Indian Summer Roasted Corn and Pepper Salad

What an absolutely gorgeous Indian summer weekend we just had here in western Pennsylvania!  Sunny skies.  A kaleidoscope of color. I wish I could have just freeze framed it.

We almost felt we were cheated out of this all too short season by some premature chilly weather last week.  (We cleared slush off the car one morning.)   “Isn’t this still September?” I asked.  But then we were blessed with four straight days of this glorious weather.  Can’t complain.

And it called for the perfect Indian summer treat, one that still celebrated the bounty of fresh harvest. The colors just mimic all the bright colors of the weekend.

I'd frozen leftover roasted corn from a Labor Day picnic and had just roasted some peppers.  All the makings of a great pairing. This was a pretty mild salad and I’d spice it up more next time --  jalapeno, maybe, or cumin, or just a dash of sriracha or Tabasco.

Roasted Corn and Pepper Salad

3 cups roasted corn, cut from cob

2 cups roasted red pepper, diced

½ cup scallion, sliced

½ red onion, diced

¼ cup parsley

For dressing:

½ cup sour cream

½ cup mayonnaise

1/3 cup cider vinegar

1 ½ teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon pepper

Combine vegetables and parsley in bowl.  Whisk remaining ingredients, pour over vegetables and toss lightly to combine.  Serve chilled.

And here was the big finish.  I took this picture Sunday evening from our hilltop.  It was breathtaking in real life.

Tomato Granita

I don’t want to complain abut the tremendous tomato season I’ve enjoyed, especially after I’ve been cursed with some pretty meager harvests in recent years, but I’ve been running out of things to do with this bounty.  I’ve canned sauce, frozen sauce, roasted tomatoes, made soup, tomato pies, caprese salads, panzanella., eaten plenty of tomato sandwiches.  Need I go on?

But they’re still coming!  And me, out of  ideas – not to mention time and space. And I hate to waste all this good stuff.  My sister told me about a tomato bacon jam that sounds too irresistible to pass up and I’ve been tempted by some very interesting drink recipes  but  the first thing that intrigued me as I searched for something new was this Tomato Granita.  Only three ingredients and a bit of time and attention. Imagine!  Frozen tomato slush!

The recipe comes from a book called The Essential Mediterranean, by Nancy Harmon Jenkins, who wrote the Mediterranean Diet Cookbook. 

This book has off and on been great bedside reading because it’s not just recipes (although I can read recipes just like fiction) but great descriptions of  the intimate connection of food and culture that have so colored the countries that surround the Mediterranean– how the same ingredients take on new forms and taste as they make their way around the sea.

The name of this dish sounds so pretty in Italian – Granita di Pomodoro.  (Much better than tomato slush.)

The author says that this dish "makes an elegant entremet for a dinner party  . . .  or a startling but delicious dessert."  I had to run straight to Wikipedia to look up entremet.  It just means something served between courses, what I grew up calling "palate cleanser," which was usually some kind of sherbet.

For me, the granita was just a pretty tasty treat.  And it was just for me.  Mr. Rosemary loves tomato sauce and will eat cooked tomatoes, but not fresh.  Me?  I can eat them like apples.  And have.

Because it has both chili pepper and corn syrup in it, it's a mix of spicy and sweet.  And the chunky cold texture of the granita somehow enhances both the spiciness and sweetness.

And when you have pretty much just tomatoes in a recipe, they have to be nearly perfect and very ripe tomatoes.  The recipe specified romas -- and I had plenty -- but says any fresh red ripe tomato will do nicely. My trouble was finding a substitute for chili pepper.

Nancy Harmon Jenkins advises that you want the flavor of a chili but not the mouth burning qualities of some Mexican or Caribbean types.  So I had some dried peppers I'd ground myself and used them but they weren't well-labeled so I can't tell you for sure what they were.

My bottom line? A great experiment but probably not something I'll likely make again. If I ever host a really fancy dinner party and need an entremet, however, this is the one I would make.

Tomato Granita
from The Essential Mediterranean, by Nancy Harmon Jenkins
Makes 8-10 servings as an entremet, 6 as a dessert

1 1/2 pounds very red ripe tomatoes, peeled
1 tablespoon fragrant ground chili pepper
1/4 cup light corn syrup

The day before making, halve the tomatoes and gently squeeze out the seeds and excess liquid.  Coarsely chop and store, covered in the fridge overnight.

The next day, combine the tomatoes and the chili pepper in a food processor and process in brief spurts, adding the corn syrup as you do.  Don't make a puree; you want a chunky mixture.

If you have an ice cream maker, follow the manufacturer's instructions for sorbets and granitas.  Or turn the mixture into a stainless steel bowl, cover well, and freeze. Every 20 minutes or so, stir the mixture with a fork.  Within an hour or two, you'll have the granular ice chucks typical of a granita.  (I used this second method.)

Hula Hoop the Chocolate Chip Cupcakes Away!

Like any self-respecting home cook (especially one who keeps a blog!), I watch the The Food Network and The Cooking Channel when I can.  You always need new inspiration. That’s in addition, of course, to the half-dozen magazines I get, the 100 + cookbooks that grace my shelves, the myriad clippings I collect (some quite yellowed), the yet-to-be-organized print-outs from the internet, as well as the 50-odd food blogs and websites I try to visit regularly.  That’s a lot of inspiration!

Trouble is, I have trouble working in some kind of routine exercise into that food absorption.  Often, I will watch food shows while I hula hoop.  A half-hour show is perfect for this kind of multi-tasking:  I do my hula hoop for twenty minutes and then concentrate on the show for ten minutes (or maybe fold laundry).

The irony of exercising while slobbering over food possibilities is not lost on me.

A couple weeks ago I was going doing my hula hoop while watching Giada De Laurentiis.  Can’t remember which show.  (Which made finding the recipe just a little bit of a search.) But she made these chocolate chip cupcakes look so irresistible, I was drooling over my hula hoop. 

And I had a couple of real good excuses:  my friend’s birthday was coming up, the grandsons were camping with their parents nearby, and my college girlfriends were coming for a visit, too!  So . . . I made them.  Twice.  And they were doubly delicious.

When Giada said the recipe started with a brownie mix from a box, she only half-apologized and said they were that good. I believed her.  And it's true.   I only made a couple changes from her original recipe:

• I subbed coffee for the water she used.
• I used regular sized chocolate chips instead of the mini-chips she recommended.
• And I added peanut butter to the mascarpone-cream cheese frosting.

A word on the hula hoop:  It really works.  It’s a weighted hula hoop – 4 pounds. 

This is not me.

When I first used it, I had a tough time keeping it going for more than a minute at a time, but I do 20 minutes at a time and although I’m don’t do it all the time, I sure notice when I don’t!  Makes a big difference and really works whittling away my midriff.  Which is a very good thing if you like to eat brownie cupcakes like these.  And I do.

Chocolate Chip Walnut Cupcakes

only slightly adapted from Giada Di Laurentiis

1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips, plus ¼ cup for garnish

1 (21 ounce) box brownie mix (Giada recommended Duncan Hines Chewy Fudge)

2 eggs, room temperature

½ cup vegetable oil

¼ cup brewed coffee

Frosting

4 ounces mascarpone cheese, room temperature

4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

2 tablespoons smooth peanut butter

3 cups powdered sugar, sifted

Place than oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners.

In small bowl, combine the walnuts, 1 cup chocolate chips and 1 tablespoon of the brownie mix.  Toss until the nuts and chips are well coated and set aside. (Doing this helps keep the chips and nuts from sinking to the bottom.)

In large, bowl, mix together the remaining brownie mix, eggs, vegetable oil and coffee.  Stir for 30 seconds until blended.  Fold in the nuts and chips.  Spoon the mixture into the prepare pan.  (Cupcakes will be full.)

Bake for 22 to 25 minutes until a toothpick inserted in center comes out with moist fudgy crumbs.  Cool the cupcakes in the pan for 10 minutes then transfer to a wire rack and cool completely before frosting, about 30 minutes.

For the frosting, using an electric hand mixer, beat the two cheese together until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.  Then gradually beat in the powdered sugar until smooth and spreadable. Then mix in 2 tablespoons smooth peanut butter. Refrigerate frosting until ready to use.  Spread the frosting on top of the cupcakes and garnish with chocolate chips.  Refrigerate until ready to serve, but serve at room temperature.

The Last Roast of Summer: Island Pork Tenderloin Salad

If you want to savor summer one last time, make this pork roast salad.  It looks like a lot of ingredients – and there are – but, remember, it’s a whole meal.

Actually, you could make it anytime this winter, whenever you want to be reminded that there is a sun and there are warm places out there, because it’s all cooked indoors.  A little stove top searing of the meat, a little roasting and then the salad assembly. 

This meal combines the warmth of the pork (and its spicy seasonings) and the cool freshness of the citrus pieces and the creaminess of the avocado.  All just plain yummy. 

I love fall; it’s my favorite season. And I love September best of all.  (Did you know that when people are asked what their favorite month is 9 out of 10 people will pick their birthday month?  I feel sorry for January birthday people.)

Still, I don’t like what’s ahead.  It seems like winter lasts six months around here.  I’m glad to know I have my daughter in Tampa to visit!

Remember this dish when you want a taste of a winter getaway.  It just may transport you.

Island Pork Tenderloin Salad

Gourmet May 2003

For pork:

2 teaspoons salt

½ teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 pork tenderloins (2 ¼ to 2 ½ pounds total)

2 tablespoons olive oil

For glaze:

1 cup packed dark brown sugar

2 tablespoons finely chopped garlic

1 tablespoon Tabasco

For vinaigrette:

3 tablespoons fresh lime juice

1 tablespoon fresh orange juice

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 teaspoon curry powder, toasted

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon black pepper

½ cup olive oil

For salad:

3 navel oranges

5 ounces baby spinach, trimmed (6 cups leaves)

4 cups thinly sliced Napa cabbage (from 1 medium head)

1 red bell pepper, cut lengthwise into thin strips

½ cup golden raisins

2 firm-ripe avocados

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Stir together salt, pepper, cumin, chili powder and cinnamon, then coat pork with spice rub.

Heat oil in an ovenproof 12-inch heavy skillet over moderately high heat until just beginning to smoke, then brown pork, turning, about 4 minutes total.  Remove pan from heat but leave pork in skillet.

Stir together brown sugar, garlic and Tabasco and pat on top of each tenderloin.  Roast in the middle of the oven until thermometer inserted diagonally in center of each tenderloin registers 140 degrees F, about 20 minutes.  Let pork stand at room temperature 10 minutes.  (Temperature will rise to about 155 degrees F while resting.)

Make vinaigrette while pork roasts.  Whisk together juices, mustard curry powder, salt and pepper, then add oil in a stream, whisking until emulsified.

Prepare salad ingredients while pork stands.  Cut peel, including white pith, from oranges with a sharp knife, then cut oranges crosswise into ¼ inch thick slices.  Toss spinach, cabbage, bell pepper and raisins in a large bowl with about ¼ cup vinaigrette.  Halve, pit and peel avocados, then cut diagonally into ¼ inch slices.

Cut pork at a 45-degree angle into ½ inch slices.  Line a large platter with dressed salad and arrange pork, oranges and avocados in rows on top.  Drizzle some vinaigrette over avocados and oranges.  Pour any juices over pork.

B is for Blondie Brownies with Brown Butter from "The Cookiepedia"

Now that’s a tongue twister, isn’t it?  But a darn good taste tempter, too!  The recipe for these brownies came from a new cookbook, The Cookiepedia, by Stacy Adimando.  The subtitle of the book is “Mixing, Baking and Reinventing the Classics” and the book delivers on the promise.

The book also has a stylish, light-hearted design, a hard cover spiral bound book, with clever pencil drawings, lively writing and lovely photographs, too.  Every cookie is pictured.  Baker’s tips are sprinkled throughout the book, along with suggestions for making personalized versions.

This blondie is just one example:  A simple change from a traditional blondie by using brown butter adds a nutty flavor to the brownies that takes it up a notch. 

(A few years ago when one sister’s only son was graduating high school, many if not all stops were pulled out to fete the young man properly, including replicating his favorite dessert:  the blondies from Applebee’s where he worked at the time.  My sister found the recipe all right; he was pleased, they were delicious, but you ought to try these on him, too, Jiggy.)

I used to think, non-baker that I am, that brown butter was reserved for savory dishes, like a simple sauce for steamed vegetables, or with sage, a great topping for squash ravioli.

But I’ve opened myself up to the possibilities of baking with brown butter – or beurre noisette, as the French call it.

The book is cleverly organized, too, dividing the cookies into the major categories of buttery, chocolaty, fancy, fruity, spicy and nutty and seedy cookies.  You’ll find all the classics – snickerdoodles, pignoli cookies, macarons, Florentines, pecan sandies, shortbreads, linzers, chocolate chip – along with some newbies, like green tea, cornmeal, sesame crisps, salt-and-pepper cookies, and everything-but-the-kitchen-sink cookies (which suggests adding potato chips, among other things).

The book is both a primer, because there are lots of term descriptions and ideas for decorating, and an advanced course, because it offers lots of suggestions for taking the original recipes on slightly different taste trails.  Along with suggested options, there are lots of tips for successful baking, much needed for hard cases like myself.   If I were to make every one of the 50 recipes in the book, I’d be one cookie queen.

The addition of brown butter to the blondies did add a wonderfully nuttiness to the brownies.  Such a simple change can make a big difference!  But the cookie I really want to try are alfajores, little buttery, sandwich cookies filled with dulce de leche.  Although Stacy suggests purchasing the dulce de leche, I think, come Christmas, I’d like to make it myself. 

Or maybe it’s the cornmeal cookies with rosemary I’ll be making next.  Or the sables with lemon zest. Hard to say.

The author is the deputy lifestyle editor for Every Day with Rachel Ray and a contributor to Serious Eats.  She knows her cookies and has put together a pretty complete cookie book.  It went on sale September 6.  Some great early Christmas shopping!

Couple cautions with these blondies, though:  Do not multi-task when browning the butter.  It doesn’t take long.  Elise at Simply Recipes offers a great tutorial.  And do err on the underside of bake times.

Blondie Brownies with Brown Butter

From The Cookiepedia, by Stacy Adimando
Makes 2 dozen bars

1 cup unsalted butter

2 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 ½ cups light brown sugar

½ cup sugar

2 eggs

1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

2/3 cup chocolate chips

2/3 cups toasted pecans, chopped

Coarse salt (sea salt or kosher) for sprinkling

(Optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Start by browning the butter.  Melt it in a saucepan on medium heat.  When the foaming subsides, start swirling the pan to keep the butter moving.  Continue to cook until it changes from a light yellow to a deep golden, stopping just when you see the color change happen.  Take it off the heat and pour into a bowl to cool.

Meanwhile, sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl and set aside.

Beat the melted butte and sugars together.  Add eggs and vanilla and beat for several minutes or until the mixture looks thick and silky.  Add the dry ingredients one third at a time and mix until combined.  Stir in the chocolate chips and mix until combined.  Stir in the chocolate chips and pecans.

Grease a 9 X 13 inch baking pan.  Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper, then grease the parchment paper.

Pour the dough onto the parchment paper and spread it evenly with a spatula or slightly wet hand.  Bake 30 to 35 minutes (err on the shorter side for doughier brownies) until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Sprinkle lightly with the coarse salt.  Let cool completely before removing from the pan.  Cut into squares.

* * * *

Thanks to Quirk Books for sending me a copy of Stacy Adimando's The Cookiepedia.

Olives, Anyone? Everyman's Olive Cheese Bread

When it comes to olives, I’ve learned, there are two camps of people: They either love ‘em or they hate ‘em. Then there are some who say that they like the green ones, but not the black ones (or vicey versey.) It matters not with this cheesy bread. Even avowed olive haters have converted when they taste a bite of this bread . . . and they’ll be back for more.

I do believe, though, that all the heart-healthy benefits of the good fat in olives are totally eclipsed by the butter, cheese and mayo that go into the making of this artery clogging treat. But want to be a hit at the Labor Day picnic this weekend? Take this bread.

The recipe comes from The Pioneer Woman*. When she writes about it in her first cook book (and on the website) she labels it “chick food” because she served it an all-woman dinner she hosted and was besieged with requests for the recipe, more so than for all the other dishes on the menu, which included beef. (She also notes that her meat-loving Marlboro Man wouldn’t touch it with a ten-foot cattle prod.)

But after serving this bread several times, I’ve found there is no sexual bias. Man and woman both enjoy drooling over the melty cheese. The olives seem to merely add a saltiness and definite color to the bread topping. It’s very simple, very tasty and pretty much a crowd pleaser. Even if it is just a once-in-a-blue-moon-because-I-want-to stay-healthy-treat. Hate olives? Give it a try. And don’t bother getting deli olives; the ones in the can will do just fine.

There are only two slight changes I have made with this bread. I use a Monterey Jack cheese that has jalapeno peppers in it and I’ve extended the original cooking time by 15 minutes; could just be my oven, or my taste. I want a little browned toastiness to the edges of the bread and cheesy topping.

* I forgot to set the DVR to catch The Pioneer Woman’s new show on The Food Network last Saturday morning. Did anyone catch it?

Olive Cheese Bread
only slightly adapted from The Pioneer Woman
Serves 12

1 loaf French bread
1 14.5 ounce can black olives, drained
1 6 ounce jar pimiento stuffed green olives, drained
2 stalks of green onions
¼ pound (1 stick) butter
½ cup real mayonnaise
1 pound Monterey Jack cheese grated

Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.

Roughly chop both olives and green onions. In a large bowl, mix olives and onions with softened butter, mayonnaise and cheese

Cut bread in half lengthwise. Divide mixture in half and spread over each half. It looks like a lot, but it will work.

Bake for 40 to 45 minutes. Slice and serve.

A Dilly of a Potato Salad

There’s really nothing terribly remarkable about this potato salad, pretty standard fare. Except for the fact that it is now my own, perfected after years of experimenting and tinkering and fine tuning. And except for the fact that most of the ingredients come from, if not my own garden, my neighbor’s down the road. The satisfaction factor goes way up when your own produce stars in your food. My own dill, my own onions, and my neighbor’s spuds and eggs. Makes for one fine (and dilly of a) potato salad.

I’ve had so much dill this summer that I took to bringing flowering stalks of it and putting it in the kitchen window. What a refreshing fragrance! And so pretty, too. Plus cutting the flowers saved me from seeing those flowers spreading their seed all over the garden. And although dried dill weed also works in this salad, there’s nothing like fresh.

It’s the pureeing of the onion that really makes this salad, though. If you’re not a big dill fan, the dressing works well without it; you may have to add more seasoning, though. (And definitely some chopped Italian parsley.) Enough onion juice helps to thin the mayo and sour cream a little and the onions are so fine, you’re never really biting into raw onion, but the flavor is definitely there.

The onion secret is one I learned from my mom. She was a fan of grating a small amount of onion into things -- casseroles, soups, salads. (“They won’t taste the onion, honey. They’ll just know it tastes good.”) My 12 year-old self crying at the box grater wasn’t so sure!

Toes’*  Dilled Potato Salad

3 pounds red potatoes
2 tablespoons kosher salt
1 small white onion
1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup sour cream
¼ cup fresh dill, chopped
3 hard-cooked eggs, chopped
½ cup celery, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

Place the potatoes in a large pot covered with water. When the water comes to a rolling boil, add 2 tablespoons kosher salt, lower the heat to a simmer and cook about 15 minutes, until a fork pierces about a third of the way into the potato. Drain the potatoes in a colander and then place the colander back over the now dry pot. Cover with a clean, dry kitchen towel and let steam for about 15 to 20 minutes. (I learned this tip from Ina Garten.)

Meanwhile, make the dressing. In a food processor, place the onion, cut up into manageable pieces and nearly make a puree out of it. Add the mayo and sour cream and the dill and whirl until blended.

When the potatoes are cool enough to handle, cut up into about ¾ inch pieces. Add the dressing, eggs and celery and gently mix together. Taste and add as much salt and freshly ground pepper as you like.
Chill for several hours before serving.

* I guess I should explain the “Toes” thing – it’s just a family nickname. Growing up I was always called Rosie. And somehow Rosie-Posie morphed into Rose-Toes, eventually dropping the Rose half. I thought about my family nickname for my blog, but somehow “toes” and “food” together just didn’t make it.