Sunday, June 20, 2010

Harvesting

Back in my Supercuts days, I was in a board meeting where the CEO was lamenting that franchisees were only interesting in "harvesting". I didn't see a problem with harvesting then and I don't see a problem with harvesting now. I am delighting in enjoying the fruits (or vegetables and herbs as it were) of my labor.


Green leaf lettuce

Tomatoes


Swiss Chard

The basil, oregano, rosemary, thyme and chives are finally happy. Veggies such as the cukes and eggplant have kicked the bucket so I planted seasonal color in their place.

I developed another raw salad this week:

Carrot Mint Slaw

4 carrots, freshly shredded (use bagged if you must)
3-6 sprigs of mint, leaves deflowered and snipped
2 or more ounces of feta cheese, crumbled
Lemon Honey Dressing

If serving in a bowl, stir ingredients together. If serving on a plate, layer ingredients then drizzle the dressing over the top. You can substitute the mint for italian parsley.


Lemon Honey Dressing

Juice 1 lemon and add honey measured to 1/2 of the amount of juice. Sprinkle with salt. Mix until honey melds with the lemon juice. Add almond (or other) oil about twice the amount of juice. Whisk until ingredients combine and slightly thicken. (If this is too stressful, go with 1/4 cup juice, 2 tablespoons of honey, 1/2 cup almond oil and 1/4 teaspoon of salt).

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

The Peach Misadventure

Having quite a few peaches ripening in a bowl on the counter, I was open to making them into a dessert. I scourged the net for a recipe. I found all kinds of tarts, pies, crisps, cobblers and such. Watching the new Cooking Channel's French Food At Home, I came across something I thought I could adapt. It was the recipe for Easy Pastry Shop Apple Tart. Don't ask how I got to a crustless Peach Ricotta Pie from there but one must give credit where it is due.









Now the original recipe called for things like butter, sugar, cream cheese and flour. These are things that I do not customarily consume for dessert. So I tinkered with it a little...and then a lot.

The first mishap was the crust. I tried replacing the flour with almond flour. The crust was a bubbly buttery goop. So I scraped in back into the bowl and added some flour. Next, I pressed it into a tart pan and baked again. It was a little to brown to weather another 40 min in the oven, so I put it down the sink.

Since I had made the "cream" filling, I decided to go crustless! Having switched out the cream cheese for blended ricotta (lower calories, more protein), I confidently poured my filling into a pie plate and added my peach mixture.

Did I mention I took the 1 and 1/3 cups of sugar and reduced it down to 6 tablespoons of xylitol?

The smell of peaches, vanilla and dairy gave me a sense of delight when I pulled out my improved concoction out of the oven. I let it cool...it was when slicing for servings that I knew my gig was up. A bit of liquid had separated into the bottom and the cheese and peaches did not hold together, pie-like. Frankly, it looked like I added peaches to scrambled eggs. Ordinarily, I might hide it under a heaping serving of whipped cream but we don't eat that either...and I'm currently out of a white frozen dessert made with coconut milk and agave nectar.

So I got busy in the kitchen because I saw this:









I would have been happy with something like this:











As you can see, things looked promising going in:








And, coming out:









Here's when I knew I was defeated:








So after wasted hours and wasted products (that almond flour and organic butter ain't cheap), I will serve my dessert because I have a sweetheart husband that eats anything I give him. However, I will use a trick from those French claufouti cooks...douse it in Amaretto.

Saturday, June 12, 2010

To Cook Or Not To Cook

With Vegas temperatures hitting the 100s recently, we crave foods that are cool and no cook. Here's a sample of some of the dishes I've served lately.


This Cabbage Carrot Salad contains shredded red cabbage, shredded carrots, chopped roasted almonds, sliced green onion, minced parsley and raisins. I made a vinaigrette of olive oil, lime juice, sherry vinegar and garlic with salt and pepper.


Simply chopped, ripened Peaches. Leftovers served over cottage cheese with nuts.

Chopped strawberries and avocado are delicious atop greens ( romaine and arugula here) along with roasted pecans. Cracked black pepper and a drizzle of almond oil and balsamic vinegar are all that is needed. Goat cheese would be a nice addition to a Strawberry Avocado Salad.


Potato salad updated...hariots verts are added to traditional ingredients of yukon potatoes, shallots and hard boiled eggs. Dressed with olive oil, mayonnaise, dijon, whole grain mustard and salt with pepper to make Potato Green Bean Salad.


Taking a cue from the Spaniards...roasted bell peppers, olive oil and sea salt served room temp. If you want to get fancy, add capers and some chippings of Manchego, Parmesan or Romano cheese. If you want to get more rustic, leave peppers mostly in tack after roasting and cleaning.