Lots of corn but not alot of flavor

What a disappointment.  I ate a lot of corn, cut the kernels off and saved the cobs for a tasty corn stock with which to cook up an even tastier corn risotto but what I ended up with was a bland risotto that needed more to get any flavor out of it.  More cheese, more olive oil, more salt. 

I adapted from this recipe using my own (boring, bland) corn stock in place of chicken stock.  I also halved the onion, leading to more blandness?  My intent was to halve the recipe but when I realized how much onion the recipe included I decided to use the full amount for everything else but stick with my already sauteed onion. 

I attempted to eat all of it, but the flavor was just too boring and bland and in no way justified the amounts of oil, cheese and salt I had included to make up for the lack in corn flavor.  A bust, maybe I'll try again next summer.

Corn, Corn, Corn

hmm looks like over a month has gone by since I have been posting.  I started a new job and was doing some travelling so got busy and lazy but hopefully can get back to posting with regularity again.  I wrote the below post ages ago but somehow never got around to posting it.  Here goes..

Corn Stock.  It sounds like a festival of some sort, maybe a harvest festival?  But, I am talking about a stock made from corn cobs to make corn risotto.  It’s mid August and even though it has been cold and grey in San Francisco (still?!) there are fresh summer vegetables to be had.  It feels like winter but the produce says summer.  So, I have been eating corn non-stop.  Usually I boil it, cut the cobs off and stir in some butter and salt for a perfect side dish.  I also combine it with fresh cherry tomatoes and some basil and onion into a nice summer salad.  The one thing I have been doing with all my corn is saving the cobs.  My goal is to make corn stock and then…corn risotto.  I had a corn risotto once at the restaurant Blue Hill at Stone Barns, back when they let you choose your dinner instead of serving you what they wanted to serve you (ugh, pet peeve if I am paying for dinner I get to choose the menu) anyway back to the corn risotto, it was amazing!!  Then somewhere along the way I read about corn stock and now finally summer corn is here and it’s time for some corn stock and then the risotto.  I looked online for a recipe and many of the recipes had other ingredients, onion or carrot or jalapeño.  All good things but I was looking for the purest corn flavor possible, and I really felt that all those other ingredients would take away from the corn flavor.  I want a corn stock.  Not a vegetable corn stock.  I settled on the version from Saveur that included parsley and peppercorns and then I found Martha Stewart’s recipe which called for water and corn cobs only. Ding, ding, ding.  That’s what I wanted.  I guess I could have figured that out for myself but it’s nice to get the assurance from Martha that using only water and corn cobs is ok. 

 The instructions said to bring to a boil and simmer for 45 minutes.  I may have had the temperature too low, I’m not certain it was really simmering.  The stock tastes corny but doesn’t look as yellow as some of the pictures I saw online.  I will make corn risotto in the next day or so and update, here’s hoping for an explosion of corn flavor.  

Here's where I found the recipe, such as it is. 

 

Creamy Green Pea Soup

When I saw that the ingredient list for this recipe included frozen peas I bookmarked it.  For some reason when I am in Trader Joe's I always buy frozen peas.  The only thing I use them for is the Minty Pea Dip or Fried Rice. I would never cook up some peas as a side dish or use them for anything else so I'm not sure why I mentally insist on having them readily available.  Therefore I usually have a bag that is hardening into a solid mass of ice and peas, slowly getting freezer burnt.  I figured this would be a good use of that bag. 

Green Pea Soup
Adapted from the Cooks dot com and Simply Recipes version

1/2 cup onion
1 Tablespoon of butter
2 cups peas
2 cups vegetable broth
5-6 mint leaves
1/2 cup heavy cream
Salt and pepper

Saute onion in butter over medium heat until softened.  Add broth and peas and bring to a boil.  Boil for 5 minutes, add mint leaves and reduce to a simmer.  Simmer for about 10 minutes, until peas are softened.  Remove from heat and pick out mint leaves.  Puree with an immersion blender or in a blender then add 1/2 cup of heavy cream and salt and pepper.

This was a really easy recipe but has the same issues as my butternut squash soup.  One main ingredient makes it kinda one dimensional. Not a soup I will eat every night for a week but definitely one I will have as a side dish with lunch for a couple of days.  I added croutons (wheat bread, toasted and sliced into squares)  which added a mildly interesting element but overall not very exciting.  I did use up that bag of peas; although I now have a whole clump of fresh mint that needs to be used in the next few days.  Mojitos? 

Steak Notions

Ok, the following recipe is new for me but not neccesarily healthful.  It's delicious though so that is what counts today.   

I have this preconceived idea that good steak needs to be grilled and I have not been able to break away from that.  Therefore when I get a steak, I take out the grill and charcoal and fight with the wind to get that charcoal lit.  It’s a huge hassle for one person.  I know that good steak can be cooked in a cast iron skillet but until I get one of those I have reverted to cube steaks.  According to Wikipedia cube steaks are “a cut of beef, usually top round or top sirloin, tenderized by fierce pounding with a meat tenderizer”.  According to me cube steaks are a cheap, fast way to have some delicious meat. 

I generally fry my cube steak in butter or olive oil or a combination of both.  It takes about 4 minutes and I usually end up with a medium cooked steak.  I’m shooting for medium rare so should knock off a minute next time.  Cube steaks can be served with the usual steak sides, on bread as a sandwich, on bread and finished in the panini grill with your choice of cheese.  Pretty much any way you eat steak you can eat your cube steak.  Except faster and for less money and with that same delicious meaty taste. 

Last night I made Chimichurri to go with my cube steak.  Here’s another pre conceived steak notion of mine, good steak needs no sauce or condiment.  And here’s where the cube steak wins again, it’s not a good steak and it tastes amazing with the Chimichurri. 

Chimichurri 

1 cup parsley

3 garlic cloves, chopped very fine
2 tablespoons fresh oregano or 2 teaspoons dried
½ cup olive oil (use the best you have)
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon sea salt
couple grinds of black pepper
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes

Chop the parsley, garlic and oregano very fine (I used my mini chopper) and then transfer to a wide-mouthed glass jar. 

Add the rest of your ingredients and mix well.

Serve a generous spoonful over your steak. 

The Chimichurri can also be uses as a sandwich spread, swirled through some cooked grains or to top a salad or a baked potato. 

I started with the Simply Recipes version of Chimichurri, found here.

Festival dining part two

Looks like it has been awhile since my first post about eating well at a festival, morning edition.  I got caught up in various vacations but am back to the blog.

In my last post I forgot to mention fruit for breakfast.  A healthy part of a usually not very healthful weekend.  I recommend cut up watermelon for breakfast delicious and refreshing.  If you have even a whiff of a hangover some juicy, cold watermelon is just the thing.  Other good options are grapes and cherries.

On to lunch/dinner and snacks.  Again the ideal is prepared items.  You don't want to be setting up a cookstove and dealing with multiple ingredients.  You need to be able to reach in to your cooler and pull out something tasty and ready to go.  A good option is the prepared salad, not a green salad but a brown rice salad packed full of beans and veggies or a yummy sesame noodle salad.  If you include vegetables you will want to avoid ingredients that spoil easily; think avocado or tomatoes, and choose longer lasting vegetables such as green pepper or corn.

Sesame Noodle Salad
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
4 cloves garlic minced
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
3 tablespoons sesame oil
1/2 tsp hot chili oil
4 tablespoons canola oil
2 tablespoons hot water

12 oz noodles
4 green onions sliced thinly

While water boils for noodles, combine all ingredients except noodles and green onion in a bowl and whisk together. 
Pour sauce over cooked warm noodles and toss to coat, add green onions and toss again.

Chill and serve.

Festival Time

Clearly this blog is not written by someone dealing with the record high temperatures of summer 2012.  Who else is cooking up pots of lentil soup and pans full of rice and beans as they try to stay cool in 100+ heat and/or have lost power due to summer storms?  July in San Francisco is cool, grey and foggy.  We do get our sunny, warm days but warm is a high in the low 70's, maybe.

But, there is warm sunny bright spot in all that cool grey fog and it's the High Sierra Music Festival. Four days of music, fun, friends, more music, blue skies, sunny days and blessed, blessed real, honest, sun created HEAT.  So hot you can go swimming, so hot you carry a mister around with you all day long, so hot you are rousted from your tent as soon as the sun peeks over the horizon.  Not this year, thanks to luck and a strategically placed tarp and sun shade set up.  Luck because someone else set it up and my tent just happened to be in the right spot to take full advantage of shade until 11:00am everyday.  Shade luxury. 

With four full days of music and camping you are going to need some serious sustenance to get through it .  You can eat every meal from the food vendors but that gets boring, and expensive.  You could also bring your camp stove and cook your own dinner but that takes time.  Time that could be better spent lolling around under a shade tent listening to some great music.  Which leaves you with prepared food.  With a little bit of work at home you can eat delicious food with minimum hassle.   I cook up food that can be eaten easily, food that has protein to keep you dancing, food that appeals when it's warm out and food that will still taste good after a few days in a cooler.  

After years and years and many music festivals I think I finally have the food plan down.  There have been some errors, cut up strawberries do not last, carrots and hummus seem good but, they take forever to eat.  Ditto peanut butter and anything. 

First up breakfast.  Here is where the breakfast bread is king.  Easy to eat, tastes delicious and zero prep work at the festival.  I opt for banana bread with chocolate chips but any breakfast bread will work; zucchini, lemon poppy seed, walnut and whatever.  But, banana bread is my favorite and banana bread loaded with chocolate chips is even tastier so chocolate chip banana bread it is.   

What about my morning caffeine?  I usually opt for the canned Starbucks or Trader Joe's coffee.  Pretty tasty and they do the trick but they can be too sweet for my preference.  This year my friends made their own coffee at home sweetened and creamed to their own specifications and transported it in a water bottle to the festival.  I am impressed with their ingenuity and will definitely be trying that next year.

I use my Mom's banana bread recipe.  I have two versions, one told to me over the phone by my Mom and another written down from my Mom and somehow they are different.  One calls for 1/4 cup oil which I imagine makes it moister but after skipping that one time I had no problem leaving it out of future versions.  I have yet to run into a too dry banana bread. 

Tomorrow, daytime festival food.  Today, here is breakfast.

Mom's Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
3-4 ripe bananas
2 eggs
2 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup chocolate chips

Cream together butter and sugar until fluffy.  Add bananas and eggs and mix until combined.

Sift together flour, baking soda and salt.  Add to wet ingredients and mix together.  Stir in chocolate chips.

Pour into greased bread pan and cook at 350 about 1 hour.  A toothpick should come out clean when inserted into the middle. 

The banana bread can cool in the pan.  When it is cool cut in half lengthwise and then into slices and place into a gallon sized ziploc bag.  The ziploc bag can go into the cooler during the day to keep the chocolate chips from melting everywhere.  Half a loaf is perfect for one person for a four day festival.  The other half can be frozen and eaten the week after you get home. 

Lentil Soup

Lentil soup is so satisfying, it’s easy to make, good for you and delicious.  The easy to make part is really where it’s at because you can pull together a hearty satisfying pot of soup in no time at all. It also freezes well.  I grew up on my Mom’s lentil soup which she usually made with Italian sausages, everything’s better with some Italian sausage.  I usually cook it vegetarian style but will occasionally bust out Mom’s version since as mentioned everything really is better with Italian sausage.

I make this so often that I don’t usually bother with a recipe but here’s the gist of it. 

2 Tablespoons Olive oil
1/2 onion, diced
2 carrots, sliced into rounds
2 cloves garlic, chopped

3 cups stock
1 can chopped tomatoes, 15.5 oz
1 cup lentils
1 Bay leaf
½ tsp Cumin
¼ tsp cayenne

Salt & pepper
2-3 cups Spinach, torn or shredded

In a medium sized soup pot warm olive oil, add onion and carrot and cook over med heat until softened.  Add garlic and sauté another 30 seconds-1 minute until garlic is fragrant.

Add stock, tomatoes, lentils, bay leaf, cumin and cayenne.  Allow to boil for about 2 minutes and then reduce heat to low and cook for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes start checking your lentils, they will probably need another 5-10 minutes to reach your desired tenderness. 

Once done to your preference, add salt and pepper and torn spinach.  Cook for a few minutes more, until spinach has wilted and serve.

Serve with warmed up pita and a dollop of yogurt top with chopped parsley or cilantro if you have it. 

Sausage version:

Replace olive oil with ½ pound of sweet Italian sausage

Cook sausage in soup pot until cooked through

Remove from pan and slice into sausage coins or bite sized chunks

Add onion and carrot and cook over med heat until softened.

Follow recipe above from this point on

Notes

Stock: You can use any kind of stock, I usually use chicken because that is what I have around but if you want it to be vegetarian you can use vegetable stock.

Lentils:  Use green or brown. If you want to use red lentils combine them with green or brown lentils otherwise you end up with a mushy soup.  The red (or orange?) lentils fall apart after cooking and you end up with a more pureed type of soup. 

Spices:  You can use any spices you like in lentil soup.  I have settled on the cumin/cayenne combo above but you can give it a more Indian flavor with curry powder or ground coriander and turmeric.  I will add chopped cilantro or parsley if I have them around. 

Red Beans & Rice (not authentic)

This is a recipe I have been tweaking for ages.  I started out with a version that fed about 25 it would end with me days later trying to separate the chunks of sausage from the rice.  Throwing away perfectly good rice is wasteful, throwing away sausage?  That’s sacrilege. Since then I have been working it down to a manageable size for one person.  In the process I discovered I like my vegetables chopped fine, and the sausage chopped small so I can get one or two pieces in each bite.  I also decided I liked the rice cooked in with the red beans ala Zatarains boxed red beans and rice. 

Here is the recipe for one:

½ med yellow onion diced

1 celery stalk chopped small
½ green bell pepper diced
1 jalepeno diced
1 garlic clove chopped
15.5 oz can red beans
2.5 cups stock

½ cup white rice

Bay leaf
Hot sauce, I like Crystal for this
½ lb andouille sausage diced into small pieces about the size of your thumbnail

1. Saute onion, celery and peppers over med heat until soft, about 10 minutes. 

2. Add garlic sauté for another minute or 30 seconds until garlic is fragrant.

3. Add drained beans, broth, rice, bay leaf and hot sauce.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.

4. Add sausage in last ten minutes.

5. After 20 minutes test rice.  If it’s done, remove from heat and enjoy with some more dashes of hot sauce.

This is still a work in progress; so far the rice cooked in with the beans works for me.  The negative is that the beans can end up overcooked.  The next time I make it I will try adding the beans and the sausage in the last ten minutes. 

Green Eggs and Sesame

ok, the eggs are not green but the greens sure are.  This is a super fast, easy dinner with lots of flavor.  Same flavor idea as fried rice but with greens instead of leftover rice and a fried egg rather than scrambled.

Here's the recipe:

1-1 ½ tablespoons Sesame oil

2 cups chopped kale or spinach

1 egg

Soy sauce to taste

Warm sesame oil in your favorite egg pan over medium heat

Add greens and sauté until wilted or desired doneness

Using tongs or slotted spatula remove greens from pan and put in a bowl

Fry egg in the same pan; if it seems too dry add some more oil
Remove egg from pan and place on top of greens

Add some soy sauce, and enjoy.

Super fast, super tasty and makes the house smell good. 

Homemade Salad Dressing

Homemade salad dressing is really the way to go, it’s pretty easy to make, you can adjust the flavors to your own preferences and if your goal is real food, it is way less processed than store brought.  Plus, the savings!  I admit a drunken late night with pizza and ranch dressing is a night I can get behind but usually I opt for homemade.  Added bonus, it’s a great way to use up all those fresh herbs that are wilting away in your refrigerator.  

Below are my basic recipes but as mentioned above work with the herbs you have in your refrigerator.  The fresh herbs do make the dressing go funky faster but the flavor really jumps out at you so it’s well worth it.  I make the dressing in small amounts anyway so don’t have a problem using them up within a few days.

Basic Vinaigrette

1-2 shallots or garlic cloves chopped fine

3 tablespoons white wine vinegar

1 tablespoon lemon or a good squeeze from half a lemon

½ tablespoon mustard (I opt for stone-ground, spicy but Dijon is traditional)

Salt and pepper

Chopped herbs (anything you have on hand)

½ cup olive oil (use the best you have)

Whisk all ingredients except olive oil in high sided bowl until combined, continue whisking as you drizzle in olive oil.

Greek Salad Dressing

1-2 shallots or garlic cloves chopped fine

3 tablespoons red wine vinegar

1 tablespoon lemon or a good squeeze from half a lemon

½ tablespoon mustard

Salt and pepper

Oregano

2 tablespoons feta

½ cup olive oil (use the best you have)

Whisk all ingredients except olive oil in high sided bowl until combined, continue whisking as you drizzle in olive oil.

Creamy Herb Dressing

1 garlic clove chopped fine

Juice from 1 ½ -2 limes

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

3 tablespoons chopped herbs (basil, parsley or cilantro)

¼ cup sour cream or yogurt

¼ cup olive oil

Whisk all ingredients except olive oil in high sided bowl, continue whisking as you drizzle in olive oil.

Caesar Salad Dressing

It is easiest to make this in a food processor so all the ingredients really blend together.  You can also use a mortar and pestle.  If you don’t have either of those chop all your ingredients very finely; especially the anchovies

3 cloves garlic

3 anchovies

2 tsp Dijon mustard

Juice from half a lemon

2 tablespoons red-wine vinegar
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1 soft boiled egg

½ cup olive oil

Combine all ingredients except egg and olive oil in a food processor and blend until it forms a paste.  Add soft boiled egg and mix in.  Add olive oil and mix again until combined. 

Compare the Basic Vinagrette to the Greek Salad Dressing, as you can see they have the same basic premise.

Allium (garlic, shallot or onion)

Acid (lemon juice, lime juice, vinegar)

Herbs

Oil (olive, sesame, walnut)

Change the vinegar and herbs and add some feta and you have a completely different taste.  Give it an Asian flavor profile with rice vinegar and sesame oil.  Have fun with it and make it exactly how you want it.  Enjoy, your salads will thank you for it!

Grain Bowls or an Easy, Healthy Lunch

These have been my go-to lunch and sometimes dinner for awhile now.  Back in the beginning of the year when I was on my super healthy kick (it lasted about 12 days) I started eating these and they are delicious and easy to prep.  Basically you start with any grain, top with a cooked vegetable, add some greens, half an avocado and whatever dressing you have around. 

Here’s the recipe:

1 cup cooked grain

1 cup cooked veg

1 bunch greens

½ avocado

Dressing to taste

Salt & pepper

Combine the grain and veg in a bowl.  If you are cold, heat it up in the microwave for 45 seconds.

Tear spinach or cut with kitchen shears and add to bowl

Chop half an avocado in its shell and add to bowl

Add dressing and s&p, enjoy!

Healthy, filling, and fast.  YUM!

Regarding the recipe, you can proportion each bowl however you want.  Clearly I don't actually measure when I am putting these together. If I have a cup and a half of quinoa left you can bet it's all going in the bowl. Likewise I usually use half a sweet potato, but with a really big one I'd probably still use half.  I like getting a mix of everything in every bite so measure by sight as I am putting it together.   

Grain options:

Black rice

Brown rice

Quinoa

Barley

These are the ones I usually use, I think you could probably use any grain so when I expand my repertoire to include millet or amaranth I’ll update you on the results.

Lately I have been using a mix of brown and black rice.  I got the black rice (aka wild rice) at Trader Joes and then could not figure out what to do with it.  Every wild rice recipe calls for a mix of rice’s not just straight up black rice.  Initially I would cook a pan of brown rice and another pan of black rice but the last time I made it I was trying to use up the last of the brown rice, barely a quarter cup and didn’t have a pan small enough to cook it in.  I was concerned too much surface area would cause it to not come out right.  I went ahead and combined it with a quarter cup of black rice and 2 cups of water and cooked it on low for 40 minutes.  It came out perfect, or close enough. 

Vegetables: 

Sweet potato

Butternut squash

Kabocha squash

Acorn Squash

I have tried all of the above but I usually opt for baked sweet potato because I can never get enough of it.  Occasionally I spice it up with butternut squash roasted with tons of garlic.  The others I used because I had them around and needed to use them before they went bad.  You could definitely use mushrooms or eggplant or whatever your favorite is. 

Greens:

Spinach

Kale

I always use either spinach or kale, whichever one I have in the refrigerator and/or is closest to going bad.  Feel free to use your favorite green or whatever you have on hand

Avocado

The avocado really makes it for me.  This is another vegetable (fruit?) that I cannot get enough of.  I put them in just about everything and eat them plain too.  Well, with salt and lime juice, so good!  Ideally my bowls will be so perfectly proportioned that I get a piece of creamy, yummy avocado in each bite. 

Dressing…To be continued because this is a whole post in and of itself

Sausage with White Beans

I love making this one because it is so easy and you can have a hearty, warm, stomach satisfying dinner in less than 30 minutes.    I live in San Francisco and most of our nights are foggy and chilly so you really can eat soups and stews all year long.  This is one of my favorites when I return from a long day of activity cold and tired and want something warm and satisfying for dinner but have nothing prepared.  It also goes great with a glass of red wine so win-win.

Here's the recipe:

1 lb Italian sausage (bulk if you can get it)

1 can (15 oz) cannellini beans drained (I have also used great northern.  Are they interchangeable? Yes, they are for me)
1 can (14.5 oz) chopped tomatoes
2 Tbsp Olive oil
Fresh parmesan
Basil and/or parsley if you have it

Pour a glass of red wine, I prefer pinot noir but shiraz is good too or any nice Italian red.

Warm olive oil in your sauce pan over medium heat

Add sausage, if using links cut the casing and squeeze out the sausage.  Discard casings

Break up the sausage as it cooks and cook until there is no pink left.  Remove it to a plate lined with paper towels.

Pour off most of the fat from the sauce pan

Add drained beans and tomatoes to sauce pan.  If it looks dry add some more water, or another can of chopped tomatoes.  Cook covered over medium heat for 15 minutes.  If you don’t have a lid for your sauce pan cook uncovered but watch that the pan does not dry out. 

Add the sausage back to the sauce pan and cook another few minutes until hot and bubbly. 

If you have basil and/or parsley throw in a handful of each now. 

Serve immediately garnished with fresh grated parmesan.    If you are feeling decadent drizzle with some quality olive oil

Top up your glass of red wine and enjoy!

Crostini Three Ways

I made these for a party I went to recently.  They are all very delicious and easy to make.  The only negative is that you will have to spend some time right before serving to assemble the crostini’s.  I found the first version last year when I was scouring the interwebs for a lemon pasta dish.  I never found a perfect lemon pasta dish but did find this easy, delicious roasted tomato and lemon ricotta crostini.  I don’t know where specifically I found it so will link to one version on the web at the end and show my modified version below:

Roasted Tomatoes and Lemon Ricotta Crostini

1 lemon zested
1 small tub ricotta cheese
1 small carton grape or cherry tomatoes
Olive oil
Salt

Preheat oven to 425.

Rinse tomatoes and put in roasting pan.  Coat with olive oil and give a sprinkle of salt.  Roast for about 10-15 minutes until the burst from their skins. If you are feeling ambitious you can slice in half after rinsing; which will cut down on cooking time but increase prep work. 

Combine tub of ricotta and lemon zest.  If you do not have a zester you can use a microplane or fine toothed grater.  If you don’t have those you can use a regular peeler but be careful too only get the zest and none of the bitter pith.  I usually use a microplane but was making this at my Mom’s and she had an actual zester.  Fancy, I was momentarily inspired to make a martini with a twist. 

Add a squeeze of lemon to the ricotta mixture.  I like mine very lemony so gave half a lemon a good strong squeeze.  I also used most of the zest from the whole lemon.    

Prep the crostini

Each slice gets a smear of lemon ricotta, then top with a few roasted tomatoes.  If you can, make a tiny cavity in the ricotta to hold the juices from the roasted tomatoes.

Feta & Honey Crostini

I stumbled across Food52’s recipe for feta and honey and thought it would be good in crostini form.  In the past I have made a blue cheese and honey crostini but I have a hard time finding a mild but still flavorful blue cheese.  The warmed feta and honey combination sounded amazing so I bookmarked this one too.    

The first time I made this I made it in dip form as instructed.  I then decided to make it in crostini form when I wanted a third version.  Here’s what I did:

8 oz Greek feta, patted dry and cut into slices

2 Tbls honey

Put a couple pieces of feta on the premade crostini and bake for about 5 minutes in a 350 degree oven. 

Remove crostini and turn oven up to broil

While the oven heats up:

Warm honey in microwave for about 30 seconds or until it is spreadable

Spread on top of cheese

Put back in oven and broil until the honey and feta get a little color.  I had to whisk mine out as my pre-made crostini was getting too much color, ie burning.

Next time I will only cook my crostini on one side.  Then I will use the uncooked side to top with feta and honey mixture and hopefully avoid any burned bits on the final dish.

Even with some burned pieces and without the thyme and olive oil the warmed feta and honey combination was delicious: sweet and salty and warm it received lots of raves at the party.  I’ll definitely try it again.

I picked up the next recipe from Dinner a Love Story.  I bookmarked the Minty Pea Dip and was inspired to make it in crostini form for a baby shower I attended last year.  For this recipe I followed instructions exactly (ok, I tried to make it with still frozen peas and then had to leave the mix in the food processor for about 20 minutes while they thawed out). 

Once the dip is assembled simply spread a few tablespoons on a pre made crostini.   You can grate some fresh parmesan on top or serve as is.

Making crostini:

2 baguettes

Olive oil

Heat oven to broil

Slice the baguettes thinly (it helps if they are a couple of days old but fresh will work too)

Place slices on baking sheet and brush with olive oil
Put in broiler for 1-2 minutes to toast
Remove from broiler and flip crostinis
Back under the broiler to toast the other side

I find it easiest to use two baking sheets so you can be flipping one batch while the other is browning.  But be aware, they cook very quickly.

Here are the links:

Minty Pea dip

Feta & Honey

Lemon Ricotta with Roasted Tomatoes

Fried Rice

I am going to Yosemite for the weekend and next Wednesday will be gone for another week so now I am busily trying to eat down the refrigerator.  Last night was fried rice; a fast easy dinner that uses up whatever you have around.  As long as two of those things are rice and eggs.  I always have eggs and conveniently also had half a carton of basmati rice from takeaway Indian last weekend. 

I try and get my fried rice to be flat, like a crepe or pancake.  I don’t want a pile of scrambled eggs with rice but that is just personal preference.  It doesn’t always work out quite like that but it’s a goal I aspire to with every pan of rice and eggs.

Here's the recipe:

1 tbsp sesame oil

1 clove garlic – chopped fine
1-2 tsp ginger – grated on microplane

½ cup cooked corn

1 cup leftover rice
2 eggs – scrambled in a bowl

Heat sesame oil in your favorite egg cooking pan over medium heat; add garlic and ginger.  I slice the end off of a branch of ginger and then peel about ¼ inch of the sides then grate that bare end right over the pan.  Allow this to cook together for about 30 seconds to 1 minute.  Until you can smell the garlic and ginger warming.

At this point add your vegetables.  If raw, cook until desired doneness.

Add rice and using a spatula spread it so that the rice covers the bottom of your pan.  Allow that to cook for about 5 minutes.  My goal is to get that nice and crispy and sticking together. 

Meanwhile scramble the eggs with a fork in a bowl.  Once the rice is nice and crispy pour the egg over the top.  Using the spatula spread the egg around so it covers all the rice.  Cook until the eggs are set.  If the rice formed a nice pancake you should be able to flip in one piece.  I usally end up flipping in 2-3 uneven pieces. 

Sprinkle with soy sauce and devour.

The eggs and rice are your base, you can add whatever you like to make your version.

The sesame oil can be replaced with other oils such as peanut, grapeseed, or olive oil.  You can also use butter. 

The vegetable can be any vegetable.  I wasn’t sure of the corn would work with the dish but it was delicious.  Other good ones are peas, spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes, green beans.  Whatever you have leftover in your refrigerator and if no leftovers shake some frozen peas out of the freezer and toss those in. 

I don't usually include meat but if you have leftover chicken or ham or pork chops go ahead and dice them and include when you add the vegetable.