37th, an older home-turned-restaurant just outside of town.. The owner/chef had co-authored a book with her daughter. Savannah Seasons by Elizabeth Terry. We ate there. I loved it. I bought the book. I devoured it – the great recipes, the charming stories, the delicious-looking photos. And in it a recipe for bumbleberry crisp that captured my imagination…
But wait. Novio and I just spent a half-hour combing through the book. Re-visiting so many recipes that make my mouth water. But no mention of bumbleberry anything. Never mind.
As memory serves, I read SOMEWHERE that the word bumbleberry is an old-fashioned term that likely originated in the South and means a mixture of berries.
A bumbleberry crisp. A bumbleberry cobbler. A bumbleberry coffee cake. If not directly from Savannah Seasons, most definitely inspired by it. Just saying the word makes me smile.
Add orange zest for extra zing
Layer the berries in between the batter OR put all the batter in the pan at once, then then the fruit and then the crumb topping. Either way, there won’t be much left over.
Spread batter lightly over fruit to edges
cake is assembled
Bumbleberry Coffee Cake
Ingredients:
Batter: 6 T. butter, at room temperature 3/4 c. sugar 2 eggs 1 t. vanilla 1 c. unbleached flour 1/4 c. stone-ground cornmeal 1 t. baking powder 1/2 t. baking soda 1/2 t. sea salt or kosher salt 2/3 c. light sour cream OR lowfat Greek yoghurt 1/2 t. orange zest Fruit: 2 c. mixed berries Crumb Topping: 2 T. butter, melted 2 T. safflower or canola oil 1/3 c. brown sugar 1/2 c. flour 1 t. cinnamon 1/8 t. nutmeg 1/2 c. nuts: chopped walnuts, chopped pecans or sliced almonds (toasted nuts are always a plus!)Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 350°. Lightly grease an 8″ square baking dish.
Sift together flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda and salt in medium bowl.
Cream the butter and sugar together by hand or with mixer. Beat in eggs. Add vanilla.
Add flour mixture to creamed butter and sugar, alternating with sour cream in two batches.
Mix all crumb topping ingredients together, except for nuts, until it comes together. Add nuts at end.
Spoon half the batter into prepared pan. Top with fruit. Then spread remaining batter over the fruit. Top with crumb topping by using your fingers.
Bake for 45 to 50 minutes.
Serves 8-12
Options for fruit: use any berry combo (true bumbleberriness!) or one kind of berry, all peach or peach combined with one kind of berry, or (for non-summertime) 1 1/2 c. diced apples with 1/4 c. cranberries
Note: You can easily omit cornmeal and use all flour. But use the cornmeal. It adds a very appealing texture.
Love cheese blintzes? Wish there was a way to avoid making those pesky crepes? I love crepes, especially when someone else is making them. And that’s what the outside of a cheese blintz is. But it’s not my thing to do. They’re just not my cup o’ tea/pile o’ crepes. That’s not how the bb kitchen works.
I don’t like to patskey (mess around) more than is necessary. I don’t want to and you can’t make me.
When I happened upon this recipe in the Sundays at Moosewood Restaurant cookbook years ago, I knew I’d found my solution. Very close in taste to blintzes, WAY faster to prepare. When I get a hankering for homemade blintzes, you know what I’m gonna do.
Base in greased dish
Base is set
Two eggs ready to fluff up cheese
Base’s loaded
All puffy… in the best way
It’s my mom’s birthday and we’re celebrating with lunch on the deck. And this is going to be there waiting for her.
Puffy Cheese Blintz with Strawbeery-Rhubarb Sauce, Light Sour Cream and Fresh Berries, Teriyaki Salmon, Roasted Peach & Mixed Green Salad and Pumpernickel with Sweet Butter.
Puffy Cheese Blintz
Ingredients: Batter: 4 large eggs 1 1/4 c. milk (I used 1%) 2 T. light sour cream or plain yogurt 1/4 c. butter, melted (half stick) 1 t. pure vanilla extract 1 1/3 c. unbleached flour 1 T. sugar 1 1/4 T. baking powder Filling: 1 lb. farmer cheese (or use equal amount dry curd cottage cheese) 1/2 lb. ricotta cheese 2 large eggs 2 T. sugar 2 T. fresh lemon juice 1/3 c. golden raisinsDirections:
Preheat oven to 350°.
Using a blender or mixer, mix all batter ingredients until very smooth.
Pout 1 1/2 cups of the batter (use a Pyrex measuring cup) into a buttered 9×13 baking dish. Bake for about 10 minutes or until set.
While the base of the blintz is baking, combine the filling ingredients and mix well.
Once the base of the blintz is set, remove baking dish from oven and cool a few minutes. Spread cheese filling over base, quickly re-mix batter and pour the remaining batter over the top, covering the filling completely with the back of a spoon or with a spatula.
Return baking dish to oven and bake for 45- 50 minutes or until the top is puffed, set and browned. Remove from oven and allow to rest for ten minutes before cutting into squares.
Serves 8-10 as a small main course for breakfast/brunch/lunch (about 12 for dessert).
bb tip:
Make this dish even easier by baking base the night before and spreading cheese filling on it. Cover and place in fridge overnight. Keep remaining batter in bowl covered in fridge as well. The next morning, remix batter, pour on top and bake in pre-heated 350° oven for 45-50 minutes, just as in above recipe. Less to do that morning!
Instead of ricotta, I used a plain Israeli 5 percent fat white cheese.
BONUS RECIPE:
Strawberry-Rhubarb Sauce:
Warning: This is mighty complicated.
Ingredients:
1 c. rhubarb (about 3 stalks), fibrous strings pulled (as with celery), sliced 1/2″ thick
1 c. strawberries, hulled and sliced in half (in 3, if larger)
1 t. sugar, or to taste
Directions:
Cook in saucepan, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 15 minutes.
Keeps, covered, in the fridge for several days.
Note: Best when using very ripe, red, juicy strawberries. Otherwise, you may need a bit more sugar. You want a slightly tart, slightly sweet sauce.
Delicious on its own, as a topping for yogurt, ice cream, blintzes, spread on toasted English muffins/bread.
Making Mom happy
Our friends Joe and Ann were in town last week. Joe is our Master Gardener friend. As a matter of fact, when he walked into the kitchen and spotted a giant zucchini sitting on the counter, he immediately pointed to it with a suspicious look on his face and warily asked, “Whose garden did that come from?” We replied, ” Ya know, Farmer Jason” (see bb’s previous post to find out how that zucchini was handled). OK, so Joe is a tad competitive.
Joe wants to get me into vegetable gardening. We agreed that I should start small and simple. He looked online for raised containers but thought they were all pricey and not exactly what he was looking for. So he decided to build me one. And in less than two days he did. No plans. No fuss. No muss.
Thanks, Joe!
That’s the kind of guy Joe is. And that’s just one of the many reasons why we love him.
I wanted to thank him. I wanted to express my appreciation. I wanted to feed him. And feed him I did, along with Ann, of course. For dessert, I had blackberry cobbler on the brain after spotting it on a lovely food and photography blog named, We Call Him, Yes! Chef!
ahh, the magic of outdoor light
Don’t these blackberries look delicious? I was tempted to just eat them all. But wait! We have a cobbler to make!
Karen (the photographer of the blog team-her husband Corby is the Chef) came across this via The Pioneer Woman‘s program on the Food Channel and it stuck in my head.
The original recipe calls for one cup of self-rising flour. She didn’t have it in her pantry, didn’t want to go out and get some and decided to do some quick research instead. I don’t have it in my pantry either. But, thanks to , we learn that:
1 cup self-rising flour = 1 cup flour + 1 1/2 t. baking powder + 1/2 t. salt
Notice how there’s butter all over the inside of the measuring cup? Please remember to cover the measuring cup with a paper towel. And 30 seconds is sufficient time to melt the butter. Not a minute. A half-minute. And, ahemm, I don’t think you want to see what the glass plate in the microwave looked like.
Now to redeem myself, a handy bb baking tip I learned long ago:
Save the butter paper and use it to grease your baking dish.
That’s very nifty, don’t you think?
Waste not, want not
I only slightly adapted the batter recipe by bringing down both the sugar and the butter.
blackberry assembly hall
Hey blackberries! We know you’re in there somewhere!
Simply Light Blackberry Cobbler
Ingredients:
6 T. sweet unsalted butter, melted 1 c. flour 1 1/2 t. baking powder 1/2 t. salt 3/4 c. sugar 1 c. milk (I used 1% milk because that’s what’s in my fridge) 2 c. blackberries 2 T. Turbinado sugar (or raw sugar or regular white sugar)Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°. Melt butter in glass measuring cup (so much easier to pour later). Mix sugar, flour, baking powder and salt in bowl. Whisk in milk.
Pour in melted butter and whisk it all together.
Butter a baking dish – I used a quiche pan.
Rinse the blackberries and pat dry . Pour the batter into the buttered baking dish. Sprinkle blackberries over the top, distributing evenly. Sprinkle turbinado sugar over the batter.
Bake in the oven at 350° for 1 hour, or until golden and bubbly.
Makes about 8 servings (ok, the 4 of us ate it in one sitting with a tiny piece left over).
Options: Try this cobbler recipe with blueberries, diced peaches and raspberries or a berry mix.
Serve with vanilla ice cream (life is short, go ahead). Enjoy!
Always delicious with ice cream
The fresh mint leaf in the above image is attempting to steal the show. Can you please move along, mintie and get out of this shot?! Go find an iced tea to jump into. Thank you.
p.s. The veggies are in – wish us luck… and a good eco-climate…
Veggies growing in Joe’s container
Last week we stopped in to see our friend Jason at his clinic. He does acupuncture as well as gives one heck of an effective deep soft tissue massage. As soon as we arrived, he exclaimed, “Here, Judy, look what I have for you!” You see, as soon as he gets home, Jason transforms into his alter-ego, Farmer Jason, lavishing his skills, affection and care upon his prized vegetables.
Direct from Farmer Jason’s Garden
Come to think of it, that’s how he treats his clients too.
Come together, right now…
The recipe is a simple and delicious one that you can put together and serve as a quick side dish or embellish a bit and transform it into a main.
mise en place
By the way, “mise en place” is a French term used in cooking that means everything in its place. Before beginning a dish, whether large or small, it’s a good thing to get out all the bowls, utensils and ingredients you’ll need. OK, or at least attempt to. And then prep all the ingredients. And when you’re ready to begin, the cooking process just hums along. Doesn’t always work when I’m throwing things together in the moment BUT when I do know what I’m doing, the concept of mis’ en plas makes it all go super-smooth.
Jason’s dad likes to saute onions and garlic and add chunks of zucchini and tomato to cook together.
From China? Romania? Italy? No Matter, Think Global
Guess what? My mom does the same thing. China – Romania – New York – Los Angeles.
Hit it maestro! It’s a small world after all….
ZUCCHINI WITH TOMATOES & ONION
Ingredients:
1 T. olive oil 1 onion, diced 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped zucchini, 1 Jason-sized or 4 regular, quartered lengthwise and cut into bite-sized chunks 3 Roma tomatoes 1 T. fresh dill salt & pepperDirections:
Heat large skillet. Add 1 T. oil to heat through. Saute diced onions with salt and pepper for 3-5 minutes. Add garlic and saute for about a half minute more. Then add the zucchini and tomatoes and saute together for 5 minutes or until tomatoes begin releasing their juices. Cover and let simmer on low-medium heat about 5 more minutes or until desired degree of tenderness. Add fresh dill to finish and adjust seasonings if needed.
bb tip: Turn your veggies into a main dish!
Serve over rice or another grain. OR, as in this case, boil a little short pasta and mix it through with a bit of grated Parmesan or Asiago. In this case, I used a quinoa pasta (yes, it exists… would I fib you?). I like an equal ratio of veggie to pasta or more veggies to pasta. Lightens things up a bit.
One of the things I remember most from my first trip to Israel is the incredible warmth and hospitality that was lavished on us from friends and family everywhere we went. Translation: Food, Food and More Food! Not to mention being the happy recipient of all things edible from the Queen of the Israeli Kitchen in all things cooking and baking (you know who you are).
One memory that makes me smile every time I think of it is when we went to visit Stella, a dear family friend who lived in an older apartment building outside of Tel Aviv. When we arrived at her door we were greeted with boisterous hugs and kisses. Her family had converged to see us. When we crossed the threshold, we saw that all furniture had been pushed to the perimeter in the small rectangular space, and there stood a table in front of us, stretching to the left–through the living room, through the dining room, and onto the balcony!
The table (or should I say tables) was laden with appetizers — eggplant (two ways), egg salad, hummus, pita, bread, marinated vegetables, pickles, and olives. And then the platters began appearing from the teeniest, tiniest kitchen I had ever seen, all transported by Stella’s able and loving hands.
When Stella carried out a platter full of giant baked meatballs, her two grown sons, clearly well acquainted with these meatballs, and who happened to be standing around while we were seated at the table, began helping themselves to said meatballs in mid-transport, before the platter could even reach its destination.
Though Stella’s delectable baked meatballs were beef, and highly seasoned with Romanian spices, they serve as the inspiration for these baked chicken balls, slightly crunchy on the outside from bread crumbs, and light and tender on the inside.
almost tennis balls
And they are SOOOO simple to prepare.
Get ground chicken from your butcher, or meat department, or be a big shot and grind it yourself. I’m lucky enough to have a wonderful market nearby which has fresh chicken breast ground daily.
Add grated vegetables and your favorite seasonings.
i luv my veggies
Wash your hands and shape into balls, using a light touch. You’re going for somewhat smaller than tennis ball size, and larger than a golf ball. Please don’t be resistant to using your hands, AKA your kitchen’s best tools — they’re way more effective than using a spoon.
soft balls!
Believe me, you will want to eat them right off the tray too.
SAVORY BAKED CHICKEN BALLS
Ingredients:
1 1/2 lbs. ground chicken breast 1 egg 1 T. olive oil, plus extra for drizzling 1/4 c. fresh bread crumbs OR Panko (Japanese bread crumbs)–DIVIDED 2 cloves garlic, chopped or minced 1/2 onion, finely chopped or grated 1 small carrot, grated 1/2 zucchini, grated 1/4 red pepper, grated (feel free to omit, my pepper-free friends) 1 t. Dijon mustard 2 T. fresh Italian parsley, chopped 1/2 t. Garam Masala 1/2 t. curry powder salt and pepper 1/4 t. sweet Hungarian paprikaDirections:
Quick Kitchen Math: 1/4 cup = 4 tablespoons
Preheat oven to 375 °.
Divide bread crumbs in half. Set aside half the bread crumbs (or 2 tablespoons!)
Mix ground chicken with egg, oil and remaining ingredients, except for half the bread crumbs and the paprika.
Grease a baking dish that’s lined with foil.
Shape chicken mixture into about 10 balls and arrange in baking dish. Sprinkle tops with remaining bread crumbs and paprika and drizzle with olive oil.
Bake for 15-18 minutes. After 15 minutes, check to see if ready. The best way to do this is to simply cut one in half (don’t worry, someone will be happy to eat it). If it’s just barely cooked through and still very soft, remove from oven, place on stove and immediately tent with foil for 5-10 minutes to slowly continue the cooking process. You don’t want them in the oven until they look fully baked, because you will have dry meat balls on your hands.
Serves 4 as a main dish, and 8-10 as a first course.
Come and get ’em
PS. Stay tuned for the zucchini and tomato side dish seen in the top photo; it will be featured in the next bb post!
You know I got this garlic at the Farmer’s Market
There are two kinds of home cooks: those who enjoy the process and those who consider it to be a chore. Granted, there tends to be a direct relationship between amount of time and level of enjoyment. For some, cooking is a chore, no matter how much time there is and if you’re reading this, chances are you’re not in that group.
For Lulu, my dearest friend from WAY back, cooking was just another chore while her kids were growing up. A few years ago, she began enjoying both cooking and baking. I’m glad. I have another reliable source for recipes that are high on the ease factor as well as the taste barometer. She’s the one who came up with adding lots of chopped fresh dill (or dried dill, if the fresh stuff isn’t around) to a straight-on coleslaw and then I tweaked it just a bit more (because tweaking is in my nature).
That’s half of a large head
Lulu and I met in the second grade. She had a best friend. I had a best friend. And we were instant enemies. Not a word passed between us. In the fifth grade, I sat behind her all morning. She had long thick hair which she wore in a low ponytail with a wide barrette. And she was a perfectionist. Every day I would watch her, inches in front of me, as she smoothed and re-smoothed her hair with both hands to ensure that every (and I mean every) strand was dutifully in place. I stared. I fidgeted. I wanted to scream. “Will you cut that out already!” Why was I not paying attention to the teacher? Never mind that.
At the end of the year, both her best friend and my best friend left the school.
It was fate. It was destiny. On the first day of sixth grade we looked around. We looked at each other. “Why not?” we both said to ourselves and shrugged. And that was the beginning of a bond that spans across a continent and across decades.
So don’t thank me for this one, thank Lulu (tenks, dahlink).
Ain’t this pretty?
An excellent sub for mayonnaise
And when I do use mayo it’s my favorite Best Foods (aka Hellman‘s on the East Coast) all the time.
In support of slaw
Dill Cole Slaw
Ingredients:
1-1/2 lbs cabbage, shredded 1 medium carrot, shredded 2 scallions (green onions), thinly sliced 3 T. mayonnaise 1 t. Dijon mustard 1 T. olive oil (or grapeseed oil) Juice of 1/2 lemon Pinch of sugar, to taste 2 T. finely chopped fresh dill (or 1 t. dried dill, but it won’t be quite the same) salt and pepper to taste (try 1/2 t. salt and 1/4-1/2 t. pepper)Directions:
Use the shredding disc on your food processor – use a good sharp knife – buy a package of pre-shredded cabbage – one way or another get some shredded cabbage into your kitchen and place in a large shallow bowl (the better to mix with, my dear).
Add one shredded carrot and two thinly sliced scallions to bowl.
Mix in mayo, mustard, lemon juice, oil, and salt and pepper. Add dill and stare at how beautiful it looks. Stir well and add pinch of sugar. Adjust seasonings to taste.
This is a great do-ahead dish. But if you’re serving it that day, let it chill so the ingredients can marry (I like to say that).
Serves 6-8.
Dilled-up cole slaw
bumbleberry breeze 