You Say Tomato by Paul Lindemuth August 29, 2019 by Jill Foucre Leave a Comment When I was a kid growing up in northern Wisconsin, every spring I watched my parents carefully planting our vegetable garden with even rows of seeds going into the freshly tilled soil. It was great to see the plants pop to life and mature. We always had an assortment of vegetables…string beans, peppers, lettuce. But my mother’s pride were her tomatoes. I still remember how we watched with anticipation as they grew larger and turned bright red. I also remember heading to the garden to pick one, rinse it quickly under the outdoor faucet and eat it out of hand, still warm from the sun…succulent, sweet and juicy. That brief window from early August to early September gives a bounty of tomatoes, and no other tomato comes close to those fresh from the garden or farmer’s market. Once the season is over they are a fond memory. This is the perfect time to enjoy a simply prepared and fresh Caprese Salad. The best ingredients to adorn those beautiful tomatoes include fresh basil and basil pesto, fresh mozzarella, the best quality olive oil, a drizzle of balsamic and a flourish of flaky Maldon sea salt. The Best Caprese Salad 2019-08-28 21:31:13 Print Ingredients 3 to 4 medium heirloom tomatoes, sliced 1 eight-ounce ball fresh mozzarella, sliced Fresh basil leaves Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling Flaky sea salt Freshly ground black pepper Balsamic vinegar to drizzling Dollops of basil pesto Instructions Arrange the tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil leaves on a platter. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with Maldon salt and freshly ground black pepper. Drizzle a little balsamic vinegar over the top. Top with dollops of basil pesto. Serve right away. Marcel's Culinary Experience https://www.marcelsculinaryexperience.com/
Eat A Peach by Robin Nathan August 8, 2019 by Jill Foucre Leave a Comment It is peach season, indeed. Everywhere you look, peaches and stone fruits are spilling from bins and stacked shoulder high in crates. Nectarines, plums, pluots, plumcots – juicy, ripe and swoon-worthy. Unless, of course, they’re not. There’s nothing worse than choosing a fragrant peach and biting in to discover mealy mushy yuck. How is a girl (or guy) to know which peach is good and which needs to be composted?? Don’t go for size, unless the fruit has been tree-ripened. Often, especially at major grocery markets, the larger fruits get mealy before they have time to fully ripen. Check the weight. The heavier a fruit is for its size, the more juice it contains. A large fruit that seems surprisingly light is past its prime. Lastly, breathe deeply. A fruit that smells like nothing will taste like nothing. It’s a crazy position for a chef, I know, but when fruit is perfect, I’d rather eat it as-is than cook it. Slice up perfectly ripened peaches, nectarines, and plums, pit and slice a few cherries and toss them on top of bitter greens like arugula or radicchio. Crumble over some fabulous Marché Bleu d’ Auvergne or Feta cheese, add some warm sliced grilled steak or chicken and call it dinner! If you have an over-abundance of lovely peaches or nectarines, try this wonderful, French style peach cake that bakes with its own sugar crust. It’s lovely for breakfast or brunch, or topped with ice cream for dessert. Now, go eat a peach! French Country Peach Cake with Chantilly “Sour” Cream 2019-08-06 14:30:59 Serves 8 Print Ingredients 2 cups all purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking powder ½ teaspoon salt 1 cup unsalted butter in pieces at room temperature 1 1/3 cup + 4 tablespoons granulated sugar 4 eggs 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 3 tablespoons peach liqueur 2-3 firm-ripe peaches or nectarines, peeled and diced CHANTILLY CREAM 1 cup heavy cream 2 tablespoons confectioner’s sugar ½ teaspoon vanilla extract ¼ cup full fat sour cream Instructions Prepare a 9” springform pan: Spray the pan with baking spray, place a sheet of parchment on the bottom and spray the sheet. In a small bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together. Set aside. Using a hand-held mixer or a stand mixer with paddle attachment, cream the butter and cup of sugar until soft and creamy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time until incorporated, then the vanilla and brandy. Beat a little longer on low speed to incorporate, but the mixture will look grainy. That’s fine. Add the dry mixture and blend to combine. Scrape a third of the batter into the springform pan. Arrange a single layer of fruit wedges on top of the batter and sprinkle with half of the remaining sugar. Scrape the remaining batter on top of the peaches, spreading as needed to completely cover the fruit. Sprinkle the last 2 tablespoons of sugar evenly on top of the cake. Place into preheated 350 degree oven and bake 45-55 minutes until golden and a pick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool and remove the springform sides and bottom. Serve with the Chantilly cream. CHANTILLY CREAM Beat the cream and confectioner’s sugar on low speed with a hand held mixer to blend, then increase speed to high. Just after soft peaks form, add the sour cream and continue to beat until firmer peaks begin to form. Do not over-beat! Refrigerate for up to 3 hours, or use right away. Notes “Chantilly” refers to heavy cream whipped with sugar and vanilla. The addition of sour cream adds refreshing tartness and has the additional benefit of stabilizing the cream. Marcel's Culinary Experience https://www.marcelsculinaryexperience.com/
Summer Sauce Sensation: Spanish Romesco by Brandy Fernow June 20, 2019 by Jill Foucre Leave a Comment I love when that last bell of school rings and summer rushes into our house. We quickly go from school, sports and meetings, to pool and beach time, hiking and exploring nature, and of course cook-outs and backyard parties. Spending the entire day outdoors and lingering into the night is a happy summer routine for my family. What it doesn’t leave is a lot of time in the kitchen prepping long meals. My solution is keeping it simple and fresh, and leaning on items I can re-configure throughout the week. My summer go-to sauce is a Spanish-style Romesco. Romesco is a rich sauce made with charred peppers, pureed and thickened with nuts. I add chipotle pepper with a bit of adobo sauce for warm heat, as well as lemon juice and parsley for brightness and balance. It is a gorgeous hue that not only tastes fantastic but looks amazing on just about anything. I always make at least a double batch (it freezes beautifully), and most often enjoy it on a simply seasoned white fish. However it is also great drizzled over shrimp, chicken, pork or a roasted cauliflower steak. Later in the week I will toss it into cooked pasta or roasted potatoes. With my kids on the go, it will be packed into a snack with pita chips and veggies for dipping. Those summer nights when the neighbors all end up in our driveway or backyard, I will pull it out with sliced baguette to share with a great summer wine. If you try it, you will find even more fabulous ways to work it into your go-to summer repertoire. We can all take a nod from the Spanish on not only this great sauce, but also around enjoying great food and friends as an art. I hope we all find ourselves doing the same all summer long. Chipotle Romesco Sauce 2019-06-20 12:16:50 Print Ingredients 2 red bell peppers 1/2 cup blanched hazelnuts 1 chipotle in adobo, seeds removed 1 teaspoon adobo sauce 2 cloves garlic, peeled ¼ cup fresh Italian parsley, leaves only Zest of a lemon Juice of ½ a lemon 1-2 teaspoons kosher salt Instructions Roast the bell peppers over a gas burner (or broil) until skins have blackened and blistered. Remove and place in a bowl. Cover with plastic film and let steam for 10 minutes. When cool enough to handle, scrape off skin. Discard the seeds and stems. In a dry sauté pan, toast the hazelnuts for a few minutes, until fragrant and starting to brown. Remove and let cool. In a food processor, add the peppers, nuts, chipotle, adobo sauce and garlic. Pulse to combine. Add the parsley, lemon zest, juice and salt and process until smooth. Serve over just about anything! Marcel's Culinary Experience https://www.marcelsculinaryexperience.com/
A Spice Shop in Nazareth by Lynn Dugan April 24, 2019 by Jill Foucre Leave a Comment A few months ago, I experienced great culinary inspiration in a teeny tiny shop in Nazareth, Israel. I was beckoned by the enticing scent of spices before I even recognized the shop’s entrance. Following the scent, I found a small wooden door with stone steps leading me to the shop below street level. Once inside, the inspiration began. Big sacks of spices covered the entrance. Large bins of spices were displayed side by side on tables throughout the remaining square footage. Some spices were names found in my own kitchen: varieties of cumin, paprika, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Others were less familiar to me…sumac, saffron, and spice blends like za’tar and Baharat. There were many I had never cooked with like amber, whole cardamon pods, and turmeric. I also discovered enticing teas, a large variety of salts from regions in the Middle East and Mediterranean, and an overwhelming variety of peppercorns too. I came home with almost all of the spices listed above, and I began trying to cook with my new spices even before unpacking from my 10-day trip. In less than an hour of walking through my front door, I had fragrant saffron rice steaming on my stove while I also enjoyed a new cup of herbal tea. A day later, I had recreated a salad recipe that I had tasted on the trip. Since then, I have had fun in my kitchen creating the flavors of the Holy land: Beef and Lamb Meatballs in Tahini Sauce featuring cumin, lentil and rice with turmeric, Bethlehem hummus (not yet mastered) garnished with sumac, persimmon and fennel salad with black Mediterranean sea salt, and Shakshuka with cumin and paprika. I hope to bring these flavors to a Marcel’s class later this year entitled “Taste of the Holy Land”. Look for it on the 4th quarter calendar! In the meantime, I do have some of these recipes already posted on my website. Please check it out! Today I am sharing one of my new favorites: Roasted Eggplant and Tomato Dip. I serve it with lightly toasted pita bread cut into triangles for easy dipping. Enjoy! Roasted Eggplant Dip 2019-04-25 01:37:28 Print Ingredients 2 eggplants 6 cloves garlic 1/2 teaspoon sea salt 2 tablespoons olive oil 5 medium tomatoes 1 teaspoon ground cumin ½ teaspoon sumac pinch of ground cayenne 2 tablespoons chopped parsley 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice Instructions Preheat broiler with oven rack 6 inches below heating element. Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil and lightly grease with cooking spray. Cut eggplants in half lengthwise and place cut side down on baking sheet. Broil for 20 minutes, until blackened and collapsed. Remove from oven and allow to rest until cool enough to handle. Scoop flesh from eggplants. Place in a colander to drain. Discard skin and any large pockets of seeds. Squeeze out extra juices and chop eggplant. Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan with boiling water, blanch tomatoes for 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from water with a slotted spoon and allow to rest until cool enough to handle. Skin should peel easily from tomato. Slice peeled tomato in half and remove seed pockets. Chop remaining tomato flesh. In a large saucepan, heat olive oil until shimmering. Add tomatoes, garlic, cumin, sumac, salt and cayenne. Cook for about 20 minutes until tomatoes have created a sauce and most of the moisture has evaporated. Add eggplant. Using the back of a spoon, crush any large lumps. Stir in cilantro and cook for 10-15 minutes, stirring often, until a moist thick mixture has formed. Fold in lemon juice (and a little extra olive oil, if desired, for consistency). Season with salt, to taste, as needed. Serve at room temperature with toasted pita bread. Enjoy! Notes This dip can be stored in the refrigerator in a covered container for 2-3 days. Marcel's Culinary Experience https://www.marcelsculinaryexperience.com/
In Between by Kelly Sears March 28, 2019 by Jill Foucre Leave a Comment I was in search of a recipe the other day: something seasonal, fresh, inspirational. A struggle! We may have sprung forward on the clock, but in the market, we are in limbo. It’s the time of year when you can’t bear to roast another squash, and we wait for the soil to make way for the sprouts pushing their shoots up from below. It’s the time of year when you’re not sure which coat to wear; has wool’s time passed? Can I take the snow brush out of my car? Is it too early to trade out the snow blower for the lawn mower? On Monday it’s 33 degrees and sleeting, by Wednesday, it’s 60 and sunny, and by Friday it’s gloomy and 38 again. Ah the Midwest! The seasonal changes come at us in runners’ distances. Fall is a short 5K into winter and winter is a long grueling, 13.1-week half-marathon. Spring jogs a nice paced 10k into summer and summer is a wind sprint until the whole race starts all over again. We clutch the seasons and the farm bounty they yield. As summer nears to a close, we spend weekends in the hot sun picking berries for freezing; we simmer peaches gently into jam. We pickle, we preserve, we eat too many tomatoes, all in hopes of hanging on to summer. By fall, we start snatching apples off the orchard’s trees; we harvest fall squash in too many varieties to count. We wear socks again. By winter, we bundle up. It takes longer to get ready to go outside than the time we are actually outside, we roast brussels sprouts by the dozens, and include pumpkin in everything from coffee to desserts. We long braise pot roasts and Dutch oven day-long stews. By mid to late March, the daylight is longer, the sun a little bit warmer. Stalks of tender asparagus, early spring peas, the sweet juice of the first strawberries, and the tart in red rhubarb are on our minds, not yet our plates. It’s funny that this time of year is Spring Break. We don’t need a break from spring, we need a break from winter as we long for spring! There is one bright spot in winter, citrus. Mother Nature’s reward to dark and gloomy are the sunny globes of sweetness. Spicy, red-fleshed blood oranges, “eating orange” navels, ruby-red Cara Cara, best juice making Valencia, and the lemon and tangerine hybrid, Meyer Lemons are all seasonal during the coldest months of the year. We think nothing of saving other seasons as they rush to their finale; blueberry jam, garden-fresh sauce, applesauce, pureed squash, why not save a bit of sunshine so rare to winter. Orange marmalade is bright, fresh and almost sunny when sitting on a shelf or in the refrigerator. The most classic of all marmalades is made from bitter Seville oranges, a bit harder to come by than other varieties. I prefer to make mine with a mix of orange varieties and toss a couple of lemons in for good pucker. What to do with this delightful batch of marmalade? Winter’s jam is more than just a slather on toast. Paired with golden honey, dried fruits, mustards, charcuterie and tangy blue, marmalade finishes a cheese board with the perfect combination of sweet, salty, bitter, and sour. A feast for the senses! Jazz up your yogurt, swirl into oatmeal, bake it with brie. Add a splash to your pan sauce for chicken, add a spoonful to vinaigrette. Top your pancakes or waffles, stuff French toast. Melt it into a glaze for your Easter ham, spread a thin layer in a crepe, or dollop a spoonful on panna cotta. Personally, I love marmalade on a grilled cheese. Buttery sourdough grilled just enough to crisp the exterior, melt the cheese, and warm the spread yielding the perfect ooze when pulled apart or sliced in half. As we take our break from winter and anticipate spring, capture orange goodness. This recipe yields enough for you to enjoy and enough share. Spread a jar of sunshine. You can marmalade quickly, and just as tasty in the pressure cooker or instant pot. Here are recipes for both cooking methods: