¿Más salsa? ¡Sí, por favor!

I am a salsa fanatic. It's on my top 10 list of things I refuse to buy from a jar. And it's so incredibly simple to make.

My tomato salsa includes canned organic fire-roasted tomatoes; red, yellow or white onions (and/or scallions); fresh cilantro; garlic; lime juice; salt; cumin and secret spices.

In the summer I prefer to use fresh tomatoes and other garden-fresh ingredients which give the salsa a different texture, taste and brightness.

In an effort to use local ingredients, I have made salsa with store-bought mango and organic cucumber, radishes, and cilantro from our CSA.


mango salsa

As much as I love salsa, I am just as fanatical about guacamole. The combination of smashed avocado, onions, garlic, lime juice, cumin and cayenne to me, is the perfect balance of creamy and spicy. I sometimes add black beans to my guacamole — a trick a I borrowed from one of my favorite local foodies.

¡La noche mexicana es muy delicioso!

In this house, we never get enough Mexican food. We make quesadillas with low-fat cheddar cheese. We simmer pork or beef for hours, then shred and saute it with spices. We make black bean chili or spicy chicken tortilla soup and serve it with warmed tortillas or a handful of tortilla chips, guacamole, salsa, and fat-free Greek yogurt. We entertain with build-your-own burritos. And of course we make plenty of sangria and margaritas.

Weeknight dinner fritatta

We're quite possibly a little more into food than most. So, we usually know what's for dinner well ahead of time. There are some nights however, when it's getting late, nothing's been planned for or defrosted, and we don't want a lot of starches or carbohydrates.

Dinner frittata to the rescue.

The beauty of the frittata is that you can throw in most anything. Last week we had chipotle chicken sausages in the freezer and just a bit of salsa left over from a Mexican dinner party.

frittata with chicken chipotle sausages, onions & spinach
topped with homemade salsa

First we thawed out the sausage, removed the skin, and sauteed it with onions and spices. Eggs and egg whites were combined with finely minced cilantro, more spices and a splash of milk. The egg mixture was poured over the sausage and onions, then scattered with cheddar cheese (we prefer Cabot 75% lower fat) and spinach leaves. The frittata was cooked — like an omlette —  until set, then placed under the the broiler to brown the top and melt the cheese completely.

 Delicious. Simple. Healthy. Fast. Perfect for a weeknight dinner.

Anniversary dinner

Today is our anniversary and the kitchen is filled with the heavenly scents of lamb braising away. In our kitchen, food has always played a starring role in any celebration, and tonight is no exception. We are making lamb bordelaise, garlic smashed potatoes, and pan roasted Brussel sprouts.

We started by reducing beef stock then adding red wine, shallots and spices. Bordelaise typically calls for marrow, but since we are braising lamb shoulder steaks on the bone, we have neglected the marrow.

My smashed potatoes are a household favourite. I like my potatoes rustic, so I leave a bit of the skin on while I am peeling. Drop each newly peeled potato into a bowl of cold water — this will keep them from oxidizing and browning. Chop the potatoes roughly, returning the chopped pieces into the water bath to reduce some of the starchiness. Boil the potatoes until fork tender and  strain them well. I like to add one of my secret ingredients: fat free Greek yogurt. It gives the smashed potatoes the tanginess of sour cream, but with more protein and no added fat. I do add a small knob of butter for flavor, a whole grated garlic clove, and plenty of salt and freshly ground pepper.

The Brussel sprouts are basic — boiled with Xs in their stems until tender, then pan sauteed with a little bacon, finely chopped shallots, and seasonings.

It's an anniversary dinner, so of course we're having dessert. I'll be making apple strudel sundaes. Granny Smith apples, chopped dried apricots, and raisins are sauteed in a little butter. Water, brown sugar, walnuts, and spices are added, and the mixture is simmered until the fruit is tender. Then I deglaze the pan with a small amount of maple syrup and serve the mixture on top of low-fat vanilla ice cream.


We plan to toast seven years of marital bliss with a bottle of raspberry Framboise. À l'amour!

The basics of hummus & baba ghanouj

Today, a foodie friend who had recently made hummus for the first time called and asked for some tips. When I make hummus, there really is no true recipe. I go by taste, texture and what I have on hand.

hummus
The basic ingredients for this easy-to-make appetizer are chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice, and seasonings. Combine all of the ingredients in a food processor or blender — you can even mash them by hand for a more rustic version.

In an effort to boost protein and reduce fat, I often add 2-3 tablespoons of fat free Greek yogurt to my hummus. I've also made various flavors such as:

• cumin & cayenne
• fresh cilantro
• fresh basil or homemade pesto
• roasted or freshly grated garlic

Of course there is store-made hummus with roasted red peppers and a variety of other added vegetables. But personally, I prefer my hummus fairly simple.

baba ghanouj
If you can make hummus, you can just as easily make baba ghanouj. It's pretty much the same as hummus except using roasted eggplant in place of the chickpeas. Simply cut the eggplant in half lengthwise and roast it until fork tender, 30-40 minutes depending on the size of your eggplant.

Hummus and baba ghanouj are typically served with fresh pita bread or pita chips. The store-made variety are fine, but I prefer to make mine at home.

pita chips
If you are using larger pita bread, cut it into triangle "chips." The smaller individual pitas are a good choice as well. Open the pitas along their seams, place them upside down on a baking sheet and coat lightly with olive oil spray. Season lightly with salt pepper (and cumin, optional) and toast at a low temperature for 10-12 minutes or until crisp.

The Tart

I make a swoon-worthy tart from a recipe I found in a magazine years ago. Originally called "Bitter Orange Crustada," in my kitchen it has become simply known as "The Tart." I have been making it for years now, and have created many versions with much success.

The recipe is quite simple. Make shortbread dough. After letting it chill for 30 minutes, cut off 1/3 to save for the lattice. 

Use your fingers to press the remaining dough evenly into a pie plate, then fill the pie with orange marmalade.

Here is where you can get creative — I have made this tart using black raspberry preserves, blueberry preserves, and lingonberry jam. The success really depends on how much sugar you use to make your shortbread — the sweeter the shortbread, the less sweet the filling should be.

Roll out the remaining dough then cut it into strips. Use the strips to create a decorative lattice over your filling. Brush the exposed dough with eggwash and bake it at 375 for about 40 minutes. Serve with French vanilla ice cream and commence swooning.

I like using the leftover scraps of dough to make cookies.

Homemade chicken soup

A pot of chicken soup is simmering on my stovetop as I type. Today I have a cold, and I truly believe there is no better remedy than homemade chicken soup.

I typically begin with a whole chicken, cut into parts, which I cover with water and bring to a gentle simmer. Once the fat rises to the top of the water, skim it off and disgard it. Then add a thinly sliced onion and lots of seasoning: plenty of salt and pepper along with parsley, sage, thyme, dill, rosemary - whatever combination pleases your palate. I also like to add a pinch of tumeric, for colour.

homemade chicken soup & apricot-walnut chicken salad

 I let the chicken, onions and seasonings simmer for about an hour before adding carrots and celery. You may try adding other vegetables such as parsnips, celeriac, leek, etc.

Simmer the soup another 30-60 minutes, then add a whole tomato - let it cook in the broth until it's good and soft, then force it through a fine mesh sieve to extract all of the juices and seeds.

Remove the chicken from the soup and sort through the pieces saving the larger pieces and tossing the bones and gristle. You can add small pieces of chicken back into the pot. This chicken is deliciously seasoned and makes a wonderful chicken salad, too.

Just before serving, add a handful of freshly chopped Italian flat leaf parsely and/or fresh dill.

Black Forest birthday cake

Any excuse to bake a cake is enough of an excuse for me. My husband's birthday is always something extra special. Since he is an October baby, a true beer snob, and a lover of all things German, we host an annual Oktoberfest in his honor.

And what Oktoberfest would be complete without Black Forest cake?

I find there is something extraordinary about making a cake that is at least three layers. This one featured layers of chocolate cake brushed with Kirsch, which is a cherry liquor.

Each layer was covered with whipped cream frosting and topped with mascerated black cherries.

I liked leaving the sides of the cake unfrosted, exposting the rich whipped cream frosting, layers of chocolate and just a few cherries.

The Black Forest cake was a hit this past year - I can hardly wait to bake another for next year's Oktoberfest. Prost!

And now for something different

I love to to try new foods - especially vegetables. Tonight I made spaghetti squash for the first time.

The recipe is simple - halve the squash, scoop out the seeds, put it into a casserole with some water and roast it until the flesh is soft. Then, the best part, you get to rake it with a fork creating strands of "spaghetti."

I served the spaghetti squash topped with homemade tomato sauce, sweet Italian chicken sausage, and some freshly-grated Peccorino Romano.

On the side, I made a salad of roasted beets, oranges and homemade polenta croutons with an orange-garlic-balsamic vinegarette. Delicious, and different.

Pizza porn

pesto with sausage & ricotta

I am hopelessly passionate about making pizza. The smells of yeast rising, tomato sauce simmering, fresh basil, caramelized peppers, garlic, sweet Italian sauage, browning mozzarella.... And the first bite - pure heaven. Add fresh ricotta, and I am swooning.

Needless to say, I've been known to make a few pies every now and then. Enough so that my homemade pizza has created a small, mostly local fanbase. Check it out: Nan's Homemade Pizza

My husband and I have always enjoyed making pizza at home. The process sort of evolved over time. It began with store-bought pizza dough, of which we tried countless varieties. We found Whole Foods' version to be our favorite, but at $2.99 per dough - and with an insatiable need to make things from scratch - I had to wonder how difficult it would be to make my own.

My dough recipe was years in the making. Eventually, I found the easiest way to make it was actually in the food processor. This method produced exactly the type of pizza I was craving - a crust that is thin and crunchy, but still chewy.

Bread flour, yeast, salt, extra virgin olive oil and water are combined in the food processor, then turned out onto a floured surface, briefly kneaded, and put into a bowl to rise and rest.

The sauce is also made from scratch using all organic ingredients. I simmer a simple red sauce for hours, then freeze it in "pie-sized" portions.

To begin, the dough is stretched onto an oil- and cornmeal-coated pan.

First I add the sauce:

Then toppings:

The pizzas are baked almost all the way through before adding the cheese.

spinach, mushroom, caramelized onion & garlic

We have spent countless hours in our kitchen enjoying many varieties of pie with friends and family. Below, a montage of some of our favorites.



adding ricotta to a sausage & pesto pie




pepperoni

 

yellow pepper & basil



roasted mushroom & ricotta



sausage & fresh basil



The first bite is always the best.

Bacon, morning, noon & night

If you know me at all, you know I love bacon. But, it's got to be the good kind: all-natural, nitrate free. And it's got to be pork, otherwise it's really not bacon to me.

So many of the meals prepared in our kitchen feature this salivatory all-star. We add bacon to my homemade pizza, stews, my husband's Jaeger schnitzel sauce, mushroom soup, etc. I've found homemade bacon bits atop a salad give it a lovely, salty crunch.
  

BLT salad

 We've even embedded bacon into our whole grain pancakes because really, why not?

 

bacon pancakes

 

If we're on the heels of some newfound bacon trend, so be it.

Recently we hosted a bacon-themed party. I contemplated many ideas: bacon sushi, maple bacon, bacon and goat cheese empanadas....

In the midst of already making a three-layer Kahlua ganache cake for a special birthday guest and several bacon and carmelized onion pizzas, I began to think I might be taking on a little too much.

I did want to try something new though. So, I played around with the idea of the ubiquitous scallops wrapped in bacon. Instead of using scallops, I roasted tofu with smoky BBQ sauce, wrapped them in bacon and broiled them - delicious, and so much more affordable.

One well-loved guest brought roasted asparagus wrapped with pancetta - the dish never made it from the kitchen island to the table.

Several years ago through freecycle.org, I scored 18 editions of "Vegetarian Times" secondhand. An avid and curious home cook, I was excited to peruse new recipes.

Curling up in bed that night, I began eagerly reading through recipes, talking out ideas with my husband. He still remembers me pointing to the glossy pages, drifting off to sleep and telling him, "We should try this - but we definitely need to add bacon."

Any excuse to bake a cake

I have a raging sweet tooth, a newfound obsession with baking cakes, and a love of entertaining. So, when I realized our dear friend's birthday was this weekend, I jumped on the opportunity to bake a cake in his honor and present it at our monthly house party.

He had very few but very specific parameters. Chocolate and coconut? Yes. Lemon or fruit? No. Hmmmm.

One night another friend was visiting. We were talking shop, perusing cookbooks, and reminising about the Black Forest cake I had made for my husband's birthday last month.

As I spoke about the cake and its Kirsch-soaked layers, I rhetorically wondered what other alcohol would be good in a cake. My brilliant friend suggested Kahlua.

Chocolate + coconut + Kalhlua? It was starting to sound very, very good.

I started by baking a basic chocolate cake with coconut milk, then made ganache with Kahlua and dark chocolate:

I layered the cake with the Kahlua ganache and let it set:

Then, I coated the entire cake in a second layer of ganache:

Once that had set, I slathered the cake with chocolate Kahlua frosting, and topped it with a chopped dark chocolate espresso bar:

Unfortunately, I had a vat of leftover ganache, so:

What's on the menu tonight: Soup & salad

I love borrowing ideas from recipes and creating my own interpretation. Tonight I was craving mushroom soup. The whole idea began with a Trader Joe's impulse buy - a small bag of dried mixed mushrooms including porcini, shiitake, black and oyster.

I got out a half a dozen cookbooks and searched the Web. Most of the mushroom soup recipes I found were high in heavy cream and butter. I wanted a healthier version, but with lots of flavor. I wasn't finding a recipe to suit my needs, so finally I just went for it. And the results were fantastic.
 
I began by simmering the dried mushrooms, draining them and reserving the stock. Meanwhile, I sweated the onions, then added shallot, garlic and thyme.

Once everything was nicely browned, I added the reconstituted mushrooms and stock. I created a simple roux using a tablespoon of flour and only a half tablespoon of butter. Next I added one quarter cup of half-and-half (versus heavy whipping cream, which many of the other recipes had called for).

After tempering the mixture, I blended it, then seasoned the soup and topped it with fresh, chopped parsley. Delicious.

 

mixed greens with roasted beets,
goat cheese & bacon


I knew I wanted a salad to round out tonight's menu. So, while the soup was simmering, I roasted beets and browned some bacon. I topped mixed lettuce greens with goat cheese, then added the warm roasted beets and crumbled bacon. A drizzle of homemade dressing and dinner was served.




another lovely weeknight dinner





Soup night

Soup for dinner on a chilly night is perfection.

Tonight I am making Farinata, a tomato-based soup with onions, carrots, celery and kale, thickened with a little cornmeal and seasoned with rosemary and thyme. I will be topping ours with some shaved pecorino-romano and serving broiled garlic-and-herb sausage "meatballs" to round out the meal.