Going Bananas in the Land of St. Honore'

She woke with a start. It had been a horrible dream. The twins, her granddaughters who live on the other side of the country, were grown up in the dream. One was a dental tech and the other was a personal trainer at a gym...and neither one of them knew what to do with the ingredients on the kitchen counter in her dream; the softened butter, the sugar, flour, molasses, eggs, nuts, chocolate chips. They had a birth right, as anyone in our land has, to bake, yet they had no idea how to measure flour, soften butter, or even how to crack an egg. This was terrible! No child in the Land of St. Honore' should be flummoxed about baking something.

Eva decided she would do something so that this dream never became a reality. Well, maybe they would become a personal trainer and a dental tech, but she would make sure that they knew how to bake. Not only would they not be mystified at the sight of an egg, they would know how to separate eggs and whisk whites and bake a lovely, light, luscious, delectable cake.

First she waited until a decent hour, then called her daughter, their mom. She had to time the call just right because Grace would be leaving home soon to go to work. She was a CPA high up in her firm. Although she had been taught, she never baked. 'No time' was her excuse.

"Grace, I would love to have the girls visit me at Christmas, or even Thanksgiving, if that's possible. I know that they are always busy with volleyball and chess club and the debate team, but could you find a few days when they could spend a little time with me?" Eva was tempted to add "before its too late" but didn't think her daughter would be so easily led.

Grace had a particularly difficult client at the moment, so she agreed. Better that her girls have some fun instead of being saddled with a babysitter when she had to work extra. At eleven years old they were getting a bit beyond babysitters anyway.

Eva was thrilled. They were coming the day before Thanksgiving. They could bake pies for Thanksgiving, perhaps make dinner rolls, and surely they could make a cake, too. She could hardly wait!

Plans changed and they arrived the day after Thanksgiving. No one wanted pies or dinner rolls and a cake seemed too rich after all the holiday food. Still, there were some ripe bananas to use up. Time to bake a classic banana bread...with a twist. She wanted to use molasses and to add chocolate chips, just for fun.

The girls were a bit hesitant at first, but soon got into the swing of things, measuring flour and sugar, mashing bananas, and, yes, cracking some eggs and finding out that bits of shells could be removed from the eggs in the bowl, with care.

They giggled at the slow movement of the molasses and had fun getting their fingers greasy while using the butter wrapper to grease the bread pan.

Their faces beamed with big smiles when they brought the first piece of baked banana bread to their Granddad. They were even happier when he exclaimed over the texture, flavor and deliciousness. They were hooked! Eva knew that on their next visit that they would bake that cake with her. Their heritage was intact.

You, too, can keep the arts of baking alive. This banana bread is easy, uses up very ripe bananas, and can be packed in a lunchbox or used as an afternoon pickup or quick bite in the morning. If you make it with half regular flour and half whole wheat flour it is almost healthy...after all, it has fruit.

Banana Bread with Walnuts and Chocolate
makes one loaf

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/4 cup molasses, dark is best

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs, beaten

3 ripe bananas (or 2 large), mashed

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf pan (you can use the butter wrapper if you've already put the soft butter into the mixing bowl. That is what the twins did).

Beat butter, molasses and sugar together until fluffy. It's OK if it looks curdled.

Add eggs and banana pulp and beat well.

Add sifted dry ingredient's, vanilla, and buttermilk. Mix just until dry ingredients are incorporated. Stir in nuts, and chocolate chips.

Pour into prepared loaf pan. Bake about 1 hour. Test for doneness with a toothpick in center. When done, toothpick comes out clean or with a few crumbs on it. Cool well.

Store overnight before cutting...if you can wait that long. A serrated knife makes cutting easier.

More Tomato Love

We have been having a little heat, so the cherry tomatoes have been ripening up at a good clip. I've given three or four pints away and today cooked up two pounds to use as the base for some awesome home made pizzas. More ways to love those tomatoes.

With the oven preheating to a toasty 500 degrees F, I made sure they all were sans stem and clean. Some were ripe enough that the skins had split...so juicy! Some were tiny, some were about the size of a walnut, and everything in between. Red, yellow, orange and gold orbs, uncut, went into a large plastic bag to be coated with olive oil, then  onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet. I did sprinkle a little garlic salt and grind a little pepper on them, but otherwise they were just roasted until the skins were a bit browned.

I poured them into a big glass bowl and mashed them down a bit with a wooden spoon. Extra juices from the pan were scraped into the bowl too. That was it...the perfect tomato sauce for pizza, with skin and seed still in the mix for flavor and nutrition.

For the pizza, I spread spoonsful of the tomatoes over the shaped pizza dough, added dollops of ricotta cheese, sprinkles of

freshly chopped basil and Italian parsley and oregano, sprinkles of shredded mozzarella cheese, a drizzle of olive oil and a light sprinkle of grated Parmesan.

It was excellent once baked! The crust had crisped up since it was baked on a pizza stone in a very hot oven. The intense flavor of the roasted tomatoes was offset beautifully by the mellow cheeses and the sharply herbal flavors of parsley, oregano and basil. We enjoyed it a lot, along with a nice Caesar salad. And then we had another (they were small) just to make sure that we liked that roasted cherry tomato sauce. We did...in fact we loved it.

Tomato Love

I get a bit emotional about tomatoes. First because I spend a lot of time and thought on them: I start them from seeds in the late days of winter, tend the little plants with care, give a boatload of older, re-potted plants away to friends since there are almost always way more seedlings than I can handle, harden them off and then plant them in the spring. It is hard to see the seedlings that are left...unloved and unplanted...so I usually plant more than I should.

It doesn't stop there. Daily watering allows me to follow the growth of each plant, the formation of tiny tomatoes (often after a long, frustrating period when I get lots of blossoms and no fruit setting up) and the growth of those tomatoes to see what kind they might become. That last was especially true this year because when the plants were re-potted into larger peat pots I was deranged due to morphine residual from the hospitalization with a kidney stone, so I didn't really keep track of the varieties very well. It was actually kinda fun to see what I ended up with.

Then there is the looooooong wait until the tomatoes actually ripen. This year the cherry tomatoes came first and were a delight, but that first plate of sliced tomatoes, lightly seasoned with pepper, olive oil, balsamic vinegar sprinkles and a little garlic salt or sea salt is the ultimate pleasure. Until I have the first of the season BLT.

Now we are to the point where there are enough large tomatoes (and way too many cherry tomatoes) that I can share them. I also begin making different recipes that showcase the tomato.

Yesterday I threw together a seasonal veggie stew you might like. Chunks of juicy ripe Mortgage Lifter tomatoes added their summery flavor and color, but it also had sautéed onions and garlic, lots of fresh basil for fragrance, flavor and bite, slices of zucchini because I love zucchini, plus some yellow wax beans for color and texture and just a bit of beany flavor. Of course there was some pepper added, but no salt this time. Instead I added a splash of balsamic vinegar. All that was missing was eggplant, but I don't actually like eggplant, so I was fine with that.

This mixture went perfectly with a couple of small rectangles of this cheese and polenta grill that I posted about HERE. I suspect that it would also work well over almost any grain, as a filling for rolled up tortillas, maybe with some cheese, or even over pasta. For pasta you might want to cut up the veggies smaller when you start.

Do you have a favorite tomato recipe?

Tomato, Basil and Beans Together

1/2 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/2 cups fresh tomato chunks
1 cup sliced zucchini
1 cup fresh beans (I used yellow wax beans, but green string beans are great, too)
2-3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
salt and pepper to taste

In a large pot, sautee' the onions and garlic in the oil until tender and translucent, about 5 minutes.

Reduce the heat to medium and add the tomato chunks, zucchini, beans, basil, and salt and pepper.

Stir to combine and heat until the zucchini is tender, about 8 minutes. Taste for seasoning and serve.

August BBB Delight Hints at Autumn

 

The days are truly getting shorter and school started in our neighborhood yesterday, so this month's Bread Baking Babes bread, Nut Roll Coffee Cake from our Kitchen of the Month Jaime of Life's a Feast, is perfect because it has the cinnamon and nuts that hint of holiday baking to come.

I only made half the recipe, baking it in a long loaf pan, but this one is so delicious that I urge you to make the full recipe, if only so that you can share it with friends. A rich, brioche-like dough is rolled around a most unusual filling. It's a nut meringue with cinnamon and the combination is amazing. Two of those lovely rolls are stacked, one on top of the other, in a tube pan, then allowed to rise a bit. After it is baked you let it cool a little bit before removing from the pan. You are supposed to let it cool completely according to the recipe, but don't. The warm, buttery, fragrant with cinnamon bread is tender and, frankly, addictive if you eat it while it retains some of the heat from the oven.

 

The remarkable thing about this bread is that it is a no-knead one. Rolling up the bread once you have spread on the meringue filling is about the hardest part of making this. If you have done anything with a jelly roll type rolling up, it will be a snap for you. The results will bring a smile to your face...and a desire for just another piece. The finished roll didn't look pretty when it came out of the pan, and it was a little hard to cut without making a mess since it had sunk a little while cooling, but it tasted so spectacular that we didn't care a bit.

 

Thanks to Jaime for picking such a perfect recipe for August. Do check out the bread baked by the other Bread Baking Babes. I'm also sending this over to Susan (Alumnae Babe) at Wild Yeast for her Yeast Spotting round up of the week.

Last, but not least, come bake with the Babes this month. Make the bread, snap a photo, send an e-mail to Jaime with a brief description of your baking experience (plus that photo) and she'll send you a Buddy Badge and include you in the round-up.

If you have kids going to school between now and the 29th, I can assure you that they will be thrilled to arrive home to the warm fragrance of cinnamon which will perfume the house when you bake this Nut Roll Coffee Cake.

 

Here is the full recipe from Jamie:

NUT ROLL COFFEE CAKE
You will need a stand mixer or beaters to whip egg whites for the meringue filling and a 10-inch (standard) tube pan.

For the dough:
2 packages (1/4 ounce/7 g each) active dry yeast
¼ cup (@ 65 ml) warm water (110°F to 115°F)
16 Tbs (225 g) unsalted butter, melted
½ cup (125 ml) warm 2% fat/lowfat milk (110°F to 115°F)
4 egg yolks
2 Tbs sugar
¾ tsp salt
 2 ½ cups (350 g*) all-purpose flour (I use French regular flour), more as needed

* when I measure flour I spoon lightly into the measuring cup and then level off so 1 cup usually weigh approximately 140 g 

For the filling:
3 egg whites
1 cup + 3 Tbs sugar, divided
2 cups ground walnuts
2 Tbs 2% fat/lowfat milk
2 tsps ground cinnamon

The day before, prepare the dough:
In a large mixing bowl, dissolve the yeast in warm water. Add the butter, milk, eggs yolks, sugar, salt and flour. Beat until smooth – the mixture will be sticky. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

The day of baking, prepare the filling:
In a small bowl, beat the egg whites on medium speed until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in 1 cup sugar, about 2 tablespoons at a time, on high speed until the sugar is incorporated and dissolved.

In a large bowl, combine the walnuts, milk, cinnamon and remaining sugar; fold in the meringue.

Prepare the Coffee Cake:
Grease a 10-inch tube pan.

Divide the dough in half. On a well-floured work surface, roll each portion into an 18 x 12 –inch (45 x 30 cm) rectangle. Spread half of the filling evenly over each rectangle within 1/2 –inch (1 cm) of the edges. Roll each up jelly-roll style, starting with the long side; pinch seam to seal.

Place one filled roll, seam side up, in the greased tube pan. Place the second roll, seam side down.

Let rise for 1 hour. Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).  Bake in the preheated oven for 40 – 45 minutes or until puffed and golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool for 10 minutes before removing the coffee cake from the pan to a cooling rack to cool completely. Top may crack when cooling.

Eat as is or drizzle with glaze or dust with powdered sugar.

Plenty of Cherry Tomatoes

With foggy mornings and sunny afternoons being the norm, my cherry tomato plants are producing like crazy. Every day there are more dots of color among the branches, just waiting to be picked. The most prolific has been the sun gold type, but I'm also getting red ones and yellow ones and orange ones. Yesterday I had enough to give a heaping basket to the firemen at the fire station, another basket for Grandma L and plenty for our dinner salad.

Usually I don't post salads or soups because in my world those are not really recipes. I throw in whatever I have on hand in the amounts that look right, usually directly from the cutting board to the bowl or pot, so there are rarely measurements taken.

Last night's dinner salad was a perfect example. First into the bowl was a small head of romaine lettuce, cut into bite-sized pieces. Next in were chunks of green patty pan squash, red and yellow small cherry tomatoes, cut in half, followed by some avocado chunks and a sprinkle of raisins. The amounts were, roughly, 1/3 cup of the squash, 1 cup of the tomatoes, 1/2 avocado, and 3 tablespoons raisins. It was a great mixture, mostly crunchy but with the occasional bit of soft avocado and almost soft raisin.

When you have plenty of cherry tomatoes, what do you make?

Soda Bread with Blueberries

One of my treasured recipes is for Aunt May's Irish Soda Bread. It's in my book (Classic Comfort Food) and I throw it together for tea when I have the time and some buttermilk in the fridge.

Recently I ordered some more Irish Wholemeal Flour from King Arthur Flour. It is the perfect flour to use for this recipe, although I only use half wholemeal and half regular all-purpose flour. Today I also had some fat, ripe, deeply blue blueberries on hand. Never tried fresh blueberries in the soda bread before, but I'm glad I did. The soda bread is just firm enough a batter that the berries don't fall to the bottom like they sometimes do with blueberry muffins. The excellent flavors of wheat and buttermilk of the bread go really well with the tang of the blueberries...and they look pretty.

I only made half the batter, so it was about 1/2 cup of blueberries for this one. For the full recipe I would put in a cup of the blue beauties. Although you can certainly add some butter to the slices once baked, there is enough butter in the batter that you don't need it. With the blueberries bursting with warm juices, you really don't need anything else...except maybe a cup of tea.

Aunt May's Irish Soda Bread with Blueberries(the blueberries are not in Aunt May's version, but are yummy)

4 cups all-purpose flour (I used 2 cups all-purpose and 2 cups Irish whole meal flour)
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons sugar
8 oz. (1 stick) cold butter, in thin slices
2 ¼ cups buttermilk
1 cup blueberries

Sift the dry ingredients over the butter and cut in well with a fork or pastry blender.  Add the buttermilk and mix just until moist - don’t over-handle. Some dry stuff is OK, but the dough should be sticky. Turn dough out onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet, flatten the dough lightly, then pat on the blueberries. Pull dough gently over the fruit and pat into a rough circle. Cut a cross on top. Bake 45 minutes at 350⁰ F. Cool a bit before slicing.

Redux

Found this post (unposted) when I was going through drafts to delete unwanted ones. This pie was from Christmas 2012 and it was excellent! No, I'm really, really not thinking about Christmas this soon. I thought that if I posted it that the date would be from the draft, not today. Live and learn.



Pumpkin pie with a gingerbread crumb inner crust over a normal pie crust with more of the crumb mixture on top at the sides. From Southern Living, of course. Amazing take on a pumpkin pie!

Fast and Fun Burrito

Now that I live in California I'm surrounded with some of the best Mexican food outside of Mexico, but when I was growing up on the East coast, I knew absolutely nothing about tacos and enchiladas and burritos much less empanadas or tamales or any other south-of-the-border foods.

When I lived in Berkeley I went to a dinner party where the highlight of the dinner was make-it-yourself burritos. I liked it so much that it soon became a staple of our busy lives. When you make a big pot of chili, there are leftovers and those become the centerpiece of the burrito. Add a tray with a pile of chopped fresh tomato, a pile of chopped cilantro, a pile of diced avocados or a bowl of guacamole, some sliced olives, a bowl of shredded cheese, shredded lettuce, a bowl of re-heated rice, a bowl of sour cream or plain yogurt and you are almost there. We used to add plain tortillas, heated briefly in the cast iron skillet and doled out as they were warmed. Now there are so many types of tortillas that we can have some flavored with tomato or spinach or herbs, but I often go with the plain tortillas I remember from my first encounter with this dish.

Once the children were grown and no longer around the dinner table, I lost track of this dish for some reason. I think we've had it half a dozen times at the most in the last dozen years. Today I needed a quick meal and remembered the left over chili in the fridge. Once I discovered a package of tortillas on the bottom shelf the rest was easy. Unfortunately we were out of avocados but it was OK. Even with a limited number of add-ons, it was just as much fun as I remembered. On a warm tortilla I laid out a rectangle of hot chili, sprinkled on some shredded cheddar cheese, a big pinch of cilantro, a dribble of plain yogurt, then folded it up into the classic burrito shape. Brought back great memories I can tell you!

You can make your own memories. This is a great meal to do with kids because they can make it their way. If you don't have chili you can use refried beans or kidney bean, black beans or pintos. If you do that, add some salsa and/or hot sauce for zest.

Sweetie ate up all the tomatoes we didn't put into the burritos and then we ate some wonderful Bing cherries for dessert. Fast, easy and fun.

Make Your Own Burritos

leftover chili OR
refried beans or kidney bean, black beans or pintos and some salsa or hot sauce
reheated cooked rice
shredded cheese
chopped cilantro
chopped tomatoes
1-2 avocados, peeled, pit removed and diced
plain yogurt or sour cream
sliced black olives, drained
shredded iceberg lettuce
more salsa and/or hot sauce
flour tortillas

Heat the chili, or beans and put into a serving dish.
On a tray arrange a bowl of warm rice, a pile of the cheese, a pile of cilantro, a pile of tomatoes, a pile of avocado, a dish of yogurt or sour cream, a bowl of olives, a pile of shredded lettuce. If you don't have any of the ingredients on the tray, don't worry...just serve what you have.
Put the salsa and/or hot sauce on the table, along with the dish of chili or beans, and the tray of fixins.
Heat the tortillas in a skillet or the oven to warm them. Serve wrapped in a towel to keep warm.

For each serving, put a warm tortilla on the plate. In the middle put a rectangle of chili, leaving enough room to wrap the tortilla around the fillings. Add your favorite fillings, salsa or sauces. Wrap by folding in one side, folding up the bottom, then the other side. Eat, being sure to have a napkin handy to catch any drips.

Wine Bread

Around here we are awash in wine and wine-related things. There are wine auctions, wine road events, grape harvest news and more. One of the trainers at the gym is going to intern next month and the following one at a winery; going out into the various blocks of vines and taking samples, then checking for sugar levels and grapes per cluster count and recording all of the findings in a database. Sounds like fun!

Even more fun was the Bread Baking Babes bread for July. Astrid of Paulchen's Foodblog was our Babe of the month and she gave us a lovely bread to make which is flavored with sweet white wine; Rheinbrot. I didn't actually use a Riesling as the recipe required, but found a lovely white Moscato instead. The poolish did carry the fragrance of the Moscato at first, and I can detect a bit of the flavor in the finished bread, which we had with our dinner tonight. As an aproned and pantied Babe I was supposed to have made the bread and posted by July 16th, but at least I finished it in time to be with the Buddies...an honorable place to be. The bread is light and has lot of holes, is moist but not too much so, and the flour I used gave some texture as well as hearty flavor.

One of the thing I noticed when I read the posts of those who had already baked the bread was that it lent itself to variations. For my variation I used King Arthur Flour's Irish whole meal flour instead of bread flour for the roughly two cups that are added to the poolish...and I used Lien's poolish recipe, too. Mine actually sat for over 24 hours, enriched after 10 hours with another 1/3 cup bread flour mixed with 1/3 cup water. The reason was that I had planned poorly and wasn't around when the dough needed attention on Sunday if I wanted to bake it for last night's dinner. It all worked out in the end because it was chilly enough tonight to warm up the kitchen for the baking.

My only regret was that I tried to use my banneton, just as Lien had. Imagine my consternation when I went to turn the risen dough out to bake when I found that it had welded itself to the coils of the basket! Yes, I had used copious amounts of flour on the basket before adding the dough. I suspect, seeing the large holes in the finished bread, that the dough was just too wet for the basket treatment. You can see in the photo below the remains of the floured parts that had stuck...it adds an interesting texture, doesn't it?

Despite the lack of shapeliness, this lovely bread was delicious! Thank you Astrid for choosing this recipe. Although I love to sip wine as I eat bread, I never would have thought to bake a bread with wine. I also hope you will add me to the Buddy round-up. Better late than never, right?

Rheinbrot(makes one large loaf)

Sponge:
50 gram semisweet Riesling
50 gram boiled water, at room temperature
100 gram flour
50 gram of wheat sourdough at 100% hydration

Dough
250 gram flour (I used 250 grams Irish whole meal flour)
135 gram water
6 gram salt

1) Mix wine with water and add the sourdough, whisk thoroughly
.
2) Add flour and mix again.

3) The dough ferments at 2 stages:

3a) 4 hours at a temperature 30-32°C, it should grow at least twice its size, will be lumpy looking at this stage and have larger and smaller bubbles. If you stick your nose into the container, the scent will be somewhat unpleasant, it may even seem that the dough has deteriorated. Don't panic, this only means the dough is doing the right things ;o)

3b) Pour the sponge in a bowl and whisk thoroughly to remove all the gas out of it and fill it with oxygen. Cover with foil and let sit for 10-12 hours (overnight) at room temperature. Dough will rise again in half and very often shows smaller bubbles.

4) Now the sponge is ready for kneading: pour in the water and stir until smooth. Add the flour, mix well and give the autolysis a chance to do it's magic for 40-50 minutes.

5) add the salt and quickly knead the dough, if it is too sticky add a little four, but be careful not to add too much.

6) Let ferment for 2-2.5 hours. Fold twice after 1 hour and 1 1/2 hour. The dough smells fresh now, no smell of the wine.

7) Form a loaf and let proof in a basket for 1 1/2 hours (doubles in size) covered with a towel in a draft free place.

8) Preheat oven to 240°C.

9) Transfer dough to your baking sheet. Make an incision or two and let it slide on your baking stone.

10) Bake for 10 minutes with steam and without steam like 20 minutes at 200°C.

11) Let cool down for alt least half an hour before slicing the bread.

My notes: I didn't use a sourdough but a poolish:
poolish
75 g sweet white wine (I used Moscato)
75 g water
150 g bread flour
1/4 tsp dry yeast
I left this stand (covered) overnight for approx. 24 hours.
I continued with the recipe as above (except for the change of flour) and added another 1/4 tsp in the dough.

Pesto to the Rescue

Everything is going so well with the entry project that I'm not really complaining, but, gee it takes a lot of time to do construction!

Yesterday we removed the old door frame, along with the expandable foam insulation, flashing above, old shims and tar paper. Sweetie did most of the heavy stuff and I scraped off old insulation and did the demo on the flashing and tar paper. Took a good chunk of the day. Thank heavens for things like pre-packaged chili seasoning and already made pesto.

 Last night we had my well-loved chili, but the night we had that awesome cheese and cherry tomato salad, we also had a super quick chicken pesto pasta dish. Could never have gotten both on the table without that Fircrest pesto. There were also the quick-fix helpers of fresh pasta from the store, frozen already-grilled chicken, and our own zucchini. Zucchini are so easy to prepare...no peeling!

So while the pasta water came to a boil, the sliced zucchini browned in a cast iron skillet. Once the zucchini came out, in went the frozen chicken strips and chunks. I let them brown, then removed them to sit with the zucchini while I browned some pine nuts. Once the pasta was done and drained, it was easy to put the hot pasta, green pesto, and a little of the pasta cooking water into a bowl and stir to coat the pasta with the pesto. A quick re-heat for a minute in the microwave made sure that the squash and chicken were hot. Into the past bowl they went, along with the pine nuts. After a quick stir to combine it all, I served it up and we enjoyed a fairly gourmet entrée that had taken only about 15 minutes to make.

It's a good recipe for hot weather, too, because you don't really heat up the kitchen much in 15 minutes. If we weren't having that salad with it I would have tossed some halved cherry tomatoes into the pasta at the end.

Pronto Pesto Chicken Pasta with Zucchini and Pine Nuts
Serves 2 - 4
1/2 cup prepared pesto (or to taste) at room temperature
1 package (8 oz.) fresh fettuccini
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
1-2 medium zucchini, ends trimmed, cut into slices
2 cups chicken strips and chunks, pre-cooked and grilled, thawed if frozen
3-4 tablespoons pine nuts
Salt and pepper to taste

Stir pesto to mix in oil. Set aside.

In a large pot bring water to a boil.

While water is coming to a boil, heat the oil in a large skillet. Brown the zucchini slices in the oil over medium-high heat, turning so that all sides brown as much as possible. Remove from skillet when brown and set aside. If pasta water is boiling, add fresh pasta and set timer for 10 minutes.

Without cleaning the skillet, add the chicken and brown it, about 5 minutes, stirring often. When browned and heated through, remove from skillet and set aside.

Without cleaning the skillet, add pine nuts to the skilled and, stirring frequently, brown them. Take care not because they can go from golden brown to burnt very quickly. Remove from skillet and set aside.

By now the pasta should be cooked. Reserve about 1/4 cup of the cooking water, then drain the pasta. Place squash and chicken on a microwave safe plate and microwave on high for 1 minutes.

Place drained pasta in a large, wide bowl. Add the pesto and a tablespoon of the cooking water. Stir. Add more water if necessary so that pesto coats the pasta. Add the heated squash and chicken and the pine nuts. Toss to combine. Serve at once.

Cherry Tomato Is One Of Five Ingredients

Some days it is so wonderful to have something easy to serve for dinner. After a good portion of a day spent installing flashing and siding, Sweetie and I were certainly hungry, but not full of energy. As the sun set behind the trees

it was time to create a fast feast. I started with tomatoes, already picked. So far the only tomatoes I've gotten from the many I planted are the cherry type. The most numerous are orange, a few are red, and a few are yellow.

 I based this recipe on one in the latest Bon Appetit magazine (August 2013) because I had the tomatoes and olive oil and sea salt and last time I was at the appropriate store, I had made sure to purchase the burrata and fresh basil once I saw the recipe, knowing that I would make it pretty soon.

This is one of those recipes that you won't make often if you value your health since the cheese is very rich, but it is the perfect indulgence when the tomatoes finally ripen. It also goes together fast and is impressive, so keep it in mind for your next dinner party or on a day when the kids have worn you out. You can use mozzarella di bufala (made with buffalo milk I think) instead of the burrata...Bon Appetit did. You can also add a few chunks of seedless watermelon for some crunch and another flavor and have six ingredients. Don't be tempted to use dried basil...fresh basil, fresh tomatoes, good quality olive oil and sea salt, plus a lovely, rich, runny cheese are important components.

It looks pretty, too. Since we eat with our eyes first, that counts!

Five Ingredient Cherry Tomato Salad

1 ball of mozzarella di bufala or burrata
1 pint cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
about 2 tablespoons fresh basil, in chiffonade or chopped
2-3 tablespoons best quality olive oil
a sprinkle of sea salt to taste

Shred or spread the cheese on a serving plate. Top with the tomatoes, basil, olive oil and salt. Let sit 10 minutes so the flavors can mingle. Serve. It's that easy!
Serves 4 - 6.

Assertive Citrus Chicken

I grew up to be a shy person, up until I went to college. No one would have called me assertive. It came as quite a revelation to me, when I finally shed my shy behaviors and blossomed, that being assertive could be fun. Understand, I'm still shy inside, I just don't behave that way. I suspect that there are a lot of people who do the same.

Ducks and geese are very assertive, but chickens seem to mostly be silly. Recently Sweetie and I took care of our neighbor's flock of chickens, all 30 strong, and had the devil of a time getting them to go into the hen house at night, not because they were being assertive but because they were being distracted by the goat who wanted to play with all of us. One of us would chase them toward the door and the other would try to keep the goat away and wave the chickens into the doorway at the same time. I'm sure it would have been a hit on YouTube if anyone had filmed it.

A good time for a chicken to be assertive is when it is cooked. In this recipe the fairly forward flavors of cilantro, garlic, scallions, citrus and soy join up in a marinade for chicken thighs that is full of zestiness but not heat. I served it with steamed rice and steamed broccoli. The marinade went pretty well with those, too. There is an Asian sensibility to the marinade that I really enjoyed. The flavorful crispy skin was a nice bite of luxury, too.

As with many recipes I made a few changes. For one thing it has been a warm day. Sweetie offered to grill the chicken, instead of broiling it, to keep the kitchen cooler. Had my vote! I also found that I only had half a lime, so I added extra orange juice and zest for plenty of citrusness. I used a sharp knife to cut strips of the citrus zest and let the food processor chop them up instead of zesting the skin.  The finished chicken was pretty salty, so next time I'll cut back on the salt some. I also marinated it for about 4 hours, but it was absolutely delicious (other than salty), so that is not a problem.

I think that this recipe could easily be doubled if you are going to have  a larger group than 4. With those assertive flavors, the piece we have left over will probably taste even better tomorrow.

 

Citrus Marinated Chicken Thighs
from Bon Appetit magazine, Aug. 2013

"An aggressively seasoned marinade delivers big flavor"

1 bunch scallions, thinly sliced
1/2 bunch cilantro, leaves and tender stems only, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 teaspoon finely grated lime zest
1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
1/4 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon kosher salt
2 lb. bone-in chicken thighs with skin left on

Set aside 1/4 cup of the sliced scallions for garnish.

Pulse cilantro, garlic, zests, juices, soy sauce, oil and salt and remaining scallions (green onions)in a food processor or blender until a coarse puree forms. Set aside 1/4 cup of the marinade. Place the remaining marinade in a large reseal able plastic bag. Add chicken, seal bag, and turn to coat. Chill at least 20 minutes. If chilling longer (up to 2 hours ahead), occasionally turn bag over to redistribute the marinade. Keep chilled.

Preheat broiler or prepare grill. Remove chicken from marinade and dispose of used marinade. To broil, place chicken, skin side down,  on a foil-lined broiler-proof baking sheet. Broil chicken until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Turn pieces over and continue to broil until cooked through. An instant read thermometer inserted in the thickest part registers 165 degrees F. - 12 - 15 minutes longer. To cook on grill, place chicken pieces, skin side down on prepared grill and grill 5 minutes. Turn and grill until cooked through, about 12 - 15 minutes longer. Use same technique as above to test for doneness.

Serve chicken with reserved marinade and sprinkle on the scallions. Serves 4.

A Tale of Castles and a Kid

It all started when a boy was stealing some CDs from a music store.  On the way out of the store a cop came by and arrested Cris for stealing. When they got to the station Cris had to call his parents, who were so angry with him that he had to go to juvenile hall.

Cris had to go to a school almost like boot camp.  When and if they had free time they had to go to classes to learn about the law and all the penalties for breaking the law.

That night, while Cris was lying in his bunk, a weird-looking man came up to the window. “Hey you, wanna get outta here?”

 “Heck, yeah.”

 “Then follow me.”

 “I can’t just walk outta here!”

 “Yes you can.”

 “How?”

 “Just start walking towards me and don’t stop.”

 “That’s crazy, I’ll run right into the wall.”

 “If you want to get out of here you will have to trust me.”

 “I’ll do it just to get out of here.” As he was walking towards the wall he started disappearing. “Hey what the heck is happening to me?”

“Don’t worry, just keep walking.”  As soon as he was through the wall he started to reappear.

 “Now that I’m out of here, take me home.”

 “Hold it, you can’t just go home.”

 “What? I can still go home.”

 “No you can’t.  Your mom and dad will send you back and you will have to stay with all the other kids at juvenile for a longer period of time.”

 “What about me.”

 “What about you.”

 “The guards will notice me gone.”

 “Don’t worry about that.  I can make a clone of you.  The clone will do whatever it needs to stay out of trouble.  Plus it will go to all it needs to go to for three weeks.”

 “So what do we do for three weeks?”

 “You have to stay with me unless you want to go back.”

“No way!”

 “Okay then, get in the car.”

 As soon as he got in and sat in the back seat, a seatbelt strapped over Cris without him touching it. “Hey, what the heck is going on?”

 “Don’t worry, it’s just to protect you from flying through the back window.”

 “What are you talking about?”

 “It won’t happen, so shut up.”  On the inside of the car there were a lot of buttons and switches in the front.

 “Why are there so many buttons and switches up there?”

 “This car is a time machine.”

 “Then if this is actually a time machine, can we go back to the time of Al Capone?”

 “No!  We are going to the time Kidwelly castle was a very high ruling castle.”

 “Why are we going to a castle?”

 “To teach you about crime and helping other people instead of getting into trouble all the time.”

 As they started out of the alley the weird-looking guy began punching buttons, then letters and numbers started appearing on the windshield.  When they started gaining speed, the front of the car caught on fire.

 ‘Hey! The front of the car is on fire.”

 “No it’s not. Now be quiet.” In front of the car a blue circle appeared.  Almost exactly at the same time the car practically jumped into a portal.

 “Hey, what happened?”

 “We jumped into a portal to get to Kidwelly castle.”

 “Oh.  What’s your name, anyway?”

 “Mac.” “It’s not my name, but call me Mac anyway.”

 “How long will it take us to get to Kidsmelly?”

 “It’s Kidwelly, and I don’t know how long it will take.” As soon as he finished talking, they were in Kidwelly in the middle of a joust.

 

“They’re gonna run right over us!”

 “No they won’t; the horses will be so frightened they will stop dead in their tracks.”  And they did. As Cris and Mac were getting out of the car the jousters began charging them again.

 “They’re gonna hit us.”

 “No, they won’t, because I have a gun.”

 “What are you going to do, shoot them?”

 “Maybe.  Just watch and see.” Instead of shooting the jousters like Cris thought he would, he just shot up in the air and the jousters on their horses started running away from Cris and Mac.  Right after he shot the gun, the King stood up and proclaimed, “I pronounce you the victors of the jousting match.”

 

“You are now Sir…”

 “Cris”

 “Sir Cris and Sir…”

 “Mac”

 “Sir Mac.  I invite you to attend our annual jousting celebration dinner tonight.”

While Cris and Mac were standing in front of the constables and the King, he ordered the constables to show Cris and Mac to their rooms, which were adjoining.  Each of the rooms had a fireplace, and a table with a huge bowl of fruit in the middle of it.  After about two hours in the rooms, a butler brought them each something to drink.  About an hour after that a constable came into the rooms and told them to come to the jousters banquet.

 

When they got to the banquet they were in a huge room with one long table covered with more food than Cris had ever seen in his life.  The constable showed them to their seats, which were right next to the King’s and were very comfortable.

 The banquet lasted two or three hours, during which time there were jugglers, jesters and minstrels between food courses.  After the banquet was completely over, Cris and Mac were escorted back to their rooms.

 In the fireplaces the fires had been lit.  The beds were even more comfortable than the one he had at home.

 The next day Cris was awakened by loud noises and people screaming.  Cris ran to the King’s quarters and pounded on the door but nobody answered.  Next he went to Mac’s room and pounded on the door.  Mac came running to the door. “What’s the matter?”

 “Don’t you hear all the noises?”

 “Yeah so we’re under attack – what’s the big deal?”

 “What’s the big deal! We could die!”

 “We will not die if we stay in the castle.” Just as he said, “castle”, a constable came running and told Mac to come and suit up.

 “I don’t need to suit up.  I have a gun to shoot the enemy.”

 “It’s your choice, but I sug-“

 “Suggest nothing.  I do not need to suit up.”

 “Mac, I want to come with you.”

 “You may come with me under one condition.”

 “What?”

 “Don’t get hurt!”

 “Yes sir, captain, sir.”

 Mac took a spot in an arrow loop from which to shoot his gun at the enemies.  Cris was watching all the dying and dead brave and noble knights who had risked their lives to defend their castle.  Just as it started getting dark, Mac was shot by an arrow that he didn’t see coming.

 “Mac! Don’t die on me now.”

 “If I die the instructions to the time machine are in the glove box in the front.”

 “Somebody help me, quick.“ Just then a couple of knights picked Mac up and carried him away.

 “Where are you taking him?”

 “To the physician to see if he can keep him alive.”

 Over the next few days the battle raged on.  After about a week and a half it finally stopped.  Over that week and a half Mac was recovering well.  “Mac, how long will you be here?”

 “Not too much longer.””

 “Okay.”  That night Mac was back in his own room alive and well.

 The next day Mac and Cris went into town to see what the people outside the castle were like.  Cris was watching everybody very carefully’ then he saw somebody steal some food and that reminded him about stealing things.  He thought that if he stole coins and jewels and brought them home, he could sell them for lots of money.  The next day he got up really early, went into the town, and started grabbing priceless gems and other items that would be priceless in the future.  The next day he woke up at the same time to return to town and began taking gems and jewels again.  All of a sudden a guard yelled at him to stop. Cris started running but the guard caught him and brought him before the king. The King was very surprised to see that Cris was stealing from his Kingdom. “For the rest of your time here I sentence you to manual labor.”

 “Manual labor? What kind of manual labor?”

 “Shining armor, shoveling horse manure, sewing dresses for the ladies.”

 “SEW! I don’t know how to sew.”

 “Sorry. You will have to deal with it or get executed.”

 For the next few days he had to do whatever the King ordered. On his last day of the trip he went to the King and asked if he could leave. “Yes, you can leave, you have done an exceptional job at what you had to do, so I am now excusing you to leave with Mac to your home village.”

 “Thank you, your Majesty. Where’s Mac?”

 “He is in the courtyard getting ready for the trip home.”

 “Maybe we will see each other again sometime.  Oh, and thank you.”

 “You’re welcome and we’ll see each other again.”

 When Cris got to the car Mac was packing and fueling the car with garbage for the trip home. “Get in quickly so we can leave.”

 “Okay, coming.” After they got back and resolved everything with his parents, Cris became a time traveler and took over the car when Mac passed away.

 THE END

 

This story was written by my son Max when he was in middle school. It was before the Harry Potter books were written, which is interesting given the way that Cris escapes from the juvenile facility. It reminds me of the train station in Harry Potter and getting to the train that goes to the school. The story was certainly influenced by the movie Back to the Future.

Hope you enjoyed it.

 

Back to food blogging soon, I hope.

I am Woman, Hear Me Hammer!

Working hard on the project..and not much else. You should also see me pry old siding and nails off the side of the house...demo queen!

A Special Birthday Girl

You probably know someone like her. She always thinks of others first. She has a huge heart, a love of family and community, makes sure that her neighbors are OK, works hard, and is a stellar friend. She is the kind of woman who doesn't expect thanks or recognition. She has a wicked sense of humor and a ready laugh. She uses her talents to enrich the lives of those she cares for.

I've been blessed with her friendship and she introduced me to the women's scholarship group I enjoy so much, P.E.O. We were soccer Moms before that and share a love of working with our hands and a skill for working with paperwork that drives others slightly mad.

Today I joined another mutual friend and Pam for a birthday lunch. We had delicious sandwiches and salad...and birthday cake of course.

I made the Perfect Party Cake, although I used whole eggs instead of egg whites, reducing the buttermilk by 2 tablespoons to keep the liquid proportions about right. I wanted a small cake since there were only three of us, so I used a metal cookie tin as the cake pan. Worked like a charm! The rest of the batter I baked up in a loaf pan for another use.

For the icing I used my favorite buttercream recipe, replacing the rum and mocha with some strawberry syrup I had on hand. With a few drops of red food color added, it was pretty and pink.

Since it was a small cake I cut it in half to make two layers...three layers would have been too much. The bottom cut side was given a nice thin layer of raspberry jam. Then I used a pastry bag to squirt buttercream over the jam, added the top layer of cake and frosted the whole thing with buttercream. Using the star tip, I added decorative edging and a few frosting stars on top for securing fresh raspberries. A final sprinkle of white, pink and red heart decors and the cake was ready to go.

 At the party I added some birthday candles (but have no photos since I left my camera at home by mistake).

Pam was delighted! She had no idea that I was baking her a cake. There was even a piece left over for Sweetie, who had been hard at work at home on the entry project.

So, if you have a friend like Pam, surprise her with this cute cake. It doesn't even have to be her birthday. You'll be glad you did... she will know that she is as cared for as those she takes care of.