Honeymoon!

I'm on my honeymoon! Please forgive the lack of posts while I'm away. Jamie and I got to Delhi yesterday afternoon. It's such an incredible place, unlike anything I've ever seen. Sensory overload! The food has been amazing and I will be attempting to recreate it when we get back. So far the favorite was koothu parotta- a sort of fried rice type dish with torn up parathas (sort of like a large scallion pancake/a thicker roti) and onions, egg, tomatoes, and peppers, accompanied by some mint-coconut chutney. Yum!!

I'll try to post more, but no promises.






- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:India

Chicken Liver Pâté

Chicken liver pâté sounds kind of fancy and scary, but it's actually super cheap and pretty simple to make. There are  very easy versions, like this, and this one is slightly more complicated. It has a wonderful flavor and texture and is a real treat. Don't eat this every day or you'll get gout. But for special occasions, definitely whip some up to share with friends - as long as those friends like chicken liver pâté. (It is an acquired taste.) I got the recipe from MarthaStewart.com and it's great.

See, $2.19 for more than enough chicken livers.

Ingredients:

15 tablespoons (1 7/8 sticks) unsalted butter

3/4 pound chicken livers, rinsed and drained

Bacon Caramel Popcorn with cashews, almonds, and chipotle

Yum! This stuff is like crack. I made it the other day and decided it would be a great Christmas present for a few lucky friends. Now that I have given them away, I can post about it! This is such a treat for a movie night, or for putting in a pretty Ball jar and giving as a present. The salt, chipotle, bacon, and caramel go together amazingly well, and you might find yourself mining for the caramelized bacon - it's unreal. If you don't have tea, you can skip that step. (Also, this recipe is from here.) I think this would also be amazing on vanilla ice cream. I may have to test it out with the last jar (I can't bring myself to part with it.)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup popcorn kernels

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

¾ lb thick bacon, chopped

1/4 cup unsalted raw cashews

¼ cup almonds

1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt or coarse sea salt

1/4 teaspoon chipotle pepper

1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

1 Rooibos tea bag

Nonstick vegetable oil spray

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/4 cup water

2 tablespoons light corn syrup

Directions:

Preheat oven to 300°F. Heat popcorn and oil in covered heavy large pot over medium-high heat until kernels begin to pop. Shake pot until popping stops and pour the popcorn into very large bowl. 

Sunday Night Roast Chicken with Root Vegetables

Yesterday was a rainy Sunday and I was just really in the mood for a nice roast chicken. Roasting a chicken on top of root vegetables is always an easy 1-pot dinner, and I had some extra time, so I brined the chicken, too. (You don't need to brine a chicken if you buy a kosher chicken.) I think it added some flavor and made it juicier. This is a really nice Sunday dinner, hearty and with good flavors. Feel free to change the root veggies and do carrots or potatoes or butternut squash - whatever you like.

Ingredients:
1 4 lb chicken

Brine:
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup salt
4 garlic cloves, crushed
tbsp black pepper corns
water

Quick Cioppino

After a long weekend of staying up late and eating junk food (fried chicken from the Dutch on Sunday morning with Alice), I thought Jamie and I needed some soup. I saw this recipe for a quick cioppino on Epicurious and it looked perfect - I altered it slightly with adding in some clams and letting the wine cook down a little bit. It's pretty healthy and has a really hearty, stew flavor from the red wine. It's great as a winter meal with some toasted sour dough bread and you get so many nice, chunks of seafood. And I got to use my beautiful, new Le Creuset pot, so I was a happy little housewife.

Ingredients:

1 fennel bulb, halved and sliced

1 medium onion, halved and sliced

3 garlic cloves, minced

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 bay leaves 

1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme

Fried Turkey

First off, I'm the worst. I know. Sorry it's been so long!

Onto the fried turkey... Jamie and I fried a turkey over Thanksgiving and it was awesome. It is so speedy, and the skin is crispy and delicious. The internal brine gives the turkey meat an extra zip. I highly recommend it! The only issue is the oil. We strained it and put it back in the giant Costco canister and I hear we can use it two more times so we're planning a winter frying party, but after that I'm not sure. I read online someone gave theirs to someone who uses bio diesel in their car? I don't know. We were lucky and had a beautiful, warm Thanksgiving day, and everyone kept coming outside to see this miraculous contraption - and smell the amazingness that is a turkey frying in a vat of peanut oil.

I mostly used this recipe from the New York Times, but tried Alton Brown's method of dipping the turkey in at 250 to avoid splatter. I think if your turkey is dry enough, this is unnecessary. It takes the oil a long time to heat back up. Just make sure your bird is super dry!

Ingredients:
1 12 pound turkey
5 gallons of peanut oil

Easy Veal Chop

I couldn't resist buying this beautiful, big, meaty veal chop when I went into Faicco's on Sunday. I have a fool proof way to cook it, too. The veal was tender and juicy and the sauce nice and earthy with a drizzle of truffle oil. (Sounds fancy, really isn't.)

Serves two
Ingredients:
1 big t-bone veal chop, bone in (mine was about 1 1/2 inches thick)
salt and pepper
1 1/2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
truffle oil for drizzling

Almost Thanksgiving

Hi! Sorry for the lack of posts! I have one or two little ones to add today, then I promise at least one amazing one after Thanksgiving. (We're attempting our first ever deep fried Turkey!) I bought this guy from Home Depot and have been googling and researching all the best recipes. I think I'm going to try the New York Times recipe - it just sounds amazing. From all the reviews I've come across, Fried Turkey seems to beat regular roasted turkey hands down. My mom does make a wonderful roasted turkey - and is still making one this year - so we'll have to see!

I just hope I don't burn the house down. Have you googled fried turkey disasters? Eeeek.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Home Made Chile Powder

This sounds a little daunting, but is extremely simple. If you play around with what chiles you like, you can also customize it. I just kind of made it up, but I took 2 dried guajillo chiles, 2 dried chipotle mora chiles, and two chiles de arbol. (When I see dried chiles I just buy a bunch and keep them in the cabinet for impromptu recipes like this or chile-infused olive oil for black bean dip etc.) Head up a cast iron skillet to medium high. Split the chiles and take out all the seeds and veins. Two at a time, toast the chiles in the hot skillet, pressing down on them with tongs, until they start to blister a little (1-2 minutes). Put all of the toasted peppers in a food processor and blend until you have a powder. A couple bigger pieces are okay. Then use for chile, marinades, salsas... whatever you want!

Braised Short Ribs in Adobo for two

Yum! These short ribs are easy and great, and perfect for some extra special tacos. The recipe is from Truly Mexican (the wonderful Mexican cookbook that Jamie got me for Christmas last year). You don't have to brown the short ribs, so it's basically tossing all of the ingredients in a pot and sticking it in the oven for 2.5 hours. The resulting sauce is rich and has a deep heat, but isn't too spicy, and the meat is tender and falling apart. I shredded it up with the adobo and put it on a soft taco with minced red onion and jalapeno with a little crema on top. We had no leftovers.

And I got to use my adorable heart pot! Thanks, Kara!! It's so perfect for making dinner for two, and makes whatever you're making seem a little special and romantic.

Serves 2 (I reduced it)
Ingredients:
1 dried guajillo chile, wiped clean, stemmed, slit open, seeded, and deveined
1-2 lb bone-in beef short ribs

Apple Sauce

Right before Sandy struck, I pulled out the trusty food mill and decided to make some apple sauce. It just seemed good for stormy weather. I went to Gristedes, which was hopping and didn't have any carts or baskets, and piled lots of apples in my arms hoping they wouldn't tumble before I could check out. The apple sauce was so tasty, and the food mill makes it velvety and smooth. It's also really simple. It took about half an hour and it was way better than store bought. I went off the Cook's Illustrated basic apple sauce recipe; fool proof, really. Leaving the skin on while you cook gives it a lot more flavor.

Halloween

Jamie's, mine, Maria's, Bryce's

I have always loved Halloween. I used to start planning my costumes in the summer and give my mom detailed designs of the various outfits she had to sew for me in time for the parties and trick-or-treating. Lots of trips to the fabric store and arguing over hem length. Aside from dressing up (and meeting my loving husband), one of my favorite things about Halloween is pumpkin carving. We had our friends Bryce and Maria over to carve pumpkins last night. It was so fun! And they all turned out to be so different. I highly recommend you all have a little pumpkin carving get together this weekend!

Also, Halloween is now even more amazingly special because on Halloween three years ago (October 31, 2009) I met Jamie. Now I don't only get to dress up and carve pumpkins, but I get to do it all with my Jameball. I love you!!

Maison du Macaron

I know everyone is into La Durée, but if you live downtown, there's an amazing macaron spot on 23rd - La Maison du Macaron. They have a great selection or colors and flavors and they look so beautiful. I got a box of the prettiest colors/tastiest-sounding flavors to bring to my sister-in-law's house last weekend, but we accidentally left them at home. Luckily for us, that meant we got to eat them. They're not that cheap ($20 for a box of 8) but they are rich and flavorful and decadent, and I think the perfect hostess present. (Anyone coming over to our apartment, I would be psyched to get a box of these : ) ) The salted caramel is amaaazing, and the port wine and pear (the pretty purple one with the gold leaf) was a close second. Yum!

Minestrone

On a cold fall day, what beats a big bowl of minestrone? I'm not talking Progresso. Homemade minestrone is hard to mess up, and sooo tasty and warm, and healthy! This make A LOT so feel free to cut back. (Probably enough for 8 people.) Cooking it with an old Pecorino rind gives the broth an amazing flavor, and topping it with a fresh dab of pesto gives it a little zip. I also like to grate a little Pecorino on top. I'm having two friends over tonight to help me with the leftovers. Mm mm mmm.

Ingredients:
1 qt chicken broth
2 tbsp olive oil
3 pieces turkey bacon (you can use pancetta, too), diced
1 large yellow onion, diced
1 large leek, rinsed and thinly sliced
2 large carrots, peeled and diced
2 large celery stalks, diced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
2 small zucchini, diced
1 28 oz can whole tomatoes and their juice
2 bay leaves
1 tbsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

Lara's Chocolate Mousse

My sweet friends gave me a cook book at my wedding shower and everyone put in a recipe. For my first one, I tried Lara's chocolate mousse. She had told me about it before and it sounded delicious, and also easy. It was fabulous! Thank you for the recipe, Lara! It's so easy and so rich and chocolatey. I only wish I could find the amazing Belgian Cote D'Or chocolate in the US, but maybe she can bring me some next time she's in Belgium...

Ingredients:
Cote D'Or dark chocolate (or another kind - I used Ghirardelli)
Eggs (one egg per bar)
Milk
Sugar (one small spoon per bar)

Directions:

Bolognese

Another Barbara Lynch recipe here. She said that her secret ingredient was chicken livers and I really wanted to test it out. It's a great, hearty sauce. It's very meaty and not very tomatoey, so different than what I would normally think of for bolognese, but it was so flavorful and rich and a perfect Sunday dinner with a little pasta and some Pecorino.

Ingredients:
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 large celery stalk, finely chopped
1 large carrot, finely chopped
5 oz chicken livers, finely chopped
1/2 cup fresh sage, chopped
salt and pepper
1 1/2 pounds ground meat, 1/2lb each pork, veal, and lamb (or beef if you can't find lamb)
1 1/2 cups dry red wine
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 14.5-oz can chopped tomatoes
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil

Cider-Braised Pork Shoulder with Caramelized Onions

I wanted to use my braiser and saw this recipe on epicurious and thought it sounded perfect for fall! Plus, our friend Rob was coming over and he loves pork, so I wanted to make something pork-related. Since it takes about 3 hours to cook, I had to make it the day before so we could eat at the reasonable hour, which also helped for skimming the fat. It was really juicy and tasty, and I actually liked it even better the next day! I took the leftover pork and sauce and added a little extra cider and heated it up and shredded it. Yum! It was so rich and falltastic. It also makes me want to cook up an apple cider-based BBQ sauce.

Ingredients:
3-4 lb bone-in pork shoulder (I could only find boneless)
1 cup apple cider
5 yellow onions, halved lengthwise and sliced into 1/4" slices
4 cloves garlic, sliced thinly
2 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper
1/2 tsp chipotle power (I added this because I think cider and chipotle go really well together)

Tuscan White Bean Dip

I'm crazy for not taking pictures during this - the infusing oil is so pretty - because now I have nothing to show for myself. But this recipe is really delicious. It's rich and has a great depth of flavor and it's sort of subtle, too. All the flavor comes from the infused oil - a great way to get a bunch of flavors into the dip completely seamlessly. I had a few people for dinner last night and served this and it was gone in about 20 minutes.

Ingredients:
1 can cannellini beans
3 garlic cloves, smashed and skin removed
1 large sprig rosemary
1 dried chili (I used Chinese, but you could use Arbol or something, too)
2 long pieces of lemon zest
About 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (enough to coat the bottom of a small sauce pan and go up about an eighth of an inch)

Directions:
Put the oil, garlic, rosemary, chili, zest, and oil in a small sauce pan. Heat over very low until it starts to really lightly simmer. Stir. When the garlic starts to brown, turn off the heat, cover the pot, and let it sit for about 20 minutes.

Drain the beans but do not rinse them. Put them in the bowl of a small food processor and strain the oil into the processor with them. Add a pinch of salt and blend until smooth. Put into a bowl and with a rubber spatula, scrape out any oil remaining in the sauce pan and drizzle it on top of the dip. Serve with carrots and light crackers or pita.

Olives Al Forno

My second try from the wonderful Mozza cookbook - thanks Siobhan! - was olives al forno. They're great! Something about having the olives warm and roasted and soft makes them totally different and really tasty hors d'oeuvres. And oh my gosh, the garlic confit is amaaazing. Yum!

Ingredients:
4 cups mixed, unpitted olives (I used a mix of picholine, nicoise, and kalamata)
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Wide zest strips of 1 lemon and 1 orange
4 dried bay leaves
1/2 cup fresh rosemary needles
garlic confit (recipe below)
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

Directions:
Combine olives in a large bowl. Add the olive oil, orange rind, lemon rind, bay leaves, and rosemary. Add the garlic confit, including the chilis, and toss to combine.

Bibb Lettuce with Creamy Parmesan Dressing and Cheese Crisps

Another recipe from the wonderful "Stir" cookbook by Barbara Lynch. She said she'd so tired of Mesclun, and I kind of get it. The Bibb lettuce is so crispy and nice. The dressing is creamy and subtle and the cheese crisps are awesome.

Ingredients:
1 large egg yolk
1 tablespoon whole grain mustard
juice of 1/2 a lemon
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 cup grapeseed oil
3 1/2 cups finely grated Pecorino Romano (she says parm, but I used Pecorino)
Salt and pepper
1 1/2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 large head Bibb lettuce, washed, dried, and torn into pieces
1/2 cup almonds, finely chopped
Parsley and tarragon, finely chopped

Bucatini All'amatriciana

The bucatini all'amatriciana at Lupa is totally delicious, so when I got my new Kitchen Aid and pasta extruder attachment I immediately broke it out to make fresh bucatini. (I know, I'm a weirdo.) Feel free to just buy bucatini like a normal person, but definitely make the sauce. To save a little time, I also used marinara from Faicco's instead of making the basic tomato sauce the recipe calls for, so that makes it easier. The sauce is rich and tart and has a little kick. It really is wonderful. And if you can't find bucatini or perciatelli, spaghetti will work, too. (And if you can't find guanciale you can use pancetta, but guanciale is definitely better in this.)

I got the recipe from Babbo's recipe archive site. Yum!

Serves 6
Ingredients:
1 lb guanciale, thinly sliced
4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
1 1/2 red onions, cut in half in 1/2" slices
1 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste
2 cups marinara sauce
1 big handful parsley, roughly chopped
1 1/2 lb bucatini
Pecorino Romano for grating

Movie Night #2

When Jamie and I found out our friend Kara hadn't seen Star Wars, we thought it called for a movie night. I was planning to make the same menu as last time, but I had some ground lamb, so I switched it up a little and made lamb sliders, garlic butter popcorn, zesty cilantro hummus with veggies, and put out Twizzlers. Big success!

To make the lamb sliders, I mixed ground lamb with about a tsp of curry powder, 1/2 tsp smoked paprika, 1/4 of a white onion minced, some cilantro, olive oil, and salt and pepper. To make the mini buns, I toasted bread, cut it in half through the bread (making two thin slices), then using a little glass, cut out mini circles. I put a little chutney on the burgers - delish, and actually bite size. I think that's the key to a good slider. I like mine little.

For the garlic popcorn, I just crushed 4 cloves of garlic, stewed them on low in some melted butter, then through in some olive oil. I tossed it on the freshly made popcorn with some salt - yum!

Thai Wings

Every since I saw this amazing article, I've been making chicken wings for almost every football game. (I'm not really into football, so it gives me a tasty project while Jamie's screaming at the TV and checking his fantasy football scores.) Last night was the first wing-dinner of the season, and I decided to try a new one. Grace Parisi's recipe has a basic formula, then you add a few things to customize it. Our favorites have been the Maple-Chipotle, Jamaican Jerk, and Old Bay. This time, I thought I'd use the same formula but add a spicy, sweet, sour Thai twist. Big hit! They are totally joining the wing roster.

They're spicy and sweet and tangy and super addictive. And the basil and cilantro add a nice fresh contrast. Can't wait to make them again.

Gnocchi

 

Since my friend Chelsea got me a food mill (thank you!) and I'd been wanted to try out the gnocchi board again, I made Jamie a special gnocchi dinner last night. (We're not taking our honeymoon until after Christmas, so I wanted this week to have some special dinners.) The gnocchi was super fluffy and nice and the gnocchi board made them look so professional. The food mill also makes nice, uniformly ground up potatoes for the dough. Be sure to cool the ground up potatoes thoroughly before adding the flour for light gnocchi. I altered the recipe a bit from these very fancy gnocchi I made for New Year's.

A few more wedding presents in this pic! And some flowers from the wedding in the back

Serves 2-4
Ingredients:
2 potatoes (I used Russet, but Yukon Gold are good too, or a mix), skin on
1 egg
About 3/4 cups flour
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup cream
1 crushed garlic clove
1/2 cup grated pecorino romano
salt and lots of freshly grated pepper

Directions:
Put the potatoes in a pot of well salted water. Bring to a boil and cook until very tender - a fork should easily go in and out of the middle of the potato - about 45 minutes. Immediately peel the potatoes. You can hold the potato in one hand with a dish cloth to avoid burning yourself, and peel with a paring knife. The skin will slide right off.

Wedding Burger

I took off my beautiful, sparkling wedding band because I didn't want it to get all dirty and beefy

We're calling this the wedding burger because it was the first dinner we made when we got back to our apartment as a married couple. (It is also two types of beef, so maybe it works that way, too.) Some very nice friends of ours got us the massive and awesome chopping block and a very scary cleaver. I love them! I was a little afraid to have a cleaver in the apartment just because it seems right out of a horror movie so now it's wrapped up tightly and hidden in a drawer until next time.

Ever since reading this article on the best burgers, I've wanted a cleaver and chopping block to make my own and test it out. It's definitely not the easiest, but it really only takes about 5 minutes to chop up all the meat. The end result is a very juicy burger with an amazing consistency that is more steak-like than burger-like, or a sort of mix of the two. From the chopping, the pieces aren't uniform, so you get this great bite and texture. Jamie can't wait to have friends over to show off our new burgers, and I can't wait to try again with different cuts of beef.

We used 3/4 chuck and 1/4 sirloin from Ottomanellis which was great, but I do want to try some different combinations just to experiment. The chuck had the nice marbled fat, the the sirloin added some tenderness. This is also a fabulous way to blow off steam, so if I ever have a bad day, Jamie will probably be getting burgers for dinner from now on!

Serves 2 (big burgers)
Ingredients
3/4 lb chuck (cold)
1/4 lb sirloin (cold)
salt and pepper

Directions:

Put the chuck and the sirloin on a thick cutting board or chopping block and chop them into a fine mince.

Married!

Sorry for the lack of posts, but I was a bit preoccupied as Jamie and I got MARRIED over the weekend! It was so perfect in every way. The weather was warm, sunny, and clear, the flower girls were adorable, our friends were so sweet and fun, the band was incredible, and we just had the best, best time. So now, I am Sybil Bunn Pool! (And I promise, more recipes are on the way!)

Our honeymoon will be India in December, so I'm sure they'll be lots of good cooking posts after that, too! (And it gives us something to look forward to now that the whirlwind of wedding planning is over.)

Fresh Cold Tomato Soup

Hope you're not sick of tomato recipes yet! I saw this Cold Tomato Soup recipe in the Times and thought I'd try it with a few changes. It's simple, fresh, and a great way to use these amazing tomatoes before it gets cold. I had my friend Chelsea over for dinner and this was a a great, light dinner - perfect for the humid night. Would also be great for lunch.

Serves 2-3
Ingredients:
3-4 cups tomatoes, chopped
3 garlic cloves, crushed and chopped
3 tbsp basil, chopped
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 pinch red pepper flakes
2 tsp red wine vinegar
2 tsp olive oil
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper

Garden Tomato Sauce

My goal for next weekend, along with not totally going crazy over my upcoming nuptials (10 days now!!!) is to make a whole bunch of this amazing tomato sauce and pop it in the freezer. Since our garden is putting out tomatoes faster than we can pick them (literally, every weekend we come out and some have over ripened, burst open, and been eaten by fruit flies or some other little pests), I decided to make some tomato sauce. Yum! It's very simple, you just need a lot of great, ripe, fresh tomatoes. The flavor really is incredible.

Serves 4 - I suggest doubling it if you have enough tomatoes!!!
Ingredients:
1 skillet full of halved and quartered fresh, ripe, summer tomatoes (probably about 5 cups)
3 garlic cloves, crushed
2 large sprigs of basil, plus 1 with leaves removed and cut into a chiffonade
2 tablespoons parsley, chopped and separated
red pepper flakes

Creamed Corn (sans cream!)

Corn is so, so good right now, and I saw this recipe for cream-free creamed corn and had to try it. It basically just concentrates the amazing, sweet flavor of good summer corn. It's amazing! Before I added the salt, it was so sweet if my eyes were closed I could have sworn it was apple sauce. This is easy and becomes a less messy way to eat corn (as opposed to on the cob) and I can't wait to make it again!

(Average an ear per person)
Ingredients:
4 ears of corn
2 tbsp butter
1-2 scallions or 1 small shallot, diced (optional)
salt and pepper (very important)

Directions:
Grate the corn into a bowl using a box grater. Be sure to get all the juice you can out of the cobs. (I cut them in half first to make it easier.) Heat up the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add the scallion/onion/shallot if you're using it and saute until soft but not brown. Add the corn and stir, cooking until thickened (about 5 minutes). Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Plum Torte (aka best summer dessert)

My mom has always made plum torte at the end of the summer when the little sugar plums come out. (She said the New York Times used to run the recipe every summer but stopped several years ago.) It's bittersweet because I'm so excited for it, but it also means summer is coming to an end. I made one this weekend after finding the little plums at the farm stand. It's just the best - the batter is sweet and fluffy, the top is crusted with cinnamon sugar, and the plus are juicy and tart. It's also pretty simple. If you can find these plums, make this torte and watch it disappear. I love it with a little vanilla ice cream, or in the morning for breakfast!

Ingredients:

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

Tomato, Chard, and Goat Cheese Tart

I was drooling over this recipe on the Times and couldn't wait to try it with my tomatoes. Due to time restraints and some fresh swiss chard I had, I switched it up a little by adding sauteed swiss chard and onion and doing it in a frozen pie crust I had in my freezer. While I'm sure it tastes better with the olive oil pastry, this was pretty delicious. Served it with a salad full of more tomatoes. It was great and light, and I love the combination of savory tarts and salads in the summer.

Ingredients:
1 large bunch swiss chard, chopped, stems and leaves separated
1/2 yellow onion, sliced
olive oil
frozen pie crust

Healthy Bruschetta

I was planning on making this tomato tart for Jamie last night, but wanted to use even more of our tomatoes as a little hors d'oeuvres. We've been making a lot of pico de gayo, so I wanted something similar but maybe more Mediterranean. I love tomato bruschetta, but didn't want the bread since we were going to have the tart. Solution? Endive! It was so tasty and fresh, and much healthier - though I do love those crunchy crostini, too... Definitely worth a try for a lighter hors d'oeuvres or snack. (And you can always swap in the crostini if you miss it!)

Ingredients:

2-3 large, ripe tomatoes (or a mix of 2 bigger tomatoes and a few colorful cherry tomatoes), seeded and diced

1 garlic clove, passed through a garlic press

1 large handful of basil leaves, chopped

1-2 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp kosher salt

black pepper to taste

endive

Directions:

Mix all of the ingredients (except endive) in a bowl and let it sit for at least an hour. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Tear the leaves of the endive individually and fill each with a scoop of the tomato mixture. Done! (If you're serving at a party, maybe put some lentils or something on the plate to hold them up - they can tip a little.)

Clam, bacon, corn, and tomato summer stew

Saw this recipe on Food52 and couldn't resist - it has all the best summer ingredients. It's super tasty, pretty quick, and a crowd pleaser. Make sure to take it off the heat right when all the clams are open so they stay tender and amazing. I added some onion and some zucchini because I had it and why not. Great summer dinner! Don't be put off by "stew" - it's not like its usual thick, hearty, wintery cousin.

Serves 4-6 as a main
Ingredients:
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 lb bacon, sliced into lardons
1 tbsp smoked sweet paprika
6 ears corn, shucked and cut from the cob
salt and pepper to taste
1 red onion, diced
1/2 lb tomatoes, cut in half
half of one lemon
3 tbsp bourbon
20 clams, scrubbed well (you don't want to eat the grit)
3 small zucchini, chopped into bite sized pieces
bread for serving
basil leaves, ripped up

Directions:
Heat up the oil in a large pot. Add the bacon and stir until the fat starts to render, then add onions. Stir until fat renders and bacon is crunchy, and onion is soft.

Mini Cakes

My friend Jenna got me this adorable mini cake pan and I knew it would be a great project for the weekend. I brought it out to Long Island and my mom, my sister Lilly, my nieces, and I had a great time decorating them. Lilly said she might borrow it for my niece Grace's next birthday party. Could also be a cute activity for a wedding shower!  (Mine is in the foreground, then Lil's, then Grace's, then my mom's. Daisy sat down to decorate and took a big bite out of the top of her cake and followed it with a big spoonful of blue icing.)