What are your favorite things about summer? One of mine is PEACHES. Yum. Love them. I get so annoyed, however, that every time I buy them, the baggers at the grocery store seem to put them at the bottom of the bag and they end up all bruised by the time I get home! Dislike. Here’s a good recipe from Barefoot Contessa to use up some of the great fruit in season right now.
Summer Fruit Crostata From Barefoot Contessa At Home cookbook
For the crust:
1 cup flour
1/8 cup sugar
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/2 cup cold butter, diced
About 3 tbsp ice water
For the filling:
1 lb peaches
1/2 lb black plums
1/2 pint blueberries
1 tbsp + 1/4 cup flour
1 tbsp + 1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon orange zest
2 tbsp orange juice
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/4 cup cold butter, diced
Instructions for the crust:
In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, salt, and butter. Use a pastry blender (or a fork, or your hands) to mix the butter into the dry ingredients. Add the water, one tablespoon at a time, just until the dough comes together. Shape into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Meanwhile, make the filling. Then remove the dough from the refrigerator and roll into an 11-inch circle. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Instructions for the filling:
Slice the peaches and plums into wedges. Place in a large bowl with the blueberries. Add one tablespoon of flour, one tablespoon of sugar, the orange zest, and orange juice. Place the fruit in the middle of the dough, and leave a one-inch border.
Combine the remaining flour, sugar and butter in a small bowl. Mix the ingredients together with a pastry blender or your fingers until it comes together. Spread the mixture evenly over the fruit. Fold the border of the dough over the fruit. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake at 450 degrees for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.
I served with whipped cream. It would be great with vanilla ice cream too!
This is one of my favorite recipes my mom used to make in the summertime when we were kids. Green beans + bacon = good. She probably put the bacon in to get us to eat our vegetables, but hey, it worked. Hi, Mom, if you are reading this! This side dish goes well with anything cooked on the grill.
Mom’s Green Beans
1/2 lb green beans
3 slices cooked chopped bacon, or 1/2 jar Bacon Bits (the real bacon ones, not the crunchy ones you get at the salad bar)
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 onion, diced
Bring a saucepan of water to a boil, then cook the green beans until desired tenderness. Drain and set aside. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a skillet. Saute the onion in the butter until soft. Then add the green beans and bacon, toss to combine. Season with salt and pepper.
Note: a quick way to cook bacon is in the microwave. Cook for about one minute per slice (3 slices = about 3 minutes).
Here’s a recipe I whipped up the other day when John was gone at a work event. He must have thought the picture I posted on twitter of them looked good, since he asked me to make them for him when he got home.
Asian Noodles with Potstickers Serves 2
1/2 pkg Rice noodles (found in the Asian aisle of the grocery store)
1/2 Package of frozen stir fry vegetables (or whatever you have on hand)
Frozen potstickers
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon honey
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
Green onions, sliced thinly on the diagonal
Instructions:
In a small bowl, mix the cornstarch into the soy sauce. Set aside.
In a medium saucepan, bring water to a boil. Once boiling, drop the noodles into the water and remove from heat. Soak until tender. Set aside. Meanwhile, cook the potstickers according to package directions.
Heat the vegetables in a medium skillet, according to package directions. Add the soy sauce mixture, honey, and sesame oil and stir. Add the noodles and potstickers, tossing to coat in the sauce. Top with green onions and serve.
Here’s my attempt to catch up on my blog! We are all settled in Colorado and are hoping for some visitors sometime soon. I promise to cook for you if you come visit!
We went to the Boulder Farmers’ Market on Saturday and picked up some various things, including a baguette, strawberries, the best tortilla chips ever, some corn, and a yellow watermelon.
I used the baguette from the farmers’ market to make these toasts, inspired by a recipe from the Barefoot Contessa.
Roasted Pepper and Goat Cheese Toasts
Baguette, sliced 1-inch thick on the diagonal
Goat cheese
Roasted bell peppers (make your own, or from a jar)
Caramelized onions (see below for instructions)
Basil
Balsamic vinegar
For the caramelized onions:
Slice one onion thinly. Melt one tablespoon of butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the onions and season with salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are very soft and brown.
To assemble:
Drizzle the baguette slices with a little olive oil. Toast in the oven at 350 degrees until golden brown. Spread with goat cheese. Top with caramelized onions and then the roasted peppers. Garnish with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar and a sprinkling of basil. Season with salt and pepper.
My Tidy Kitchen has moved to Colorado! As a part of the Leadership Development Rotational Program I’m in for work, I’ve been relocated to Colorado for a one-year assignment in our office here in CO. We left Sunday night and arrived on Monday afternoon (with a brief overnight stay in Des Moines). The trip was long and boring, and rather uneventful. I have this week off from work and have basically been unpacking and making expensive trips to Target. I did venture out to the Cherry Creek Mall in Denver yesterday.
Since I haven’t done much cooking here in the new kitchen, here are some pictures of my kitchen in not-so-tidy form to hold you over until my next post.
The kitchen: before unpacking…
During… (please, no one buy me anymore kitchen stuff!)
And after! Back to being tidy.
And the first meal in our new place: beef tenderloin on the grill, corn on the cob, ciabatta rolls, and fruit.
In less than two months, I will need to learn to make high-altitude adjustments to my baking skills… For those of you that have not heard, we are moving to Colorado in June for my job. This is a huge change for John and me, since we both grew up in Minnesota and all our friends and family are here. It’s been a bunch of mix of emotions so far: stress, excitement, sadness, but we’re excited for what this adventure will bring.
Thanks to King Arthur Flour on Twitter, I found this article that sums up what you need to know about high-altitude baking. Seems intimidating, but practice makes perfect! I will need to find some new friends to test recipes on.
Here’s a picture of our new home that we’ll be moving into in June. We’ll have a guest room, so you are welcome to come visit us!
I’ve been MIA lately. John started a new job and he travels a lot now, so I don’t have anyone to cook for. I did cook my dear friend Kelly dinner for her birthday, and I’m hosting my parents for dinner on Friday, so hopefully I’ll get some new posts up soon!
I made this fondue a while back when our friends Nate and Laura hosted a fondue party and I needed to bring something other than the traditional cheese or chocolate fondue. You can serve this in tortillas or with tortilla chips. Here’s a link to the recipe from Martha Stewart (her recipes never let you down!), and I’ll include the steps below.
Take a big block of monterey jack cheese. I love Fancy brand cheese.
Whenever I get the cheese grater out, here comes my buddy Olive to clean up anything that happens to fall on the floor!
Grate all the cheese and reserve for later. It’s a good arm workout to grate a pound of cheese.
Next, preheat your oven to broil. Place two poblano peppers on a sheet pan on the top rack. Broil them, turning approximately every 5 minutes until each side is blackened. Remove them from the oven and place them in a ziploc bag and seal. When cool, remove them from the plastic bag and peel off the blackened skin. Remove the ribs, seeds, and stem and dice.
Dice a red bell pepper.
Remove the chorizo from it’s casing and saute over medium heat. When it’s almost cooked through, and the red pepper.
Add the cheese and diced poblano peppers, stir to mix all together. Serve warm in tortillas.
Here’s a meal that is easy and delicious, but fancy enough for a special occasion.
Roasted Beef Tenderloin
Serves 2 – inspired by The Joy of Cooking
2 – 8 ounce pieces beef tenderloin
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Pat the meat dry, and season all sides with salt and pepper. Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Sear the meat on all sides until brown, then transfer the skillet to the oven to cook through. Cook for about 30 minutes for medium-well. Remove from oven and cover with foil. Let the meat rest for about 15 minutes before serving. Transfer to plate to serve.
I recently purchased a food thermometer which comes in handy for all sorts of things. It makes it much easier to tell if your meat is cooked to your desired doneness. The Joy of Cooking book gives these guidelines: 125-130 degrees for rare, 135-140 for medium-rare, 150-155 for medium. I also learned that inserting the thermometer into the side of the meat gives a more accurate temperature than inserting it into the top.
Roasted Haricots Verts Serves 2
2 handfuls haricots verts (french green beans) – or substitute green beans
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees (these can go in the oven at the same time as the beef tenderloin). On a sheet pan, drizzle the beans with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Spread into an even layer then cover with the parmesan cheese. Place sheet pan in oven and roast beans for approximately 15 minutes, or until tender and the cheese is crispy and golden brown. Transfer to plate to serve.
Pasta with Truffle Butter
Serves 2 – Adapted from the Barefoot Contessa
8 oz fettucine
1.5 oz truffle butter (I found it at Kowalskis in the deli section)
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper
Cook the pasta according to package directions. Drain the pasta, reserving a small amount of pasta water. Return the pasta to the pot, add the truffle butter, cream, and parmesan cheese, stir to combine. Add a bit of the pasta water if the sauce is too thick. Add salt and pepper to taste. Transfer to plate to serve.
I had been craving french toast for about a month and finally got around to making it for breakfast on Valentine’s Day. I think the key to awesome french toast is good bread! I used challah bread, and would also recommend brioche – both are buttery and chewy. If you can’t find those breads, french bread or cinnamon bread work fine too. I think thick slices of bread work best because thin slices get too soggy and mushy. Adding vanilla and cinnamon makes my version of french toast…
French Toast Serves 2
5-6 slices challah bread, cut into 1-inch thick slices
2 eggs
3 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
Pinch of salt
Maple syrup, for serving
Powdered sugar, for serving
Butter, for skillet
Beat together the eggs, milk, vanilla, cinnamon, and salt in a shallow dish or pie plate. Heat a skillet over medium to medium-high heat, melt 1/2 to 1 tablespoon butter (depending on how big your skillet is). Coat the bread slices on both sides in the egg mixture. Add to the skillet and cook for a few minutes on each side until golden brown. Transfer to a plate and sprinkle with powdered sugar for a little extra sweetness. Serve with maple syrup.
This is an original recipe, inspired by the fried ravioli I loved to eat in the dining center (the “DC”) during college at Bethel University. These probably contributed to my gaining the “Freshman 15″ but they are so delicious. Just don’t eat them once a week and you’ll be fine.
Fried Ravioli Serves 2 or 3
1 package cheese ravioli from the refrigerated section of the grocery store. Recommended: Buitoni Riserva Quattro Formaggi Agnolotti
1/2 cup flour
3 eggs
1 cup italian bread crumbs
Marinara sauce, for serving. Recommended: Classico 4-Cheese
Vegetable oil, for frying
In a large saucepan, heat enough oil to be a few inches deep in your pan over medium to medium-high heat until it reaches 350 degrees (a candy/frying thermometer is helpful to have). Note: you can test the temperature of your oil but dropping a little piece of bread into the oil. If it bubbles and floats to the top and starts to fry, the oil is ready.
Make an assembly line with three bowls. Place the flour in the first bowl. In the second bowl, beat the eggs with a small splash of water. Place the bread crumbs in the third bowl. Lastly, line a large plate with paper towels.
Dip the ravioli in the flour and coat completely. Then coat the ravioli in the eggs, then in the bread crumbs, coating completely. Next, coat in the egg and bread crumbs again. This second layer is key to getting a nice thick crust that will stay attached to the ravioli. Repeat with all ravioli.
Place 2 or 3 ravioli gently into the oil and fry until golden brown. Don’t add too many ravioli at once, or you will decrease the temperature of the oil leading to soggy ravioli. Remove the ravioli from the oil and let cool on the paper towel-lined plate. Repeat with remaining ravioli.
Warm the marinara sauce to serve with the ravioli. Serve with a salad to make a meal. Enjoy (in moderation)!!
