Shaved Asparagus Pizza

Wow...this was good. I saw this posted on one of my favorite food blogs yesterday, smitten kitchen (http://smittenkitchen.com/). Asparagus is one of Scott's favorite vegetables, so when I find a veggie rich recipe that looks good that I know he'll enjoy, I jump on it! I highly recommend this.

Ingredients

Your favorite pizza dough - I used whole wheat dough from Trader Joes
3/4 pound asparagus
1/4 cup grated or shaved Parmesan
1/2 pound mozzarella, shredded or cut into small cubes
2 teaspoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
Several grinds black pepper
1 scallion, thinly sliced
pinch of red pepper flakes
juice of 1/2 lemon

Preheat your oven to the hottest temperature it goes, or about 500 in most cases. If you use a pizza stone, have it in there.

Prepare asparagus: Hold a single asparagus spear by its tough end, lay it flat on a cutting board and using a vegetable peeler (I tried with a Y-shaped peeler first, but found that a standard peeler worked better for me), create long shavings of asparagus by drawing the peeler from the base to the top of the stalk. Repeat with remaining stalks and don’t fret some pieces are unevenly thick (such as the end of the stalk, which might be too thin to peel); the mixed textures give a great character to the pizza. Discard tough ends.

Toss peelings with olive oil, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes in a bowl.

Assemble and bake pizza: Roll or stretch out your pizza dough to a 12-inch round. Either transfer to a floured or cornmeal-dusted pizza peel (if using a pizza stone in the oven) or to a floured or cornmeal-dusted tray to bake it on. Sprinkle pizza dough with Parmesan...

...then mozzarella. Pile asparagus on top. (I added some prosciutto, but vegetarians, obviously omit)

Bake pizza for 10 to 15 minutes, or until edges are browned, the cheese is bubbly and the asparagus might be lightly charred. Remove from the oven and immediately sprinkle with scallions and lemon juice, then slice and eat. Yum!

Stacks.

A couple of summers ago, I ate a version of these "stacks" at The Coffee Shop in Union Square. I decided to try it out at home, and have since implemented a few versions of the original. It works great as an appetizer, and I've even served it as a light dinner dish paired with a salad, or a side to risotto or pasta.

Eggplant Stacks w/ Balsamic Reduction

2 eggplant
2 red peppers*
1 c. sundried tomatoes
2 packages of goat cheese (about 1-2 c. worth?)
2 c. breadcrumbs
2 c. flour
3 eggs
1 bunch of basil, finely chopped
1 c. balsamic vinegar

*optional: you can use regular roasted red peppers from a jar if you want.

Preheat the oven to 375. While the oven is heating, cut the eggplant into discs about 1/2 in. thick. Bread the eggplant discs using the flour, egg and breadcrumbs (in that order) and place on a cookie sheet. Bake the eggplant until tender- for about 45 minutes, flipping the discs once halfway through cooking.

While the eggplant is baking, wash and dry the red pepper. Place the red pepper on a burner (only if you have a gas stove), so that it cooks on the flame of your stove. Continuously rotate the pepper until it is entirely singed, then place into a ziploc bag for about 15 minutes. Once this time has passed, open up the bag, take out the peppers, and wash under cold water. The skin of the pepper should start to come off. Make sure the entire pepper is skinned and seeded. Then thinly slice the roasted pepper and set aside.

Next, reduce the balsamic vinegar in a small stainless steel pan on medium heat over the stove until the consistency of the vinegar is viscous and there is about 1/2 of the original amount in the pan.

Finally, make the stacks. The order goes as follows: breaded eggplant disc; goat cheese; basil; red pepper; sundried tomatoes; goat cheese; eggplant disc. Make as many as possible, and then drizzle the balsamic reduction over your finished stacks, garnish with basil.

I've also made these with zucchini and portabella mushrooms instead of the red pepper and sundried tomato. You can really add any sort of vegetable to this. It's basically like an eggplant sandwich!

Soba!

Summer is approaching, as as the weather heats up, here's a great soba dish to make for dinner- it's light and refreshing, but filling. Dylan recommended this to me, after he found it on 101cookbooks.com, and have made it a few times, adapting it a little bit from the original form (I added the mushrooms, and opted out of the cilantro). It's good warm, but I prefer to eat it cold, and it also works well as a leftover dish for lunches.

For the sauce:

Grated zest of 1 lemon
1-2 inch cube of ginger, grated
1 tablespoon honey
3/4 teaspoon cayenne
1 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
3 tablespoons unseasoned brown-rice vinegar
1/3 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil

12 ounces dried soba noodles
12 ounces extra-firm nigari tofu
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
3 green onions, thinly sliced
1 cucumber, peeled, cut in half lengthwise, seeded, and thinly sliced

1/2- 1cup of shiitake mushrooms, thinly sliced

1/4 cup toasted sesame seeds, for garnish

1 small handful of cilantro sprigs, for garnish (optional)

Make the sauce by combining the zest, ginger, honey, cayenne, and salt in a food processor (or use a hand blender) and process until smooth. Add the lemon juice, rice vinegar, and shoyu, and pulse to combine. With the machine running, drizzle in the oils.

Cook the soba in plenty of rapidly boiling salted water just until tender, then drain and rinse under cold running water.

While the pasta is cooking, drain the tofu, pat it dry, and cut it into cubes. Cook the tofu in a dry nonstick (or well-seasoned) skillet over medium-high heat for a few minutes, until the pieces are browned on one side. Toss gently once or twice, then continue cooking for another minute or so, until the tofu is firm, golden, and bouncy. Meanwhile, while the tofu is cooking, saute the mushrooms in a little olive oil and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the soba, the ¼ cup cilantro, mushrooms, the green onions, cucumber, and about ⅔ cup of the dressing. Toss until well combined. Add the tofu and toss again gently. Serve on a platter, garnished with the cilantro sprigs and the toasted sesame seeds.

A Vermont Original

Both Scott and my parents came to Boston for this rainy Sunday, to celebrate Scott's birthday.
I wanted to make something for brunch, and came upon this recipe in a cookbook Scott's parents gave us last Christmas/Hanukkah. Scott grew up in Vermont, and his parents still live there, right over the border in White River Junction. Vermont turns out a lot of wonderful products...maple syrup, Ben and Jerrys, Scott's parents fresh corn, beans, and zucchini, and my favorite - simple yet utterly delightful Vermont Sharp Cheddar. This recipe uses another unique cheese from the Green Mountain state; maple smoked gouda. Gouda is a rich smoky cheese that has an intense and sometimes overpowering flavor. It was perfect in this recipe though, because it doesn't take over. Instead, it compliments the tomatoes and brings out a flavor that many thought was bacon. Scott's father even called it an "omelette muffin".

I served the muffins with butter and fresh huckleberry jam. The huckleberry jam which was a bit overpowering. Strawberry or orange might work a bit better.

Smoked Gouda, Sun-dried Tomato, and Parsley Muffins

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tbsp. dry mustard
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. freshly ground white pepper
1 cup whole milk
2 eggs
4 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
3 tbsp. sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained and minced
1/2 cup chopped flat leaf parsley
1 cup roughly chopped maple smoked gouda (4 oz.)

- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a muffin pan.
- Mix the flour, baking powder, mustard, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. Whisk together milk, eggs, butter, tomatoes, and parsley in a separate bowl. Add the milk to the flour mixture, stirring until almost combined. Gently fold in the cheese with a rubber spatula (the mixture should look lumpy).
- Spoon the batter into the muffin tins. Bake until muffins are golden brown and firm, about 25 minutes.
- Cool on wire rack before serving.

Like a bee returning to the hive

I think that food should be enjoyed by all of your senses. Obviously it has to taste and smell amazing, but it should be more than that. There's the sound of the stove clicking on, and the heat from the food as you taste it, and the image of it all coming together - from a list of ingredients on a piece of paper to a beautiful meal on your table. And there's more than that. There are the feelings of friends all around you, sharing stories and laughter, wine and food, and time together. Not every meal invokes all of these senses, but some do. And those are the ones that you come back to, over and over, to share and enjoy. This is one of those recipes.

I first made this over New Years Eve. I was cooking for a large crowd and needed something spectacular, but "homey." We were out on the cape, in a kitchen that has EVERYTHING you could ever want - including more space than you could even imagine cooking in - and I wanted to make something that would bring everyone together around the table to start a long weekend off right. I came across a recipe by Jamie Oliver for a fantastically beautiful stuffed pasta recipe and knew it was perfect for the night.

There's nothing out-of-the-ordinary about the pasta or the sauce or the combinations in this recipe - it's a very simple vegetable ragú stuffed into long pasta tubes and layered with an easy béchamel sauce and parmesan cheese. The "spectacular" comes into this recipe in the way it touches the senses. The smell of the vegetables cooking down from an easy mirepoix to an incredibly thick and "meaty" sauce, the texture of the quick white sauce mixing with grated parmesan, and - most importantly - the way it looks when it comes together and sits on the table. Instead of laying the pasta tubes on their side and stuffing each one individually with the ragú, Jamie has the brilliant idea to layer the sauces on top of each other and then stack the pasta tubes upright, forming a honeycomb pattern.

I made this pasta again last weekend for a low key dinner at home with family and friends, and just like before, it appealed to all of my senses. It was the perfect way to bring everyone around the table to share in food and conversation. I found myself again, thinking about all that went into the dinner - all of the tastes, smells, sights and sounds of cooking the pasta, but also all of the feelings, stories and laughs that came from it.

Honeycomb Cannelloni (adapted from "Cook with Jamie" by Jamie Oliver)

serves 6-8

sea salt and black pepper

Parmesan cheese, for grating

1lb 2oz cannelloni tubes (or manicotti tubes)

EVOO

for the ragú

small handful of dried porcini or shiitake mushrooms

1/2 c plus 3 tbsps EVOO

3 carrots, peeled and diced

4 sticks of celery, trimmed and finely diced

1 large red onion, peeled and finely diced

1 leek, trimmed and finely diced

2 cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced

5 Portobello mushrooms, finely chopped

5 x 14 oz cans of good quality plum tomatoes (the good quality is really important)

a large bunch of fresh basil, leaves picked, stalks finely chopped

for the spinach

1 1/2 lbs fresh spinach

nutmeg, for grating

for the white sauce

1 c light cream

17 1/2 fl oz créme fraiche

a handful of grated Parmesan cheese

The first thing to do is find yourself a casserole pan or earthenware dish that will snugly hold all of your cannelloni standing upright, as shown in the picture. (I used a Le Cruset-style Martha Stewart Home ceramic dish).

To make your ragú, put your dried mushrooms in a bowl and just cover them with boiling water. Leave to soak for 5 minutes. meanwhile, put a large heavy-based saucepan on a medium heat and add the EVOO, carrots, celery, onion and leek. Cook gently for 8-10 minutes, then add the garlic and Portobello mushrooms. remove the porcini from the bowl, add them to the pan and cook for a further 5 minutes until the vegetables have softened. Strain the porcini liquor through a sieve and add this to the pan with a large wineglass of water. Allow the liquid to reduce slightly, then tip in your tomatoes and add your chopped basil stalks. Season with salt and pepper, and bring to a boil. Simmer for up to 45 minutes, until you have a thick, right vegetable ragú. Tear in the basil leaves.

Meanwhile, in a saucepan heath a splash of EVOO and add the spinach, stir, then leave to wilt down. Season with salt, pepper and a grating of nutmeg and put aside. To make your quick white sauce, all you have to do is mix the cream, créme fraiche, and grated Parmesan. Then check the seasoning and that's it!

Preheat the oven to 375°. Now get out the pan you located at the beginning of the recipe and spoon in 1/2 inch of the cheese sauce. Sprinkle with grated Parmesan and top with the spinach. Carefully ladle over half of the vegetable ragú and stand your cannelloni tubes in it. Press the tubes down into the sauce with the palm of your hand - the sauce will come up and half fill the tubes. Spoon over the rest of the ragú, smoothing it down into the holes. Pour over the remaining cheese sauce, sprinkle over some more grated Parmesan, drizzle with EVOO and bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes until gold and bubbly.

Pop open a bottle of Chianti and enjoy!

Quinoa, the wonder grain

Hey guys - I had some time today and thought I'd make the first entry after whipping up a tasty and satisfying lunch.

Quinoa...oh how I love it so. When I first saw his at whole foods years ago I was a bit intimidated, but decided to take the plunge into what it described as "the grain of the Incas". After making which is one of my favorites dishes (Quinoa, black beans, and fresh corn, which I'll post below) it has become a staple in my kitchen. Here's what I made for lunch today:

Balsamic Quinoa with Fresh Veggies

• 1 cup quinoa
• 2 cups water
• veggie bullion
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1/2 white onion, chopped
• 1/2 red pepper, chopped
• 2-3 cups baby spinach
• 3 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
• 3 tbsp. honey mustard
• salt and (garlic) pepper

Wash off quinoa in a fine strainer. Add quinoa to saucepan with water and add bullion. Bring to a boil, and then simmer, covered, for 15-18 minutes. In a skillet, add onions and garlic with a little olive oil. Cook until translucent, then add red peppers. Add spinach and cook up everything until spinach wilts.

Combine veggies with quinoa. Add balsamic, mustard, and salt and pepper and mix throughly. Taste, and add more vinegar, mustard, pepper, if necessary.

I added some grilled chicken, but grilled tofu would be superb as well. Simple, yet satisfying, and this makes enough for leftovers!


Here's the recipe that made me fall in love. Krish - I feel like this one has your name all over it...especially because of the cayenne.

Quinoa and Black Beans

• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
• 3/4 cup uncooked quinoa
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 & 1/2 cup fresh corn kernels (2 ears of corn)
  
• 2 (15 ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1. Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the onion and garlic, and saute until lightly browned.
2. Mix quinoa into the saucepan and cover with vegetable broth. Season with cumin, cayenne pepper, salt, and pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes.
3. Boil 2 ears of corn in salted water until cooked. Cut corn off cob.
   
4. Stir in fresh corn into the saucepan, and continue to simmer about 5 minutes until heated through. Mix in the black beans and cilantro.