Superfast Elote Asado... with a Caveat

The polenta was almost finished when I remembered I had a couple ears of corn languishing in the fridge. It's not like me to neglect sweet corn, but we went out of town for a wedding and sometimes these things happen.  I thought a little roasted corn flavor might be nice in that polenta, but there just wasn't enough time to make elote asado before everything else was ready for dinner, so I gave it the chile pepper treatment and held with tongs over the open flame of my stove burner.  The kernels spit as they charred, making these wacky little bursts of sparks [It's not as scary as that may sound.]  As soon and they were spotty all over,  I transferred them to a cutting board, gave them a minute to cool while I checked the polenta, then cut the kernels from cob and stirred everything together.  The texture of the kernels was a little chewier -- it's definitely not a replacement for stand-alone elote asado* -- but it had the desired flavor and made the polenta dish taste like super gooey, whole-kernel cornbread.  It was good.

 

I topped it with fried eggs and scattered raw yellow tomatoes and roasted wax beans around the plate. It was supposed to be a textural and tonal dish, harkening back to the early days with JG when I'd regularly make an all-yellow meal of blue box macaroni and cheese, fish sticks, and canned corn [I've come a long way, baby]. Aesthetically it wasn't much prettier than that meal from the old days... I could have scattered some bright green cilantro over the whole thing and it would have been lovely, but I didn't garnish back them and I was overly committed to the theme.  At any rate, it tasted great with a few splashes of [tonally acceptable] Cholula hot sauce and was a _bit_ healthier than my yellow dinner of yore... and at ~15 minutes of total cooking time, the new, whole grain/fresh produce version might have even been faster.

*that's the caveat

Wax Beans

I know many people are scarred by cans of three-bean salad.  Personally I always liked it, but I like most pickled things.  I will admit, however, that I've never been inclined to buy fresh wax beans, in part because I didn't know what to do with them beside three-bean salad.

The answer is one of my favorites*: Roast them!  A woman I know was waxing poetic about them at the market, about how much more meaty and flavorful they were than supermarket green beans, so I figured I may as well try them... and once they were home I figured I may as well cook them like I usually cook green beans.**

I sprayed them with oil, sprinkled with salt and pepper, and then broiled them in my toaster oven for about 15 minutes [ovens vary; check at 10 just to be safe].  I usually stir beans halfway through, but I got distracted and they were no worse for it.

They were meatier, and while I can't be sure they were more flavorful [roasting tends to heighten the flavor of everything] they were quite good.  Color-wise they may not be as striking, but if you pair them with wilted greens or something tomato-based, they'll look pretty as a picture on your plate.

If you see some, snatch them up.  I've already gone back to the market for another bag.



*right up there with "Add alcohol!"

** The other green bean preparation in regular rotation is to blanch them, douse them liberally with green salsa, stir in some olive oil and chopped raw shallot, sprinkle with sea salt, and chill.  This was faster.

Simple Polenta [Grits]

Polenta has a bad reputation as a very fussy starch, but it may help your confidence to think of it as "corn grits" -- a simple, salt-of-the-earth sort of dish.  The name polenta is derived from pulmentum, the Latin word for "porridge."  In practice, the big difference between "polenta" and "grits" is that the former is traditionally adulterated with cheese and butter [and sometimes milk] while the latter makes use of bacon fat [and cheese on occasion, but those are usually called "cheese grits"].  Despite these conventions, a plain mixture of cornmeal, water, and salt can rightfully go by either name.

Polenta making is often seen as hot and tedious, requiring a long simmer with constant stirring to prevent the dreaded clumps... but this, my friends, is completely unnecessary.   Clump-free polenta can be made in your microwave in 10 minutes or less with a minimum of stirring!
[I sound like an infomercial, but wait! There's more!]

Actually, there's not.  You can certainly get fancy with your polenta, but its glory lies in its simplicity -- you don't have to do much at all.... and that makes it a regular guest at my weeknight dinner table.

Recipe: Microwave Polenta [Grits]

Cold-Wilted Spinach

In my quest to heat my kitchen as little as possible, I discovered an interesting way to wilt spinach by beating it up.  It started with a tomato salad I was letting sit to meld the flavors.  About an hour before I was going to serve it, I decided to stir in some baby spinach in as well.  When I came back to it, the spinach was completely wilted -- not in a sad-salad kind of way, but more like I'd given it a whirl in the skillet before combining.

It wasn't exactly what I was going for at the time, but I was intrigued. A couple of nights later, I tried making a wilted spinach salad to go with cold soba noodles [no recipe, but they were something like this].  About half an hour before dinner, I tossed the spinach with the dressing, left it on the counter, and gave it a stir every time I passed by.  Come dinner, I squeezed out all of the juice, plated it in a little mound, and poured the dressing over the top.  It was perfect.

I'm guessing it has something to do with the acids in the tomatoes first and the vinegar second, aided by the bruising caused by the stirring.  It's probably not chemically identical to cooked spinach (though it could be, ceviche-style) and it's really only a valuable technique when lack of heat is more important than speed [a cold salad or... a picnic?] but I liked it... so I'm sharing it with you.

Recipe: Cold-Wilted Spinach with Soy and Sesame
Hourensou no Goma-Ae

Simple Guacamole [and other goodies for the 4th of July]

 Below are a few ideas for your 4th, plus a simple guacamole recipe after the jump:


Smokey Melon Balls
Roasted Corn
Roasted Squash
Carrot Slaw
Delicate Gazpacho


Pesto Pipian
Scallop tacos
Summer Squash Pizza [on the grill]

Burger Buns
Whole-Wheat Pita [My first recipe post!]


Mint Tea
Agua Fresca
Cerveza Preparada/Michelada

Silken Chocolate Pie
Tres Leches Cake
Sunflower Cookies 
Green Chile Cookies 
Whiskey Marshmallows 
for the perfect s'more

Recipe: Simple Guacamole

Oven-Roasted Corn, Elote Asado

Elote asado, roasted corn, is a delicious Mexican street food and a favorite treat of mine. There were a couple elote stands near my house in Austin and they made trips to the grocery or hardware store so much more enjoyable [and I enjoy both].  The corn was on a big grill in the back of a trailer and they'd shuck the blackened husks to order and wrap it in foil, which is immediately opened and used as a little plate to dress the corn with the toppings set out on a shelf: bottled lime juice, a shaker of paprika, salt and pepper, and green can of dried parmesan cheese.  The lime juice goes on first and everything else sticks to it.  Some bites were spicier, some were cheesier, but all were enhanced by the mottled brown charring and the bright flavor of lime.

Since I moved to Yankee Land, I've come across a monstrosity at cookouts called "Mexican-Style Grilled Corn" [created by a test kitchen I otherwise love and respect] that involves oiling up the corn before grilling,  then slathering it with a gooey mayo/sour cream/cheese/lime juice paste.  It's not unpleasant to eat -- in a hearty gastropub kind of way -- but it's definitely more decadent than refreshing and not at all Mexican-style [as I know it].  I was served something like it at a well-regarded tapas restaurant here, so it might be Spanish in origin...?   I'm dubious.

At any rate my, version isn't muy auténtico either, but it's more in keeping with what I want to eat.  I can't have a grill on my fire escape, so I roasted my corn [in husk] in the toaster oven.  It worked great and it made my apartment smell like the elote stand... and that made me very happy.

Recipe: Indoor Roasted Corn, Elote Asado

Pesto Pipián

This recipe was born of an excess of cilantro. Like many people -- and despite growing up with lots of Mexican food -- I had an aversion to cilantro until I discovered late-night Vietnamese food in college. [Houston has the second largest and most diverse immigrant population after New York, did you know that?]

I now love cilantro, but really doesn't keep well and I got a _lot_ of it at an outdoor stall in Boston's "Haymarket," a place known for cheap produce with a very short (2nd?) shelf life. I used some cilantro for salsa and meant to put on some tacos but forgot, and the rest -- the vast majority-- sat unused and unloved, taking up valuable real estate in the refrigerator.

So, JG and I were discussing what to do with the excess cilantro over a dinner of homemade green-chile pork burgers* [on homemade buns, of course] that also happened to leave excess ground meat.

JG: "I wonder what cilantro pesto would taste like."
WGT: "We should find out."
JG: "Agreed."
WGT: "Ooh! You know what I think we should make for our leftover meat?"
JG: "Cilantro pesto?"
WGT: "Pipián! -- but pesto would be good too..."
Then we nodded at one another for an inappropriate length of time before finishing the burgers.

I should explain that pipián is a pumpkin seed [pepita] sauce loosely related --and sometimes identical-- to mole verde and can be made a million different ways. There's usually garlic/ cilantro/jalepeno/chicken stock and some combination of onion/almond/tomatillo/romaine/cornmeal/sour cream/cumin all pureed together and cooked in oil, but the only universal requirement is ground pumpkin seeds.

A pesto sauce, on the other hand, usually uses an herb, garlic, nuts, cheese, and olive oil. The ratios are a little different from a pipián sauce, but pipián's a pretty loose recipe, so why not use pesto ratios (to use up my cilantro) and replace both nuts and cheese with pumpkin seeds?

So...  I started to rethink my idea as I watched my bountiful greens shrank to tiny specks with half of the called-for oil... but I ostensibly had another 1/4 of oil to add.  A pesto uses roughly equal parts nuts/cheese to olive oil because it, unlike pipián, is not meant to be generously slathered on things; it clings with its oily goodness. I didn't want a coating; I wanted a meatball sauce. I opted to use water for the balance of the volume. It made a lovely green sauce the consistency of a sour cream dip(!). It took quite a bit more water put me in perfect meatball sauce territory [and those meatballs were very, very tasty*].

A few days later -- and hopelessly addicted -- I made more pesto pipián using canola [rapeseed] in lieu of olive oil. This time, without the assertive EVOO, the surprisingly delicate flavor of the cilantro brightened the earthy pepitas and it was even better. We tested it over chicken tacos, and that's was when JG and I agreed that this sauce may very well be my greatest culinary achievement to date.

Recipe: Pesto Pipián
I included recipes for tacos and meatballs below, but this sauce has lots of possibilities, like topping poached fish, seared scallops, or enchiladas, or roasted veggies... or the most amazing dip or crostini [topped with seared onions?] your friends ever had. I've now tried it with both pepper options, and I think I prefer the serrano for a little more bite, but to each his own.  If you only have a small chopper/food processor, just add the cilantro in batches; it shrinks quickly.

2 packed cups cilantro (1 large bunch), thicker stems removed
1/2 cup pepitas (shelled pumpkin seeds)
1/4 cup canola oil [or other neutral oil]
3 cloves garlic, roasted or nuked
1 green chile or serrano, roasted and seeded
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cumin
3/4 cup water or chicken stock 
Combine all ingredients except water in a food processor and puree until almost smooth, occasionally stopping the machine to scrape down the sides. ~3 minutes. Add water and pulse to combine. [It'll splash.] Store in a airtight container for up to 5 days, or freeze.

Chicken Tacos with Pesto Pipián:
serves 4

1/2 recipe pesto pipián
1 1/2 lbs chicken, cooked and shredded
1/2 onion, slice thin pole-to-pole
12 corn tortillas
1/4 cup crumbled fresh cheese [queso fresco, feta, etc.]
hot sauce

In a sauce pot, sear onions over high heat until just translucent with charred spots. Transfer to a small serving bowl. Using same pot (no need to wipe it out), heat sauce until it starts to sputter. Stir in cooked chicken and turn off heat. Serve on warm corn tortillas with onions, cheese, and hot sauce.

Basic Meatball Recipe with Pesto Pipián:
serves 4

1/2 recipe pesto pipián
2 lbs ground meat (any, really: pork, beef, lamb, or poultry)
1 pureed onion
1/3 cup milk
2 cloves garlic, minced to a paste
1/2 tsp salt

Beat everything together in a mixer until it gets almost pasty. Pan fry a tablespoon of the meat to test for seasoning, then let the remainder sit at least 30 minutes and up to 2 days before cooking(in a refrigerated, airtight container).
Cook meat over medium heat, turning to brown all sides, until cooked through, ~10 minutes. Transfer balls to a bowl, add 1/2 cup water to pan and scrape up all the browned bits to deglaze. Add pesto pipián stir to combine with deglazing water, and return meatballs to pan. Cook until sauce comes to the boil and thickens to its original state. It's excellent over brown rice or polenta.

*no pictures, sorry.

Oranges and Olives

I'm going to be honest. This post was inspired by my trash. I leaned over to spit the pit of an oil-cured olive into the trash -- one of those step/flip top things -- and got an intense hit of orange from the peel on the top of the pile.
[Yes, I know these things could be composted. I used to compost everything in my backyard, but I have no backyard now and the City of Cambridge doesn't sponsor household composting. What's a girl to do?]

The olive in my mouth and the orange in my nose was an intriguing combination.It wasn't unlike the marinated olives you get at bars that're sometimes served warm with bits of zest, but orange-ier and super salty. [Oil-cured olives are actually salt cured until they get all shriveled, then stored in oil.] I'm trying to come up with an appropriate dessert to highlight the combo, but this salad dressing is a nice stop-gap.

If you've never supremed [soo-PREM-d] an orange before, it's not hard, but it does take a sharp knife and a little patience. If you don't work work in a restaurant, there is absolutely no need to be fast at this... though a little practice will make you feel like a pro. [There's also an alternative after the jump.]

Recipe: Oil-Cured Olive and Orange Salad Dressing
It's not absolutely necessary to supreme the orange at all; removing the membranes lets it meld with the other flavors better and ensures you don't get any pithy flavor, but you can also chop the segments into smaller pieces after you peel it carefully. I think this recipe would work well with other olives. Green olives, for example, would make something completely different but could make a great side salad for some kind of tomato-y main dish like chicken Veracruz or lasagna.

1 orange, supremed*
1/4 cup oil-cured olives [variations welcome], pitted and sliced or roughly chopped
1 Tbs olive oil
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp coriander
4 cups salad greens [large leaf greens like lettuce should be chopped into 1/2" squares]

Squeeze any remaining juice from the orange membranes into a large bowl.  Slice orange segments into 1/2" wide pieces. Stir together oranges, olives, oil, and spices with any juice in the bowl.  Let sit ~5 minutes before tossing with salad.

*Supreming an Orange:
Cut the top and bottom off the orange so that it sits flat and you can see how thick the pith [the white part] is. Use a curved downward motion to completely remove the pith in one strip, if possible.   Cut all the way around the orange, then flip it over and clean up any spots you've missed.

Now hold the orange in your hand.  Slice as close as possible to the membranes between each segment, starting with the side nearer you and then the far side, all the way to the center.  The segment should fall onto your knife, but it's good to have a cutting board or bowl to catch any strays.
It's easy, see?

[Thanks to JG for the camera assist!]

Spinach Risotto with JG's Tangy Tomatoes

I don't know that this is the best thrown-together meal I've ever had in my entire life, but it's definitely up there. This hot mess is comprised of earthy spinach [brown rice] risotto, tangy vermouth-glazed tomatoes and onions, crispy kale leaves, and a perfectly fried egg. Any of these are tasty by themselves, but the combination is killer.
You have no idea what this tastes like. I had no idea what it would taste like until it was in my mouth... it's really, reeeeally good. It does get a couple bowls, 3 pans and a baking sheet dirty, but it's totally worth it. [Methodology is in the header notes after the jump.]

Recipes: Spinach Risotto and JG's Tangy Tomatoes
Start with the risotto. Do the tomatoes while the rice is cooking and the kale once the tomatoes are finished. Scatter kale on a plate, mound risotto and then tomatoes, and then, once everything else is ready, fry up the eggs and place on top. JG always fries the eggs; I have no idea how he makes them so perfectly.

Spinach Risotto

1 recipe Brown Rice Risotto
1 lb block of frozen chopped spinach
1/2cup frozen lima beans (or edamame, different but good)

Thaw spinach in microwave or on stove. Save as much liquid as possible, pressing the greens into a strainer over a bowl. Include the spinach juice in the cooking liquid.
Add 1/2cup frozen lima beans to the onions at the beginning. Stir in thawed spinach at the end with the cheese, make sure rice is back to near boil before removing from heat.

JG's Tangy Tomatoes

olive oil
1 medium onion, sliced pole to pole in 1/8th" strips
1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes sliced in half, pole to pole
1/2 cup vermouth (divided use)
1/t tsp ground coriander
salt and pepper

Sautee onions with ~1/4 tsp salt over medium high heat until just translucent. Add tomatoes, coriander and 1/4 cup vermouth and reduce heat to a simmer, stirring occasionally and adding a splash or two at a time to keep the pan from going dry, reserving a tablespoon for the end. Cook until tomatoes are soft and pan liquids are viscous. Adjust salt, add pepper and final splash, stir, and turn off heat.


Crispy Kale

3 leaves of kale, ribs removed and torn into ~1 1/5" pieces
spray oil
salt and pepper

Heat oven to 500F. [I use my toaster oven for this] Line a small baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray with oil. Spread kale pieces in a single layer on pan. Spray with oil, the sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake ~3 minutes or until sizzle-y and edges are beginning to brown.

Brussels Sprouts

Do you pronounce all of the "s"s in Brussels sprouts? I realized as I typed the title that I never do. It's actually kind of tricky to say...
As a kid, I once at a Brussels sprout with half of a gray-green worm in the middle [it was probably a caterpillar, really] and refused to eat them for about 10 years. I've since reversed that opinion and loved them shaved raw in the spring or roasted in the winter. Whatever you do, don't boil them; they're easy to overboil and release a horrible sulfur smell when they do.

Roasted, they're an easy side dish that goes great with meats or pasta. They're also super simple, just halve them, spray with oil and sprinkle with salt, and dump them on a foil-lined a baking sheet at ~425F for 20-25 minutes or until they're spotty brown and soft. [You could do them with kabocha on the same pan.]

Roasted Kabocha, an easy side dish

Kabocha is a Japanese pumpkin [hard winter squash] with a nutty flavor and natural sweetness. It's like a more intense butternut squash with a texture almost as dense as a sweet potato. I recently saw them in the grocery store labeled "buttercup squash" and if you find them, you should definitely take a couple home. You can dice it and roast it with the skin on, and it can cook in the oven [or toaster oven] while any big piece of meat (roast, whole bird, etc] is resting before carving... it's a great side dish for a holiday meal with very little effort.
If I'm only cooking for two, [and I usually am] I'll cook just a half at a time as a super simple side dish in my toaster oven while I'm working on the stove. I'm highlighting it as a holiday side, but goes with pasta or rice dishes just as well.

Recipe: Roasted Kabocha, "Buttercup Squash"
You can add a sprinkle of whatever spice might tie it in to your main dish, maybe a little thyme or fennel seeds or crushed garlic or red pepper flakes... but it's pretty great with simple salt and pepper.
If you're doing this while a roast or bird is resting, it's better to prep the squash while your meat is still cooking so you can slide it right into the oven after the meat comes out... it won't hurt it if starts cooking before the oven's up to temp.

serves 4

1 kabocha or buttercup squash
cooking spray
salt
pepper

Preheat [or increase] oven to 425F.

Using a sturdy knife, cut the squash half, pole to pole, and remove seeds and fibers. Halve each half and remove the stem end. Dice into ~1/4-1/2" cubes.

Cover a shallow roasting or jelly-roll (half-sheet) pan with aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray. Transfer squash cubes to the pan, spray again with cooking spray, and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper.

Roast until deep brown spots appear ~20 minutes, stirring once halfway through, if you're not busy setting the table.

Pumpkin Risotto

Pumpkin risotto is an excellent use for one of those small pumpkins or winter squashes laying around everywhere right now... maybe even on your front porch. Each variety has a slightly different flavor, but they'll all work.In keeping with my "Components Matter" bent: Short-grain brown rice is much better in this recipe as it releases starches like the arborio rice does. It's usually the only type I keep in my pantry but I recently bought a popular long grain variety and now understand why so many people think brown rice is dry and unpleasantly healthy-tasting. I've found the Nishiki brand here in Yankee Land and back in Texas in the international aisle of the grocery store (Shaw's, Market Basket, and Fiesta) or in bulk at places like Whole Foods or Central Market.

Recipe: Pumpkin Risotto
You can roast the pumpkin at a higher heat if you're using a pressure cooker for the rice and want the gourd done faster, just be sure to check on it frequently so it doesn't burn. You could even use those tiny decorative gourds -- just slice in half and scoop the seeds -- but you may need more salt because they tend to be more bitter. Including the roasted skin gives a nice texture and extra fiber. Try it!

1 recipe, Brown Rice Risotto
1 small pumpkin or winter squash [2+ lbs]
spray oil
salt and pepper, to taste

Before you begin the risotto, preheat your oven to 350. [I used my toaster oven.]
Cut your pumpkin in half through the middle, scoop out the seeds, and quarter each half. Spray the chunks with a little cooking spray and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Roast for about 45 minutes -- while you make the risotto -- until edges darken and the flesh doesn't yield any resistance when pokes with a fork. Set aside to cool until risotto is almost finished, then tear the chunks apart [I keep about half of the skins and discard the rest] and stir them into the rice at the very end and adjust the salt to taste.

Potato Salad Pizza

JG and I finally made this sweet potato & black bean salad and I will now be bringing it to any and all barbeques I attend. It's absolutely my type of potato salad, and we're now considering variations like yellow bell/white bean/mint.

The leftovers also make great pizza topping, just add sliced moz and minced garlic.

Roasted Summer Squash

After posting the squash pizza, I realized I've never shared this preparation method. [I think it's too simple to count as a recipe]. I eat this frequently as a side dish or tossed with tomatoes and whole-grain pasta. I used to use tender calabacita (thin-skinned, variegated "little squash") whenever they were in season at my Fiesta grocery store -- about half the year -- but it works just as well with whatever variety of summer squash your neighbor or CSA gives you.

Recipe: Roasted Summer Squash
I know it's still too hot in some parts of the country for some people to turn on their big ovens, but I like to do a bunch at a time. These can go fast and two gourds per person is not out of the question. When we do have leftovers, they tend to disappear in snacking forkfuls straight from the fridge.

Summer squash or zucchini, sliced into rounds or planks 1/8- 1/4" thick
coarse sea salt or kosher salt
cracked black pepper
red pepper flakes
one clove of garlic, minced, for every 2 gourds

Preheat oven [or toaster oven if you're just doing a single gourd] to 450F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and coast with cooking spray. Lay squash on pan in a single layer, spray with more cooking spray, and sprinkle with seasonings [the garlic will clump; it's not a problem].
Roast 10-15 minutes or until tops look a little dried out and brown spots are starting to appear. Flip the slices over with a spatula (try not to rip the foil) and bake an additional 10-15 minutes. Serve hot.

Smokey Melon Balls

Sweet, salty, smokey; it's like prosciutto wrapped melon without the prosciutto and it's a great quick snack or party appetizer [and cheap]. I used to buy pimentón (smoked Spanish paprika) in the bulk spice section of the grocery store, but McCormick also packages it so I think it has pretty wide distribution and a little goes a long way. [It's also great on popcorn, eggs, squash, & chicken, among other things. Once you own it, you will find many uses for it.] You could also just sprinkle smoked sea salt... the black would be a nice visual contrast, too.

Recipe: Smokey Melon Balls

Melon -- this was a Crenshaw, just be sure any melon you pick has a good melon scent
Sea salt -- I used coarse gray salt for crunch
Pimentón

Ball or dice the melon and refrigerate until you're ready to serve, then sprinkle with the salt and spice. The salt will make juices to flow, so it's better eaten with picks than fingers.

Low-Fat Fegatini

Fegatini [little livers] is an Italian chicken liver pâté, usually made by pureeing the liver with onions and butter and marsala wine... which didn't really sound like anything I'd want to eat until JG and I stumbled upon this fantastic mousse at Mulberry in Austin. We used to eat there on my Tuesdays off, and we'd get the fegatini at least twice a month. As it came time to leave Austin, we realized we were going to have figure out how to make it ourselves.Liver pâtés usually need a lot of butter to emulsify, to give it a creamy quality. A mousse requires additional heavy cream to incorporate air for a lighter texture... but just like folding in whipped cream, it's not "lite." It's one thing to order a dollop, it's something else entirely to have a tub of it in my fridge.

My silken chocolate pie gave JG an idea -- an idea sure to offend tofu lovers and pâté lovers alike.... Silken Fegatini: glorious, glorious tofu-liver.
It's been weeks now since I've had the fegatini at Mulberry and I'm sure Zach's would still win in a side-by-side tasting, BUT compared to a standard recipe this stuff is obscenely healthy. Low-fat, high protein... nutritionally dense... instead of a little dab on a toast point, you can actually slather this on a sandwich. It's a rich, meaty, guilt-free indulgence. Can you tell I'm excited?

Recipe: Silken Fegatini
The mousse sets as it chills. The butter isn't absolutely necessary, but that little bit at the end brings the flavor profile much closer to the original.

8 oz chicken liver, trimmed, rinsed, patted dry, and chopped into 1/2-inch pieces.
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 shallot, diced
1/2 cup brandy, divided use (or 1/4 cup brandy, 1/4 marsala)
2 tablespoons butter
6 oz firm silken tofu

high quality balsamic vinegar
good honey
toasted bread, pita, or crackers

In a large skillet over low heat, pan fry shallots in olive oil until lightly golden brown ~8 minutes. Increase heat to medium-high and add liver [a spatter guard is handy] stirring frequently until browned and just cooked through, then transfer meat to the bowl of a blender or food processor.

Add half of the brandy (1/4 cup) to the skillet and scrape to deglaze the pan. Once liquid is almost completely gone, add remaining brandy or marsala, turn off heat, and pour liquid into the liver container, making sure to scrape all the flavorful goodness from the pan. Puree until mostly smooth, scrape down the sides of the bowl, add butter and tofu, and puree further until completely smooth, scraping down bowl once or twice more as you go.

Transfer to an airtight container and chill. To serve, scoop with a small ice cream scoop and drizzle with balsamic vinegar and honey and serve with toast points, pita, or crackers.

Serving for a party:
Select a nicely shaped bowl or dish [I often use the cover of my butter dish], line with plastic wrap, fill, cover and chill. Turn out onto a decorative plate, remove plastic, and dress as above.

Delicate Tomato Soup

Tomato season makes me happy. This soup, a light gazpacho or raw tomato soup, makes me extremely happy. It's easy to make and the cold and clear flavor is a refreshing way to start a summer meal.The catch, of course, is that this soup depends entirely on the quality of your tomatoes, so you've got to eat a slice and make sure the tomatoes are worthy before proceeding. If you don't sigh inwardly and think "Ah, that's a great tomato!" then you'll have to hold off.
Recipe: Delicate Tomato Soup
The recipe makes ~6 starter-sized servings.
*Update: a wise commenter noted that this soup would be great with shrimp or mussels. I've included instructions for a seaood variation at the bottom of the recipe.*

1 lb tomatoes [~4 medium-sized], preferably home-grown and/or heirloom
1 cucumber, peeled [divided use]
1 bell pepper, any color but green [divided use]
2 teaspoons kosher or sea salt
2 cups water
1 clove of garlic
1 shallot
juice of 1 lemon [divided use]
1 tablespoon olive oil
additional salt and cracked black pepper, to taste

Chop all of the tomatoes, and half of the cucumber and bell pepper. Smash the garlic clove and put it in the bottom of a large mixing bowl. Transfer chopped veggies to a colander or large strainer and set over the bowl, scraping any accumulated juices from the cutting board into the container as well. Toss contents with salt and let sit 30-60 minutes or overnight.

Gently press solids with a spatula or spoon. The tomatoes should disintegrate, leaving only skins behind, while the cucumber and pepper solids remain intact. Discard solids and garlic clove [or save for a pasta sauce]. Add water to the collected juice and chill in the fridge for at least 1 hr. Meanwhile, fine dice remaining cucumber, bell pepper halves and the shallot, putting each into a separate small bowl. Squeeze 1/2 the lemon juice over the shallot to take off the sharp edge.

Stir soup to recombine liquids and solids, adjust salt, then ladle into 6 individual cups or bowls. Squeeze a few drops of lemon juice into each, drizzle with a little olive oil, then grind a little black pepper over the top. Serve with garnish options.

Spicy garnish options:
diced jalepeno, seeded
cilantro
diced avocado

More Traditional Gazpacho:
Puree tomatoes with bell pepper, cucumber, water, and 2 slices of bread.
Chill. Serve with garnishes as above.

*Light Seafood Gazpacho:
After the vegetable solids have been pressed and removed, fill a large bowl with ice and a little water. Bring 1 1/2 cups water to a simmer in a large skillet and add ~1 lb small peeled shrimp or shellfish, cover, and steam a few minutes until the shrimp pink or the shellfish open. With a slotted spoon, transfer the seafood to the water bath to quickly cool them off. Strain the cooking liquid into a measuring cup, add enough ice to make 2 cups and use this seafood broth in place of the called for water in the recipe. Transfer seafood to a paper towel lined airtight container and chill along with broth. Distribute evenly among servings.

Spicy Carrot Slaw

I love this salad. It's spicy, sweet, earthy, and tangy... and that makes it easy to pair with just about anything. It's a fantastic side for grilled food in lieu of cabbage [coleslaw], or a topper for tacos, or curries, or dinner salads. It only takes about about two minutes longer to prepare than it takes to shred the carrots... which is really short if you use a food processor or pre-shredded carrots.

Recipe: Spicy Carrot Slaw

4 large carrots, shredded [about 2 cups]
2 limes, juice and [optional] zest
1 pepper, stemmed, seeded, and minced [jalepeno, serrano, or habenero, pick your speed]
1 tsp cumin seed, toasted [or 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin]
salt and pepper to taste

Crush cumin seeds with your fingers when combining all ingredients in large bowl. Serve immediately, or make ahead and chill. The carrots will release some juice over time, so pre-made slaw may require a slotted spoon to serve.

Garden Radishes

What's worse than finding a worm in your radish?
Finding half a worm! Ha!

Pan-Seared Scallop Salad with Crispy Tomato

This was a thrown together lunch that turned out way better than expected. JG and I seared bay scallops -- the small ones about the size of a thumb joint -- and dropped them on a a handful of greens with a little vinaigrette with crispy tomatoes in lieu of bacon. The tomato bits were actually a really disappointing tomato we diced for dinner the night before but it was too mealy so we threw it in the toaster oven. There's a post coming on that, but we didn't measure anything, so we've got to recreate it to figure out the ratios.
Recipe: Pan-Seared Scallop Salad with Crispy Tomatoes
I used arugula and sorrel from my garden [which are spicy and tart, respectively], but spring mix would work just fine. Either have one person do the salad while another cooks the scallops or do the salad first, because you want to throw the scallops on the greens as soon as they're done.
Serves 4

2 Tbs white basalmic or white wine vinegar
pinch salt
pinch fresh ground black pepper
2 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
1/4 lb or four heaping handfuls of mixed greens (see header)

1 Tbs olive oil
1/2 lb bay scallops or 2 diver scallops, each cut into eighths
salt and pepper

2 tsp crispy tomatoes

Whisk vinegar, salt and pepper until salt dissolves. Whisk in olive oil and toss with salad greens, then divide greens evenly among four plates or bowls.
In cast iron or non-stick skillet, heat an additional tablespoon olive oil over medium-high heat. Add bay scallops or diced diver scallops, sprinkle with a little salt and pepper, and sear until nutty brown ~1.5 minutes. Turn over with spatula or tongs and sear [an]other side ~1.5 minutes more.* Divide evenly among plates and sprinkle with tomato crispies.

Tomato Crispies
Set oven (or toaster oven) to 200F. Seed and dice one tomato. Drizzle with olive oil and toss to coat (or spray with cooking spray). Spread in a single even layer on a foil-lined pan and bake 6-8 hours or until crispy.
These taste fantastic and keep indefinitely in the fridge, but one tomato only yields 2 tsp, so I highly recommend doing a lot more than one at a time. Plus, it's a great use for lackluster toms.

* I highly recommend deglazing the stuck bits with a splash of white wine and saving the remaining sauce. It's a little strong for a salad, but it'll taste great on a poached egg.