Category Archives: recipes

summer luncheon

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Today I had a very dear friend over for lunch whom I hadn’t seen in forever. One of my favorite people, she is actually a mom of one of my friends. (And I love that my friend will share her on occasion!)

I wanted to do something special so I had a lot of fun playing with Depression Glass today for my table setting. I have collected this stuff over the years at church sales and flea markets and the Smithfield Barn. The cute napkin rings are a bit of vintage fun and came from Garage Sale Chic Chester County which is now part of Home Eclective in Downingtown.)

Anyway I wanted to make a ladies who luncheon kind of lunch, so I did. I started with Kendall’s Gazpacho, and also served my twist on chicken salad and a new potato salad in a mustardy dressing.

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And yes….approximate recipes are right here:

Chicken Salad with a Twist

Boil 3 bone in chicken breasts in water and sea salt. ( when cooled, I put the broth in small containers and freeze for later use).

When chicken is cooked, allow to cool. Remove skin and bones from breasts and discard. Next chop up the chicken into bite sized pieces.

Then, chop fine: 1 medium sized or small red onion, 3 stalks of celery hearts, fresh herbs (I used dill, tarragon, basil, Italian flat leaf parsley.)

In a bowl whisk together mayonnaise to taste, olive oil, red wine vinegar, a couple dashes of Garam Masala, salt and pepper. Also add a tablespoon of orange marmalade with any peel minced fine. (For me this was easy because my friend Sara had given me homemade orange marmalade that is not dense so I was able to spoon out a tablespoon of the jelly without the peel. The olive oil and wine vinegar is not so much, about 3 tablespoons each and maybe 1/2 cup of mayonnaise. Whisk together.

Combine all in a bowl and toss in a 1/2 cup of black or white seedless raisins. Mix and chill.

 

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Roasted Potato Salad

Roast 1 1/3 pounds of small or new potatoes in a 400 degree oven with 1 head of garlic whole but topped (drizzled with olive oil, salt, and pepper to taste) for about 30 minutes give or take a few minutes.

You only want potatoes cooked and firm, not super crunchy and overly brown. I picked potatoes large enough to slice in half, did not peel them, and cooked them in a flat baking pan lined with parchment.

Meanwhile cook 4 oz of pepper coated bacon and crumble.(They have this amazing bacon at Pete’s Produce in Westtown that I used.)

Dice three stalks of celery heart stalks, 3 shallots, and one cucumber peeled and seeded. (Some people are cucumber sensitive so I have taken to scooping out the seeds as some have told me they like that better.)

Chop fine a bunch of fresh herbs- I used tarragon, chives, basil, dill, and Italian flat leaf parsley.

In a small bowl put half of the cloves on the head of roasted garlic minced, grainy mustard, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and a little mayonnaise. Whisk it together and add a little salt and pepper to taste.

Combine everything, toss, and refrigerate.

 

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marinated green bean salad

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This salad couldn’t be more simple to make! It is my own recipe, and it is inspired in part by the spicy green beans you can order hot at my friends the Foos’ restaurant called HuNan in Ardmore, PA.

I had bought a quart size container of fresh green beans at the farmers market. I blanched them in a couple of inches of boiling and salted water so they were still crisp, yet had a pleasing bright green color. When I am blanching vegetables like fresh green or string beans, I not only dunk them in cold water to cool, I put them in a bowl of ice after I finish cooking as well.

I put my beans aside in their own bowl (drained and de-ice cubed) and took another bowl out to prepare the dressing:

– first I minced fine a long hot pepper from my own garden. I believe it is a cayenne pepper it’s a little over an inch and a half long. I allowed some of the seeds to get into the bowl but a lot of them I removed.

– next I chopped fine a third of a good sized sweet onion

– step number three is to finely minced two cloves of fresh garlic

– step number four was grating the four small, young carrots that my friend Elizabeth gave me out of her vegetable garden. I ended up with about three quarters of a cup of grated carrots.

To these vegetables I added equal parts seasoned rice wine vinegar I purchased at a local Asian market, regular red wine vinegar, juice of one fresh lemon, and a few tablespoons of olive oil. To that I added some fresh salt-and-pepper and whisked together. It is not a lot of liquid in the salad dressing, we are talking a few tablespoons of each liquid ingredient. The idea is to coat the vegetables not immerse them completely in liquid.

Next I tossed everything together with the beans and put in the refrigerator to chill. Because I’m working with fresh garlic and onion here, I use a bowl with a lid that seals.

What you have in the end, is a very nice summer salad of fresh vegetables that many people have in their garden this time of year, or can purchase from a local farmers market!

Kept refrigerated, the salad will last few days.

Enjoy and thanks for stopping by today!

it’s pesto season!

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I love planting herbs in my flower beds, and now I get to start to reap the rewards: it’s pesto season!

The basil needed a bit of a haircut, so that’s what’s for dinner, pesto. Olive oil from A Taste of Olive in West Chester, and fresh garlic from the farmers market. It doesn’t any get easier than that!

I must admit, my kitchen smells marvelous right now with the scent of the basil!

Fresh pesto and homemade salsa is yet another reason why people should garden more!

summer salad x 2 = delicious

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I purchased some amazing produce at the West Chester Growers Market yesterday. So I decided to share with you some simple summer recipes to turn farm fresh veggies into delicious salads that were inspired by what I purchased and by the herbs growing in my garden.

Before I begin I am going to add a footnote about the parking. Last year, the lot adjacent to the market was open for parking. This year a lot of the spaces are marked off reserved….and are always empty. I don’t know whose parking lot that is adjacent to the public lot which the market sits upon but it would be nice if the Borough of West Chester maybe helped a bit more in the parking cooperativeness on Saturday mornings? After all, this market brings people to town every week.

Anyway, at the market I found the most beautiful red and yellow beets that were small and firm. I also found terrific young onions (sometimes known as spring onions) , and fresh cucumbers.

These ingredients have made two summer salads: old fashioned cucumber salad and mixed beet salad.

Mixed Beet Salad

2 bunches of smaller sized fresh beets
(Trim the tops and root ends off the beets after washing any dirt off the beet. Roast them at 350 degrees in a foil packet on a baking pan. All you do is salt and pepper the whole beets and sprinkle with olive oil. The beets take 30- 40 minutes to roast.)

1 red onion or large red spring onion chopped small

1 clove garlic minced fine

Dill (fresh), salt, pepper

4 tablespoons of olive oil

6 tablespoons red wine vinegar

After beets are roasted and cooled, peel them. Slice into thin, uniform slices. Add the onion and rest of ingredients and toss and chill.

Cucumber Salad

2 Cucumbers peeled and sliced thin

2 teaspoons of white sugar

Salt, pepper, fresh dill

1 red onion or large red spring onion chopped fine

7 or 8 tablespoons red wine vinegar

After you peel and slice the cucumbers dress with salt to taste and sprinkle the sugar over them. Toss.

Add the onion and dill to taste, add salt only if you think you need more and crack some fresh pepper over everything. Toss and chill.

Both of these recipes can be increased proportionately. Keep refrigerated and these salads are good for a few days.

Enjoy!

simple summer suppers

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When the wether gets warm I like things like simple and fresh pasta salads for supper. So that’s what I’m having this evening and it couldn’t have been easier to make.

I got some beautiful vegetables at the Thornbury Farm CSA Saturday including what I like to call lollipop, or large spring onions and fresh snap peas. I already had some beautiful bright sweet bell peppers in the refrigerator at home and a lot of herbs in my garden and some celery.

All I did was cook a bag of regular frozen cheese tortellini, boil up a couple boneless skinless chicken breasts, steamed my snap peas, chopped up the other vegetables, and tossed together with a honey-herb-mustard vinaigrette that I made. The main herb in the vinaigrette (which also had garlic and a shallot in it ) was fresh dill, but I also to the salad added chopped fresh fennel tops, fresh flat leaf Italian parsley, and basil.

Summer dinners are meant to be easy!

summer sandwich

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Yes this tastes as good as it looks. And couldn’t be more simple.

All it is is two slices of wheat bread toasted, a little bit of mayonnaise on the bread- not much – and to that that you layer on sliced fresh mozzarella, sliced fresh tomatoes, a couple of thin slices of Vidalia onion, salt and pepper to taste and top off with basil leaves. If you build this sandwich on ciabatta or other more substantial rustic bread I would suggest substituting olive oil for mayonnaise.

babaganoush my way

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My sister is coming for a visit tomorrow and since she is vegan I try to have a menu that meets the best of both worlds. So I decided to make her babaganoush my way as part of the menu.

I large eggplant roasted, cooled, peeled

1 Vidalia onion roasted, cooled, chopped up

1 small head of garlic, roasted, cooled, peeled

2 tablespoons Balsamic vinegar

1 1/2 tablespoons fresh squeezed lime juice

2 15 ounce cans chickpeas drained and mashed

4 tablespoons tahini paste

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1/2 12 ounce jar roasted peppers, drained and minced

Salt to taste

Dash of hot paprika

Few tablespoons chopped flat leaf Italian parsley. Parsley is added before you serve

Dash or two Tabasco

Throw it all together (EXCEPT for the parsley) in the food processor, blender, or even into a large bowl with one of those handheld immersion blender tools. Mix until smooth.

Chill – preferably overnight and just before you serve add the parsley and serve with sliced up pita wedges or mini carrots.

It’s good.

(please note the photo is missing the parsley- I will add when I serve )

couscous tabouli-style

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Remarkably I couldn’t find tabbouleh (tabouli) at my local grocery store. Near East used to sell it and they had every other Near East product except that. I decided to improvise and work with the plain couscous I had in the cupboard.

Basically I just made the recipe the same way:

One and a half cups of dry couscous

Two cups boiling water

Salt for the water

Put the couscous in a bowl that can stand hot water – like a mixing bowl.

Pour the salted boiling water over the couscous and cover with plastic wrap. A few minutes later the couscous will have absorbed the water and you can fluff it with a fork.

Put it aside to cool to room temperature.

When the couscous is room temperature take another mixing bowl. To that second bowl add:

5 tablespoons of olive oil
3 lemons, juiced – fresh squeezed only
Lemon zest of one lemon
Garlic powder, salt, fresh ground pepper to taste
1/3 cup of balsamic vinegar

Whisk this salad dressing of a fashion together and into it add one sweet onion, medium-sized, diced.

Next add four medium to large tomatoes finely chopped, and two bunches of Italian flat leaf parsley chopped fine. Next toss this together and add to the couscous which is cooled.

Give it a taste to see if the seasoning needs any adjustment and cover-up and keep chilled until ready to serve. This salad is good for about two days- but it has to be kept refrigerated.

Enjoy!

strawberry rhubarb pie

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My mother is coming for lunch tomorrow. Normally that wouldn’t be a big deal, but this is her first outing of this kind with a longer car ride since she had heart surgery earlier this spring. So I thought I would make a festive late spring lunch inspired by the herbs growing in the garden and the early produce from the farmers markets locally.

When I went to the East Goshen Farmers’ Market yesterday, Brogue Hydroponics had the most beautiful strawberries and young rhubarb. So I planned the dessert first: strawberry rhubarb pie. I have been making variations of this pie for years, and I decided today I would write things down to the best of my abilities so I could share the recipe with you.

Hopefully everything works for you the way it did for me. Anyway, here is the recipe:

preheat oven to 425°

2 cups of fresh sliced strawberries
2 bunches of as thin as possible rhubarb from your farmers market – you will end up with 2 cups or so by the time you trim and clean it.

1 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
Scant 1/4 cup of instant tapioca
Zest of one lemon
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
Dash of cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons of butter cubed small
1 tablespoon softened butter
Grated fresh ginger to taste

Pie crust: you need two pre-made rolled up refrigerated pie crusts as this is a double crust. Or you can make your own pie crust and roll out enough for two crusts.

I think the brand I bought yesterday was Pillsbury. I didn’t have time to roll out pie crusts so I bought them this time. These rolled up pie crusts can be found in the refrigerated section next to the dairy in your supermarket. (Look for where your supermarket stocks pre-made cookie dough and biscuit dough you will find the pie crusts.)

Line a deep dish 9 inch pie plate with one crust and use 1 tablespoon softened butter to coat bottom of crust- this will keep your piecrust from getting soggy. Put pie plate and crust into refrigerator to stay chilled.

Chop up the rhubarb into little quarter inch slices and slice up your strawberries and add the sugars, tapioca, ginger, cinnamon, vanilla, and lemon juice and lemon zest. Mix together gently but well and set aside for 15 minutes.

Once your oven is preheated, remove the chilling piecrust in the pie plate from the refrigerator and put on a baking tray that is lined with parchment paper. This is a pie that can bubble over so you definitely don’t want this sticky goo all over your oven.

Fill your chilled pie crust with the fruit mixture and next take one egg white and 2 tablespoons of water and whisk it together in a small bowl. Using a pastry brush, paint the edges of your bottom piecrust in preparation for adding the top crust.

Add the second piecrust or top crust to your pie. Then use a fork or your fingers and crimp the edges together. Using your pastry brush wipe the top of the pie with the egg white and water mixture. Don’t soak it, just enough to make a couple tablespoons of granulated sugar tossed over the top stick.

Next use a paring knife and cut that holes in the top of your pie. I cut them in a circle so they almost look like flower petals.

Now your pie is ready for the oven. I cover the edges of my crust with tinfoil gently on top of that so they don’t overly brown. You can also buy one of those piecrust rings out of either metal or silicone rubber stuff that goes in the oven. Keep meaning to get one of those and I just keep forgetting.

Bake the pie at 425° for 15 minutes. Then reduce the heat for 350° and bake another 45 minutes to an hour depending on your oven. The crust should be slightly toasty in color and the filling mixture bubbling out of the vents you cut ever so slightly.

You can serve the pie warm or cold. Some people like serving the pie with fresh whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. I like it by itself without anything.

Again, this is the first time I really written this recipe down so I hope everything works! Enjoy!

quick and fresh pasta sauce

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It’s a quick, fresh pasta sauce kind of evening.

Two sweet onions chopped

Five cloves of garlic minced

Two thirds of a container of grape tomatoes cut in thirds

One fresh red bell pepper, chopped

One can of tomato paste – 6 ounces

One can of crushed tomatoes -28 ounces

Kosher salt to taste

One fresh bay leaf

Fresh basil, oregano, and flat leaf Italian parsley chopped – as much as you want. I like a lot of fresh herbs in my sauce

1- 16 ounce package of organic Angus ground beef

1 dash or two of good balsamic vinegar

Extra-virgin olive oil

I toss a little extra virgin olive oil in the bottom of my pasta sauce pot. I add the onions garlic, fresh tomatoes, and one chopped fresh red bell pepper.

I sweat the vegetables down a little with a dash of kosher salt, and then I tossed in the hamburger. I allow the hamburger to cook down, next tossing in the herbs.

Next a small dash or two of balsamic vinegar before I add the canned tomatoes and paste.

I bring everything up over medium heat (stirring often) to close to a boil and then I reduce to simmer cover and let simmer for an hour or hour and a half.

I serve over whatever pasta I happen to have on hand . Tonight it will either be spaghetti or whole-wheat linguine.

I dust each bowl of pasta with some grated Parmesan cheese when I serve

Keeping it simple, this dinner is best with a fresh salad – right now I have some wonderful looking arugula and romaine that I picked up at the local farmers market.

It’s what’s for dinner in my house this evening. Try this sometime and I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!