Tuesday at the Table

A borrowed photo and a couple of links are all I have for you today, but when a recipe is worth making twice in one week, I consider it worth sharing. So may I present Pesto Pasta Salad from Alice Currah and her book, Savory Sweet Life: 100 Simply Delicious Recipes for Every Family Occasion. Even though I've made pasta salads oodles of times, this one is so simple and so tasty, perfect to make ahead, tasting just as moist and good the next day. Alice includes a recipe for homemade pesto in the book and on her blog, though I went the convenience route and used good quality purchased.

I met Alice once, and she's as sweet as her book is beautiful. Take our advice and enjoy the savory sweet life.

photo credit: Alice Currah; used by permission

Tuesday at the Table

Earlier in the summer, I posted about a family visit to a restaurant named the table, where we had the quite-new-to-us combo of ricotta and olive oil served with fresh crusty bread. Ever since, I've wanted to try my own version, and with the summer herbs finally plentiful, I did!

Garlic Ricotta and Herb Spread
- 1 cup ricotta cheese
- 2 cloves garlic, pressed
- 2 Tb. finely chopped fresh herbs - thyme, oregano, flat leaf parsley; a random proportion of each is fine or another mix of herbs would be welcome
- generous grating of fresh ground pepper
- a couple of pinches of salt - I like Maldon flaked salt + extra for sprinkling
- extra-virgin olive oil

Gently combine all ingredients except olive oil. Scoop ricotta mixture into individual-sized bowls or larger ones for a group. Pour olive oil over the scooped cheese. Sprinkle with a bit more flaked salt. Serve with crusty bread.

 

Soooo simple. And soooo good. 

Tuesday at the Table

There's a familiar routine at work . . . I ask my coworker as she's heading out the door to go home: "So what's for dinner?" Much of the time she replies back with a recipe that I gave her! The sad part is, many times I've forgotten all about the recipe she mentions and need to go hunting at home for it.

One of the recipes she's made frequently was just right for a girls sewing day last weekend, and luckily I found it after a quick search. The whole meal was casual, tasty, and perfect for summer and I thought you might enjoy it. Just click through each title for the recipes.

Rosé Sangria from The Pioneer Woman

The fruit and wine are combined a day ahead. Rather than topping off 

with sparkling wine, we used lemon-lime soda at serving time.

Oven-Baked Parmesan Chicken Breasts with Bruschetta Tomato Topping from Kathy Casey

I was generous with the arugula, so we added just a little balsamic vinaigrette.

Pavlovas with Strawberries and Balsamic from bakingamoment.com

The meringues seemed large when I served them, but honest fact: we each ate every bite.

Apologies to those of you in winter-mode. Though do tell, Australians! I hear pavlovas are very popular there. Do you eat them all year round? Are there seasonal versions? Enlighten us in the comments. And as for my coworker's recipe files . . . I need to remember my own good advice!

Tuesday at the Table

On Saturday, I was a tad obsessed. With this.

photo courtesy of babiesrus.com

In the back of my mind, I was thinking about my first table post {here}, the fact that someone special would definitely be missed at our family table that night, and that it was high time that the newest family member properly join us. The fact that son was home for the weekend from the midwest, and mom was soon to be heading out on a cross-country trip herself . . . well it was the perfect time (in my mind) to have precious one up and come to the table.

So hubby and I had gone out the day before and bought a high chair. The plan was set; hubby put the chair together and set it up against the dining room table. My heart was happy.

Except that 10 minutes before the call to dinner, precious one fell asleep. sigh. Thankfully, on this occasion anyway, she's a short napper, and was soon ready to join us mid-meal. To me, the whole essence of the table was right there in plain sight. Seven of us joined by blood and love, gathered around the table for a too-brief time, but cherished nonetheless. It really didn't matter to me, foodie that I am, that the sausages had been over-flamed, and the cheesy bread was kind of weird. That moment in time, few and far between these days, fed me in a fundamental way.

Unfortunately, none of the 'new' recipes we tried that night are worth sharing. And I really do want to share something with you. So how about a recipe we enjoyed with friends the week before? It's one of my favorite apps, easy and best done ahead, full of flavor, a tad unusual. The best kind!

Marinated Feta and Olives
adapted from Blue Eggs and Yellow Tomatoes by Jeanne Kelley; also see her website Jeanne Kelley Kitchen

1 Tb. cumin seeds
2 tsp. fennel seeds
1 tsp red pepper flakes
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp. grated orange
1 1/2 to 2 cups extra-virgin olive oil
2 cups (about 10 oz.) mixed Greek olives, rinsed & drained
8 oz. feta cheese, cut into 1/2" cubes
1/2 cup total mixed minced fresh basil, oregano, and parsley

Place seeds and pepper flakes in a small pan over medium-high heat. Shake gently until spices are fragrant, about 1 minute. Transfer to a bowl and add garlic, zest, and 1 1/2 cups olive oil; stir to combine. Mix in olives. Gently stir in feta. If needed, add additional oil to cover the olives and cheese. Cover and refrigerate up to 1 week. When ready to serve, bring to room temp and stir in herbs. Serve with toothpicks alongside.

If you are fortunate enough to have a Trader Joes nearby, they have a great Greek olive medley, as well as a chunk of Greek feta that comes in water.

Tuesday at the Table

Thank you, Alton.

If there's one recipe I've made more than any other these last several months, it's Alton Brown's recipe for granola.  It's simple, easy, and oh, so tasty. Here's my version:

Combine in a bowl:
3 cups rolled oats (I use Bob's Old Fashioned Rolled Oats.)
2 cups nuts (I like a combo of slivered almonds, cashews, and chopped pecans.)
3/4 cup shredded sweet coconut

In a separate bowl, combine:
6 Tb. each dark brown sugar and maple syrup
1/4 cup canola oil
3/4 tsp. salt

Mix all together and pour onto two sheet pans. Bake at 250-degrees for 75 to 90 minutes. Begin turning/switching trays and stirring every 15 minutes or so after the first 45 minutes. Remove from oven when desired toastiness is reached and let cool.

The original recipe suggests adding 1 cup raisins. If you wish, do so after baking. I prefer it without and then served over a nice bowl of fresh blueberries and Greek yogurt or a splash of cream. That's good eats!

{see original recipe here}

Random: Alton came to our town a couple of years ago and we went to his book-signing for Good Eats. Talk about an interesting and amusing speaker! If you ever get the chance to hear him live, do try and go!

Tuesday at the Table

Considering fall is yet five weeks away, I'm hoping it's not too late to tout the pleasures of iced coffee. I started seeing it in my google-reader earlier this summer from Katie {see here} and Ree {see here} and Shanna {see here}. Finally, I determined I would try it for myself.

Beings I'm a Northwest girl, I started with a blue bag of Starbucks Iced Coffee Blend, ground for a French press.

I put half in a big ice tea jug with four quarts of cold water and let it set on the counter overnight. Then I strained it through a paper towel-lined mesh strainer, considering I had no cheesecloth, eventually storing it back in the spigoted ice tea jug in the fridge.

Though curious at the onset {what's she trying now?}, hubby really liked the drink I handed him the next day - an iced coffee sweetened per Shanna's suggestion (a mixture of half sweetened condensed milk and half evaporated skim milk) and a bit of vanilla syrup. He said it reminded him of the drink we'd had at Dunn Bros Coffee the first time we visited Minneapolis. As Dunn advertises the Vanilla Iced Nirvana - "Infinite Black™ cold press coffee with vanilla and cream." Uh - pretty similar.

In fact, I emailed Dunn's and have had a nice exchange about the recipe for the Nirvana, and they do use vanilla syrup and half-and-half, so we've switched to using that with our current (3rd) batch of cold-brewed coffee. Of course, they insist the secret to the Nirvana's awesomeness is the cold-pressed Infinite Black. I may just ask son to bring us a pound when he comes to visit next - you know, for the sake of the cause.

Anyway, if you like coffee at all, I'd suggest you try it. There's still time.

Tuesday at the Table

Food was always a big deal in our home as we were raising our children. Hubby once said that the hardest part of having kids was having to share licking the beaters! Now with the 20-somethings off on their own, I can't help but reflect . . .

As a wedding present, we got the neatest set of glass nesting bowls. Though for a while, we couldn't decide what in the world the smallest one could possibly be useful for. One day, as I was baking cookies, I filled the little bowl with chocolate chips and took it to hubby. We still do that - just enough for a sweet little "thinking of you" snack.

And there was the milk bottle.

When the kids came to the breakfast table each school morning, I'd have everything they needed to help themselves already on the table. Somewhere along the line, I decided not to put the gallon of milk out - maybe just because of the heft of it, I'm not really sure. I bought this milk bottle and it held just enough for the kids' breakfast. We have fond memories of the St. Patrick's day that I colored the milk green. Imagine their shock as they poured it out onto their cereal. Funniest thing - they fell for it again the next year!

And of course there were the sack lunches. I confess to dreading the making of them! In a desperate effort to make it fun, I started cutting sandwiches with cookie cutters or making turkey roll-ups with tortillas - anything interesting but tasty. I'd try and have home-baked treats to pack, and when supplies were critically low, I was known to fill a spoon with peanut butter and wrap it in saran. And then there were the notes. On important or stressful days, or "just because" I'd pop a note in there for kids or hubby to find at lunchtime. Boy, I miss those days!

That part about home-baked treats . . . well it kind of snowballed on me! I think it all started when daughter dear was concerned that one of her friends came to school without breakfast and asked if I could bake muffins and send an extra for her friend. Well, somehow word traveled, and before I knew it, every Wednesday I was baking and sending a dozen muffins, each in a baggie, so daughter dear could distribute them to her friends! (I was a baker, remember? This really wasn't a stretch! ha) Anyway, I'd try all sorts of muffin recipes and the girls, of course, each had their favorites. So at graduation, I made up a little recipe booklet and gave one to each girl, with the hope that they would make the muffins themselves and have muffin memories for a long time. I hope they still do.

Tuesday at the Table

There's something I haven't told you about myself. I am a recipe hoarder. For years, I have been collecting a stash of recipes - many of which I have actually used, yes. But many saved for "someday". There are the old-fashioned but precious-to-me recipe boxes. We all have those. I happen to have three. 5"x11". Mostly hand-written recipes from family and friends from days gone by. If a recipe is tried-and-true, it gets a star. If not, it gets tossed, unless of course it is a family recipe, it gets refiled for its sentimental value.

And then there are the books. Over 300 cookbooks, gathered and gifted over the years of my home-making. Honestly, this spring was the first time I can remember that I went on a vacation and didn't come home with a new cookbook as a souvenir. (Instead, I came home with a quilt book! And fabric!) Anyway, these books continue to bring great joy and inspiration to my kitchen.

And I am one of those foodies who actually write in their cookbooks. Notes like how it should be done differently next time . . . who it was made for and when . . . what it might be served with. And of course, there's the star. Is it a keeper? Then it gets a star - maybe even two if it's extra special. If not, it gets an 'X' - mostly likely never given a second glance again.

You'd think that would be enough, yes? Well, considering I live in a technical age, I obviously would have some recipes kept in technical storage. I happen to use MasterCook, a 'recipe management system' where I have 30-plus virtual cookbooks containing thousands of recipes I have gleaned from the web, had emailed to me, etc. Recipes here also get the 'star', or alternatively, are deleted. See I do have a system!

So there you have it - a confession for today. With a family legacy surrounding food, a home ec degree in one pocket, and eight years as a pastry chef in another, it's not a far jump to understanding why I love recipes. And you can see why I find it soooo frustrating when I am surrounded by all these lovelies and stand forlorn in my kitchen thinking, "What in the world shall I make for dinner?"