INCREDIBLY SIMPLE TIMES FOUR: MAY 2021

Posted in Air-Frying, Desserts, Incredibly simple, Salads, Veggies by sallybr

Last time I shared Incredibly Simple recipes was 7 months ago, so it’s been a while… The first three are embarrassing simple. The fourth will surprise you. Read on, my friends!

INCREDIBLY SIMPLE #1

AIR-FRIED CAULIFLOWER FLORETS

I admit that the picture is not that great. The problem is I had no intention of blogging about it, until I realized I made it three weeks in a row, and now it’s pretty hard for me to prepare cauliflower any other way. The air-fryer is the perfect environment to get crispy, tender inside florets, in 20 minutes. Yes, 20 minutes start to finish. No mess, no fuss. Perfect results every single time.

Toss the florets in a large bowl with a little grapeseed oil (you can use olive oil if you prefer), season with salt, pepper, and when you want to rock your world a bit, go for smoked paprika, maybe a touch of curry. Set your fryer to the highest temperature (mine is 390F), and let it roast for 20 minutes, shaking the basket once or twice.

INCREDIBLY SIMPLE #2

HARD-BOILED EGGS, THE AIR-FRYER WAY

If you own an air-fryer and want to expand your horizons to use it more often, hard-boiled eggs are a great option. Place as many eggs as you want in the basket. Set it to 270F (or around that temperature, depending on your model) and set the timer to 15 minutes. You might need a little adjustment in the time. For my fryer and my taste in hard-boiled eggs, that combination hits the spot. If you want to have soft-boiled eggs, reduce the time to 8 to 10 minutes, but again you’ll have to tweak the conditions. The eggs peel like a dream, by the way.

INCREDIBLY SIMPLE #3

SWEET AND SPICY WALNUTS (or PECANS)

Phil came up with this idea and now we do it all the time for our salads. Grab a handful of walnuts or pecans. Coat a non-stick small skillet with a tiny tiny tiny amount of olive oil. Heat, and add the nuts. Season with salt and pepper, or if you like to change things a bit, go for a touch of paprika. When the nuts start to get fragrant, drizzle a very small amount (maybe 1 tsp) of maple syrup. Everything will bubble furiously. Shake the pan to move the walnuts and coat them with the syrupy mixture. Immediately remove from the heat and transfer them to a small bowl to cool down a bit. Add to your salad. Any salad. Try to refrain from picking those babies from the bowl when no one is looking

INCREDIBLY SIMPLE #4

FRIANDS

You may ask yourself… “Has she lost her mind?” BAKING in Incredibly Simple? Nope, I did not lose my mind (at least not for this particular reason). This is a recipe that a 5 year old can make with minor supervision as the young child will need to operate a food processor.

Melt 1 stick (113g) of butter and place in the bowl of a food processor together with
90g all-purpose flour
110g almond flour (or finely ground almonds)
3/4 tsp baking powder
5 egg whites
190g powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Process for 1 minute. It will be very foamy. Spoon the mixture in non-stick muffin tins (or friand molds), filling each cavity no more than 3/4 full. Place two raspberries in each portion, top with some slivered almonds. Bake at 325F for 18 to 20 minutes, until the edges start to get golden. Let them cool for 10 minutes, remove from the molds and when fully cold, dust with powdered sugar.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: I hope that if you consider yourself a non-baker, or worse yet, a bake-o-phobe (like I used to be), you will still grab the ingredients and try this recipe. You can vary the nut flour by adding some hazelnuts or even ground pistachios in some proportion together with almond flour. Or you can bake this simple version. They are delicate, moist, fragrant, absolutely perfect with a cup of tea. And so incredibly simple to prepare! Make sure to surprise whoever is around and when you bring those to the table, say very non-challantly… “I’ve made some friands for you”… Work on your best French accent, it is a must in this case.

ONE YEAR AGO: Phyllo Parcels with Moroccan Turkey

TWO YEARS AGO: Roasted Corn and Zucchini Salad

THREE YEAR AGO: Fraisier Cake, A Celebration of Spring

FOUR YEARS AGO: Zucchini Frittata with Roasted Tomatoes and Goat Cheese

FIVE YEARS AGO: Playing with Pectinase

SIX YEARS AGO: Poached White Asparagus with Lemon and Pistachios

SEVEN YEARS AGO: Dan Lepard’s Saffron Bloomer

EIGHT YEARS AGO: Fesenjan & The New Persian Kitchen

NINE YEARS AGO: Quinoa Salad with Roasted Beets

TEN YEARS AGO: Pasta Puttanesca

ELEVEN YEARS AGO: Miche Point-a-Calliere

1Aug2018

BLACK OLIVE TAPENADE AND DEVILED EGGS

Posted in Appetizers, Breakfast & Brunch by sallybr

Tapenade-flavored deviled eggs! A great departure from the classic, this was a recent blog post by my dear friend Karen. We love deviled eggs so I was quite excited when she shared her version that included a hefty dose of black olive lusciousness to make them even more special. At first I thought we had one of those convenient ready-made jars from Trader Joe’s sitting in our pantry, but of course, the moment I had a very important use for it, they were nowhere to be found. I had to take matters into my own food processor. You know what? Home-made is infinitely better. There’s a fresh taste to it, plus I could customize it adding a bit of orange zest. Total winner!

BLACK OLIVE TAPENADE
(adapted from many sources)

1 + 1/2 cups pitted black olives
1 teaspoon anchovy paste
2 tablespoons capers, rinsed
juice of half a lemon (taste and add more, if you like)
chopped fresh parsley to taste
olive oil to desired consistency
salt and pepper
orange zest

Add all ingredients to the bowl of a food processor, except olive oil, salt, pepper, and orange zest. Process until smooth. With the motor running, drizzle olive oil until it gets to the consistency you prefer, I added a bit less than 1/4 cup. Season with salt, pepper, and add orange zest at the very end.

BLACK OLIVE TAPENADE DEVILED EGGS
(slightly modified from Karen’s Kitchen Stories)

6 hard-boiled eggs
1/4 cup full-fat yogurt
1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 heaping tablespoon (or more to taste) olive tapenade
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Paprika for garnish

Peel and slice the eggs in half, lengthwise. Place the yolks into a bowl and mash with a fork.

Add the yogurt, mustard, and cayenne pepper, and mix until smooth. Add the tapenade and salt and pepper and stir until thoroughly combined. Place the yolk mixture into a piping bag and pipe into the egg white cavities. Sprinkle with paprika and chill until ready to serve. You should chill too, it’s an easy recipe, perfect for entertaining.

ENJOY!

to print the recipes, click here

Comments: Confession time. I gave you the recipes with more or less precise measurements, but I did not use a single measuring cup or spoon to make them. Because I’ve been baking so much, I get pretty tired of measuring and weighing items. When it comes to a savory recipe, I want freedom. So I pretty much eye-balled everything. And used my taste buds to judge if I needed more capers, more lemon, more parsley. I advise you to do the same, it is quite liberating (wink, wink). Yes, no two attempts will be exactly the same, but isn’t that part of the charm of cooking? Now, of course baking is another story, your goal is to reach that perfect mousse emulsion, the cake with correct structure and moisture, the macarons with the perfect mixing of almond to meringue. Precision rules.

These turned out delicious! I made a batch on a Saturday morning while The Man was playing golf and the plan was to surprise him with the platter ready and waiting. But he finished the game early, and arrived while I was piping the filling. So there you go, you got to see a picture of the process.

I like to use yogurt instead of mayo, as mayonnaise does not enter our home, but you should go the more authentic route if you prefer.

Karen, thanks for constantly inspiring me, as you know I have a huge list of recipes to try from your site, but I jumped on this one like Buck jumps on a snake in the backyard. Sorry for the image, but it’s accurate.

ONE YEAR AGO: Blueberry Crumble Coffee Cake

TWO YEARS AGO: Fresh Strawberry Yogurt Bundt Cake

THREE YEAR AGO: Quinoa Salad with Red Grapes and Avocado

FOUR YEARS AGO: Strawberry Coffee Cake

FIVE YEARS AGO: Lemon-Poppy Seed Muffins

SIX YEARS AGO: Mascarpone Brownies

SEVEN YEARS AGO: Salmon Tacos

EIGHT YEARS AGO: Cinnamon Turban Bread

NINE YEARS AGO: Summertime Gratin

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14Mar2018

DEVILED EGGS GO GREEN

Posted in Appetizers, Breakfast & Brunch, Small Dishes by sallybr

First things first:
Thank you to all of you who contributed by donating or sharing my gofund page on behalf of our graduate student Aritri.

Deviled eggs. Either you hate them or you love them, there’s no in-between. They are retro, I suppose, in the sense that their popularity seems to have faded compared to say, 20 years ago. But they are more retro than that, as the term dates to the XVIII century, applied to foods that carry a lot of spicy heat. My version added some avocado to the filling, and we both thought it was a nice little twist on this classic.

AVOCADO DEVILED EGGS
(from the Bewitching Kitchen)

6 eggs, hard-boiled and peeled (obviously)
2 medium avocados, ripe and tender
2 tablespoons full-fat yogurt
1 tsp Sriracha sauce (or more, to taste)
1 tsp lemon juice
salt and black pepper to taste
generous sprinkle of Tajin for serving

Cut the eggs in half, and gently scoop out the yolks, placing them in a small bowl.

To the yolks, add all other ingredients, except Tajin, and mash it all together with a fork. Transfer the mixture to a piping bag or simply fill the egg whites with a small spoon. Divide the filling on all egg whites, you might have a little bit leftover. It goes nice on a piece of baguette or Ak-Mak cracker.

Sprinkle with Tajin, and serve. It keeps well in the fridge, cover lightly with Saran-wrap.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: Honestly, I don’t know why I don’t make deviled eggs more often. It is such a delicious little treat, retro or not, I could not care less. It is tasty, and Phil loves it. He arrived home from golf on a Sunday and I surprised him with this batch. I don’t know if he was smiling so much because of his score (he had shot 72 and beat all his buddies) or if the deviled eggs were part of it. At any rate, these are awesome. I know some people don’t think avocados and eggs make a good match, and yes, maybe the whole “break an egg inside an avocado half and bake it” is pushing it a little. But in this preparation? No issues, I promise. I would make it for company anytime. And if you don’t have Tajin, don’t let that stop you. A little freshly ground pepper will do. But Tajin is pretty awesome, a perfect match for avocados, so if your grocery store carries it, bring a little bottle home.