Grill Thrill

Summer nummin'.

Tofu Tomato Salad

I put this quick tofu salad together last with cherry tomatoes, sweet onion, garlic scapes and a few chopped pea pods. I sauteed the tofu in a little chili oil and then finished the sear with a splash of mirin and tamari. For the dressing I whisked a little more chili oil, tamari, rice vinegar, and a spoonful of white miso. It was topped with sliced nori strips and sesame seeds.

Garlic Scape and Arugula Pesto

Summer is back! And so is NUMMY! Our recent months have seen a real lull in creative kitchen time- work trips, hectic schedules, and the winter that would not die. As we get things cookin'once again, may we present you with an arugula and garlic scape pesto, and light summer salad?

Pavlova

Barefoot Contessa's Ina made this dessert called a pavlova for her husband Jeffery's surprise birthday party on this week's episode. It's layers of merengue, whipped cream, fresh berries and a raspberry sauce. They looked so happy eating it beach side in the Hamptons that we decided to invite a few folks over for dessert last night and give it a try ourselves. It was gooey, fruity, and decadent- a full on sugar attack! And, not so bad for my first merengue! Our pal Sarah also brought over these spicy, snickerdoodly chocolate cookies.

Wild Mushroom Ravioli

Lucky for me, T. was on his homemade pasta crusade this weekend. Our friend S. joined us for a dinner celebrating 40° weather in Wisconsin in February! Along with the ravioli, we had antipasti and bruschetta, and a salad we tried to recreate from a meal we had out the evening before (ingredients were herb greens, mache, brandy poached pear, cranberry, blue cheese, fried parsnip, and a fig vinaigrette).

PB & J, Banana, and Cilantro

For an extra crunch, try adding fresh herbs to your PB&J. I've tried basil, arugula, dill, and spring greens- but cilantro was a first!

Seitan Veggie Chili and Wheat Cornbread

If you haven't heard, seitan is the new non-meat. I'm a big fan of it in stir-frys and sliced for veggie rubens. It also takes to bar-b-que sauce and grilling just fine, thank you.

It held its own in this veggie chili we made a few weeks ago, when the weather was dipping below zero. I sauteed it a bit with the onions and garlic in the beginning and it got nicely browned. There was a lot going in that pot at the end, including: corn, kidney beans, black beans, garbanzos, veggie stock, cilantro, crushed tomato, roasted jalapeno, red and green bell peppers, chili powder, cumin, coriander, salt and pepper. We were somehow out of white flour, so that's why the cornbread ended up on the healthy side. In fact this who meal sort of looks like it's straight out of the Age of Aquarius, huh?

"Waiter, there's a dream-catcher in my soup." A yuk-yuk.

January '09 Gourmet Stars

The January '09 issue of Gourmet is devoted to all things Italiano, and I have to admit to coming very, very close to licking a few of the pages. These two dishes are just two of the many stand outs in this star-studded cast. The first is a Shaved-Fennel Salad with Orange and Pecorino, topped with a Pomegranate Vinaigrette. The second is Polenta-Crusted Chicken with a Balsamic Caper Pan Sauce. Links to both below:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Shaved-Fennel-Salad-with-Oranges-and-Pecorino-351149

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Polenta-Crusted-Chicken-with-Balsamic-Caper-Pan-Sauce-351130

Herb Roast Chicken

Herby. Roasty. Nummy.

Pure Holiday Magic

T and I had a lovely holiday in Florida, at my mom's yearly Xmas extravaganza. You'll notice the dessert photos come first. During these breaks I prefer to get my workout climbing that Xmas cookie tower several times a day. I especially love in the first photo how it looks like one of the three wise men brought the cassata to the party- like "ta heck with the myrrh, I'm brangin' choc'lit cake!"

I also hung out around that antipasto plate a lot. A lot.

Oh, and Happy New Year from NumNumNum! We're officially in our third nummy year!

Chicken Romano

This chilly weather has got me thinking in layers- sweater, scarf, coat, chicken, cheese, sauce. This is a take on pretty straight forward chicken parmesan, except I used romano cheese and layered in a few sauteed veggies. All we had in the kitchen for breading were whole-wheat panko flakes and which had more of a consistency like Grape Nuts. So I pounded them down a bit and added dried herbs- basil, oregano, parsley. We had homemade marinara still frozen from last summer, and which had roasted-red peppers blended in. I smothered the top of the breaded chicken breasts with sauteed onions and swiss chard, and then covered the whole lot with more sauce, mozzarella, and romano.

Arugula, Cuc, Radish and Tomato Salad

Hey it's 13° outside today! Let's celebrate with a summery salad! We found these cute little blushy radishes at the winter farmer's market, along with some hothouse tomatoes and arugula. I topped it off with shavings of parmesan and for the dressing I used e.v.o.o., fig-infused balsamic, lemon juice, salt and fresh ground pepper. We had this with pasta and the last of the lamb meatballs and marinara we froze last month. Oh, and did I mention that its 13° outside today?

40 Clove Garlic Chicken

We saw this recipe on Ina's show, but when I googled it there were several variations online. For a creepy and cozy Halloween dinner, what could be more perfect? The garlic gets sweet and deep, the longer it cooks. The cous-cous was tossed with lemon zest, currants, and cashews and was a great sauce-soaker to the chicken. Lovely table decorations by Beth!

Seitan Scramble

Quick weekend breakfast scramble with seitan, onion, garlic, tomato, spinach, and egg.

Sweet Potato and Ricotta Soup

This sweet potato soup is spicy, herby, sweet, and creamy. It starts with a combination of white onion and shallots sauteed in olive oil until soft, to which I added the cubed (and peeled) sweet potatoes (about 2 large ones). When the potatoes were a little seared, I added the spices and herbs: nutmeg, cinnamon, salt, pepper, cayenne, thyme and sage. Then I poured in 5 cans of low-sodium chicken stock and brought it up to a simmer. When the potatoes were very soft, I then pureed it with the emersion blender. When it was nice and evenly smooth, I added a pint container of low-fat ricotta cheese and 1/3 cup of grated parmesan. Then I blended to soup again to break up the cheese solids. Here it's served with a little arugula salad and a chunk of french walnut bread from out favorite farmers market vendor. Very autumnumnumnal!

Soup, Salad, Apple Crisp

Salad: Pear, Red Onion and Parmesan with a Maple-shallot Vinaigrette

Soup: Butternut Squash Minestrone

Dessert: Apple Crisp (thanks Sarah!)

Pappardelle alla romanesco

T and I have been eyeing these weird little green fractal things at the farmers market for the past few weeks and discovered they are called romanesco, ancient relatives to cauliflower. After a little online research, we decided to just steam them and drizzle with olive oil, parmesan, salt and pepper. They have a nutty flavor, much deeper and sweeter than I expected. They were a perfect 'meaty' accompaniment with this dish of spelt flour pappardelle (Trader Joe's) with chopped salami, garlic and olive oil.

Great description of romanesco here at Almost a Chef:
http://www.almostachef.com/2008/04/romanesco-cauliflower/

Family-Style Nummy Italiano

Last night we had dinner for twelve at the N3 kitchen. It was a tight squeeze, but we love an excuse to put the leaf in the dining room table and break out the extra long linen. In the hustle and bustle of service, it was hard to get images of all the menu items. Everything was served in big bowls and platters, family-style. Here is the full menu along with the cannoli filling recipe.

Antipasto: Prosciutto, salami, sopressa, olives, roasted peppers and pepperoncini, figs, radish, provolone, and mozzarella.

Green Salad with cucumber, red onion, and tomato and a fig balsamic vinaigrette

Polenta

Lamb and Beef Meatballs with Marinara

Italian Sausage with Onions and Peppers

Baked Butternut Squash Parmesan

Roasted Golden Beets

Sauteed Kale, Spinach and Swiss Chard with Garlic and Olive Oil

Cannoli

Filling: Two small containers of skim ricotta; 1 pint heavy cream, whipped; 1/2c. powdered sugar; 1 tbsp. Cointreau; 1/2c. chocolate chips; 3/4c. dried apricots and rind of 2 lemons pulsed in Cuisinart until minced;1tbsp. lemon juice; 1tsp. cinnamon

Fold all ingredients together with a spatula and chill. Fill cannoli shells just before serving and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

5 Spice Baked Tofu and Acorn Squash

The secret to deeply flavored tofu is in the pressing, prior to the marinating. We always get the extra firm style for baking or broiling cutlets like these. After you open the package, rinse the tofu block and then layer between paper towels and two plates. Weight the top plate with a heavy cookbook and let it press for about 20 minutes. After most of the water is expelled, then slice and marinate. Here we used sesame oil, mirin, soy sauce, black pepper, chili oil, and Chinese 5 spice. I marinated in the refrigerator for 2 hours, then baked them off at 450° for 25 minutes or so.

We served the tofu along with slices of steamed and braised acorn squash, rice, and arugula with a sesame, garlic, and rice vinegar dressing.

Tart and Tangy Udon Noodle Salad

This fast and easy udon noodle salad (15 minutes start to finish)is a real party on the lips. While the noodles are cooking chop mizuna greens, tomato, and firm tofu, along with a few sheets of dried nori (I like to use kitchen scissors to cut the nori into strips). When the noodles are finished, drain them and rinse in luke-warm water, shake off most of the water, then toss into the other ingredients. To dress: sesame oil, fig vinegar and rice vinegar (umbeboshi would work too), a few shakes of chili oil, hot sauce, black pepper, and black sesame seeds.Yumbo deluxe.