CAPRESE SALAD WITH CELERY AND TOASTED WALNUTS

Posted in Salads by sallybr

I got the inspiration for this salad from Lidia Bastianich. In a recent cooking show she came up with a refreshing celery-mozzarella combo to which toasted walnuts were added for crunch. Lidia mentioned something I fully agree with: celery is a very under-utilized veggie. I know many people don’t like it because of its fibrous and harsh texture. However, if you use the best celery you can find (no need to search for the gigantic creature of my recent past) at the perfect stage of ripeness, and slice it thinly, chances are most of your objections to this stalky creature will go away. Some chefs recommend peeling it, but I don’t see that happening in our kitchen. I find celery refreshing, bright, and use it all the time. For this salad, I adapted Lidia’s basic idea to make a departure on the classic Caprese, a favorite with us.

CAPRESE SALAD WITH CELERY AND WALNUTS
(adapted from Lidia Bastianich)

perfectly ripe tomatoes, sliced
fresh mozzarella, sliced
celery stalks, thinly sliced
toasted walnut halves or pieces
lemon juice
olive oil
Dijon mustard
salt and pepper to taste

Make a simple dressing mixing olive oil, lemon juice, mustard. Season with salt and pepper. Amounts are pretty flexible, I add a lot of lemon juice probably 50/50 with the oil. Make enough to coat all the pieces of celery and have some extra so you can drizzle all over the assembled salad. In a small bowl, mix the celery pieces with the dressing and allow it to sit for 5 to 10 minutes.

Add the tomatoes and mozzarella to a serving platter, place the celery and dressing all over. Scatter toasted walnuts, sprinkle salt to taste (Maldon flakes are a great option here).

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

We loved this salad so much, I’ve been making it regularly now. Toasted hazelnuts go very well too, and sometimes I make the dressing with walnut oil. The combination of celery with nuts is superb, I hope you’ll give it a try. Now that the weather is wonderfully hot, this type of salad is the side dish to go with almost any protein of your choice. Roast chicken, grilled meats, grilled salmon. No need for anything else if you ask me…

Lidia’s show has everything I’d hope FoodTV Network would offer, but it doesn’t. In our town it is broadcast by PBS. I set our Tivo to tape it and maybe twice per week there is a new episode waiting for me. She is very knowledgeable, fun to watch, and as a bonus often suggests the perfect wine to pair with her meals. I was surprised to learn that one of her restaurants is located in Kansas City, a couple of hours from home. Something to keep in mind if we ever decide to go for a special weekend trip to the “big city.”

ONE YEAR AGO: Oh, my God! I think I saw something!

TWO YEARS AGO: Celebrate Wednesday with Hoisin-Grilled Chicken and Soba Noodles

THREE YEARS AGO: The Manhattan Project

FOUR YEARS AGO: Carrot “Nib” Orzo

FIVE YEARS AGO: A Sticky Situation

SIX YEARS AGO: The Garden

5Jul2015

IN MY KITCHEN: JULY 2015

Posted in In My Kitchen by sallybr

Flowers
Once again it’s time to invite you for a tour of our kitchen, joining the great virtual event created by Celia, fantastic baker, superb cook, who blogs over at Fig Jam and Lime Cordial. As I normally like to do, let me start with gifts…

From a very dear friend, a fantastic Rolls-Royce of a pan: an All-Clad skillet that does a superb job in many tasks, browning chicken pieces, sauteing mushrooms, making one of my regular types of lunches, sautéed ground beef or turkey with veggies (carrots, celery, zucchini). I use it several times per week, with a big smile each time.

From one of our departmental colleagues, the best gardener in Manhattan, KS, a huge batch of fresh dill… All portioned and frozen, amazing how well it freezes, we still had some from last year.

From our dear friend Cindy who came to visit last month, dried Barberries…. they have a very unique taste, and will be put to good use in a recipe I’ve had in my files for a long time

From our friend Steve, the traveler extraordinaire, two gifts brought all the way from Saudi Arabia… my beloved saffron, and a package of their outstanding dates! I always get very worried when he travels to Saudi Arabia, it is such a complex society! I would be afraid of saying something wrong, doing something wrong and getting in serious trouble. So, it’s always great to hear that his plane landed back safely in the US.

From another colleague from our department, a huge batch of fresh sour cherries. Each year he invites us to go pick cherries from his trees. We made a nice sour cherry sorbet last year, but this time I think I see a sour cherry pie in our future!

From Phil, a new rug for our kitchen, as a bottle of olive oil was accidentally broken on the old one and it resisted all our attempts to cleaning. It developed a stain that got worse and worse as weeks went by. Who broke it? The resident food blogger. For the record, she was very sorry.

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In our kitchen…

Phil’s love for fruit preserves is quite obvious… his favorite of this group was the Blackberry Preserves…. the glasses are beautiful with the handle, and we find all sorts of uses once the jam is gone. These bottles were available at our Marshall’s store in town.

In our kitchen…

Another find from Marshall’s. A beautiful bowl, with a bit of a Moroccan flair. I love the colors and its golden hue.

In our kitchen…

A large plastic platter that is perfect to take treats to the department. Very cheap, on sale at our grocery store. The bright yellow called my name, as you might suspect…

In our kitchen….

Phil loves to have a small square of dark chocolate with his cappuccino. When his chocolate reserve is getting low, I like to surprise him with different brands of goodies, so he can try something different and maybe pick a new favorite…

In our kitchen…

The world’s largest celery stalk! I apologize for the carbon footprints on this one, it came all the way from California to Kansas, but how could I resist bringing this beauty home? Simply impossible.

In our kitchen….

Since we are in the subject of sins… Something I rarely buy, ready cut veggies. But, look at the perfectly diced zucchini! It was on sale at our grocery store (Hy-Vee) for $2.20. Life is too short to be virtuous all the time, don’t you think? A little culinary sin here, another there… no big deal, right?

In our kitchen….

A bag of freeze-dried raspberries… I have a great recipe in mind for this one… Stay tuned…. It is from a cookie book recommended by Karen, from Karen’s Kitchen Stories. Did you know that cookbooks bought from recommendation of favorite food bloggers do not count against the “No new cookbooks in 2015?” Yeah. The amendment to the rule was made back in January. Sorry if I forgot to mention it.

In our kitchen….

This is probably an acquired taste, and will not please everyone. I’d heard of shirataki noodles as a zero-carb alternative for pasta, but until a few weeks ago I was unable to find it for sale in our neck of the woods. Not the case anymore, two of our grocery stores have them all the time in three shapes: fettuccine, angel hair, and spaghetti. You simply drain the liquid they are stored in, rinse the noodles well and warm them up. They have a sort of strange smell as you open the package, but if you add a sauce or even just some butter and grated Parmigiano, it’s not bad at all. A good option for days in which I want to keep the carbs low.

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I close this tour with our canine friends who absolutely
insist on barking hello….

Chief is going through another tough phase, but I managed to snap this reasonably ok shot of him. He says “Don’t worry, friends, before you know it, I am going to be back chasing squirrels, show them who is the boss around our backyard.”

Buck approves the new rug, and promises not to mark it, scratch it, butt-scoot it, or drop food on it (his Mom can take care of that part without his help).

How could Mom imagine I would do anything wrong to the new rug? You can see I’m an angel! And, contrary to my brother, I know how to properly use a bed.

Oscar is a lot more creative with it. At the time this photo was taken he had just gotten his summer shave and seemed a little upset about it. Maybe folding the bed is a way to show his displeasure?

Well, the real displeasure is having to sit here waiting for our food. Why is Mom playing with her camera instead of feeding us? Have we been that bad? I don’t think so. The backyard has been pretty calm lately, as far as I can remember…

Yeah, I think she forgot all about the skunk by now…
😉

Finally, I will share a little video from our visit to the research cows, 2 miles from home. The previous week I did not take my cell phone, and could not document the huge lick Buck got on the side of his belly from one of the less shy bovines. It was priceless! This time he didn’t want to have anything to do with them, which is too bad, they absolutely love him! Take a look by clicking here. It is short and sweet… (I have zero patience for long videos, and I bet most people are like me).

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That’s all, folks! Celia, thanks for the virtual party, and I invite my readers to visit other kitchens around the world by stopping at Fig Jam and Lime Cordial, Celia lists all the links to the posts on the right side of her front page.

ENJOY!

ONE YEAR AGO: Sous-vide Pork Chops with Roasted Poblano Butter

TWO YEARS AGO: Roasted Strawberry-Buttermilk Sherbet

THREE YEARS AGO: Amazing Ribs for the 4th of July!

FOUR YEARS AGO: Baby Back Ribs on the 4th of July

FIVE YEARS AGO: Blueberry Muffins

SIX YEARS AGO: A Pie for your 4th of July

2Jul2015

AND THE WINNER OF MY GIVEAWAY IS….

Posted in General by sallybr

…..

ANNE WALLACE!!!!!

(Please send me an email at sallybr2008 at gmail dot com, so I can get your address and ship the book to you next week).

Thank you so much for all who commented, I was particularly touched by the first time “commenters” who said hello, it was amazing to realize that some people have been following my blog for several years, but stay in the background, so I was totally unaware of their presence. Still, they all had wonderful things to say about the Bewitching Kitchen, giving me even more energy to go on sharing my recipes, stories, and eventual cake baking boo-boos.

I enjoyed reading all the comments, even if I opened an exception and did not reply to them. As you may know by now, I make a serious effort to address each comment I get, maybe missing some that might pop up in old posts, often because I tell myself I’ll go back to them later, but… life interferes.

Life actually interferes a lot with the best blogging plans. I still owe you a post about our trip to Hawaii last March. It will come, I promise. In the mean time, I leave you with a nice photo from that trip, the view from our hotel room at Turtle Bay. I think I need a little vacation soon!

Sweet memories….

Thanks again to all my readers, I still cannot quite believe I made it to six years! Unreal….

😉

30Jun2015

MAUREEN’S FABULOUSLY FUDGY BROWNIES

Posted in Desserts, Desserts, Sweets by sallybr

Phil is very hard to please when it comes to brownies, bran muffins, and some types of cakes (angel food, layered coconut cake are two that come to mind). I am always trying different recipes hoping to hit one that will awe him. Brownies, according to the resident expert, have to be dense, fudgy, big, contain nuts, and probably meet a number of other criteria that have not yet been conveyed to the person in charge of baking them (aka curve balls). Last March, on a trip to Hawaii to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary, he went crazy for brownies sold at a very unassuming spot, a little cafe at the entrance of Turtle Bay Resort. I admit that they were indeed spectacular, but all my attempts to get their recipe were ignored. Then, I saw this recipe at Maureen’s blog, and decided to give it a try. They were nothing short of amazing. I knew they would be, and the best part is, my hard-to-please husband agreed!

FABULOUSLY FUDGY BROWNIES
(from The Orgasmic Chef)

READ ON TO FIND OUT…

I want to make sure everyone reads Maureen’s masterpiece of a post on the subject. No one should miss it, so click here for the full post, recipe included, and you can thank me later… Who else but Maureen could compose a superb post on brownies that starts with not one, but TWO episodes of flying creatures emptying their guts on her head? Now, do you want to know what makes her post even more special for me? The fact that many many years ago (July 1986), while walking the streets of former Yugoslavia, a pigeon dropped what seemed to be a full bucket of warm, greenish-white liquid on my head, from the balcony of a building. Of course, not a single drop hit my former husband, his Mom and his Dad who were walking next to me, and had the laugh of their lives at my expense. We had to take a bus back to the hotel, with yours truly still plastered in pigeon poop (#totallynotdistractinglysexy). Can you imagine my mood? This is just one more reason I consider Maureen my virtual sister. And although so far I haven’t had the unique pleasure of getting showered with bat’s or crow’s poop, I can testify that the pigeon kind smells disgusting. I am sure my readers are delighted to know that. Ready for that brownie now?

😉

Maureen Brownies1

Isn’t that a thing of complete beauty? And the smell as it baked, and later cooled was OUT OF THIS WORLD AMAZING! Yes, in all caps, it deserves it. These babies were moist, dense, intensely flavored, and the walnuts took care of that monochromatic nature of brownies that some people might object to. Give this recipe a try, especially if you have a brownie-snob in your home… I guarantee these will please the toughest critic.

Maureen, thanks for the great recipe, and of course, for the amusing write-up… if I was next to you during the crow-attack, I would do my very best not to laugh, instead would help you get back into socially acceptable shape. I am nothing if not magnanimous.

ONE YEAR AGO: Wheat Berry Caraway Bread

TWO YEARS AGO: Mexican Focaccia

THREE YEARS AGO: Sunny Kamut Salad with Roasted Lemon Vinaigrette

FOUR YEARS AGO: Pane de Casa & Crostini

FIVE YEARS AGO: Down-home Dig-in Chili

SIX YEARS AGO: Cinnamon Rolls

26Jun2015

HOW ABOUT SOME COFFEE WITH YOUR STEAK?

Posted in Beef, Sous-Vide Cooking by sallybr

Have you missed the 6th anniversary of my blog?
Only a few days left to enter my giveaway!
Click here to join…

If you’ve never used coffee in marinades or dry rubs for meat, you are missing a great opportunity to enjoy its mysterious flavor added to usual suspects such as herbs, peppers, and spices. I’ve blogged before on a take on pork tenderloin that I still think is one of the best recipes I have in the blog, and that uses coffee as one of the ingredients. But today I’ll switch gears and apply a coffee-based dry rub to beef. The recipe, published by The New York Times, was recommended by our very dear friend, Marijo, who happens to be a great cook, so when she raves about something, I am all ears. And taste buds. It did not take me too long to jump on it, although it is taking me a long time to share it here. What else is new? That’s the way Sally rolls…

ALL-PURPOSE CALIFORNIA BEEF RUB
(as published in The New York Times)

2 tablespoons finely ground coffee
1 ½ tablespoons kosher salt
1 ½ tablespoons granulated garlic
1 heaping teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon brown sugar
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon cinnamon

Combine all ingredients and store in an airtight container.

Rub on the meat you intend to grill and leave it for at least one hour, overnight works too.

Grill to medium-rare, or to the level of your choice (hopefully not well-done!)

Allow the meat to rest for 10 minutes before slicing.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe click here

Comments: I’ve made this recipe quite a few times, with flank steak, flatiron steak, tri-tip, and even bison rib eye steaks. For the bison rib eye, I adapted it to sous-vide and it turned out spectacular, but the photos not so much, so I won’t dedicate a special blog article for it.

SOUS-VIDE METHOD: Apply the rub, and seal the meat in a plastic bag (vacuum is fine, water replacement method will work too). Leave the meat in the fridge for one hour or more, whatever is convenient with your schedule. Place the bag in the water-bath set for 134 F (medium-rare) for a minimum of 3 hours. I left mine for almost 6 hours, as I started cooking it at lunch time and we enjoyed the meat at dinner time that evening. Once the meat is cooked, open the bag, discard the liquid accumulated inside, pat-dry the surface with the meat with paper towels. Sear on a blazing hot grill or cast iron pan.

To our taste, the sous-vide was by far the best method for bison steaks. Same applies to flatiron. For flank and skirt steak, we think there is not much improvement by going the sous-vide route, both cuts of meat cook perfectly fine on the grill. Whatever your method of cooking, this rub is money! Give it a try…

Marijo, thanks for sending this recipe our way,
looking forward to many more!

ONE YEAR AGO: Celebrate Wednesday with a Spiral Kick!

TWO YEARS AGO: Carrot Flan with Greens and Lemon Vinaigrette

THREE YEARS AGO: Granola Bars

FOUR YEARS AGO: Awesome Broccolini

FIVE YEARS AGO: A Twist on Pesto

SIX YEARS AGO: Ciabatta: Judging a bread by its holes