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Tuesday, August 5, 2014

A Cool Dinner for a Hot Night


I know I'm like a broken record, but it's been hot and when it's hot, I try to avoid turning on the oven.

Here's the thing.  My house is over 100 years old, and while it is fully air-conditioned (obviously added years after it was built),  not all of the rooms benefit equally from said central air-conditioning.  And heating for that matter.  Kate's room, for example, is coldest in the winter and warmest in the summer.  Charlie's room, which is right next to Kate's, is the complete opposite.  Go figure.

The kitchen seems to be in an ecosystem all its own, because the rest of the first floor bears no similarity in temperature.  Like Kate's room on the second floor, the kitchen is too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter.  This problem is obviously exacerbated in the warm months by using the appliances, most specifically the oven.  Turning on the oven is pretty much a direct ticket to hell, so obviously I try to limit my oven use to early mornings and after the sun goes down.

Needless to say, being of a certain age, I have absolutely no need to add to my already somewhat fickle body temperature issues.  In an effort to keep things a little cooler, I have taken to making dinners that rely on anything but the oven.  In fact, I would chop 1,000 vegetables into 10,000 tiny little pieces if the net result is that I can avoid turning on the oven.

The other day Ina Garten made caponata on her Barefoot Contessa show.  She served it with lovely little pita chips.  It was very appealing, but did not a dinner make.  Still, I wanted to make the caponata.  We are not really dip people, so I decided to make the caponata and serve it as a sauce for grilled swordfish.  I grilled the swordfish and let it come to room temperature and then served the whole platter the same way.

The nice thing about this recipe is that it makes quite a bit of the caponata, and the flavors develop as it sits in the frig.  So, you can serve this lovely cold dinner and still have caponata left over to serve another day with cocktails, al fresco, of course.

Recipe:  Grilled Swordfish featuring Ina Garten's Caponata

For the caponata:

Ingredients:

1 large eggplant (1 1/2 pounds)
Good olive oil
4 ounces jarred roasted red peppers, chopped
1/2 cup large green olives, pitted and chopped
1 cup chopped yellow onion
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon minced garlic (3 cloves)
3 tablespoons minced parsley
2 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 tablespoons drained capers
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
Toasted pita triangles, for serving

For the swordfish:

Swordfish steaks
Olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a sheet pan with aluminum foil.

Place the whole eggplant on the pan, prick with a fork in several places, and rub with olive oil. Roast for 45 to 50 minutes, until the eggplant is very soft when pierced with a knife. Set aside to cool. Halve the eggplant, peel, and discard the skin. Place the eggplant, peppers, and olives in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade and pulse until coarsely chopped. Pour into a mixing bowl.

Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a medium saute pan. Add the onion and red pepper flakes and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes, until the onion is lightly browned. Add the garlic, cook for 1 minute, and add to the eggplant mixture. Add the parsley, pine nuts, lemon juice, capers, tomato paste, vinegar, salt, and pepper and mix. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for a few hours to allow the flavors to develop.

Prepare a grill pan or a barbecue.

Drizzle the swordfish steaks with olive oil and then season generously with salt and pepper.  Cook to desired doneness.

Spread caponata on a serving platter.  Place the swordfish on top and sprinkle with chopped parsley.  Serve at room temperature.

Monday, August 4, 2014

Peanut Buttery


It is indeed good news that no one in my house has a peanut allergy.  We love all things peanut around here, especially peanut butter.  We're not even picky.  We love the lowbrow (Skippy and Jif), all the way up the ladder to the fancy schmancy artisanal stuff.  Kate has recently introduced me to Justin's, which is sort of in the middle of the range, and I have to say that I'm a real fan of the honey peanut butter.

As I mentioned, I really love peanut butter.  My preferred way of eating it is directly from the jar.  So, you're saying "big deal.  I do that too."  Well, I like to drizzle the honey directly into the jar and make my own perfect combination of peanut butter and honey.  I'm sure my family wonders why the peanut butter is always so sweet with honey.  It's because I'm a drizzler.

Okay, I'll admit it.  It's probably kind of gross that I drizzle the honey directly into the jar, but let's just, for a moment, consider other vices I could have.  Things could be a whole lot worse.

The point of this confession, besides my pathological need to over-share, is that as much as I like my peanut butter straight, I really love a good peanut butter cookie.

Don't kid yourself, a good peanut butter cookie is tough to find.  Some are soggy.  Some are greasy.  It's no small feat to make the perfect peanut butter cookie.

But I have and I didn't do it alone.  I had a great recipe which, as we all know, is pretty much essential for successful baking.  This recipe is from The Model Bakery Cookbook.  You really should go out and buy this cookbook, because I haven't made anything from it that hasn't been the best example of whatever it happens to be.  (As an aside, on my baking bucket list, is making Model Bakery english muffins, although maybe I should just put visiting the Model Bakery on the list. I could eat an english muffin right there at the source, and save myself a whole lot of rising time.)

Recipe:  Model Bakery Peanut Butter Cookies
Model Bakery Cookbook

Ingredients:

3 c. flour
2 t. baking soda
1/4 t. salt
1 c. unsalted butter, room temperature
1 c. packed light brown sugar
1 c. granulated sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 c. chunky peanut butter

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and position racks to center and top third of oven. Line two sheet pans with parchment paper. 

Sift flour, baking soda and salt together. Beat the butter and both sugars with an electric mixer on high until pale yellow, about one to two minutes. Add in eggs, one at a time and beat well. Beat in peanut butter. Reduce to low speed and gradually add flour mixture, mixing just until combined. 

I use a small scoop for these cookies but you can go up to 1/4 cup for the size. Bake about 15 minutes, rotating the trays halfway through baking.

Sunday, August 3, 2014

Crunchy Enough


My friend Heidi has been getting me in the granola mood lately.  I used to make granola all the time, but like so many things, I kind of fell out of the habit.  Or maybe I went into granola overload.  Or maybe I realized that despite sounding healthy, granola is more akin to a dessert than it is to say...breakfast.

Anyway, while I was waiting for Heidi to send me her current favorite granola recipe, this one appeared in the Off Duty section of the Wall Street Journal.  I love the Off Duty section.  Aside from some seriously good recipes, I love to peruse how "the other half lives".  Doesn't everyone need a $10,000 handbag?

This is a really nice recipe.  It's not too sweet, and it's very crunchy.  For me, minimal sweetness and maximum crunchiness are two make or break aspects of any good granola.  Sometimes granola is just so damn sweet that I think my teeth are going to fall out.  And, often it's just not crunchy enough.  I don't like it so crunchy that my over sweetened teeth are going to break, but it does need a little crunch to keep it interesting.  Plus, the more work it is to eat, the less I'm going to eat, thus removing the threat of eating 10,000 calories worth of granola for breakfast.
Heidi has since sent me her newest granola recipe, so for you granola lovers out there, stay tuned...

Recipe:  Double-Almond Cherry Granola
Wall Street Journal, July 26, 2014

Ingredients:

½ cup almond butter
½ cup honey
¼ cup light brown sugar
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups rolled oats
1 cup sliced almonds
2 tablespoons chia seeds, optional
1 teaspoon sea salt
¾ cup dried cherries

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a small saucepan over low heat, mix almond butter, honey and sugar until mixture is meltingly soft and combined, about 3 minutes. Off heat, stir in cinnamon and vanilla.

In a large bowl, toss together oats, almonds, chia seeds and salt. Pour almond butter mixture over oat mixture and toss well. It will be sticky. Make sure oats, almonds and chia seeds are well coated.

Spread oat mixture onto a rimmed baking sheet in a single layer. Place in oven and bake, stirring once halfway through, until golden brown, about 20 minutes. (Granola will be soft when removed from oven but will become crunchier as it cools.) Let cool on baking sheet, then stir in cherries. (Cooled granola will keep for 3-4 weeks in an airtight container.)