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Savory Summer Galette

5 Aug

Remember the blueberry and summer peach galette that I made last week? The recipe makes enough dough for 2 tarts, and since the dough is not sweet, it can be used for either (or in my case, both) sweet and savory tarts. When I was making my fruit tart, I stuck the other dough in the freezer for later use.

I used the second dough to make a savory galette, my filling consisting of pretty much whatever ingredients I had on-hand at the time at home. After rolling out my dough, I spread a thin layer of olive tapenade along the bottom. Then I chopped some red and yellow cherry tomatoes from the garden in half and added a touch of salt and pepper.

My next layer was tiny chopped pieces of zucchini, followed by some Parmesan cheese slivers and feta cheese cubes. I piled everything in the middle of my dough and drizzled a touch of olive oil on top for a nice finish.

This is like a pizza pie…but better (well, different…!).

You can use any vegetable or filling idea that you want! Try experimenting with different cheeses i.e. ricotta, a smoky gouda, soft goat cheese, a rich brie…Try caramelizing onions and adding walnuts and lemon zest. Maybe do a fig and honey galette. Or potato, fontina, pancetta, and rosemary. Yes, herbs! Basil, rosemary, oregano, parsley. Crack an egg of the whole thing and bake it up! Oo la la, the possibilities are endless.

Savory Summer (or whatever season it happens to be…) Galette

For the dough:
Use your dough from this recipe

Filling:
(note: measurements are just estimated here…cook with your gut)
-2 tablespoons olive tapenade
2 cups of cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
1 small zucchini, roughly chopped into tiny pieces
salt and pepper
-3 tablespoons Parmesan cheese, shaved or grated
-4 oz. feta cheese, cubed
extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling
-1 egg, lightly beaten

Let the dough warm up at room temperature for 15 minutes or so and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface into a rough circle about 12 inches in diameter and about 1/8 inch thick. Transfer the pastry to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and refrigerate while preparing the filling.

Prep all of your veggies and sprinkle them with salt and pepper. Take the dough out of the refrigerator and spread the middle with the olive tapenade, leaving a 1 1/2 inch border around the circumference of the dough. Pile your tomatoes and zucchini in the center on top of the olive tapenade. Sprinkle the Parmesan cheese and then the feta cheese on top. Drizzle a little olive oil over the filling.

Fold the dough over up over the filling, and brush the rim of the dough lightly with beaten egg.

Bake in the lower part of the oven for 45-50 minutes, until the cheese is lightly browned and the pastry is golden brown and slightly caramelized at the edges. Slide the tart off the pan to cool on a rack. Slice and serve!

Dinner at Home: Simple, Summery, and Seasonal Steak and Salads

31 Jul

After two months of stop and go (but mostly go) traveling, from Europe back to the USA and down to Argentina and back, I admit, it’s nice to be home. It is nice to be home and see my family and eat dinner outside in the backyard on a warm summer evening.


The menu? Simple, summery, and seasonal:

-Mom’s steak on the grill
-Grilled fresh tomatoes from the garden with Parmesan cheese
-Leftover crispy oven-baked chopped potatoes
-My tomato, cucumber, and hericot vert salad with feta cheese
-My shaved zucchini salad with Parmesan and pine nuts


For dessert? Blueberry and Summer Peach Galette with Homemade Vanilla Bean Ice Cream: Say it, just say it. I know, I am incredible.


The tomato, cucumber, and hericot vert salad with feta cheese can be made in 10 minutes or less. The salad was inspired by my stay in Paris with my good friend Alex. The salad requires no dressing; I like to emphasize the sweet flavor of the produce and the salty cheese. The salad is perfect for summer.

And yes, I used canned green beans, but hey, they’re French-style! I quite like how soft and thin the green beans are. So sue me. They taste great, even if they are from a can.



Tomato, Cucumber, and Hericot Vert Salad with Feta Cheese

serves 4, more or less

Ingredients
3 tomatoes, preferably from the garden
2 Persian cucumbers
1 can of French-style green beans or hericot vert
1/2 block of Feta cheese, cut into cubes or crumbled

Directions
1. Slice the tomatoes into wedges and put them into a salad bowl.
2. Slice the cucumbers in half the long way and again in half along the equator. Very thinly slice the cucumbers into a julienne. Put into the salad bowl.
3. Open the can of hericot vert and drain. Add to the salad bowl.
4. Toss the cubed or crumbled cheese into the salad.
5. Eat and enjoy.

The shaved zucchini salad is another lovely and light treat that epitomizes summer elegance and simplicity. No cooking necessary. I absolutely love all of the textures and flavors going on–long, thin zucchini ribbons contrasted with tiny crunchy nuts, delicate slivers of cheese, and a salty tangy dressing.

 

Shaved Zucchini Salad with Parmesan and Pine Nuts
From
Bon Appetit Magazine August 2010

Ingredients

Dressing:
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon course kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper

Salad:
2 pounds of medium zucchini, trimmed
1/2 cup coarsely chopped fresh basil
1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted
Small wedge of Parmesan cheese

**RECIPE NOTE: I did not have fresh basil on hand (I know, shame on me) so I just omitted it. I also added some fresh sliced avocado because, well, I love avocados and why not?!

Directions

Whisk oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and pepper flakes in a small bowl to blend. Set dressing aside.

Using vegetable peeler or V-slicer and working from top to bottom of each zucchini, slice zucchini into ribbons (about 1/16 inch thick). Place ribbons in a large bowl. Add basil and nuts (and avocado if you are like me). Drizzle the dressing on and in the salad. Using the vegetable peeler, shave strips from the Parmesan wedge over the salad.

French Home Cooking in the Suburbs of Paris

10 Jul

I feel lucky. I feel very lucky. I feel very lucky to have just spent the last week in the suburbs of Paris, France with a lovely French family. A lovely French family who gave me a bed to sleep in at night, a clean shower, and home-cooked meals. Let’s just say that I have eaten well this past week, eaten well with great company (and don’t forget about the wine!!).

Let us start from the beginning, shall we? I have a friend, her name is Alex (pictured below on the right). Alex is from France.


Alex and I worked/lived together last summer (2009). We worked together in Berkeley, California at a cooking camp for children.

This summer (2010) I went on a 3-week Euro-trip where I spend my last week with Alex and her family in Paris, France. Actually, they live right outside Paris in a town called Vincenne. Just before I arrived, Alex was at her family’s country home where she picked fruits and made jams with them: rhubarb, cassis (black currant), groseille (red currants), apricot, apple, raspberry…

Groseille (red currant) jam

Apparently Alex and her family have NEVER had to buy jam before. They always make it in abundance with the summer fruits from their country home. And every morning they eat their jam on a toasted baguette. What a life, eh?

Rhubarb jam 

Speaking of rhubarb, check out this piece of rhubarb:


It is huge! And green! Totally different than the rhubarb that I am familiar with back in the states. I have made rhubarb jam before, it was red. Their jam is green. “C’est la vie.”


Pictured below is Alex’s mom, Catherine. She is making rhubarb jam and she is literally the queen of her kitchen, my taste buds can attest to that:


Alex recently celebrated her 22nd birthday. Bon anniversaire! (that means “happy birthday” in French). Of course we had to celebrate with good food and good drinks. We had a multi-course meal with a bottle or two of wine for each course!

This multi-course meal, however, was as simple as can be. It all started with fresh scallops. During the winter months, Alex’s family buys fresh scallops, shucks them, and freezes them. Her mom defrosted these scallops over-night in milk so that they would not dry out or smell. A sprinkle of oil in a hot pan with a dash of fresh garlic, sauteed two minutes on each side and these babies are done! Accompanied with a fresh baby spinach salad, I found such joy in the hot/cold, soft/crunchy balance of foods. Mmm summer!


Next, we had a little somethin’ called “tarte tatin,” which is sort of like an upside-down tart. Typically, you see a tarte tatin for dessert, made with fruits such as apples. But Catherine prepared a savory tarte tatin with a confit of ratatouille-style vegetables, topped with slivers of fresh Parmesan cheese.


And with every great meal there is always fresh baguette…


Now lets talk dessert. I sat with Catherine as we picked through a big bucket of fresh red currants, separating stem from fruit.


We were adding these currants to a fresh fruit crumble. Rhubarb and red currant crumble. No sugar was added to the fruit. I couldn’t believe it. Seriously? Yes, why add sugar when you can just taste how good the fruits are as is?


Topped with a pastry crust: 200 grams each of flour, ground almonds, sugar, and butter.


Pat it down and Voilà! We added a little special touch to the crumble by making the number “22” out of the pastry.


And after it baked, the currants just exploded over the pastry top and all that was left was this special “22.” Yum-o! I love the tart fruit mixed with the sweet pastry crust. Really just so simple and not too much sugar.


Now, last year when Alex came to Berkeley, she made this cake that I have since dreamed about all year long. This cake is of the chocolate variety. It is called Fondant au Chocolat and is the best darn chocolate cake I have ever tasted. It only works if you use very good chocolate. There is only about 2 tablespoons of flour in the whole cake. So easy to whip up and so quick to bake. The key is timing and temperature of the oven. Oh how I adore this cake.


Alex’s mom probably could have prepared the cake with a blind-fold on and one hand tied behind her back. It was like a little dance watching her bake with such easy and joy.


Let us meet dad now, yes? Everyone, meet Emmanuel. The wine connoisseur, the grill master, the cheese aficionado, the jokester. This man knows everything and more about French wine. We even tasted a very special red wine that is supposed to be eaten ONLY with really good chocolate (yes, we drank this wine with our fondant au chocolat). Below, Emmanuel grills pork and lamb on the rooftop of their flat.


What a beautiful summer evening, the perfect night for another perfect meal…


Roasted potatoes, perfectly browned…



Special French salt called “fleur de sel.” It’s great for sprinkling as a final touch to any dish…


On my last night in France, Alex hosted a barbecue for friends. On the menu was a simple tabouleh salad: cucumbers, tomatoes, couscous, lemon juice, olive oil. There was also a salad with fresh sliced tomatoes, hericot vert (French green beans), and feta cheese.

Prepping the tabouleh
Tabouleh Salad
Hericot vert, tomato, and feta cheese salad

Alex made a lovely fruity rum cocktail with fresh orange slices and vanilla beans:


And then the meat…chicken and ribs. Dude.

Poulet (chicken)
Alex at the grill
Meeeeeaaaaaat!


Wow, what a week. I really admire Alex’s family for not having “snack” foods around. Not even cereal or oats or crackers. Everything was fresh. Lots of yogurts, fruits, cheeses, and everyday more baguettes appear. After every meal, I would “cleanse” my palate with strong French cheeses. I miss those cheeses already!

Until next time, Paris!

Buttermilk Avocado Pound Cake

28 Mar

I dropped the cake. I dropped my Buttermilk Avocado Pound Cake midway through it’s baking cycle. I dropped the cake all over the oven, in the oven.

And here was my attempt to salvage the cake:


Sort of looks like a cheesy baked…something or other.


But alas, it is cake, not cheese. Sweet, not savory. Despite my clumsiness, the parts that I managed to salvage actually tasted quite, well, tasty. I had a grand time picking off all the browned spots (my favorite)! At least I had another loaf pan of cake that I did not drop. Phew.

My clumsiness was like “heyday” for the dogs. The following series of photographs chronicles Penny the dog’s happiness/determination regarding my dropping the cake/her trying to help me clean up the delicious green gooey mess (NOTE: I cleaned up the mess hours before I took these photographs; apparently Penny could still taste the yumminess).


“What? I’m just casually lingering by the oven, looking all innocent”

“mmmm, oh yah, this is good”“I’ve got to get into every crevice, who knows where some extra cake goup may be hiding”
“Searching, searching…”

“Got it!”

“This is my last lick, I swear”

“Ok really, I’m almost done. Lickity Split”

Finnegan the dog usually enjoys a steady diet of dirty, sweaty socks and tomato plants + their fertilized soil, but whenever I come visit, he is also thrilled to lick up my baking accidents.

So yes, cake. Buttermilk Avocado Pound Cake. Different. Strange. Wonderfully moist and one of the best cakes that I have eaten/made in a while. Plus, it’s green!

Ever since I saw this cake posted on Joy’s blog, I knew I needed to make it. The combination of buttermilk and avocado is utter bliss. Joy notes how the avocado taste is “subtle but distinct with a nice sweetness and a hint of crunch from cornmeal.” A home run, indeed, Joy.

Want to get fancy? Try pairing the cake with creme fraiche ice cream and candied kumquats. Oh, or an olive oil whipped cream! But really, this cake is perfect on its own. Really, perfect.

Just try not to drop it like I did.

Buttermilk Avocado Pound Cake

recipe from www.joythebaker.com

makes 2 9x4x3-inch loaves

3 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup yellow cornmeal

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

3 cups sugar

4 large eggs

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract (I used my own homemade extract!)

3/4 cup buttermilk

flesh of 1 1/2 ripe avocados, just over a cup of avocado, mashed

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two loaf pans and set aside.

In a medium sized bowl, sift together flour, cornmeal, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Set aside. Set the four eggs out on the counter to come to room temperature while you beat the butter and sugar.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter on medium speed until softened and pliable. Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add the avocado and beat another minute to incorporate. Scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure that everything is thoroughly mixed.

Add the eggs one at a time, beating 1 minute after the addition of each egg. Beat in vanilla extract.

Reduce the mixer speed to low and add half of the flour mixture, all of the buttermilk, and then the rest of the flour mixture. Beat just until combined.

Divide the dough between the two loaf pans and place in the oven. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean (Here is where I messed up. I wanted to rotate my cakes halfway through baking, and plop, I missed a beat and it fell EVERYWHERE. Go Steph). Check the cakes every ten minutes or so after the 30 minute mark. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then invert onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

IMG_1763

New picture: June 2015

Avocado pound cake with plain yogurt and homemade apple sauce

>Soup’s On: Easy Carrot Soup with a Dill n’ Yogurt Swirl

25 Mar

>
Fun Fact: Cooked carrots supposedly provide more nutrients than raw carrots (credit: Natasha).

A few weekends ago, I was dining at Pizzaiolo Restaurant in Oakland and ordered a carrot soup. My goodness, this was the most perfect way to start my meal. This utterly irresistible bowl of soup arrived at the table and my only job was to eat, savor, enjoy. And that I did.

The soup had a tangy tone that took it to the next level. I later discovered the secret gem that made the soup so “tangy:” lemongrass. Oh, and the soup had this dilled yogurt sauce swirled into it, which provided a beautiful medley of color and flavor.

I’ve been dreaming about this soup ever since, and as I was flipping through Cooking Light Magazine the other day, I saw a recipe for a simple carrot soup that I just had to make. This soup is not only satisfying but is also very low in calories and fat (yay).

By the way, if you have not already seen this, you should check out thisiswhyyourefat! Delicious and totally gross.

Cooking Light’s recipe uses a touch of sesame oil which “lends depth to this velvety soup”. Joining the carrots are shallots and ginger, giving the soup a nice sweet and spicy punch.


The magazine pairs this soup as a part of an Easter brunch menu: carrot soup, Parmesan thyme rolls, champagne cocktails, asparagus and spring greens salad with Gorgonzola vinaigrette, and deviled eggs with smoked salmon.

I used dill instead of mint as my herb garnish, but any fresh herb should go nicely. I also chose to top my soup with some cubed avocado.


Carrot Soup with a Yogurt Swirl

Yield: (supposedly) 8 servings (serving size: 1/2 cup soup, 1 tablespoon yogurt, and 1 mint sprig)

***NOTE: This soup barely served 4 in my house

Ingredients

  • 2 teaspoons dark sesame oil
  • 1/3 cup sliced shallots (about 1 large)
  • 1 pound (baby) carrots, peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces
  • 2 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
  • 1 teaspoon grated peeled fresh ginger
  • 1/2 cup 2% Greek-style plain yogurt
  • 8 fresh mint sprigs

Preparation

1. Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add shallots to pan; cook 2 minutes or until almost tender, stirring occasionally. Add carrots; cook 4 minutes. Add broth; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 22 minutes or until tender. Add ginger; cook 8 minutes or until carrots are very tender. **NOTE: I had to add a LOT more broth than the recipe calls for. Cover and let stand 5 minutes at room temperature.

2. Pour half of carrot mixture in a blender. Remove center piece of blender lid (to allow steam to escape); secure blender lid on blender. Place a clean towel over opening in blender lid (to avoid splatters). Blend until smooth. Pour into a large bowl. Repeat procedure with remaining carrot mixture. Return pureed soup to pan; heat over medium heat 2 minutes or until heated.

3. Spoon soup into small bowls, and top with plain yogurt and fresh mint sprigs.

Nutritional Information

Calories: 47
Fat: 1.6g (sat 0.4g,mono 0.5g,poly 0.5g)
Protein: 2.2g
Carbohydrate: 6.5g
Fiber: 1.7g
Cholesterol: 1mg
Iron: 0.6mg
Sodium: 163mg
Calcium: 36mg