Parmesan Flans with Tomatoes and Basil

When I saw the recipe for Parmesan Flans with Tomatoes and Basil I was transfixed. All of my favorite flavors in one beautiful dish. Eggs! Cheese! Tomatoes! I couldn't wait to try it!

n.o.e.'s notes:

- I replaced one of the eggs with 1/4 cup of egg substitute.

- I used Trader Joe's shredded parmesan and ran it through the mini food processor.

- For pans I used two ceramic and two glass ramekins. The flans baked in the ceramic ramekins cooked quicker than those in the glass, pulling away from the sides of their dishes. For some reason, though, I decided to serve the ones in the glass for the two of us for dinner. They were runny inside but almost tough on the outside. In contrast, the flans in the ceramic dishes were perfectly cooked through and not tough at all. They even survived gentle reheating in the microwave the next day. If I were to use the glass ramekins again, I'd cook at a lower temperature, and check the done-ness more carefully.


- I plated one of the flans on a bed of arugula, topped with tomatoes and basil (picture below), and the other just with the tomato and ribbons of basil (picture up top).

the verdict:

My husband was not very enthusiastic about these flans. For one thing, he's rarely a fan of egg dishes (he worries about the cholesterol in eggs). Another problem: "when I think of 'flans' I expect something sweet." These were most definitely savory and not at all sweet. I though the flavor of the flan was great, but the basil verged on overpowering the taste of the other ingredients. In the future I might just do the bed of arugula and topping of chopped tomatoes.

My husband's thumbs down vote on the flans just left more for me, and I ate the leftovers happily. A dish that qualifies as healthy, pretty, easy, and tasty is a winner in my book! This would make a great luncheon dish, paired with a soup and some sort of roll or bread.

Three Sisters Saute with Sage Pesto

Last fall, at the very end of fresh squash season, I stumbled across this side dish recipe, and, given my obsession with sage (and the large supply of it growing in my garden) I cooked it right up. The draft post got a little buried, and by the time I found it, summer squash season was long gone. So the post overwintered in my drafts folder, patiently waiting until summer for its moment of glory! It's worth the wait, though, because this is a terrific way to use the bounty of summer produce.

The recipe was from a Food Network show whose theme was Native American cuisine, apparently. This recipe showcases a wonderful trio of ingredients; the "three sisters" tomatoes, squash and beans (or is it corn, squash and beans?)

n.o.e.'s notes:

- The recipe calls for heirloom beans. Some info about heirloom beans can be found here and cooking instructions for dried heirlooms are here . I love the idea of using heirlooms beans, but this time my beans were more like relics - I used dried limas. I think you could use cooked fresh or frozen beans as well.

- I have no idea why the recipe makes so much pesto when only 1/3 cup of it is used for the vegetables. I made 1/2 recipe which equaled = approximately 2/3 cup.

the verdict:

We really enjoyed this dish. The veggies cooked up tender but not too soft. The pesto, which, by the way, tastes terrific straight from a spoon, took on kind of a wonderful dusky flavor on the vegetables. These veggies would be a great accompaniment to any kind of grilled or roasted meat. Next time I might try the leftover pesto on pasta.

{TWD} Tale of a Perfect Party Cake - Guest Post!

Hi, j.d.e. here, guest-posting for my mom this week. You may not have known that I was into food blogging way before my mom was. I’m not going to take all the credit, but I am actually the one who told her that she should make a food blog. *Ahem!*

Anyway, long long ago, in a land far, far away, way before my mom had her blog (which is to say, the 2007-2008 school year), I was reading all of these food blogs and came across a post featuring the recipe for Dorie’s Perfect Party Cake. I knew I had to make it soon.

Some backstory: I tried to bake a red velvet cake for my boyfriend G’s birthday last May, right before I came home from college, but I didn’t have cake flour, so I used regular flour instead. DON’T EVER DO THAT. That cake ended up turning out rather like a brick (red, dense, and rather dry). Let me tell y’all: brick cake is not where it’s at!

My boyfriend, the saint that he is, did indeed eat some of The Brick Cake—and even managed to squeeze out a compliment or two—but I felt so bad about his failed birthday cake that I decided to make him another cake when he visited Georgia over summer break. And that second cake was Dorie’s cake.

Now, the funny part is that my mom doesn’t remember ANY of this. She recently told me that TWD was making the Perfect Party Cake, and she was extremely surprised when I told her that I’d already made it once. Even my [terrible quality] pictures (see, above and below), very obviously taken in our kitchen, prompted a blank face.

notes:

- I did make four layers, but I didn't put both frosting and jam in each layer. Instead, I put frosting in two layers and jam in the middle one. Much easier.

- I used raspberry jam for the jam layer. If I remember correctly, it had seeds. I thought that the raspberry was great with the lemon, so if I made this again, I probably wouldn't be tempted to use one of my mom's many other exotic jellies. Though we have many.

- I do remember that my mom was very impressed when I split each cake round evenly in half, thus making four cake layers. (This doesn’t sound like a huge feat, but if you’ve ever seen me mangle bagels in the morning, you’d be impressed too!) She also liked the lemony taste of the whole cake overall. And that’s all I can say about the affair.

Don’t let my tale convince you that this cake is not memorable—it really is (for some of us). I do think that this is the cake I’d want if someone threw a party for me. In fact, this cake is what convinced me to buy Dorie’s book later that week. And Dorie’s book is what prompted me to tell my mom about Tuesdays With Dorie. And Tuesdays With Dorie is what prompted my mom to start this blog. The End.

Of Galley Kitchens

For the past few weeks my husband and I - and the dogs - have been living in the basement level of our house while the floors on our main level are being refinished and the rooms repainted. I've been preparing meals in our laundry room, in what is generally called a "galley" arrangement - two opposite counters with a narrow floor running between them. The room has our extra fridge, a kitchen sink, and a microwave in addition to a washer, dryer and utility sink.

This weekend we visited our daughter A.L.E. in Buffalo New York and spent Saturday morning at the Naval Park touring three WWII era ships: the USS Croaker (diesel sub), the USS Sullivans (destroyer) and the USS Little Rock (cruiser). I got an up close look at a real galley, which made cooking in my laundry room "galley" look downright luxurious! The picture above is a line of huge pots in the destroyer's galley; they could make a serious amount of soup or pasta!

What really caught my attention was the shipboard mixers. The destroyer had a floor model (above). I could not imagine how anyone ever lifted the mixing bowl in and out of the mixer, especially when it was full. The little diesel submarine had a much smaller countertop mixer (below)- but it was still many times bigger than my Kitchen Aid! I would love to have seen what those Navy cooks mixed up in those big mixers.

After my brief experience in our galley laundry room my hat's off to the cooks who prepared meals for an entire ship's worth of sailors in tight quarters!

White Chicken Chili

Even though I blanketed this chili with chopped fresh parsley (which usualy does the trick) it still looks pretty dreadful in the picture. But don't let the appearance stop you from trying this recipe - it's a delicious and healthy alternative to red chili; perfect for summer!

I've been making this recipe for so long, I can't remember exactly where I found it. It's very similar to one that Williams-Sonoma had, but I've made enough changes over the years that I like to think of it as mine! This is one of my favorite recipes for using leftover chicken (white meat or a combination, as in the batch pictured). When my husband used to go camping with another dad and all the kids, I always made this chili for them to heat over the campfire.


White Chili

1 lb dried great northern white beans, rinsed and picked over (or can use canned white beans, see note below)
2 lb boneless chicken breasts (or use cooked chicken)
1 T. olive oil
2 med. onions, chopped
4 garlic cloves
2 4-oz cans chopped green chilies
2 tsp ground cumin
1 ½ tsp dried oregano, crumbled
¼ tsp gr. cloves
¼ tsp cayenne
1 cup frozen white shoepeg corn, thawed
6 cups chicken stock or broth (or less, if thicker chili desired)
1 T. lime juice
3 c. grated Monterey jack cheese (12 oz)
sour cream, salsa, chopped cilantro

1. place beans in pot, cover by 3 in water and soak overnight

2. cook chicken, cut into cubes

3. drain beans. heat oil in same pot over med-hi heat. Add onions and sauté until translucent (10 min)

4. stir in garlic, chilies, cumin, oregano, cloves, cayenne and sauté 2 min.

5. add beans and stock and bring to boil. reduce heat and simmer 2 hrs, until beans very tender.

6. add lime juice, chicken, corn and 1 c. cheese, and stir until cheese melts.

7. season with salt and pepper.

8. serve with remaining cheese, cilantro, salsa and sour cream.

note:
This is easier if you have cooked chicken on hand and you use canned great northern beans. You’d use about 1 ½ of the 15 oz size cans of beans per recipe (so it’s easiest to double the recipe and use 3 cans! Or freeze ½ can for next time.) If using canned beans, skip step #1, and step #5. Reduce the amount of stock by at least 1/3. Add the stock and canned beans with the chicken, corn, and cheese in step #6, and just cook until heated through. This recipe freezes well – prepare through step 5, and freeze with or without cooked chicken. After thawing, continue starting with step 6.

Linguine with Pesto, Potatoes and Green Beans

One of my current favorite cookbooks is Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything. The hefty book is chock-full of recipes and variations, and is a wonderful kitchen resource. On the other end of the spectrum is Bittman's slim and spare book The Minimalist Cooks Dinner
which is based on his food columns in the New York Times. 100 recipes, one per every 2-page spread. Even with this economy, being Mark Bittman's work, the book does provide ways to vary each featured recipe.

I've paged through the book and marked a bunch of recipes, but given the bountiful basil supply in my garden, the Trenette with Pesto jumped to the front of the line this week. This traditional dish from Genoa combines pasta with potatoes and green beans, and sounded perfect for summer dining.

n.o.e.'s notes:

- You can find the recipe online .

- Bittman explains that in Genoa the trenette pasta shape is always paired with pesto. Linguine is a close substitute, so that's what I used.

- The recipe has very easy instructions for boiling all the ingredients in the same pot. The version in the book has the potatoes cook for 3 minutes before adding the pasta, so that's what I did. The beans get added when the pasta is half cooked (about 5 minutes after adding the pasta) It worked perfectly!

the verdict:

I served this pasta with grilled chicken Italian sausages. We enjoyed it so much that we didn't even mind eating it twice more that week!

Plum Ice Cream

My cooking and baking activity has been a bit limited of late, with floor-refinishing, painting and other work going on in my kitchen. I've managed to unseal the stove and counters on the weekends, though, so I'm not in total cooking-withdrawal!

I saw some lovely black plums at the store a couple of weeks ago, and turned to David Lebovitz for inspiration. He has a recipe for plum ice cream in his book The Perfect Scoop. I wasn't sure exactly how plums would be in ice cream, but there's only one way to find out, right?

n.o.e.'s notes:

- You can find the recipe here. As far as ice creams go, this one has a minimum of rich ingredients.

- I used black plums for this recipe

- An immersion blender makes quick work of pureeing ice cream bases and there's little to wash up afterwards!

- After pureeing, I strained the mixture to remove most of plum skin.

- I couldn't believe the gorgeous color of this ice cream.

the verdict:

I loved this - so simple, with just a few ingredients. The ice cream is almost almost like sorbet, with its very concentrated tart-ish plum flavor, but the texture has a rich smoothness that betrays the cream in it. I'm savoring this one, doling it out a spoonful at at time! It would be great with Dorie's Dimply Plum Cake (see my posts here and here)!

June m.o.m. - Banana Walnut Muffins

This month's Muffins Of the Month (m.o.m.) are especially "mom-ish": Not only did I make the muffins to give to my mom (as always), I baked them in my mom's kitchen, and am writing this post from my mom's computer. I've been doing some construction at my house and have very limited use of my kitchen right now. At the same time my modem/router connection went on the fritz and I also have limited use of my home's computer. So I'm glad that I've got my mommy around when I need an oven or a computer!

I went with a classic for June: Banana Walnut Muffins. Rather than use my usual banana bread recipe (which I love) or my mother's banana bread recipe (which is also yummy), I decided to try a recipe from Beth Hensperger's Muffins book for Williams Sonoma.


n.o.e.'s notes:

- When I preheated the oven, it was the first time the new oven in my mom's new unit had been turned on!

- I prefer oil-based muffins and quick breads. Easier, healthier, and often moister, imo.

- The recipe uses walnut oil. I had been storing some in my fridge and couldn't remember what recipe I'd purchased it for, so I was thrilled to try it in this recipe.

- I used black walnuts. If I'd had more time I would have toasted them first.

the verdict:

These were the best banana muffins I've ever tasted. Moist and strong banana flavor. Loved the walnut oil (and walnuts!) My mom said they were "super!" I will make this recipe again and again. What a find - and I can't wait to try more of Beth Hensperger's recipes!

{TWD} Coconut-Roasted Pineapple Dacquoise

This week for TWD Andrea of Andrea in the Kitchen chose the Roasted Pineapple Dacquoise (pronounced dah-kwaz). This is one of the more dramatic-looking recipes in the book and it consists of a nut/coconut meringue which is layered with a white chocolate ganache and roasted fresh pineapple. Dorie finishes the “cake” by pressing toasted coconut on the sides.

I’m going to come right out and say it: The dacquoise was not a success in my kitchen. It was entirely user-error: a combination of not reading the recipe quite carefully enough and over beating the ganache at the very last step. As I tweeted at the time, "As far as baking experiences go, the dacquoise is somewhere between infuriating and heartbreaking”

It started out well enough. I had the perfect occasion to make the dacquoise. J.D.E. was home from college with her friend G who stayed for about a week's visit. When I learned that G loves tropical flavors (and that he used to have pineapples growing in his yard when he was young!) I knew that I had to bake the dacquoise for him! And because this is a wheat-free recipe I planned to split the recipe and make a small dacquoise for my good friend D, who is on a gluten-free diet (coconut is her favorite flavor!)

Things continued fairly well. I baked the dacquoise on a Saturday, G’s final full day at our house. It would be our dessert after dinner. At the same time I was baking bagels (you can read my bagel post on my bread blog, here) and making the Honey Peach Ice Cream (posted here). And a bunch of my baking-and-blogging friends were baking in their kitchens (most were making bagels too). We kept ourselves amused – and informed - by live-Tweeting our baking session.

Although this week’s P&Q post reveals that several of the TWD bakers found this an easy recipe, for my baking level it was plenty challenging. As the day progressed the elements were coming together, for the most part, although the dirty dish-count in my kitchen was staggeringly high. Spreading the meringue onto the squares I’d drawn was how I imagined troweling mortar on a brick would be. The pineapple was a bit tricky to roast, but it was browned and ready.


I didn't hit the shoals until the ganache. I don't like white chocolate but I thought that I'd buy the good stuff and give it another chance. Whole Foods had the Valrhona Ivoire that Dorie mentions and luckily it was in fevres (small oval pieces) so I didn't have to chop it up. One dacquoise-worth of the stuff cost $15 - gulp! Despite Dorie's admonition not to overbeat the cream + white chocolate, that's exactly what I did. Ugh. Rather than silky ganache I ended up with (very expensive) weepy white chocolate butter.

And who would have guessed that the ganache would have to chill for 3 hours and there was a 4-6 hour wait time after assembly of the dacquoise? Not me! (A more careful reading of the recipe would have eliminated the guesswork, though...) We ended up eating our dessert as a midnight snack.

the verdict:

Maybe it's because we waited so long for the dessert to be finished, but the four of us scarfed our portions. At first we all thought it was good. Then we all realized how very sweet and rich it was. The pineapple was a welcome - and needed - counterpoint to the other elements. You definitely wouldn't want to skimp on the amount of pineapple. To me the white chocolate flavor was just too much for the dessert.

Luckily, G enjoyed the dacquoise more than the rest of us, and had some for brunch the next morning before leaving for the airport... and the final portion was tossed.

And what about that lovely creamy confection in the top picture, you ask? After ruining the ganache I couldn't give dacquoise to my friend D. The small meringues sat around my kitchen for awhile. Then for lunch one day I sweetened some nonfat Greek Yogurt with honey and layered it with the pineapple and meringue. Add a few white chocolate curls to the top. Delicious!!

"Do You Like Pina Coladas" Sherbet?

If you visited my kitchen about 3 weeks ago, you’d have found yourself in a little tropical haven! When I bought the ingredients for a Coconut Roasted Pineapple Dacquoise for Tuesdays With Dorie (come back tomorrow for that post!) I picked up an additional pineapple to make Pina Colada Sherbet, from the David Lebovitz ice cream book: The Perfect Scoop.

n.o.e.’s notes:

- You can find the recipe here.

- This frozen treat gets its creaminess from (Thai) canned coconut milk rather than from dairy or custard.

- The recipe comes together in a snap – cutting the pineapple is the only real work involved. If you are pressed for time, you could use a pre-cored pineapple, but you might want to use 1 ½ of them; there’s a lot less pineapple wasted when you trim your own.

- I added at least double the lime juice.

- Although my dark rum was sitting on the counter, I forgot to add it in.

- This sherbet has an exquisite soft yellow color.

the verdict:

This refreshing sherbet hit the spot with the 4 of us who tasted it! The tropical flavors really come through, in a light, clean way. The coconut was subtle but combined nicely with the fresh pineapple taste. Our daughter was here with her friend G, who took a bite and said, "Oh, man, this is delicious!" And in the most random feedback I’ve ever received, J.D.E. said, “This kind of tastes how tunafish smells.” That didn’t stop her from enjoying her dish of sherbet, luckily.

The rum would have added a completely different dimension, and I would like to try it sometime that way. That’s a vanilla wafer in the picture up top, but the sherbet would have been great with a little of the coconut meringue from tomorrow’s dacquoise....

The whole time we were making and eating this sherbet, we all had this song stuck in our heads:



Honestly, has there ever been a more insipid song?

Hong Vit Salad with Three Radishes

Back in September I joined Moore Farms and Friends (my famous “farm box” people), an association of regional and local farms that offers a variety of products throughout the year. My membership is more flexible (and probably more expensive) than a CSA. Each week the farm projects what will be offered in its $20 and $30 size “Farmer’s Pick” boxes. If I like the assortment then I select the appropriate box, and can order additional produce and products. Or, for a few extra dollars, I can bypass the pre-picked boxes and order exactly what I want from the long list of available produce (and other products). I can skip any week that I want – I only pay for what I order. I’ve surprised myself by ordering a box every single week since I’ve joined, except for weeks when I am not in town on Wednesday to pick up my order. All through the winter there was delicious regional food, including citrus, bitter greens, farm eggs and butter. Everything tastes noticeably fresher - we love our food from “the box!”

I don’t end up with anything that I don’t expect or choose. But there are some unusual offerings that I decide to try just for the adventure! A couple of weeks ago, the farm box offered hong vit, an Asian salad green that is in the radish family. Only this family member is grown not for its root but for its leaf. At the same time I ordered a beautiful assortment of white, red, and purple radishes. I thought it would be fun to combine these two radish-y cousins in a salad.

The first thing I did was a little online hong vit research. Information was a bit sparse. On a Chowhound post, I saw this tantalizing summary of a dish the poster had enjoyed at Napa's celebrated Ubuntu restaurant:

"RADISHES with local chevre and nori
banyuls vinaigrette, smoked salt, HONG VIT"

Hmm, no pictures, not much to go on. A bit more digging turned up a tiny description of the dish here. From what I could gather it is a radish salad with accents of greens, and both sweet and smoky notes.

Although it was hard to tell exactly, the Ubuntu salad seemed to be in the same general direction I was headed - the combination of radish and radish green- and it gave me some further inspiration. I even had smoked salt! I wanted add more emphasis to the greens, without ignoring the radishes.

n.o.e.'s notes:

- The hong vit had a good bit of field grit. After 4 washes it was a little draggled!

- I used a vinaigrette that I'd made, inspired by Mark Bittman’s instructions in How To Cook Everything, using white wine vinegar and just a touch of Dijon mustard.

- My daughter A.L.E. gave me some wonderful smoked sea salt from a small spice purveyor in central New York. I sprinkled that over the salad, along with some freshly ground pepper.

- To get a sweet and cheesy element I added some cubes of Gjetost, a caramelized cheese from Norway. My daughters had given it to me for Mother’s Day, and I knew it would be perfect complement for the sharpness of the radishes.

- The garnish on top was a perfect farm box strawberry!

the verdict:

We loved this new set of flavors. The hong vit was very fresh tasting, and paired nicely with the crisp radish and sweet tangy cheese. The mellow vinaigrette tied it all together. Overall, a fun experiment with a new (to us) salad green - thanks, farm box!

Pim's "15 minute" Fresh Tomato Sauce

No matter how far afield I stray culinarily, I’m always glad to return to the familiar territory of pasta with tomato sauce. There are good jarred tomato sauces to be found, but it’s so satisfying to prepare one from scratch, especially one that promises to be both easy and delicious. I came across 15 Minute Tomato Sauce on the blog Chez Pim and was instantly intrigued. A super-quick sauce made from fresh tomatoes? This is one I just had to try.

n.o.e.'s notes:

- Pim has illustrated her recipe post with step by step photos which is useful and reassuring, even for a simple recipe.

- The first time I made this, I may have let the tomatoes break down a little bit too long – I ended up with a lot of juice and not a lot of pulp. You can see that in the picture below. I was much happier with my sauce the second batch, pictured up top.

the verdict:

I served this sauce over short pasta, alongside grilled hot Italian chicken sausage. There was enough sauce for two dinner-sized servings of pasta, so if you are feeding a (hungry) crowd, you’ll have to increase the recipe accordingly. The sauce was bright and fresh, and I how the nice acidic taste of the tomatoes comes through to the finished sauce.

This recipe is a great choice if you need a fast sauce and you have fresh tomatoes.

If you have less time and/or no fresh tomatoes, you can make Heidi Swanson’s 5 Minute Tomato Sauce with nice quality crushed tomatoes: I made it here.

If you have fresh tomatoes and a bit more time, here’s a great recipe from Delia Smith for Classic Fresh Tomato Sauce, a long-simmered tomato sauce: I posted it early in my blogging days.

And there you have it, a veritable quiver of tomato sauce recipes, fit for any occasion or type of tomatoes!