ZUCCHINI “HUMMUS”

Posted in Appetizers by sallybr

Once more I shall commit the sin of stretching the name of my favorite dip, traditionally made with garbanzo beans, tahini, and very few other additions. I think zucchini is one of the most versatile veggies, and this dip proves the point. Plus, it is delicious! I originally saw it at Angie’s blog Divalicious Recipes in the City, and tweaked her recipe ever so slightly. Angie has a ton of creative recipes in her site, I actually linked one of her cauliflower concoctions in a recent post, and intend to make it soon. As far as this dip goes, you should definitely play with the amount of tahini, lemon juice, and feel free to even add some garbanzo beans in case you want to get one step closer to the title of the dish. 😉

ZUCCHINI HUMMUS
(slightly adapted from Divalicious)

2 medium zucchini
1/4 cup tahini
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 clove of garlic (optional)
1/4 cup lemon juice
zest of half lemon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

Combine all the ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth.

Taste and adjust the seasonings. I like to sprinkle a little smoked paprika on top of the dip before serving, but that is totally optional, of course! Ak-Mak crackers are the perfect carrier for this dip.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

We had a pizza party the other day. My favorite type of get-together, in which I make plenty of balls of dough, and we take turns adding all sorts of toppings, some will be vegetarian-friendly, some loaded with meat, according to the mood of the moment. The house is kept cool because we grill the pizzas outside. In this type of event, appetizers must be light, and for obvious reasons, cheese is out. Who wants to load up on cheese before facing a pizza dinner? I prefer to serve hummus, either the traditional version or some variation, like my edamame hummus of the past. This version with zucchini turned out super light and flavorful, a perfect option for our evening.

If you are a zucchini-lover, don’t skip this one. Winner!

ONE YEAR AGO: In My Kitchen – October 2013

TWO YEARS AGO: Bourbon and Molasses Glazed Pork Tenderloin

THREE YEARS AGO: Crimson and Cream Turkey Chili

FOUR YEARS AGO: Taking a break from the nano-kitchen

FIVE YEARS AGO: Chocolate Chip Cookies

5Oct2014

IN MY KITCHEN – OCTOBER 2014

Posted in In My Kitchen by sallybr

I don’t participate every month, as it gets a bit too hard to compose a new post on this subject every 4 weeks, but whenever possible, I love joining Celia’s virtual party in which bloggers all over the world invite us over to visit their kitchens. This month, I have a few gifts to smile about…

In our kitchen…

Gorgeous pear-shaped tomatoes, a little larger than those we can find at the grocery store. These were planted by one of our colleagues. He kept bringing boxes, leaving them in the mail room for anyone to grab a few and enjoy. This particular batch was still warm from the soil when we got them.

In our kitchen…

Two huge bottles of a very special salsa, made by our friend Karl according to a family recipe from his wife, Virginia. Want to know something super cool? Virginia was the realtor who showed and sold us our home here in Kansas. She is a retired Spanish professor from Manhattan High School, and embraced a second career as a Real State agent, which clearly was a great move for her. She is the best, and so is her family recipe for this killer salsa. When we get low on those, I send a few hints to Karl. You know, gentle hints. I never put pressure on anyone. Nagging? Me? Never.

In our kitchen…

Another gift from Karl and Virginia, a can of chiles that she gets in New Mexico (they are not easy to find elsewhere), and uses for chile rellenos. She also shared her recipe with me, and I made my first batch of this Mexican delicacy last month. It takes practice, but I’m getting there…

In our kitchen….

Amazing hand-made chocolates from San Francisco… A wonderful gift from a wonderful friend, MC. I imagine lots of my readers are no strangers to Farine, her bread baking blog, but if you haven’t visited her site yet, prepare to be amazed.

In our kitchen….

My gift for Phil, for no special reason other than the fact that he is my favorite human being in this planet of over 7 billion people. It is a red wine aerator, supposed to make your wine taste like a liquid concocted by angels.

Of course, that forced us to cook a special steak dinner in which we sampled the wine on a blind tasting: one glass passed through the aerator, the other straight from the bottle. Indeed, we both noticed a clear improvement. Once it gets through the aerator, the wine tastes much more mellow and smoother. A nice little toy to play with.

In our kitchen….

I found this new (to me) type of yogurt and fell in love with it. These days it is so hard to find full-fat yogurt! I will spare you of my thoughts on this, but it is irritating. Anyway, this yogurt is delicious and I think it’s also available with fruit, but I am partial to plain. I wish they sold bigger containers so I could use it for cooking, but this is better than nothing.

In our kitchen….

If I remember correctly, I featured these on an IMK post years ago, because they were available in Oklahoma, and I loved them. I went through a tough phase of withdrawal syndrome, but they finally showed up in one of our grocery stores. I stock our freezer with these three kinds, and pop a little square in my food whenever the mood strikes. Great, great product, I highly recommend it. Rest assured, this post is not sponsored by Dorot. I recommend it because I love it.

In our kitchen….

Something super special: I got a one-on-one class on genoise!!!! From a pro, who also happens to be a friend. A virtual friend for over 10 years, Gary spent a weekend in our town, the three of us played a lot of golf, and I got THE BEST lesson on the making of a genoise. Stay tuned for my performance later on… Genoise is not for sissies, my friends. And since we are on the subject of that lesson, I shall confess my first move as a student.

Gary wanted the eggs at room temperature, but I don’t think he expected me to smash one on the floor. Obviously, cake baking in general and genoise in particular stresses me out.

In our kitchen…

A new, shiny bowl, that was needed for proper mixing of the genoise batter. It’s called a moon bowl. I love it! Beautiful and functional.

In our kitchen…

A heat-resistant spatula (from Vollrath), and a small offset spatula for my future genoise adventures. Gary brought these gadgets in his amazing “patisserie tool box” and I could not resist a visit to amazon.com to get these babies for the Bewitching Kitchen.

And, now it is time to let our furry friends come out and play…

Hello, my name is Oscar, and last night my Mom spent 25 minutes cleaning my body of all burrs. She says I am a wuss because I whine too much and “make it impossible for her”. Anyway, this is how I came back from the backyard this morning, after spending just 5 minutes outside. I don’t get all her weeping and gnashing of teeth. Do you?

Hello, my name is Buck and I am a professional snake killer. On my walk the other day I noticed a small snake on the side of the street. In a nanosecond I grabbed it, flinched it very high in the air, then killed it, spreading snake blood all over Mom’s ankle. I don’t get all her weeping and gnashing of teeth, do you?

and now, a couple of videos that are worth a thousand pictures….

Oscar has been very upset because his brother showed off the rolling over in the last In My Kitchen post. He insists that his skills are good enough to share with the Bewitching friends… For his amazing performance, click here.

I close this post with another short video. In one of my long walks with Buck, we go all the way to the university farms where they keep research cows. They are adorable! On that day they were following us in line as we walked back and forth the road. Finally, as we decided to walk back home, I approached the gate for a chit-chat with “the ladies”. Buck was not too interested in them, but they were very curious about that tiny four-legged creature. You can see the video on youtube with a click here.

If you are wondering about Chief, he says hi, and hopes to be around next time. He’s been a bit too frail lately to pose for pictures. He is a trooper, though, heading steadily for his 16th Birthday.

I hope you enjoyed the little tour of our kitchen… A huge thank you to Celia for organizing it. If you want to take a peek at other blogger’s kitchens, stop by Fig Jam and Lime Cordial, and look at the side bar where she lists them all.

ONE YEAR AGO: Grilled Steelhead Trout

TWO YEARS AGO: Brown Butter Tomato Salad

THREE YEARS AGO: Spelt and Cornmeal Rolls

FOUR YEARS AGO: Roasted Potato and Olive Focaccia

FIVE YEARS AGO: Multigrain Bread Extraordinaire

1Oct2014

CELEBRATE WEDNESDAY WITH PROSCIUTTO-WRAPPED SHRIMP SKEWERS

Posted in Celebrate Wednesday, Seafood by sallybr

This is one of those super simple recipes that deliver a ton of flavor, turning a mid-week dinner into a special event. Since seafood in general doesn’t need to be marinated for a long time, you can do the whole prep after arriving home from work. But, if you want to make things even easier, make the marinade, clean the shrimp early in the morning, and keep both items in the fridge until showtime. Since we have the luxury of coming home for lunch every day, that’s when I normally get this type of prep work done. A small investment of time at noon, and voilà: painless dinner later in the evening.

(Cooked: June 4th – Blogged Oct 1st)

PROSCIUTTO-WRAPPED SHRIMP SKEWERS
(slightly adapted from a recipe by Rachael Ray)

3 tablespoons olive oil
4 scallions, white parts finely chopped and green parts thinly sliced on an angle, divided
1 teaspoon Hungarian red pepper (or 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes)
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
12 jumbo shrimp, tails on and deveined
12 slices prosciutto

Combine the olive oil, scallion whites, red pepper and lemon juice in a medium size bowl. Season the shrimp lightly with salt and pepper, add to the marinade. Toss to coat, and leave for 30 minutes in the fridge. Wrap each shrimp with a slice of prosciutto and thread onto a metal skewer. If using wood skewers, soak them in water for a few hours.

Grill the shrimp until firm and opaque, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer to a serving plate and decorate with sliced scallions, if you like. I had some fennel fronds in the fridge, that’s what I added.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: The Hungarian pepper I used for this marinade was a gift I mentioned in this post. I love its complex flavor and mild level of heat. I searched and it is available on amazon.com, but the price made me hyperventilate a little. Lucky me, I do have very nice friends… Red pepper flakes (or fresh Fresno peppers) can be used instead, of course.

My package of prosciutto came with only 10 slices, so some of the shrimp (I actually cooked 14) went to the grill naked. They did not seem to mind, and we definitely did not mind either. I grilled those for about 30 seconds less on each side. I also like to use a double skewer, a trick that prevents the shrimp from spinning around and makes flipping a lot easier.

Most recipes would call for bacon instead of prosciutto, but I don’t quite get that. By the time the bacon is properly cooked, seafood will be severely over-done. I find that prosciutto works much better, as all you need is to get some grill marks on it, so the timing can agree with the seafood wrapped inside it. Alternatively, if you prefer the flavor of bacon, you can pre-cook before wrapping delicate seafood with it. Check Melissa’s method with a click here.

Our dinner that evening was a nice take on surf-and-turf… Juicy shrimp, and deliciously grilled hanger steak. Light, flavorful, and a breeze to prepare! Cannot beat that.

ONE YEAR AGO: Linguine with Cauliflower Pesto

TWO YEARS AGO: Secret Recipe Club: A Tribute to Daniel

THREE YEARS AGO: Nutella Drop Cookies

FOUR YEARS AGO: Dreaming of butternut squash

FIVE YEARS AGO: Simply Elegant: Salmon Curry (one of my very favorite dishes!)

26Sep2014

SPIRALIZER FUN

Posted in Pasta & Noodles, Vegetarian-friendly by sallybr

In five years of blogging, I probably mentioned this before once or twice: I am not too wild about cooking fads, and usually avoid them. For instance, that one from years ago, foams. You could not go to a restaurant that considered itself slightly upscale without foams bubbling around your plate. Then we have the more recent bacon-mania. Because 90% of humans adore bacon, all of a sudden bacon started popping up in every single culinary item. Chocolate-covered bacon? Yes, it is out there! Bacon ice cream? Why not? Well, if I have to explain it, I guess we are from different planets. And let’s not get me started on the fried egg topping everything lately. I guess this fad is still in its exponentially growing phase. Having said all that, I am heavily into the spiral cutter thing. And I insist, this is not a fad. It is a nice way to treat vegetables, easy to use, fast to prepare, and a ton of fun to eat. Zucchini is by far my favorite target, and I’ve shared one of the ways we enjoy it almost weekly, uncooked, bright and fresh. Strands of zucchini can get mushy very quickly when cooked, but now I think I hit the perfect method to deal with them.

LEMONY ZUCCHINI NOODLES & WHOLE-WHEAT SPAGHETTI
(from the Bewitching Kitchen)

Whole-wheat spaghetti (1/3 of your regular portion)
3 medium zucchini, ends removed, cut in a spiral cutter
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 shallot, minced
1/2 red bell pepper, diced (substitute tomatoes, spinach, anything you feel like)
lemon juice and zest
salt and pepper to taste

Cook the pasta in plenty of salted boiling water. As the pasta cooks, heat the olive oil, saute the shallot and red bell pepper until the shallots are translucent and with a little bit of color, and the red bell pepper starts to soften. Season lightly with salt, add the zest of the lemon on top of the warm mixture, cover the pan and let it rest while you finish dealing with the pasta.

Ten seconds before the end of cooking time, add the zucchini strands to the pot. Time ten seconds and immediately drain it, reserving a little of the cooking water. Return it to the hot, empty pot, add the sautéed shallots and red bell pepper, squeeze a little lemon juice, toss it all gently, and adjust with pasta cooking water if necessary. Taste for seasoning, adding ground black pepper if you like.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

One of the things I love about this type of recipe is that you can vary the amount of pasta in it according to your mood or goals. In the recipe I shared today, zucchini was prominent, pasta played a secondary role. The resulting meal felt light and bright. A few weeks ago, I went the opposite way, and made the zucchini stay in the background. At that time I added wilted kale and sun-dried tomatoes to the dish. It was slightly heavier, and quite appropriate for the sorry evenings ahead, when the temperature will fall below 90 F, and I will go through a few boxes of Kleenex to deal with it.

If you are over the fence about getting a spiralizer, jump to the right side, the side where I am ready to play with you. You will not regret it, especially if you have kids who are over the fence about eating their veggies. They might profess zoodles – like this tasty version from Mike’s blog – their favorite dish ever!

ONE YEAR AGO: Beer-Marinated Grilled Skirt Steak

TWO YEARS AGO: Secret Recipe Club: Corn Chowda

THREE YEARS AGO: Page-A-Day Calendar (Pits and Chief 5 minutes of fame…)

FOUR YEARS AGO: Home Sweet Home (our beloved Pits in one of his last photos)

FIVE YEARS AGO: Marbled Rye