Category: Vegetarian
Roasted Tomato & White Bean Stew (Bean Craving a Good Stew)

Roasted Tomato & White Bean Stew (Bean Craving a Good Stew)

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Friday night…my mind was thinking about the upcoming Memorial Day weekend.

The plan, grilling on Monday.  Something classic, burgers, potato salad, strawberry shortcake, the “Summer is finally here” meal.  Saturday’s dinner was taken care of, take-out and delivery from one of the legacy restaurants in SF Chinatown, Kam Po.  A fundraiser for Chinatown Community Development Center combined with helping a Chinatown mom and pop business.  A win-win, I ordered roast duck, crispy skinned pork and bbq pork plates…can’t wait.

What’s for Dinner Tonight?

But it was Friday and I still hadn’t started dinner.  I cooked quite a bit during the week and was admittedly ready for an easy cook meal.   I peered into the pantry hunting for inspiration…hmmm, a couple of cans of white beans. Further rummaging around the kitchen produced cherry tomatoes, a couple of Italian sausages, one lonely onion. Jamie had recently tried a recipe from the NYTimes, Roasted Tomato and White Bean Stew that she gave a hearty thumbs up to on all counts-ease of prep and deliciousness.

I Was In Business

Winner winner beanie dinner.  This dish is simple, quick and so satisfying.  Roast tomatoes in olive oil and thyme which intensifies their flavor and sweetness.  I used a medley of gold and red cherry tomatoes, use whatever you like. While they are roasting, saute’ the onions, garlic, and pepper flakes. Add beans-reserve the liquid from the cans just in case to adjust the consistency of the sauce.  Give the stew a couple of stirs and mash some of the beans with a big spoon to thicken it.  Make sure to scrape all the tasty bits from roasting the tomatoes and add them to the beans along with the tomatoes and their liquid.

Home Stretch

Simmer a couple of minutes and voila’, dinner is served.  This stew is really, really good, the sweetness of the tomatoes and onions, the nice mouthfeel from the beans, yummy, YUMMY, yummy.  I love the garlic and thyme, but I’m wondering if rosemary would work too.  We grilled a couple of Italian sausages, sliced, and added them to the pot right before serving.  You could also just serve them on the side. Grilled shrimp or cod would be a lovely match too.  OR, keep it vegetarian, this stew is so flavorful and satisfying you won’t even miss the protein.  Top it with the parsley and lemon gremolata which adds a herby-citrus zing and you are in business. The Hubs and Jorge don’t like beans but they both admitted that this was delicious.  Now that’s a strong recommendation!

Make this stew the next time you need a quick, easy, hearty meal.  It’s just so tasty!

Looking for other meatless recipes?  This Red Lentil Soup from NYTimes is delicious~~

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5 from 2 votes

Roasted Tomato and White Bean Stew

Course Main Course
Cuisine European
Keyword easy, roasted tomato, stew, vegan, White Bean, white bean stew
Prep Time 30 minutes

Ingredients

Garnish

  • ½ cup roughly chopped Italian parsley leaves and tender stems
  • 2 teaspoons lemon zest from 1 large lemon

Stew

  • 2 10-ounce containers cherry or grape tomatoes
  • ¼ cup olive oil plus 2 tablespoons and more for drizzling (optional)
  • 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
  • Kosher salt and black pepper
  • 1 medium yellow onion thinly sliced
  • 3-4 large garlic cloves thinly sliced
  • ½ teaspoon red-pepper flakes
  • 2 15-ounce cans white beans (such as butter or cannellini), rinsed
  • 1 ½ cups vegetable or chicken broth or water
  • 2 Italian sausage optional mild or spicy, your choice

Serve with

  • Flaky salt for serving (optional)
  • Toasted bread for serving

Instructions

  • Heat the oven to 425 degrees. In a small bowl, gently toss together the parsley and lemon zest with your hands until well combined; set aside.
  • In a large baking dish or on a sheet pan, toss the tomatoes with 1/4 cup oil and thyme; season well with salt and pepper. Roast tomatoes until they have collapsed and begin to turn golden around the edges, 20 to 25 minutes.
  • When the tomatoes are almost done roasting, heat 2 tablespoons oil in a large (12-inch), deep skillet or Dutch oven over medium. Add the onion, garlic and red-pepper flakes and cook until the onion is softened and the garlic is fragrant, 4 to 5 minutes. Stir in the rinsed beans and broth and bring to a simmer. With the back of a spoon or spatula, gently smash about ½ cup of the beans so they slightly thicken the broth. If you want a thicker stew, crush some more of the beans. Season with salt and pepper.
  • When the tomatoes are finished roasting, add them directly to the stew along with any juices that have been released. Simmer for 5 to 10 minutes more so the flavors meld; season to taste with salt.
  • Ladle into shallow bowls. Top each serving with some of the lemon-parsley mixture and drizzle with some more olive oil, and season with flaky salt, if you like. Serve with toasted bread.
Spring into Asparagus Season

Spring into Asparagus Season

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For some silly reason, it never seems to dawn on me that spring has finally arrived until I see bunches of asparagus in the market.  This year is especially strange with the COVID-19 crisis, time just seems to be standing still.  On a dreary rainy day last week, I finally escaped to the market and the first display I saw was the asparagus.  I cracked a little smile, grateful that spring had arrived even in the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic.

While at the market, I bought a bunch of asparagus home knowing exactly what I was going to do with it.  I had just read a wonderful essay by Eric Kim entitled “The Man Who Hated Eating Alone”. Eric is a senior editor for Food52 and author of the column Table for One.  His latest essay on eating alone, (which many of us are experiencing with self-quarantine) intertwined with James Beard’s bio and his recipe for asparagus-delicious, so simple, and perfect for one person.

The recipe calls for asparagus, butter and soy sauce. That’s it.  Thinly sliced asparagus, melt a pat of butter in a pan, add a splash of soy sauce, and saute’ for a couple of minutes so it stays crispy. Sprinkle some coarse salt to finish-boom, done.  So delicious and so easy.  It’s criminal.

But if I think about it, I love most of my vegetables prepared simply.  I make my favorite Chinese dish of pea sprouts or spinach ALOT.  Just stir-fry greens with lots of garlic, a bit of soy sauce, oyster sauce and ginger and that’s it, ready to scarf it down.  Blanch lettuce, Iceberg or Romaine, quickly in water or stock and finish with oyster sauce and oil-done and delicious.  Can’t beat that.

So I shouldn’t be surprised that such a simple recipe would be wonderful. I prepped my asparagus two ways, cut on the diagonal and shaved into long thin strips with a peeler.  Use Ponzu Soy Sauce or Soy Dashi instead of soy sauce which adds a hit of citrus and a dash of sesame oil for pop.  this would also work beautifully with sugar snap peas or snow peas.

Enjoy, Stay home, stay well.

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Paper-Thin Asparagus with Butter and Soy Sauce

A simple delicious recipe from Eric Kim of Food 52
Course Side Dish
Cuisine Asian-American
Keyword asparagus
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 2 minutes

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 8 ounces asparagus cut in paper-thin diagonal slices or shave with peeler
  • Flaky sea salt and freshly ground black pepper garnish
  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce substitute Ponzu or Soy Dashi

Instructions

  • Heat a skillet over high heat and melt the butter. Add the asparagus, season with salt and pepper, and cook for 1 minute. Add the soy sauce and cook for another minute or so, until the butter and soy sauce bubble up into a sticky glaze. Serve immediately.

Notes

Though written as a serving for one, as a side dish this would feed 2-3 people.

 

 

 
Jack Mac and the Cheese Attack (Crazy Good Mac & Cheese)

Jack Mac and the Cheese Attack (Crazy Good Mac & Cheese)

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Happy National Cheese Day!  Any excuse to make a family favorite, mac and cheese.  I love mac and cheese. I unabashedly admit as a kid, I looked forward to the blue box of Kraft’s “Cheese and Macaroni”.  Pure marketing genius, neon yellow orange sauce. As I got older, my taste grew more sophisticated, the blue box was cast aside in favor of Stouffer’s Mac and Cheese from the freezer section of my supermarket, student life-student food. Come on, you can tell me, your college self loved Stouffer’s too.

When I had kids, my mac and cheese world expanded.  Being one of those crazy moms, I vowed to keep, processed foods and fast foods to a minimum.  I made macaroni and cheese from scratch and avoided my childhood favorites like Twinkies and Ho Hos.   I look back and think maybe I went a little overboard. But I’m pretty sure their time in college more than made up for the lack of processed and fast foods when they were little.

So I spent a lot of years making Mac and cheese from scratch.  I tweaked it to try to make it a little healthier by using 2% cheddar cheese, 2% milk, and substituted broth for some of the dairy. It was perfectly…

Adequate.

Now that the kids are adults, pasta all day everyday is a thing of the past.  Mac and cheese has moved to occasional status-holidays, first day of winter, bowl of comfort day, or of course, National Cheese Day.

You know what that means…

Calorie laden, luscious, ooey-gooey, make you wanna slap your momma, no holds barred, damn delicious mac and cheese.

I adapted a recipe I found on the blog site, Chunky Chef, it’s BEASTLY GOOD.  Soft macaroni, (no al dente noods please), super cheesy (6 cups of cheese in this bad boy), gooey (one of those cheeses is mozzarella), rich (no 2% cheese or milk was involved in the making of this), porkalicious (bacon makes everything better), and just because I can, a crispy, topping of butter toasted Ritz crackers crumbs.  Yes, I went there.

Expect to run a marathon after eating this mac and cheese.  Immediately after.

Start with making a classic bechamel by melting butter, adding flour for a roux and then gradually adding half and half and milk.  You will end up with a sauce that is kind of thick but still pourable.  Add copious amounts of hand-shredded cheese to this and season generously with salt and pepper, and a pinch of cayenne pepper.  Catch the hand shredded?  Yes, don’t start with pre-shredded cheese which has “stuff” added to it so it doesn’t stick together.

Add the macaroni to the sauce, give it a good stir and layer half of the pasta in a buttered 9×13 casserole.  Spread half of the remaining cheese on it and make another layer. Top with remaining cheese and buttery toasted crumbled Ritz crackers.  Bake 15 minutes so the cheese gets all melty and amazing. Serve as soon as possible.

Let’s go crazy…

Infinite possibilities to add your own stamp to this:

To the sauce:

Cayenne or smoked paprika

Mustard for a tangy hit

To the dish before baking:

Add diced chilis to spice it up

Crumbled bacon or pulled pork would be awesome

Shellfish- crab, lobster, shrimp so decadent

For the macaroni:

Substitute blanched or roasted cauliflower for some of the pasta or all of it if you want

Or add your favorite veggie, I like broccoli or mushrooms

File this recipe in the not so back of your mind for the next time you have a hankering for mac and cheese.

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Creamy Homemade Baked Mac and Cheese

Course Main Course, Side Dish
Cuisine American
Keyword Crazy good mac and cheese
Calories 657kcal

Ingredients

  • 1 lb. dried elbow pasta
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter
  • 1/2 cup all purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 cups whole milk
  • 2 1/2 cups half and half
  • 4 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese measured after grating
  • 1 cup mozzarella shredded Measured after grating
  • 1 cup grated Gruyere cheese measured after grating
  • 1/2 Tbsp. salt Or T Kosher salt
  • 1 tsp black pepper
  • 1/4 tsp. paprika or smoked paprika
  • 1/2-1 Tsp Cayenne pepper

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 325 degrees F and grease a 3 qt baking dish (9x13"). Set aside.
  • Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. When boiling, add dried pasta and cook 1 minute less than the package directs for al dente. Drain and toss with a bit of butter to keep from sticking.
  • Grate cheeses and toss together to mix, then divide into three piles. Approximately 3 cups for the sauce, 1 1/2 cups for the inner layer, and 1 1/2 cups for the topping.
  • Melt butter in a large saucepan over MED heat. Sprinkle in flour and whisk to combine. Cook for approximately 1-2 minutes, whisking often. Slowly pour in about 2 cups of the milk/half and half, while whisking constantly, until smooth. Slowly pour in the remaining milk/half and half, while whisking constantly, until combined and smooth.
  • Continue to cook over MED heat, whisking constantly, until thickened.
  • Stir in spices and 1 1/2 cups of the cheeses, stirring to melt and combine. Stir in another 1 1/2 cups of cheese, and stir until completely melted and smooth.
  • In a large bowl, combine drained pasta with cheese sauce, stirring to combine fully. Pour half of the pasta mixture into the prepared baking dish. Top with 1 1/2 cups of grated cheeses, then top that with the remaining pasta mixture.
  • Coarsely crush Ritz crackers. Set aside. Melt 1 T butter in a pan. Add cracker crumbs and saute until toasty brown. Kinda optional.
  • Sprinkle the top with the last 1 1/2 cups of cheese and cracker crumbs.
  • Bake for 15 minutes, until cheesy is bubbly and lightly golden brown.

Notes

See comments in post.
Mac and Cheese can be made ahead:
Make as directed (but do not bake), transfer to baking dish and cool completely. Cover tightly with foil and refrigerate 1-2 days ahead.
Before baking, let dish sit on counter for 30 minutes.
Bake at recipe temperature for 25-35 minutes, until hot and bubbly.

Cheesy White Bean Tomato Bake

What to do with all that leftover cheese from your scrumptious mac and cheese.  Note to self, never buy your cheese from Costco, New York Times Cooking to the rescue.  Easy-check. Quick-check. Uses up some of that extra cheese-check. Delicious-check. A riff on Korean Cheesy Corn, this is great dish for a happy hour, lunch paired with a green salad or late night munchie attack. 

This dish is as easy as beans from a can.  Really.  

Taking my cue from NYT Cooking I tweaked the recipe, a lot.  Not as much as everyone else judging from the comments, but enough to make it my own.  I doubled the tomato paste, threw in a sprig of rosemary, sautéed shallots and diced red bell pepper along with the garlic and last but not least, added some bacon. You don’t have to.

Make it your own-add nothing, add everything-sausage, spinach, kale (never me), or use different beans.

Yum.
A Sweet Mash-Up (Helmand Palace Kaddo)

A Sweet Mash-Up (Helmand Palace Kaddo)

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I found myself in the city one evening last week driving down Van Ness Ave.  If you have driven down that boulevard lately, it has been under major construction for what seems like an eternity.  Major swaths of the street have been dug up and walled off with wood barriers and fencing.  I can’t even imagine how the businesses on the street are coping with such a major disruption.

On this night I reached the section near Green and Van Ness and much to my surprise, the walls and giant cranes were gone.  I spotted  the restaurant Helmand Palace, an Afghani restaurant I have been meaning to try for a long time.  A spot opened up (in the City that’s a sign) in front so I immediately parked my car and headed into the restaurant.  Obviously I was meant to have Afghani food tonight!

I zeroed in on the one dish I had to try, Kaddo.  What’s Kaddo, you ask? It’s pumpkin slow roasted in sugar and cinnamon until tender and smothered with a tomato based sauce of ground beef flavored with ginger, coriander and turmeric.  It’s topped with a cold yogurt sauce spiked with garlic and mint. Every bite is a melt-in-your-mouth revelation—soft, satiny, DELICIOUS.  It is mind bogglingly good.

I asked for TWO take-out orders of Kaddo (the fam was at home). While I waited, I told the host I had found their recipe for Kaddo on Epicurious.  His restaurant and their Kadoo, have been on my bucket list for a long time.  It didn’t disappoint.  Their Aushak, a dumpling filled with leeks and scallions layered with a meat sauce and yogurt was equally scrumptious.

A while back we celebrated Mom’s birthday with a visit to  Cala in San Francisco.  The food was delicious but their slow-roasted Sweet Potato with Bone Marrow Salsa Negra had me in a tizzy.  How could something so simple be so delicious?  Smitten Kitchen posted a recipe for slow roasted sweet potatoes that sounded so much like the amazing dish at Cala, it gave me an idea. You know where I’m going with this right?  Beautifully charred, meltingly soft sweet potatoes topped with Kaddo….oh yeah we are so going there.

SWEET MASH-UP TIME

I slow-roasted the sweet potatoes until they were soft, caramelized, and charred on the outside. While the sweet potatoes were roasting, I made the Helmand Palace meat and yogurt sauces. Remove the potatoes from the oven and let them cool so you can handle them.  Brush the roasted sweet potatoes with browned butter and top with sugar/cinnamon before adding the warm meat sauce and cold yogurt.  So good.

You can also set up a SWEET little fixings bar so everyone can choose their own toppings. Have the Kaddo sauces and any of the toppings from Sam Kass’s, Eat a Little Better at the ready for everyone to pick their favorite.

For vegetarians, skip the meat sauce and slather the cool minty, garlic yogurt sauce on the hot, charred sweet potato.

Potatolicious, you’re welcome.

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Kaddo

Delicious appetizer adapted from Helmand Palace in San Francisco. Roasted sweet potatoes topped with a savory meat sauce and a cool mint-garlic yogurt.
Course Appetizer
Cuisine Middle Eastern
Keyword Kaddo
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 2 hours
Servings 4

Ingredients

  • 4-6 Sweet potatoes
  • butter
  • sugar
  • cinnamon

For the yogurt sauce

  • 2 C plain yogurt
  • 2 garlic cloves minced
  • 1 tsp dried mint
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • For the meat sauce
  • 1/4 C vegetable oil
  • 1 large onion finely diced
  • 1 1/2 lbs. ground beef or mixture of lamb and beef
  • 1 large tomato seeded and finely chopped
  • 2 large garlic cloves minced
  • 1 1/4 tsp ground coriander
  • 1 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp freshly ground pepper
  • 1/2 tsp ground turmeric
  • 2 tbsp tomato paste
  • 1 1/3 C water

Slow Roasted Sweet Potatoes

  • 4 medium sweet potatoes (about 3 pounds), scrubbed clean
  • 4 teaspoons olive oil
  • 2 teaspoons kosher salt
  • 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

Slow Roasted Sweet Potatoes

  • Heat your oven to 275°F. Arrange sweet potatoes on a large, foil-lined baking sheet. Rub each with 1 teaspoon olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt (which will make a quite salty skin, use less if desired) and 1/4 teaspoon pepper until well coated.
  • Bake until very soft inside and caramelized on the bottom, about 2 1/2 hours.
  • Heat your broiler and run the potatoes underneath it — mine is fairly weak, and this took 5 to 10 minutes, but check in regularly, a more robust one might do it in 1 to 2 minutes — until lightly charred on top.
  • Let potatoes cool 10 minutes, then gently crush potatoes with your hands to expose the flesh.
  • Split sweet potatoes, brush insides with melted butter. Sprinkle with sugar and a dash of cinnamon.

Sauces (Make while sweet potatoes are roasting)

  • YOGURT SAUCE: Mix all the ingredients together. Refridgerate.
  • MEAT SAUCE: Brown the onions in the oil in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Add meat and cook over medium-high heat, stirring, until browned. Add all other ingredients (except for the tomato paste and water) and cook, stirring, for another 5 minutes or so. Stir in the tomato paste, then add the water and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and let simmer, covered, for about 15 minutes.
  • Top each sweet potato with cold yogurt sauce and hot meat sauce. Serve immediately

Notes

The original recipe calls for 2 sugar pumpkins which are prepared as follows:
Make the pumpkin: It helps to have a serious vegetable cleaver for this bit. Preheat your oven to 300º. Wash off the outside of the pumpkins. Cut them in half. Scrape out the stringy stuff on the inside. Cut the halves into 3#-4# pieces or so. Peel them. Get rid of all the green and rind. Find a baking pan large enough to hold all the pumpkin pieces in a single layer. Cover the pumpkin pieces in the oil and place them hollow side up in the pan. Pour the sugar evenly over the pumpkin pieces. Cover the pan with aluminum foil. Bake for 2 1/2 hours, then baste the pieces with the pan juices, cover them up again, and bake for another 45 minutes. The sugar will all melt away and end up partially absorbed. The pumpkin pieces will turn dark orange and translucent. They will have a stunningly novel texture. 
You can substitute butternut squash for either the pumpkin or sweet potatoes.
A Zinger of an Appetizer: Charred Tomatoes and Cold Yogurt

A Zinger of an Appetizer: Charred Tomatoes and Cold Yogurt

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I have a couple of go-to appetizer dips that I use ALOT (a certain Artichoke Dip comes to mind).  Every time I make one of them there is this nagging little voice in my brain whispering, “pssst…Deb, I know this is good but try something new, this is getting boring”.  Well, I finally listened to that voice.  I pulled out Ottolenghi’s newest book, Simple, and landed on his recipe for Charred Tomates and Cold Yogurt.  It was a no-brainer, the dish is featured on the cover of the book.

I’m so glad I did.

Right up my alley, easy to make and DELICIOUS.  The recipe calls for cherry tomatoes (hello all you tomato growers), Greek yogurt, fresh thyme, oregano, garlic, and lemon.  Oops, and olive oil.  Toss the tomatoes with the spices and oil, roast and then broil to char the tomatoes.  Spoon charred, hot tomatoes on top of the cold yogurt and serve with pita wedges or baguette slices. HOW EASY IS THAT?

Run out to the store and get cherry tomatoes right now.  If you are growing tomatoes, go check for ripe ones and pull them off the vine.  I was blown away by how flavorful and simple this dish is.  The spices enhance the tomatoes and the lemon adds a nice citrusy zing.  The contrast of the hot tomatoes and the cold yogurt adds yet another note.  Serve with toasted baguette slices or pita wedges.

Luckily I have a little herb box right outside my kitchen, I picked a couple of stems of oregano and thyme for the dish, slivered some garlic, zested a lemon (yippee, I have a lemon tree too) and sprinkled on the cumin seeds. While the tomatoes were roasting, I pulled out the carton of Labneh I had picked up at the International Bazaar and seasoned it with salt and lemon peel.  Labneh is the Middle Eastern version of thick yogurt.  You can use this or a Greek full-fat yogurt, both will work.  I plopped it into a good size shallow bowl, swirled a groove in the center to hold the tomatoes and then placed the bowl in the fridge to keep the yogurt cold while the tomatoes were roasting.

Yum, yum, yum.

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Charred Tomatoes with Cold Yogurt

A delicious dip from Ottolenghi! Serve with pita wedges or crostini.
Course Appetizer
Cuisine Mediterranean
Keyword appetizer, cherry tomatoes, greek yogurt
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Servings 8 servings

Ingredients

  • 12 ¼ oz/350g cherry tomatoes
  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • ¾ tsp cumin seeds
  • ½ tsp light brown sugar
  • 3 garlic cloves thinly sliced
  • 3 thyme sprigs
  • 6 oregano sprigs: 3 sprigs left whole and the rest stemmed to serve
  • 1 lemon: finely shave the skin of ½ to get 3 strips then finely grate the other ½ to get 1 tsp zest
  • Flaked sea salt and black pepper
  • 1 2 ∕3 cups/350g extra-thick Greek-style yogurt or Labneh fridge-cold
  • ½ tsp other crushed red pepper flakes
  • pita wedges or baguette slices

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 425°F.
  • Place the tomatoes in a mixing bowl with the olive oil, cumin, sugar, garlic, thyme, oregano sprigs, lemon strips, ½ teaspoon of flaked salt and a good grind of pepper. Mix to combine, then transfer to a baking sheet just large enough—about 6 x 8 inches/15 x 20 centimeters— to fit all the tomatoes together snugly.
  • Place the sheet about 2 inches/5 centimeters beneath the broiler and roast for 20 minutes, until the tomatoes are beginning to blister and the liquid is bubbling. Turn the oven to the broil setting and broil for 6 to 8 minutes, until the tomatoes start to blacken on top.
  • While the tomatoes are roasting, combine the yogurt with the grated lemon zest and ¼ tsp of flaked salt. Keep in the fridge until ready to serve.
  • Once the tomatoes are ready, spread the chilled yogurt on a platter (or in a wide, shallow bowl, creating a dip in it with the back of a spoon. Spoon the hot tomatoes on top, along with their juices, lemon strips, garlic, and herbs, and finish with the oregano leaves and chile flakes. Serve at once.
cucumber banchan
Cool as a Cucumber Banchan (Simple Asian Cucumber Salad)

Cool as a Cucumber Banchan (Simple Asian Cucumber Salad)

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Are you like me? I hate making salads. I love salads, but prepping veggies, not so much. I only have enough bandwidth to prep maybe 1-2 fixings for a salad. Which means my salads are pretty darn boring. Helloooo, Banchan.  Banchan are little appetizers plates that come with every Korean meal.  Banchan can include seafood like fishcake but are generally comprised of vegetables such as soybeans, radishes, potatoes or CUCUMBERS (my favorite). It’s my veggie salvation.  Instead of a salad, I pull out my jar of kimchi or pickled radishes, slice some cucumbers and splash a soy sauce, sesame oil, and green onion dressing on the cucumbers.  So refreshing and delicious.  Yep, rockin’ the banchan.

One of my favorite kitchen gadgets is the Japanese Behringer mandoline.  I purchased mine when I was in school in  Los Angeles a long time ago, and I mean a LONG time ago.  Thirty years later it’s still going strong, it’s a great option if you don’t have a mandoline.  It is sturdy, inexpensive and apparently very durable (I can vouch for that), find it here.

I love this little salad.  It is stupid easy to make and delicious. I use soy dashi, (a combination of soy sauce and dashi, a fish-based stock) when I want a smokey, slightly briny taste to the cucumbers.  Would be a lovely side dish with the Gochujang-Lime Salmon or the Braised Pork Belly rice bowl.

cucumber banchan
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Cucumber Banchan

Course Side Dish
Cuisine Asian
Keyword cucumber salad
Prep Time 10 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 cucumber Japanese, English, Persian about 1 1/2 cup sliced for 1 cucumber

Dressing

  • 1 Tbs soy sauce or Soy Dashi
  • 2 Tbs rice vinegar
  • 1 Tbs sugar
  • 1/2 tsp Korean red chili powder
  • 1 tsp sesame oil

Garnish

  • 1/4 tsp sesame seeds
  • 2 green onions chopped

Instructions

  • Slice cucumbers into thin slices. Around 1/8 inch (3 mm).
  • Mix soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil and sugar in a bowl. Pour soy vinegar into the bowl with cucumbers.
  • Then, add 1/2 tsp chili powder and sesame seeds. Mix and taste. Add more chili powder if you want. Doing it in this order allows you to taste and control the amount of chili powder based on how spicy you want it.
  • Add chopped green onions and mix again.
  • YOU ARE DONE!! Serve immediately for the freshest and crunchiest cucumbers. You can also let it sit for 10-15 minutes for the cucumbers to absorb the dressing before serving.
Angel Hair Pasta with Tomatoes, Garlic and Basil
Will Cook for Tomatoes (Pasta with Tomatoes, Garlic and Basil)

Will Cook for Tomatoes (Pasta with Tomatoes, Garlic and Basil)

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This is going to be a short post.  I wanted to make sure I posted while all of you are harvesting your bushels of homegrown tomatoes (I am so jealous).  Yes, I see your photos on FB and Instagram of all those love apples ripening on the vine in your backyard.  I see the basket on your kitchen counter overflowing with heirloom tomatoes, Sweet 100’s and Early Girls and those gorgeous salads you are making with them. I hate you. Ok, I’m kidding, I don’t really hate you, but I do have tomato envy-so, so jealous.  We just haven’t had much luck with tomatoes lately. After looking at our sad vines, I caved and bought some dry farm tomatoes at the Farmer’s Market, I couldn’t resist.

I made a beeline home and used those tomatoes, and the few I was able to pull off our vines (so few, so sad), to make my favorite pasta dish,  Angel Hair Pasta with Tomato, Garlic, and Basil.  This dish captures the essence of summer, where the star are those vine-ripened, luscious tomatoes.  You know, the ones you grew and I had to buy (auugh, so fixated).  I pulled out my dog-eared copy of Kuleto’s Contemporary Italian Cookbook and flipped to the page for Angel Hair Pasta with Tomato, Garlic and Basil and in barely 30 minutes we were sitting down to the best damn bowl of pasta.  So delicious, so easy and so simple.

Angel Hair Pasta with Tomatoes, Garlic and Basil

All you need for this dish, besides tomatoes, is noodles, olive oil, garlic, and basil. That’s pretty much it.  How simple is that?! In full transparency, I didn’t have angel hair pasta so I used linguine fini.  Normally I would say NBD, but in this case, use angel hair pasta, it is the perfect match for this sauce.

So, yes, despite my tomato envy I’m passing this delicious recipe along to all of you who have that “difficult task” of figuring out what to do with all those homegrown tomatoes.  ALTHOUGH…another option, you could call me, I’ll gladly take some off your hands!

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Angel Hair Pasta with Tomatoes, Garlic, and Basil

Fresh summer tomatoes, garlic and basil the building blocks for a classic, delicious pasta dish
Course Main Course
Cuisine Italian
Keyword Angel hair pasta, basil, garlic, tomatoes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Servings 4

Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup garlic thinly sliced
  • 7 tbsp olive oil extra virgin
  • 2 cups fresh tomatoes seeded and diced, ~ 1pound
  • 2/3 cup basil leaves roughly chopped or julienned
  • 3/4 tsp kosher salt or to taste
  • 1/2 TSP black pepper freshly ground
  • 6 ounces Angel Hair Pasta Capellini

Instructions

  • Heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil in sauce pan over medium high heat. Add garlic and cook slowly until garlic is lightly and evenly browned.  Reduce heat   to low add tomatoes, basil, salt and pepper.  Cook just until tomatoes are heated through.  Remove 1/3 sauce from skillet and reserve.
    Meanwhile, cook pasta according to directions in boiling, salted water.  Drain and add pasta and remaining olive oil to skillet.  Toss to coat with oil. Remove to serving bowl or leave in skillet and top with remaining sauce.  Serve with freshly grated parmesan if desired.
(Grilled Peppers and Torn Mozzarella Panzanella) Smittened Again

(Grilled Peppers and Torn Mozzarella Panzanella) Smittened Again

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This past weekend we had dinner with our “Gourmet Club”. A group of us, 5 couples, started the club when our kids were in preschool. It was a way of committing to a grown-up event, enjoying a nice meal and great conversation, sans kids, balloons, and crayons.
Initially, our goal was once a month, and we would each take a turn at hosting. The host picked the menu and made the main dish. The other couples provided the rest.

Well, with baseball, hockey, soccer practices, piano lessons, homework, not to mention work…monthly became every couple of months.  As the kids went in different directions, so did we, and our dinners became much more sporadic. The old adage, time flies rings true. It has been at least 8 years since our last get-together 🤦🏻‍♀️. Our kids are now all in their twenties…I gotta chew on that for a minute, so it was time to have another dinner. We were long overdue.

Good Food, Great Friends

We talked, laughed, bragged, and complained about our kids, parent’s prerogative. We drank way too many Mai Tais and ate way too much food. Besides Glen’s traditional toast, the best part of the evening was just being together again and enjoying each other’s company.

The days of “gourmet” meals are long gone, perhaps a reflection of where we are in our lives now, the food is unfussy, delicious, and comforting.  We were such blowhards back in the day, now, if we want a fancy-schmancy meal, we’re going out.  Casual is probably not quite accurate as our buffet included a platter of warm Roasted Cauliflower with a Raisin Caper Sauce from Serious Eats, a classic Greek Salad of garden tomatoes, cucumbers, feta, and onions, and a delicious stuffed pork roast.

I know, y’all are thinking, ok Deb…What did you bring to the table?

Grilled peppers and onions

As I was looking for inspiration, a mouthwatering Grilled Peppers and Torn Mozzarella Panzanella popped up on my feed from Smitten Kitchen.  Deb Perelman rocks.  Maybe it’s a Deb connection, but this isn’t the first time a Smitten Kitchen recipe has popped up when I needed something delicious.

This dish couldn’t be easier. Why?  Peppers, red onions, and a nice crusty bread are tossed in garlic, oil and GRILLED and…yay for me, hubby does ALL the GRILLING in our house. Yep. I prepped the veggies and bread and handed them off to Wes. Just like magic, while I was eating Bon Bons (jk), they came back perfectly grilled.  Call it the grillin’ and chillin’ method.  He grills while I chill-perfect!  All I had to do was make a simple vinaigrette, let the peppers soften, tear up the bread and mozzarella, and toss it all in a bowl with the dressing, fini, and Panzanella ready to go.  So good, so easy.  Folks, you need to file this under “so gonna make this”.

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Grilled Peppers and Torn Mozzarella Panzanella

Course Salad
Cuisine Italian
Keyword Panzanella
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes
Servings 6 people

Ingredients

Hubby's Part:

  • 4 1- inch slices bread country-style
  • 3 large red bell peppers halved, seeds removed
  • 1 medium red onion peeled and cut into 1/2-inch wedges
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

My Part:

  • 2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
  • 1 garlic clove minced
  • 1/2 teaspoon sugar
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 tablespoons capers drained (rinsed if salted)
  • 4 ounces mozzarella torn into bite-sized pieces, or 4 ounces bocconcini
  • Fresh herbs — snipped chives basil, or parsley or a mix thereof — to finish (optional)

Instructions

  • First Part is Mine: Place bread, pepper halves, and onion wedges in a large bowl and drizzle with 3 tablespoons olive oil, then sprinkle 1 teaspoon kosher salt and many grinds (or about 1/4 teaspoon) black pepper. Use your hands to toss everything together until oil coats everything.
  • Part I Get to Ignore: Heat your grill to medium-high. Spread peppers and onions across grill grates and grill, lid down, flipping as needed until onions are charred in spots (they’ll be done first) and peppers are blistered and blackened in many spots and beginning to soften. Transfer onions to a plate as they’re done; transfer peppers to a bowl. Use bread in bowl to swipe up any excess salt, pepper, and/or oil in it and place slices on grill. Grill until toasted on both sides. Transfer to plate with onions.
  • Back to Me: Place foil or a lid over peppers in bowl to trap heat. Once they’re cool enough to handle, remove as much of the skin as you can. Cut peppers into 1/2- to 1-inch wide strips.
  • In the bottom of a large bowl, whisk together sherry vinegar, remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil, sugar, about 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt (and more to taste), and garlic. Add capers. Add peppers to the bowl and let them marinate for as little as 5 minutes or up to a day, even. The longer they souse, the more pickled they’ll taste. After 5 minutes, however, they still have plenty of flavor.
  • To assemble and serve: Right before you’re ready to serve the salad, add onions to the bowl with the peppers. Tear bread into chunks and add to bowl, along with mozzarella. Mix gently, making sure the dressing coats the bread. Taste and add more seasoning if needed. Finish with basil and chives.
Blueberry Avocado Spinach Salad (It’s Gettin Hot In Here, So Take Out All Your Salad Greens)

Blueberry Avocado Spinach Salad (It’s Gettin Hot In Here, So Take Out All Your Salad Greens)

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Woohoo, it is going to get really hot this weekend! When the temperature hits 3 digits it’s time to get out of the kitchen as fast as you can. Time for al fresco dining-cool, refreshing salads, sweet and juicy summer fruits along with an array of cheeses. A pitcher of thirst quenching Sangria…just maybe we can get through this heatwave.  I found a tasty and eye-catching salad from Over Easy by Joy the Baker (latest book and amazing blog) that I love. It’s my salad of the season, specifically, blueberry season, Blueberry Avocado Spinach Salad. The list of star-studded ingredients includes toasted hazelnuts, blueberries, avocados, and cucumbers. Dressed with a sweet, slightly tart dressing, it reminds me of the classic Spinach Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing from back in the day, it’s dee-licious.

Get to the farmer’s market now and pick up sweet, juicy peaches and nectarines along with your salad fixins!

I have gone crazy with this salad with additional yummies like pancetta “cracklins” or crispy bacon bits, thinly sliced red onions for some bite, or sliced hard-boiled eggs for protein, YUM.  The toasted hazelnuts have no substitute, their crunch and flavor are hard to beat in this salad and they go so well with blueberries, like Fred and Ginger.

The dressing is easy and quick.  Start with a squeeze of lemon juice, a dollop of dijon mustard, glop of honey and whisk in some EVOO.  Alternative easy method: throw it all in a bottle and shake, shake shake. Season with salt and pepper to taste and that’s it.  You don’t need no stinkin’ supermarket bottle stuff, nope.

This is a lovely salad, I hope you will try it. Share it with friends and family.

Blueberry Avocado Spinach Salad

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Blueberry Avocado Spinach Salad

Perfect during blueberry season, a spinach salad with avocado, slices of hard-boiled egg and hazelnuts all of which compliments blueberries dressed with honey mustard dressing.
Course dinner, first course, lunch, Salad
Cuisine American
Keyword avocado, blueberry, Caesar Salad, hazelnuts, honey mustard dressing, spinach
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes

Ingredients

The Dressing

  • 2 tbsp Honey
  • 1 tbsp. Dijon mustard
  • ¼ tsp. sea salt
  • ¼ tsp. black pepper
  • 4 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
  • ¼ cup olive oil

The Fixings

  • 6 cups Baby spinach (generous cups) washed, rinsed and dried
  • 1 cup fresh blueberries
  • 1 cup English or Persian cucumber thinly sliced
  • 1/3 cup toasted hazelnuts coarsely chopped
  • 1 ripe avocado thinly sliced
  • 1-2 hard-boiled eggs sliced

Instructions

  • Whisk together honey, mustard, salt and pepper in a small bowl. Whisk in lemon juice. Add olive oil in a slow, steady stream, whisking constantly, until mixture is emulsified and thick. Taste, and season with additional salt and pepper as desired.
  • Toss together spinach, blueberries, cucumber and 1/2 of the hazelnuts in a large bowl. Drizzle dressing over the salad, and toss to combine. Sprinkle with remaining hazelnuts. Top with avocado.

Notes

Optional adds:
2 hard boiled eggs, sliced, Bacon or pancetta bits fried crisp, as little or as much as you like,
1/4 small red onion, thinly sliced, or
2 green onions, sliced