chalkboard walls.

As a girl who loves writing notes and lists to herself (I find post-it notes in almost every pocket I have), the idea of chalkboard paint in the kitchen makes me very happy. 

Images via Pinterest 

tacos al carbon.

Considering I started discussing summer on this blog with taco recipes it seems only fitting that the unofficial end of summer closes with a taco recipe as well (I do love when things go full circle).  Tacos al carbon is essentially a fancy name for grilled meat – in this case it’s skirt steak marinated in citrus and spices and some jalapeno for heat.  The marinade penetrates the meat which acts as both a tenderizer and a flavor enhancer.  The steak gets cooked on an extremely hot cast iron skillet in under 10 minutes and what emerges from the pan is one of the best steaks I’ve ever had.  The steak is smoky and tender and you can taste hints of citrus and spice in every bite.  I love it loaded up on warm corn tortillas with a little bit avocado (or this salsa!) and nothing else (simplicity at its best).  The best part is that since it doesn’t need to be made on a grill, you can have tacos and the tastes of summer year round which will make the cold days of winter that much better.

Tacos al Carbon

Recipie adapted from Homesick Texan by Lisa Fain

Serves 6 (if not 8 depending of what you’re serving it with, this can also be halved!)

½ cup lime juice

4 cloves garlic

Juice of 1 orange

¼ cup cilantro

1 jalapeno, stems and seeds removed and chopped

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon kosher salt

½ teaspoon freshly ground pepper

2 pounds skirt steak       

Green onions (optional)

Tortillas, avocado for serving

To make the marinade, in a blender mix the lime juice, garlic, orange juice, cilantro, jalapeno, cumin, salt, and pepper.  Pour the marinade over the skirt steak and let it marinate for 2 to 8 hours in the refrigerator.  Before cooking rinse of the marinade and let the steak come to room temperature. 

Heat on high for 5 minutes a large ovenproof skillet, preferably cast iron.  Also, turn the broiler on in the oven.  When the skillet is hot (to test drop some water onto the skillet, it should immediately evaporate), add the steak.  Cook on one side for 2 minutes and then turn and cook on the other side for 2 minutes. 

After its cooked on both sides, place the green onions, if using, in the skillet with the steak, and place the skillet under the broiler for 2 minutes.  Remove the steak from the skillet and let it rest for 10 minutes.  After the meat has rested, slice against the grain and serve in warmed tortillas.  

coffee s'mores pie.

I have had this pie on my list of things to make this summer since the middle of May.    It took me until today to finally make it.  Why it took me three and half months to make it I don’t know, perhaps it was that too many weekends were spent traveling, or I was overly enamored with the fruit at the farmers market that that took precedence over all chocolate desserts, or maybe it was because I never seemed to have all the ingredients at home at the right time but, I finally got it together and made it before the unofficial end of summer arrived.  This is the pie to bring to a Labor Day BBQ or to share with friends while enjoying one of the last alfresco evenings; it reminds everyone of the flavors of their childhood but with a grownup spin.  (S’mores always makes me think of finding sticks in the backyard with my siblings and loading them up with marshmallows to burn over the dying flames in the grill as the sun set behind the trees.)  This pie is quick and easy to make, it involves no baking and no fancy equipment.  The flavor is familiar, marshmallow, chocolate, and graham crackers but the familiar gets upgraded up with the addition of coffee and a touch of sea salt. It begs to be cut into fat wedges and served with tall glasses of ice cold milk - the perfect finale to summer. 

Coffee S’mores Pie

Recipe adapted, barely, from Bon Appetit

Graham Cracker Crust

9 whole graham crackers, ground finely in a food processor

2 tablespoons heavy cream

2 tablespoons Nutella

1 ounce bittersweet chocolate, melted

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted

½ teaspoon sea salt

Coffee Ganache

12 ounces bittersweet chocolate (do not exceed 61% cacao), chopped finely or chips

2 tablespoons ( ¼ stick) unsalted butter, cut into ½ inch cubes

1 ¼ cups heavy cream

2 tablespoons espresso powder

½ teaspoon sea salt

Meringue

2 large egg whites (new eggs!)

¼ teaspoon cream of tartar

½ cup sugar

Graham Cracker Crust: Mix graham cracker crumbs and remaining ingredients in a small bowl to blend.  Press mixture onto bottom and up sides of a 9 inch metal or glass pie dish; chill until crust is firm, about 30 minutes.

Coffee Ganache: Place chocolate, butter, and salt in a large bowl.  In a pot bring cream, coffee, and 2 tablespoons water to boil.  Pour hot cream mixture over chocolate and butter and stir until ganache is smooth.  Pour into chilled crust; smooth top.  Chill until set, about 1 hour.

Meringue: Using an electric mixer with clean dry beaters on medium speed, beat egg whites and cream of tartar on medium speed until light and frothy.  Add sugar in 4 additions, beating for 1 minute after each addition.  Continue beating egg whites until stiff and glossy.

Spoon meringue over coffee ganache.  Swirl decoratively with a spatula or the back of a spoon.  If you have a kitchen torch, toast meringue until golden brown in spots.  Pie can be made 8 hours ahead and kept chilled.

eggplant croquettes with garlic aioli.

There is something to be said about fried cheese.  Whether they are croquettes, mozzarella sticks, or fried raviolis, it seems that most everyone can’t resist gooey cheesy bites.  As a cheeseaholic, I am particularly drawn to all forms of fried cheese (and non fried cheese, I have never met a cheese I didn’t like), so when perusing my most recent cookbook addition Plenty and saw the recipe for eggplant croquettes with feta, I knew I had to make them (especially since they also involved eggplant!).  This is a healthy version of a croquette (or as healthy as fried cheese and vegetables can be) yet it still brings to mind bar food.  The chunks of smoky eggplant and creamy feta give a bit of texture to each bite and the parmesan gives the perfect amount of salty cheesiness.  The best part though is the garlic aioli.  It makes an unbelievable dipping sauce for the croquettes with the acidity of the aioli complementing the eggplant and feta perfectly.  I served mine with a green salad and it made for a lovely Sunday evening dinner. 

Eggplant Croquettes with Garlic Aioli

Recipe adapted from Plenty by Yottam Ottolenghi

I use one large eggplant instead of two medium ones, which was a big mistake (maybe not a big mistake but a mistake none the less).  When cooking these over the flame the big eggplant charred too fast on the outside before it could fully soften on the inside, so smaller eggplants are ideal.  Or you can just cook it in the oven and then it wouldn’t matter which size you use, they would just take longer to cook! Both instruction sets are below.

Serves  6 (or you can halve this as I did!)

4 medium sized eggplants

2 medium russet potatoes, cooked, peeled and smashed

1 large egg beaten

5 oz. feta, crumbled

¼ cup grated parmesan

½ teaspoon salt

Black pepper

About 1 ¾ cups breadcrumbs

Oil for frying

Garlic Aioli

1 egg yolk

2 small garlic clove diced

1 ½ tablespoon lemon juice

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ cup grapeseed/vegetable oil

¼ cup olive oil

Burn the eggplants.  You can do this by cooking the eggplant over a medium flame on a gas stove, rotating the eggplant every few minutes until the eggplant is charred and collapsed.  This should take about 12 – 15 minutes. If you don’t have a gas oven you can cook the eggplant in the oven.  Stab the eggplant with a fork (make sure you stab all over) and roast in the oven at 400 degrees for about an hour until tender.  When the eggplants are cool, make a slit along each eggplant and use a spoon to scoop out the flesh; try to avoid the black skin.  Place eggplant in a colander and discard the skin.  Leave to drain for 30 minutes to get rid of some of the liquid.  Once drained you should have about 1 ¼ pounds of eggplant flesh. Chop the eggplant flesh up so you don't have super big chunks of eggplant!

Place the eggplant flesh in a large bowl.  Add the potatoes, egg, feta, parmesan, salt, and some pepper.  Bring everything togther gently with a fork; you want to keep the mix quite rough.  Add about half the breadcrumbs, just enough so the mix is sufficiently solid to hold its shape but is still a little sticky.  Place the remainder of the breadcrumbs on a large plate.

Take small handfuls of the eggplant mixture and roll it into little logs in your hands (about 1 inch by 3 inches), then roll egg log into the breadcrumbs and place them on a baking sheet.  Repeat this until you have rolled all the eggplant mixture into logs.  Refrigerate the logs for at least 20 minutes but you can refrigerate for up to a day. 

Fill a large pot with oil.  Heat the oil on medium heat.  When the oil is hot, place some of the croquettes in (I did 5 at a time), cooking until golden brown in color (should only take a could of minutes).  Place the cooked croquettes on a paper towel while you cook the rest.  When finished cooking serve with the garlic aioli!

For the aioli: Combine the egg yolk, garlic cloves, lemon juice, 1 teaspoon of water, and salt in a large bowl. Whisk all the ingredients together.  Slowly (and I mean very slowly) drizzle in the olive oil while you whisk (I usually dribble in a little and then whisk).  After drizzling in the olive oil, drizzle in the other oil (once again slowly). The whole process should take about 5 minutes.  Once done you should have a slightly thinned mayo. 

kitchen scales.

I have somehow managed to amass quite the collection of kitchen gadgets since moving into my own apartment 5 years ago.  This includes but is not limited to three pasta makers, two thermometers (and I already thinking about getting a third..), three loaf pans, a Cuisinart, and a Kitchen Aid mixer.  How we have managed to store everything is beyond me (this may be why every time we open the cabinets everything comes tumbling down), but somehow everything has its place.  Certain gadgets and tools I reach for repeatedly and the most useful one for me is my kitchen scale.  The electronic kitchen scale has somehow managed to make all of my cooking adventures a little easier.  When weighing out ingredients for baking you can just put the bowl on the scale and spoon in each ingredient by weight.  No measuring cups required! I can easily switch between grams and ounces and I can weigh my batters so layer cakes each have the same amount of batter!  I highly recommend purchasing one, preferably an electronic one (the non electronic ones are cuter but not nearly as useful and usually I am a proponent for cute over useful but occasional useful wins).  Below are some of my picks!

1 - Salter Red Digital Scale

2 - OXO Food Scale with Pull Out Display 

3 - Salter Book Shelf Scale

banana bread.

At Tyler’s cafeteria, they have Free Fruit Friday, which means that on Friday evening Tyler returns home with a plethora of browned bananas and bruised apples.  He usually eats them for breakfast with peanut butter and raisins while watching his Saturday morning “cartoons” (by cartoons I mean home design shows which he loves), but this weekend he requested banana bread and I happily obliged in making it.  Banana bread is one of the most well loved breakfast foods but for some reason you rarely see it at bakeries.  Often bakeries sell banana sweets in the form of cupcakes and frosted cakes (I have a love affair with the banana cake from Billy’s Bakery – heavenly), which is a shame because banana bread is lovely.   My favorite recipe comes from Flour Bakery in Boston - it’s super moist and involves a whole lot of nuts and a whole lot of chocolate (my own addition).  In comes together quickly and tastes just as good the day it’s made as it does the next day (if you manage to have it last that long...).

Flour’s Famous Banana Bread

Recipie adapted, barely, from Flour by Joanne Chang

1 2/3 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar

2 eggs

½ cup vegetable or canola oil

3 ½ bananas, very ripe, mashed (about 1 ½ cups)

2 tablespoons crème fraiche, sour cream, or Greek yogurt (I used yogurt and it worked!)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2/3 cups walnuts, toasted and chopped

2/3 cups chocolate chips

Set oven to 325 degrees.  Spray a loaf pan with non stick spray.  In a bowl sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.  Set aside. 

Using a stand mixer fitted with the whip attachment, or a handheld mixer, beat together the sugar and eggs on medium speed for about 5 minutes on the stand mixer, and about 8 minutes for a handheld mixer; or until light and fluffy. 

With the machine on low speed, slowly drizzle in the oil.  Do not pour the oil in all at once.  Add slowly so it has time to incorporate into the eggs and doesn’t deflate the air you have beaten into the batter.  Adding the oil should take about 1 minute.  Add the bananas, crème fraiche/sour cream/yogurt, and vanilla, then continue to mix on low speed just until combined.  Using a rubber spatula, fold in the flour mixture, nuts, and chocolate until thoroughly combined.  No flour streaks should be visible and the nuts/chocolate should be evenly distributed. 

Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and smooth the top.  Bake for 1 to 1 ¼ hour for a 9 x 5 inch loaf; or until golden brown on top and the cake springs back when you press it.  If your finger sinks when you poke the bread, it needs to bake a little longer.  Let cool on a wire rack for at least 30 minutes and then pop it out of the pan to finish cooling.  It can last at room temperature for 3 days, but trust me it wont.