roasted zucchini with goat cheese.

There are certain cooking techniques I constantly fall back on.  I love to top leftover hashes with poached eggs.  I love to shred leftover meat and combine it with crushed tomatoes to turn it into a pasta sauce.  But most of all I love roasting vegetables.  

Roasting vegetables is one of my favorite techniques.  Upon contact with a blast of high heat carrots turn crisp and sweet and kale turns into chips!  Easily the best thing about roasting is that a large quantity of vegetables suddenly turns into a manageable amount (it's a great way to shrink overflowing produce drawers!).  My favorite vegetable to roast is zucchini. If you cut the zucchini into rounds they almost turn into chips (use your imagination here, they are healthy chips!)  Drizzled with balsamic vinegar, goat cheese, and basil it turns into a beautiful side dish.

Roasted Zucchini with Goat Cheese

Serves 2 as a side dish

1 pound zucchini, cut into 1/4 inch rounds

1 tablespoon olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (or more if your like me and like it spicy!)

2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar

1 ounce goat cheese

A couple of torn basil leaves

Set oven to 400 degrees.  Lightly grease a baking sheet and line up your zucchini rounds. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes.  Drizzle with olive oil.  Roast for about 20 -25 minutes until brown and crispy. Top with crumbled goat cheese.  Drizzle with balsamic vinegar and scatter basil. 

shaved asparagus pizza.

Yesterday, I turned 27.  (Am I now old!?)  I tend to get very pensive around my birthday.  I question everything - Are you where you want to be in life? What have you accomplished in the last year? - it gets exhausting.  So exhausting in fact that by the time the day rolls around all I want to do is take a nap (and eat cake - the only good thing about a birthday is eating cake, lots of cake).  

But yesterday I had a really good birthday.  Tyler took me to Per Se for lunch. It was extraordinary (a once in a lifetime kind of thing which is how I sold him on the idea).  I have never (and probably never will again) experience a meal quite like it.  I mean it said HAPPY BIRTHDAY CAITLIN on the top of our menus (which we got to keep), if that isn’t personal service then I don’t know what is (Thomas Keller you know how to make a girl feel special). 

The food itself was amazing.  But to me, the most amazing part of the whole thing was how beautiful everything looked.  Every dish that came out was simply put, a work of art.  We were both in awe.  You really do eat with your eyes first and in the case of Per Se, I ate beautiful things at first sight.  I also ate a lot of dessert which was the best part of the meal for me – when you think its over they bring you doughnuts and truffles and homemade fudge and macarons! As I said to Tyler, dessert at Per Se is my version of heaven. 

I still can’t stop thinking about how beautiful each dish was.  How carefully constructed everything was.  I am still in awe. It makes me want to cook more beautiful dishes which is how I stumbled upon the shaved asparagus pizza.  This pizza looks like abstract art and it tastes like spring. I am already planning on making it again and every time I do it will make me think of Per Se and how lucky I am.  (I am also lucky because I got to bring home chocolates from Per Se – they are sitting in my fridge, I give them until Wednesday.)

Shaved Asparagus Pizza

Adopted from Smitten Kitchen

I added ricotta to my pizza – I have a love affair with white pizza that dates back to my childhood and this felt like grown up white pizza.  I also added Mikes Hot Honey because I’ve pretty much decided it tastes good on anything and everything.

½ recipe of my favorite pizza dough

1/2 pound asparagus

1/3 cup grated Parmesan/Pecorino

1/3 pound ricotta

1/2 pound mozzarella, shredded

2 teaspoons olive oil

1/2 teaspoon coarse salt

Several grinds black pepper

Red pepper flakes

Mike's Hot Honey

Preheat your oven to the hottest temperature it goes - place your pizza stone inside and let it warm up - at least 45 minutes. 

Prepare asparagus: I found this part tricky - granted I was trying to check Facebook and shave them at the same time, may have something to do with it... Holding a single asparagus spear by its tough end, lay it flat on a cutting board and using a vegetable peeler, create long shavings of asparagus by drawing the peeler from the base to the top of the stalk. Repeat with remaining stalks and don't worry of some pieces are unevenly thick, the mixed textures make the pizza yummy.  Discard tough ends.  Toss peelings with olive oil, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes in a bowl.  

Assemble and bake pizza: Roll or stretch out your pizza dough to an 8-inch round.  Place dough on pizza stone (don't worry if it ends up oddly shaped, mine always ends up that way and I love it more when that happens!)  Sprinkle pizza dough with Parmesan/Pecorino then mozzarella, and dollop ricotta around the dough.  Pile asparagus on top.  Bake pizza for 10 to 12 minutes, or until edges are browned, the cheese is bubbly and the asparagus might by lightly charred.  Remove from the oven and immediately drizzle with honey.  Repeat with the remaining dough.

pea pesto pasta

I am beginning to get overwhelmed.  The sheer volume of produce at the farmers market is so staggering that I have to a limit the amount of money I am allowed to spend each time I go (budgeting is a true test of my will). Even with my budget, I end up bringing home more then I know to do with – potatoes, asparagus, fava beans, cucumbers, cherries, and strawberries! The inside of our fridge currently looks like a small garden.  It’s a beautiful sight. 

Most recently I brought home a pound of peas (I’ll be honest, they were purchased because I have a slight obsession with popping peas from their pods).  After shucking them, what remained was a cup of peas.  I knew I wanted them to be more than a side dish and a one-pot dinner (ok one pot and the Cuisinart) seemed like a good idea for a casual week night evening.  What resulted was pea pesto pasta that was garlicy, sweet, and fresh.  It was light but still felt substantial and a wonderful use of that weeks produce haul. 

Pea Pesto Pasta

Adapted from Gourmet

For this dish, I made my own fresh pasta (I am a sucker for making the most simple of dinners as complicated as possible.  Why use dry pasta when I can make fresh pasta and roll it out, cut it into strips and cook it! Who cares if we eat dinner at 9, it will still be yummy!).  I do not recommend making yourself crazy on a Wednesday night by making fresh pasta – I know for a fact it would be just as wonderful on a penne, gnocchi, or ravioli.  Lets be honest, it would taste good on any pasta so use what makes you happy (or toast, excellent on toast!). 

1 cup peas (fresh is best but frozen works just as well)

¼ cup basil, loosely packed

2 tablespoons pine nuts

2 cloves of garlic

¼ cup parmesan plus more for sprinkling with at the end

¼ cup of olive oil (some may prefer more oil, I prefer my pesto a little thicker especially in the case of pasta since I can use water the cooking water to thin it!). 

½ pound of pasta

Salt, to taste

Pepper, to taste

Cook peas in a pot of boiling water until tender about 2 -3 min. Add peas to the food processor (I would recommend setting some peas aside for texture, about ¼ cup, I planned on doing that but I forgot so everything ended up in the Cusinart and it still turned out lovely).  Add into the food processor with the peas the basil, garlic, pine nuts, parmesan, and a few twists of pepper.  Turn the food processor on and begin to drizzle in the olive oil. Taste the pesto and adjust seasonings. 

Cook your pasta in salted water and drain when done (setting aside about 1 cup of pasta water).  Over medium heat, return the pasta to the pot as add in the pesto.  Mix it around and slowly add in the past water, mixing as you do, until you reach the desired consistency.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Garnish with more basil and parmesan. 

tacos with carnitas and pineapple salsa.

The taco obsession continues - it has gone from a minor one to a major one.  By the time summer is over, I will probably have put just about every vegetable and meat I can think of on a blistered corn tortilla.  Maybe some people have issues with eating like that (maybe some people don’t know a good thing when they meet it), but until the idea of hand held meals make me run away screaming, I will continue to fold up everything I find into a tortilla. 

The latest version involves pork shoulder taking a little bath in citrus flavored water.  During the cooking process, it somehow transforms into amazingly tender, crispy, salty chunks of meat that falls apart with the most gentle of nudges.  We piled it high into homemade corn tortillas.  As fantastic as it was plain, we decided to add in sliced avocado and spoonfuls of pineapple salsa.  The avocado added a wonderful bit of creaminess and the salsa added the necessary sweet/spicy crunch.  The perfect side dish?  Watermelon cocktails loaded up with gin and lime.  I can’t imagine getting sick of eating like this.

Carnitas

Recipe from Smitten Kitchen and the Homesick Texan Cookbook

3 pounds boneless pork shoulder or pork butt cut into 2 inch pieces

½ cup orange juice

¼ cup lime juice

4 cloves of garlic peeled and crushed

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste

Place the pork in a large Dutch oven or heavy pot.  Add the orange juice, lime juice, garlic, cumin, salt, and enough water to just barely cover the meat.  Bring the pot to a boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer.  Simmer uncovered for 2 hours.  Don’t touch the meat.

After two hours, increase the heat to medium-high and while occasionally stirring and turning the pieces, continue to cook for about 45 minutes, or until all the liquid has evaporated, leaving only the rendered pork fat.  Let it sizzle in this fat long enough to brown at the edges, turning pieces gently (they love to fall apart!), only as needed. When pork is brown on both sides, it’s ready!

Pineapple Salsa

2 cups pineapple, diced

1 jalapeno, seeded and diced

1 large radish (or 2 small radishes), diced

¼ cup cilantro, chopped finely

1 clove garlic minced

Juice of half a lime

Salt to taste

In a medium bowl, combine pineapple, jalepeno, radish, cilantro, garlic and lime juice.  Stir to combine.  Season with salt, to taste.  Let sit at room temperature for 15 min to allow flavors to meld.  Serve at room temperature or chilled. 

homemade mayonnaise and egg salad.

Certain foods, no matter how many times I try to make them, always elude me.  Sometimes they come out sticky and messy (like the Italian nut rolls I tried to make one winter where most of the dough ended up glued to the counter).  Sometimes it ends up stuck to the bottom of the pan (almost every time I make rice, I like to think the pans at fault but it’s probably me and the fact that I never make the heat low enough). Or, it separates like homemade mayo always seems to.

However, the mayo issue has been solved!  A few weeks ago, the wonderful people at the NYTimes ran an article in the dinning section about the secret to homemade mayo (apparently water solves many problems).  I was apprehensive I mean water? How could that be the answer to all of my issues?  I decided to trust them (and even make it old school style with a whisk!) and low and behold it came out perfect and I mean PERFECT.  It didn’t break, it thickened beautifully and it was a lovely, shinny, pale color. 

After conquering this mountain, I was at a loss of what to do with it, I was sure it wasn’t going to work and now that it did I was left with a  bowl of mayo and no plan – until I located the plethora of eggs in the fridge.  I made us a beautiful bowl of egg salad.  We consumed it sitting outside in the sun, which made me happy, especially since it had never worked before.

Homemade Mayonnaise

Recipe from the NYTimes

For all you mayo haters (and I know there are lots of you!) try the homemade version. It is so unbelievable different then anything you’ve ever had before.  Not to mention you can add anything to it – The NYTimes article has many suggestions.  I am already dreaming about using the chipotle version to create a Tex-Mex chicken salad…

1 large egg yolk, at room temperature

2 teaspoons lemon juice

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

¼ teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon cold water

¾ cup neutral oil such as safflower or canola

In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolk, lemon juice, mustard, salt, and 1 teaspoon cold water until frothy.  Whisking constantly, slowly dribble in the oil until mayonnaise is thick and oil is incorporated.  When the mayonnaise emulsifies and starts to thicken, you can add the oil in a thin stream instead of drop by drop. 

Yield 1 cup

For the egg salad – I used 4 eggs and mixed in salt, pepper, some dry mustard (about half a teaspoon) and some chives, served on toasted whole wheat. Delicious.

strawberry rhubarb pie.

My brother Corey is a pie guy.  His dessert of choice always involves lots and lots of fruit encased in a flaky crust topped with a sweet crumble of brown sugar, nuts, and lots of cinnamon.  Corey’s birthday falls around the beginning of May and every year instead of requesting the requisite birthday cake, he asks for pie.

The beginning of May usually marks the arrival of rhubarb and the first signs of strawberries so it only seems fitting that his pie of choice is strawberry rhubarb.  Strawberry rhubarb pie is a beautiful thing.  It’s sweet with a touch of tartness, it tastes like spring and the arrival of all things new, and it’s a welcome departure from cake.  To make it birthday party festive we usually top it with a dollop of ice cream or homemade whipped cream, but I love it plain, the mix or crumble topping and fruit is more then enough for me (shocking, considering I usually fall in the category of more is always better).  It is the perfect ending to a casual meal eaten outdoors and the perfect way to say happy birthday (or happy Tuesday because really Tuesday could be celebrated a little more). 

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Recipe from the best cook I know - Mommy!

Crust

In food processor, pulse 1 1/4 cups flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 sugar. Add 1 stick of butter and pulse.  Add 3 Tablespoons ice water.  Refrigerate at least 1 hour.  Roll out, place in pie dish and brush with 1 white mixed with 1 teaspoon water.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  

Filling

3 cups Rhubarb stalks cut into 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch pieces.  

3 1/2 cups strawberries halved and/or quartered

Combine this with 1 1/4 cups sugar, rounded 1/4 cup tapioca (Shake the box!), 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon.  Let stand 15 min., stirring occasionally.  Pour ingredients into crust and top with 1 tablespoon lemon juice and 2 tablespoons butter in small pieces.  

Strussel Topping

1 cup flour

1/4 cup chopped walnuts (finely!)

1/4 cup white sugar

1/4 cup light brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ginger

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup melted butter

Mix ingredients to form crumbs and place on top of pie.  

Place pie on lowest level of oven and bake for about 30 min, drop the temperature to 350 and continue baking for another 20-25 min. until crust is brown and filling is bubbly.  (If pie appears to be getting too dark, cover loosely with foil).