Sometimes you don’t need a recipe, you need an idea.

Take this amazing tomato avocado ricotta toast for example. You don’t need a recipe, but you do need top notch ingredients.

Start with the best multi-grain bread you can buy.

Brush a slice or two with olive oil (all the better if your oil is garlic-infused*).

Toast the bread for a few minutes, just until the edge of the bread is starting to crisp, but the center is still a little soft.

Spread the barely toasted bread with a generous tablespoon (or two) of fresh ricotta — local is best and I’m blessed with Gina’s Homemade.

Top with a few thin slices of a ripe, juicy, heirloom tomato.

Lay slices of a ripe avocado on top of the tomato.

Sprinkle with flaky sea salt, like Maldon. Grind some fresh black pepper on top of that.

If you are so inclined, throw a few dashes of hot sauce on for good measure. I’m partial to Louisiana’s mild, tangy Crystal Hot Sauce in this application.

Take a bite, but first you might want to sit down. Your knees could go wobbly. It’s that good.

Epilog: I feel compelled to tell you that my friend George thinks a few crumbles of crisp, applewood smoked bacon would improve this near-perfect toast. I don’t doubt that, but I really love it just the way it is.

*This is how I infuse olive oil with garlic: Mince a medium (or large) size clove of peeled garlic. Place it in a small saucepan. Pour in 1/4 cup of good olive oil. Heat on low until warm, about 2 minutes. Turn off the heat and let cool to room temperature. Pour it into a small container. Cover and refrigerate. Stir before using (the garlic settles on the bottom). Use it to brush on bread before toasting, or use a teaspoon or so for sautéing. I make it about once a week, keep it in the fridge and use it all week long.

Tags: easy appetizer, Gina's Homemade, ricotta, snack, toast, tomato avocado toast, vegetarian
Posted in Appetizers, Recipes, Vegetarian | No Comments »

Perhaps mousse is a misnomer, but it certainly sounds sexier than trout spread.

There was a time (like now) that I didn’t really care for fish. I eat it because I know it’s good for me, but my preference is steak. Or vegetables. Or pretty much anything other than fish.

Fortunately, this delicious smoked trout mousse doesn’t make me think I’m eating fish.

It has lots of other flavors that I love: garlic, onion, lemon, dill, and smoke.

The first thing you do is simmer some aromatics (in this case I’m using black peppercorns, celery, scallions and lemon) in water. This is called a court bouillon.

While the trout gently poaches in its fragrant bath, beat cream cheese in a stand mixer for about 5 minutes. You want to loosen up the cream cheese and make it fluffy.

And then you can beat in the other aromatics you’ve been chopping while the fish poaches and the cream cheese is beating (I love multi-tasking), namely garlic, red onion, dill and chives.

And a little liquid smoke.

That’s my favorite part. I love liquid smoke but a little goes a long way, so don’t measure the teaspoon the recipe calls for over the cream cheese mixture, in case you over pour. I’ve done that and it’s not pretty. Or tasty.

After the fish poaches (it will take about 10 minutes), remove it from the court bouillon and let it cool.

After it’s cool, remove the skin and break the trout into small chunks.

Add it to the cream cheese mixture and mix on low for about a minute. You don’t want to “cream” the fish. You could just mix by hand at this point but 1 minute in the mixer isn’t going to hurt anything.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t think the mixture in the bowl above looks all that appetizing, but dang it, it tastes fabulous, and you will forget that you are even eating fish.

Fortunately, they make these darling crocks (I found mine at Fry’s but I’ve seen them at The Container Store, too) and a crock full of smoked trout mousse is just what you should take to your next party.

Whether you call it smoked trout mousse or smoked trout spread, this appetizer is a keeper.

Smoked Trout Mousse

[print recipe]

(adapted from my own cookbook, The Great Ranch Cookbook — yes, I can do that. You can adapt it, too, if you’d like.)

Makes about 4 cups, enough to fill two, 2-cup crocks*

Ingredients:
For the court bouillon:
8 cups water
1 lemon, cut in half
2 ribs of celery, thinly sliced
4 scallions (white and green parts), thinly sliced
2 teaspoons whole black peppercorns
For the mousse:
6 trout fillets (about 2 pounds)
1 pound cream cheese, softened to room temperature
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon liquid smoke
2 tablespoons fresh chopped dill
2 tablespoons fresh chopped chives
2 tablespoons finely chopped (almost minced) red onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Method:

Place the water in a large stockpot over medium-high heat. Squeeze all the juice from the lemon halves into the water and toss the spent halves in, too. Add the celery, scallions and whole black peppercorns. When the liquid comes to a boil, turn the heat to low. Add the trout fillets, skin-side up. Gently poach (the water should not be bubbling) the trout until just done, about 8 to 12 minutes depending upon the thickness of the trout. Remove fillets and let cool.

While the fish is poaching, beat the cream cheese with the paddle attachment of a stand mixer. Beat for 5 minutes. The cream cheese will be light and fluffy. Add the rest of the ingredients (except the fish) and beat another minute or two. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat again until all the ingredients are blended evenly into the cream cheese.

When the fish is cool, remove the skin and discard. Break the flesh into chunks and add to the cream cheese mixture. Beat on low speed for just a minute or so, long enough to incorporate the fish.

Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary. You may want to add more lemon, or salt and pepper.

Refrigerate, covered for at least 30 minutes. Keeps four to five days, if covered in the refrigerator.

Serve with crackers or toasted baguette slices.

* If you cut the recipe in half, do not cut the court bouillon ingredients in half. You need that amount of water and aromatics whether you are poaching 3 fillets or 6.

Tags: fish, Great Ranch Cookbook, trout mousse, trout mousse appetizer, trout spread
Posted in Appetizers, Fish & Seafood, Recipes | 1 Comment »

Jaclyn Douma did something lots of people dream of doing but never do: she published a cookbook.

It isn’t fancy or filled with page-after-page of glorious food close-ups (although there is a small section at the beginning with 28 professional photos of some of the dishes).

Instead, the book is filled with simple, easy to read and understand recipes. These aren’t the kind of dishes I would cook, but darn if I’m not smitten with this book and the way Douma put it together.

Our First Year is a compilation of recipes (84 in all) Douma developed during her first year of marriage. She figured there were other newlyweds who didn’t know where to begin in the kitchen, so she drew them a map from here to there, beginning with a pantry list and section called “Bits of Advice.”

She put together 13 party ideas and gives tips on how to execute them. There’s a section on menus, too, so the new bride knows how to put a meal together, and just in case there’s a question about an ingredient or cooking technique, she penned a basic glossary.

Snuggle Pigs

Makes 40 wieners

Ingredients:
1 (14-oz.) package cocktail wieners/little sausage smokies
1 1/2 cups brown sugar (loosely packed)
10 strips of bacon
Toothpicks

Method:
Preheat oven: 400° F. Place sausages in a bowl so they are easier to handle. Cut uncooked bacon into 4 sections and wrap each wiener with bacon, securing with a toothpick. Place wrapped wieners in a 9″ X 9″ casserole dish and cover with brown sugar. Make sure you cannot see any wieners. Then cover with aluminum foil and bake at 400 ºF for 18 to 20 minutes covered and an additional 15 minutes uncovered or until brown sugar has turned into a liquid.

Just a little Secret

No need to keep these babies warm. Snuggle Pigs are great at room temperature as well.

Jaclyn Douma’s website: a-sugarnspice-life.com and blog: passion2crave.blogspot.com 

Tags: appetizer, cocktail wieners, cookbook, Jaclyn Douma, Our First Year cookbook, recipe
Posted in Appetizers, Book & Product Reviews | 4 Comments »

Editor’s note: Linda Avery returns with a look at Colman Andrews’ new cookbook, The Country Cooking of Italy and an easy recipe for frico (cheese crisps). Interestingly, Gabrielle Hamilton, author of Blood, Bones & Butter, was in Phoenix recently for a book signing  and said “ if we think we have enough Italian cookbooks, we don’t and — and we need his The Country Cooking of Italy.”

The Country Cooking of Italy

by Colman Andrews
photos by Christopher Hirsheimer and Melissa Hamilton

Facts: Chronicle Books, 392 pages, $50.00 (or Amazon at $29.56)
Photos: I counted 60 in the first 150 pages – let’s consider that representative
Recipes: Hundreds – literally
Give To: passionate home cooks, Italian food lovers

When I reviewed Colman Andrews’ The Country Cooking of Ireland in 2009, I wondered how long it him took to put together such a collection. Apparently the answer is about two years. This is a man who grabs the bull by the horns; a man who doesn’t do anything slipshod.

After the success and awards garnered by “Ireland” (his sixth James Beard and the Julia Child/IACP award), he kicked it into high gear and two years later, another voluminous cookbook is introduced: The Country Cooking of Italy. He again partnered with noted photographer Christopher Hirsheimer. (By the way, Andrews and Hirsheimer were two of the co-founders of Saveur Magazine in 1994.)

The book is formatted like the Ireland book. Beautifully photographed recipes are peppered with page-long stories, some historical, some educational, some anecdotal from Andrews’ travels. Although images of recipe dishes abound, lifestyle photos deepen the interest and are testimony to Hirsheimer’s talent.

These aren’t the recipes of fine restaurants but of the casalinga (housewife) or what one would be served at an agriturismo (an Italian farm property offering accommodations and meals).

Most pan-Italy cookbooks forget about the little known regions so I was gratified to see numerous mentions of Le Marche, birthplace of my grandparents and Olive all’Ascolana, the deep-fried olives stuffed with meat particularly famous in Le Marche and served in local bars from Venice to Tuscany.

Go to Amazon and use their “Search Inside This Book” feature to see the index of recipes. Remarkable. In no time you’ll be humming “That’s Amore!”

Frico  (Friulano Cheese Crisps)

© photo by Christopher Hirsheimer and Melissa Hamilton

Makes about 20 fritters; serves 6 to 8

These easy-to-make cheese crisps or fritters are a specialty of Friuli, and are best made with Montasio, a firm cow’s milk cheese from that corner of Italy. there is also a cheese from Valcellina in Friuli’s Pordenone Province, rarely seen today, called frico Balacia, specifically meant to be fried. Some purists insist that the cheese must be fried in lard. (A source for Montasio is Corti Brothers).

Ingredients
1 pound/500 grams Montasio or Asiago, grated
2 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon butter
2 to 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Method
1. Combine the cheese and flour in a large bowl, and mix together well but gently with your hands.

2. Melt the butter in a large frying pan over medium-low heat, and add 2 tablespoons of oil.

3. When the oil-butter mixture is hot, working in batches, use a spoon to form fritters 2 to 3 inches/5 to 7.5 centimeters in diameter, using about 2 tablespoons of the cheese mixture for each fritter and gently tamping down each fritter with a spatula. Make sure the edges of the fritters don’t touch.

4. Cook the fritters, without moving them, until their edges turn golden brown, about 3 minutes.

5. Then, using the spatula, carefully turn them and cook until golden, about 2 minutes longer. As the fritters are ready, drain them on paper towels.

6. Serve the fritters at room temperature.

Tags: cheese crisps, Colman Andrews, cookbook review, frico, Linda Avery, recipe, The Country Cooking of Italy
Posted in Appetizers, Book & Product Reviews | No Comments »

Sometimes you’re just in the mood for potato skins.

This recipe is from my Par Fork! The Golf Resort Cookbook, but I have to warn you, they’re spa potato skins — meaning they’re made with low fat cheddar cheese and low fat sour cream.

There’s nothing wrong with trying to trim a few calories here and there.

There’s also nothing wrong with replacing the low fat ingredients in this recipe with the real stuff, and topping the skins with crumbled bacon.

Either way, it’s an easy recipe that hits the spot when you’re craving potato skins.

Spa (or not) Potato Skins

Serves 4

Ingredients:

2 baking potatoes (about 1-1/4 pounds)
1/4 cup shredded low fat (or not) cheddar cheese
2 tablespoons low fat (or not) sour cream
2 tablespoons thinly sliced green onions (cut on the diagonal)
1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
2 slices thick bacon, fried crisp and crumbled (optional…or not)

Method:

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Prick potatoes with a fork a few times. Bake until almost done, about 40 minutes. Cool potatoes.

2. Slice potatoes lengthwise and scoop out flesh, leaving about 1/4-inch flesh on skins. Reserve potato flesh for another recipe (such as hash browns).

3. Cut each skin in half crosswise, to yield 4 pieces per potato.

4. Reheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet (or spray with nonstick spray). Place skins on baking sheet and bake until crisp and golden brown, about 20 to 25 minutes.

5. Remove skins from oven and top each skin with 1 tablespoon of cheese. Return to oven to melt cheese, about 2 to 3 minutes.

6. Remove from oven and top each skin with 1-1/2 teaspoons sour cream and sprinkle with smoked paprika, green onions and bacon (if using) and serve immediately.

Tags: bacon, Par Fork Cookbook, potato skins, potatoes, recipe, spa potato skins
Posted in Appetizers, Recipes | 16 Comments »

Paired with a glass of sparkling rosé, this elegant appetizer is one of my favorite recipes in my cookbook Par Fork! The Golf Resort Cookbook.

Maybe because it looks like it’s a lot more trouble than it really is.

And the flavors? Wow. Smoky eggplant, creamy goat cheese, fresh herbs and sweet, tangy aged balsamic.

I prefer to salt-soak eggplant to remove its bitterness, especially ones from the grocery store. Older eggplants have larger seeds, which impart a bitter flavor.

It really is a matter of personal preference, though, so you can skip that step if you’ve got a fresh, young eggplant at your disposal.

Of course it tastes fantastic just off the grill, but to save time, you can grill the eggplant a couple hours a head of time. Just leave the grilled eggplant at room temperature until you’re ready to assemble the plates.

If you’re not plating it fresh off the grill, serve it either room temperature, or reheat in a 300 degree oven for 10 minutes before slathering it with the herb goat cheese.

Depending upon the size of your eggplant, you may have more than 6 slices (what you need for this recipe).

Grill them all and you can chopped up any leftovers to use in another salad, or put them on a tomato sandwich.

Grilled Eggplant with Herb Goat Cheese & Mixed Greens

(printable recipe)

Serves 6

Ingredients
Marinated Eggplant
1 small (~ 1 pound) eggplant
1 tablespoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons minced garlic
Freshly ground black pepper

Herbed Goat Cheese
1/4 cup (2 ounces) quality goat cheese
1/4 cup (2 ounces) cream cheese
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh chives
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh thyme leaves

Mixed Greens
1-1/2 cups mixed baby greens
2 tablespoons aged balsamic vinegar* divided
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method
Make the Eggplant
1. Cut both ends off eggplant and discard.  Cut remaining eggplant into 1-inch slices.  Sprinkle both sides with kosher salt and place on a baking sheet in a single layer.  Set aside for 30 minutes. Wipe off the beaded moister with paper towels, but do not rinse. Meanwhile, make the herbed goat cheese by mixing all the ingredients (goat cheese through thyme) together until smooth.  Set aside at room temperature or keep in the refrigerator if making it far in advance.

2. Mix 2 tablespoons of olive oil with 2 teaspoons of minced garlic and brush on both sides of eggplant slices.  Sprinkle with pepper.  Let marinate while grill is heating up.

3. Heat the grill to medium-high (375° to 400°F).  Grill eggplant until soft but not mushy, about 4-5 minutes per side.  Alternatively, broil for 3 to 5 minutes on each side in a preheated broiler, about 3 inches from the heat source.

Make the Mixed Greens & Assembly
1. Toss mixed greens with 2 teaspoons of aged balsamic vinegar and season with salt and pepper.

2. Place a slice of grilled eggplant in the middle of 6 salad plates. Spread a tablespoon of goat cheese mixture on top of each eggplant. (I spoon leftover cheese on the plate, using 2 espresso spoons to shape into a quenelle, a 3-sided football. Here’s a Fine Cooking video link demonstrating the technique with ice cream…after the ad, of course.)

3. Place 1/4 cup of dressed greens on top of each eggplant.  Drizzle remaining balsamic over the top and around the plates.

*If you don’t have a quality, aged balsamic, take 1 cup of whatever balsamic vinegar you do have, and reduce it in a small saucepan over medium-high heat until only 1/2 cup remains.  This will thicken and sweeten it by removing some of the water content. Cool before using.

Tags: appetizer, eggplant, grilled eggplant, salad
Posted in Appetizers, Recipes | 1 Comment »

Towers of food, if done tastefully, are still in style.

Even though this dish is stunning, the best part is the fresh taste, especially if you splurge on the crabmeat and buy only the best. OK, so it takes a little prep time, but the presentation is worth it, and you can make these up to 8 hours in advance, if you leave them in the mold. Otherwise the avocado will start to turn brown.

Blue crab is easy to find along the East Coast and the Gulf of Mexico near Florida, but other lump crabmeat will work in this dish, too, like Dungeness, if you happen to live on the West Coast.

Just promise me you won’t use that canned stuff on the grocery shelf near the canned tuna.  Any specialty grocery store or butcher shop will have access to top quality crab, and I’ve even discovered a quality brand of canned pasteurized crab called Phillips.  It’s sold through some of the large price warehouse clubs, like Costco.

Chilled Blue Crab Tower with Lemon Crème Fraîche

(recipe from my cookbook, Par Fork! The Golf Resort Cookbook)

Serves 4

Ingredients
For the tower
1/2 pound cooked lump crabmeat
1/4 cup olive oil
Zest of 1 lemon
1/4 cup fresh chopped mint
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup (6 ounces) yellow tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1 (7-ounce) avocado, peeled and chopped
1 teaspoon lemon juice
3/4 cup finely chopped sweet onion
1/2 cup spicy sprouts (like radish)
4 molds*

For the garnish
4 slices sourdough bread, 1/2-inch thick
1 tablespoon butter
Freshly ground black pepper
Lemon Crème Fraîche (recipe follows, make at least 1 day in advance)
Zest of another lemon (zest at the last minute)
4 mint springs

Method
1. Mix crabmeat with olive oil, lemon zest, and chopped mint. Season with salt and pepper.

2. Season the chopped tomato with salt and pepper to taste.  Sprinkle the chopped avocado with the lemon juice and gently toss.

3. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or plastic wrap. Spray the molds with nonstick spray and place on the lined sheet.  Layer the ingredients in this order, packing each layer tight with the back of a spoon before adding the next:

2 tablespoons tomato
2 tablespoons crabmeat
2 tablespoons avocado
1 tablespoon sweet onion
2 tablespoons crabmeat
2 tablespoons sprouts

4. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. May be made up to 8 hours in advance.

5. Cut the sourdough slices into decorative shapes with a cookie cutter (I used a small star).  Brush cut bread with melted butter and sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper. Toast until golden brown.  May be prepared 1 day in advance.  Store at room temperature in an airtight container.

6. To serve, place a crab mold in the center of a plate. Carefully remove the mold, running a thin knife blade along the inside of the mold to loosen, if necessary. Place a dollop of Lemon Crème Fraîche next to the tower, or place in a squeeze bottle and zigzag on the plate. Garnish with toasted sourdough, freshly ground black pepper, a pinch of lemon zest, and a sprig of mint.

*I used empty tomato sauce cans (8-ounce size), both ends removed, washed, and dried for this recipe.

Lemon Crème Fraîche

There’s nothing quite like a homemade crème fraîche, though you could fake it with sour cream thinned with a splash of cream. This makes more than you need for the recipe, but you’ll find other uses for it, including topping baked potatoes.

Makes 1-1/2 cups

Ingredients
1 cup heavy cream
3 tablespoons buttermilk
3 lemons

Method
1. Stir cream and buttermilk together in a clean bowl or sanitized jar. Cover bowl or close jar and allow mixture to sit at room temperature until thickened. This could take anywhere from 12 to 24 hours, depending upon how warm you kitchen is.

2. After mixture is thickened, zest 3 lemons and finely chop the zest (save the lemons for another use).  Stir zest into crème fraîche and refrigerate, covered, until chilled.  Store covered in the refrigerator, up to 1 week.

Tags: avocado, crab appetizer, crab tower, creme fraiche, Par Fork Cookbook, yellow tomatoes
Posted in Appetizers, Recipes | 3 Comments »

Some friends and I recently dropped by Elizabeth’s house and as we caught up on who was doing what in the Valley, I nibbled on a bowl of nuts on the counter in her earth-friendly “green” kitchen.

As my second handful of nuts went down, I stopped talking — because something extraordinary was going on in my mouth. Flavors were swirling and I was distracted by the song and dance flitting across my tongue.

You may be wondering who Elizabeth is.

She founded The Scottsdale Culinary Institute in 1989 (and sold it nine years later). I count my lucky stars to have attended the school when it was still under Elizabeth’s watchful eye, with small class sizes and dedicated chef-instructors.

Elizabeth thinks of all SCI graduates as her “kids” even though some of those “kids” weren’t technically kids when they attended her school.

“What did you put in these nuts?” I asked.

“Oh, they’re so easy it’s silly,” she said and waved me off. I begged her to share the flavors because I couldn’t stop eating them.

“Just some brown sugar, red pepper flakes, salt and whatever herbs and spices you feel like,” she said. “And an egg white. That’s it.”

Elizabeth’s herb and spice combination was coriander, fennel and fresh rosemary. I didn’t have fresh rosemary handy, so I substituted the mandarin orange dust I wrote about here.

You can use any herbs or spices you feel like, just keep the brown sugar, red pepper flakes and salt constant.

The amazing thing about these almonds is that there is no added fat. None. Zippo.

So the only fat is what’s in the nuts. One ounce of almonds contains…oh, never mind. It sounds like a really big number for two tablespoons of nuts.

Just know that it’s much, much less than the same amount of macadamia nuts and nut fats are among the healthiest fats. If you must know, go here.

An egg white whisked with the spices is all the binding these nuts need.

The almonds will be all shiny when folded into the spiced egg white.

Spread them in a single layer and roast until the egg white is dry to the touch and the almonds smell toasted.

The nuts lose their shiny coat after roasting. As tempting as the smell may be, wait until they cool to serve them — they taste much better when they have time to cool and crisp up.

Elizabeth says she always has a tin of nuts on the counter, just in case anyone happens to drop by.

Like a car full of former students.

Elizabeth’s Spice Roasted Almonds

Adapted from Elizabeth Leite

Makes 3 cups

Ingredients
3 cups raw almonds
1 egg white
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 teaspoons red pepper flakes*
2 teaspoons crushed fennel seeds (use a mortar and pestle)
2 teaspoons crushed coriander seeds (or ground)
2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh rosemary leaves
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon coarse flake sea salt (or kosher salt)

Method
1. Heat the oven to 300° F. Spread the almonds in a single layer on a lined baking sheet.

2. Roast for 15 minutes. Remove from oven (leave oven on) and cool for 10 minutes.

3. Whisk the egg white until frothy and then whisk in the remaining ingredients (brown sugar through salt).

4. Fold in the cooled nuts and toss until evenly coated.

5. Spread the nuts on the baking sheet and return to oven for 12 to 15 minutes, stirring once halfway through. The nuts are done when the egg white is dry to the touch and the nuts smell toasted.

6. Cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

*I find that 2 teaspoons of red pepper flakes is just enough to give you a noticeable, throat-warming kick. Use less (or more) depending upon your personal heat preference.

Tags: almonds, coriander, fennel seeds, how to roast nuts, mandarin dust, roasted nuts, rosemary, spiced nuts
Posted in Appetizers, Recipes | 9 Comments »

Something about zucchini drives me crazy.

It has nothing to do with the fact that it seems to multiply like crazy.

Put a couple of zucchini in the crisper drawer and the next day, you’ve got twice as many as you started with. Or it seems that way.

That’s not what makes me cuckoo.

What makes me crazy is the taste. Or, more specifically, lack thereof.

The good news about zucchini is that it’s good for you — a little dietary fiber, a healthy dose of Vitamin C and minerals and it even contains Omega 3 fatty acids.

Oh, and it’s supremely low in calories and has almost no fat. Huh, I think I just figured out the taste problem.

How many recipes have you seen that claim “a good way to use up zucchini” and yet the recipe calls for only one, or a cup of grated zucchini, which might be two small ones?

I posed a challenge on twitter the other day, asking someone to come up with a recipe that serves four, but uses 20 zucchini. I got some funny responses and some really good ideas.

@ChefReinvented suggested I eat one and compost 19. She’s funny.

@flourgrrrl told me about a zucchini crumble (yes, a dessert, and she says it tastes similar to apple cobbler.)

@KAHUNA75 suggested zucchini cheesesteaks. Great idea!

@hungrygrrl pointed me to Marcella Hazan, the queen of Italian cooking, which…

made me remember that I have a recipe in my first cookbook, The Great Ranch Cookbook that uses lots of Italian flavors: basil, sun-dried tomatoes and Parmesan — and it uses 6 small zucchinis. If you’re having a big party, triple the recipe and by golly, there’s 18 zukes gone.

The recipe is zucchini rounds stuffed with sun-dried tomatoes and blue cheese.

But hold on there, partner. I’m not crazy about blue cheese, either. Oh, I’ll use it once in a while, but it’s not my favorite cheese. So I changed the recipe up a bit.

The original recipe also calls for roasted red pepper which I happened to have a jar of in the fridge. Unfortunately, it also happened to be a Petri dish — growing several kinds of mold (don’t remember how long it’s been in there, but it apparently got lost behind all the jams and salsas I’ve been reviewing lately for Phoenix Magazine).

No problem. I had just picked up a pint of teensy weensy tomatoes called sweet pea currant tomatoes. They’re no bigger than my fingernail and sweet as candy. You might find them at a farmers market, but if not, just use small grape tomatoes or even cherry tomatoes.

Good friends had brought us a Petaluma cheddar-style goat cheese from Spring Hill Cheese from California (hey, better than a T-shirt) so I swapped that for the blue cheese.

Now, instead of zucchini making me crazy, I’m crazy for zucchini — if it’s holding a wallop of flavor like these little appetizer bites.

What’s your favorite way to use up summer zucchini? Leave a comment and share. I think I still have a few zucchini in the crisper drawer.

Sun-Dried Tomato & Goat Cheese Stuffed Zucchini

Serves 8

Ingredients
6 small (straight) zucchini (about 2 pounds)
1/2 cup marinated sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil, drained
1/2 cup small tomatoes (grape or cherry)*
8 medium basil leaves, torn
1/4 cup grated aged goat cheese (or white cheddar)
3 tablespoons grated Parmesan
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Method
1. Heat the oven to 400°F. Slice the zucchini into 3/4-inch rounds and scoop most of the pulp out with a melon baller (be careful not to go all the way through — you’re making a “bowl” for the stuffing.)

2. Squeeze the drained sun-dried tomatoes in several layers of paper towels to remove most of the oil.

3. Place the sun-dried tomatoes, fresh tomatoes, basil leaves, cheeses and pepper flakes into a food processor. Pulse several times until the mixture is still chunky but the ingredients are mostly blended.

4. Grease (or spray with non-stick spray) a baking sheet. Place the hollowed zucchini rounds on the sheet and fill with about a teaspoon of filling, mounding it up slightly.

5. Bake about 10 to 12 minutes, until the mixture is bubbly and the zucchini is cooked al dente. Remove from the oven and transfer to a platter. Garnish with tiny basil leaves if desired.

* If you use cherry tomatoes, remove the seeds. Cut them in half, and scoop out the seeds, leaving just the shell.

Tags: basil, goat cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, tomato goat cheese stuffed zucchini, zucchini
Posted in Appetizers, Recipes | 9 Comments »

Nothing says summer quite like a vine-ripened, juicy tomato.

Maybe that’s why Away to Garden’s Margaret Roach selected the tomato as the final theme in the four-week Summer Fest 2009.

illustration by Matt Armendariz of Mattbites.com

Ms. Roach created Summer Fest 2009 as a way to “cross-pollinate” blogs. Along with her co-creators, she wrote weekly posts around themes, and invited the whole community to join in. She asked others to leave comments and/or links to other posts about the themes.

I did just that: week one: herbs, week two: fruits from trees, week three: greens & beans, and now, tomatoes.

I also left comments on the co-creators’ blogs and on the other great blogs I found by reading through the comments.

Before I jump into my final Summer Fest post let’s see what the co-creators and special guests of Summer Fest 2009 have dreamed up for you this week.

• Away To Garden: Tomato Junk and other tales of tomato harvest
• Matt Bites: Ten things you can do with tomatoes (including a roasted tomato Bloody Mary)
• Paige Orloff of The Sister Project: Tomato carrot soup with curry
• Simmer Till Done: Upside down tomato basil bread
• Steamy Kitchen: Caprese with basil vinaigrette
• White On Rice Couple: Three tomato jam recipes (sweet and spicy, ginger kissed and balsamic/thyme)

That’s a bountiful basket full of ideas to honor the Grand Dame of summer — the glorious tomato.

Since I did a rather involved recipe for last week’s greens & beans theme, I’ve whipped up something really simple for this week:

Heirloom Tomato & Goat Cheese Napoleon

Although I couldn’t resist giving it a fancy name, it’s nothing more than a fancy tomato sandwich. I’m using heirloom tomatoes, because they taste better than hybrid versions, and they are everywhere right now from farmers markets to local grocery stores.

If you are interested in learning more about heirloom tomatoes, and perhaps even growing some, I recommend The Heirloom Tomato: From Garden to Tableby Amy Goldman, and Seed Savers, a non-profit organization that sells all kinds of heirloom seeds, including some beautiful tomato varieties.

(You can download a PDF of the Holiday Gift Book Round Up article I wrote for Edible Phoenix last year on several garden cookbooks, including The Heirloom Tomato book.)

The Napoleon is traditionally a stacked dessert of puff pastry, pastry cream and strawberries. Even though my version is more of a savory dish, I did work in a hint of sweetness as you’ll see a little later.

Tomatoes are, after all, technically a fruit. You could serve this Napoleon for brunch, but it could easily work at breakfast or dinner, too.

Even though this is a vegetarian Napoleon, you could add crisped bacon or prosciutto slices, or even lump crab or cooked shrimp to make it more substantial.

The only “cooking” involved in this version is baking the puff pastry.

A more ambitious cook than I might tackle making the puff pastry dough from scratch. Made-from-scratch puff pastry dough is far superior to store-bought dough, although that’s what I’ve used here because, like I said, I’m not feeling ambitious. In fact, I’m feeling kind of lazy this summer.

If you want to make fresh puff pastry dough, I highly recommend you visit Ashley Rodriguez’s lovely blog, Not Without Salt.

Here are her two posts on how to make puff pastry. The first post contains the recipe (which was written by a couple chefs I know, Sarah Labensky and Skip Hause. Their book, On Cooking, now in it’s 4th edition, is a professional text book, hence the expensive price tag.)

Ashley’s second post is a pictorial display of the puff pastry technique. With these two posts, you can become a puff pastry king or queen in no time. Well, maybe a little time.

About the sweetness in this Napoleon I referred to earlier: I slathered a bit of Cotton Country Jams spiced tomato jam onto the puff pastry. Cotton Country Jams is a local Phoenix company, and they make the most incredible jams and pickled vegetables. I’m crazy about their candy-sweet pickled beets, too. (Phone number is (602) 268-3181.)

This Napoleon is really nothing more than puff pastry, tomatoes, herbed goat cheese and jam. That’s it. Pretty simple, right?

OK, you’re turn. Leave a comment and tell me about your favorite summer tomato recipe.

Heirloom Tomato & Goat Cheese Napoleon

Serves 6

Ingredients
1 sheet puff pastry, thawed
4 ounces soft, fresh goat cheese
2 tablespoons cream (or half and half)
1 tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon leaves
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil leaves
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons tomato jam (or apricot or other light colored jam)
1-1/2 pounds heirloom or vine-ripened tomatoes, cored and sliced 1/3-inch thick

Method
1. Heat the oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with a Silpat or parchment paper.

2. Unfold puff pastry on a lightly floured surface. Cut along the fold lines into three strips. Place on baking sheet and bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool slightly. Cut in half with a serrated knife, creating a top and bottom.

3. Stir the cream, herbs and pepper into the goat cheese.

4. Spread the goat cheese on the top and bottom of two of the puff pastries. (The third top and bottom will become the middle layer of the other two.)

5. Spread the middle layer with the jam (just 1 side of each, it doesn’t matter if you do the inside or the outside.)

6. Layer 1/4 of the sliced tomatoes on each of the two bottom halves with the goat cheese. Top each with the jam smeared layer. Layer with the remaining tomatoes and place the tops on. Cut into thirds, crosswise, to create six pieces and serve.

Tags: goat cheese, heirloom tomatoes, puff pastry, Summer Fest 2009, tomato jam, tomato napoleon, tomato sandwich, tomatoes
Posted in Appetizers, Recipes | 20 Comments »

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