Wish Upon A Chef

I cannot stress how much I LOVE summer produce.  Meats become pretty much non-existent in my summertime meals because I prefer to feast mainly on the bounty of fresh fruits and vegetables available from farmers markets and from my Backyard Produce delivery service. 

Eggplant Caprese may be considered just a snack or appetizer for some folks but combined with some freshly baked hearty bread, it makes an entire meal for me.  Choose the best quality ingredients you can find because the sum of this dish is only as good as its individual components.  Pull out your best EVOO, choose the ripest heirloom tomato and the freshest Mozzarella and savor the flavors of summer!

I'm sharing my quick trick for turning a not-so-expensive balsamic vinegar into an expensive tasting one and it only takes about 5 minutes of your time.  It takes this fresh combination of flavors totally over the top!



Eggplant Caprese

Printable Recipe

Ingredients: 
1 small-medium eggplant
1 large ripe tomato
1 ball of fresh Mozzarella
1 to 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Salt & freshly ground black pepper
Chopped fresh basil
Balsamic vinegar*

Preheat your oven to 500 degrees (or use the "broil" setting).

Wash the eggplant and cut it into 1/2" inch thick slices.  Slice the tomato and Mozzarella in slices as well.

In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat.  Season eggplant slices with salt and pepper and place the eggplant slices into the pan.  Drizzle with a little more oil, if needed.  Fry eggplant, turning once, for about 2 minutes or until golden brown, but not too soft.  Remove eggplant from the pan and place in an ovenproof dish. Top each slice with a slice of tomato and a slice of Mozzarella. Season with more salt & pepper. Place dish in the oven for about 2 minutes or until Mozzarella starts melting. Remove from the oven, sprinkle with some chopped basil and a little balsamic vinegar.

*If you're using an inexpensive balsamic vinegar and would like to turn it into a delicious and expensive tasting vinegar, just pour about 4 times as much vinegar as you're going to need into a small saucepan.  Bring to a boil and allow vinegar to simmer for about 2-4 minutes.  Allow it to reduce until it's slightly thinner than what you want because it will continue to reduce after you take it off the heat.   Drizzle over meat, fish, fruits or vegetables. 

When I first made the decision to cut out processed foods and move toward real food, I was worried about what I would eat for snacks as the items that I once considered pantry staples/snacks started disappearing from my shelves.  I'm not a huge snacker but my weakest moments happen when I just get home from work and start preparing dinner.  

I'm slowly working my way through some real food snack recipes that I've found online to find ones that I like and I've purchased a few items like Larabars, Triscuits and roasted almonds for quick "grab a handful and go" snacks.  Of course, fresh fruits and veggies make excellent snack choices as well. 

I ran across this recipe from 100 Days of Real Food for Easy Cheesy Crackers with only three ingredients.  They're super easy to mix up, bake and have on hand for snack attacks.  They freeze well (either as an unbaked log or go ahead and slice, bake and freeze) so you can have them on hand any time you like.  They taste just like Cheez-Its or maybe like the goldfish crackers, although I haven't had one of those in eons to remember exactly what it tastes like. 

When I make these, I like to add some fresh herbs to the dough - whatever is growing plentiful in my garden at the time - and cut them really thin.  Serve on a platter with your favorite cheeses and/or fruits or just eat them for a snack all by themselves. 

Make sure you visit Lisa Leake's page 100 Days of Real Food for more great tips on how to gradually change your diet and menus to include more real food. 

Cheesy Herb Crackers
Makes about 2 dozen, depending on thickness

Inspired by Lisa Leake's Easy Cheesy Crackers

Printable Recipe

1 cup whole-wheat flour
5 tablespoons cold butter, cut into tablespoon size chunks
1 ½ cups (about 4 oz.) grated cheddar cheese
2 tablespoons fresh herbs of choice, chopped (chives or dill makes an excellent choice)

When I was a kid, my grandparents would come to our house every Christmas morning to see the mountain of gifts that Santa had brought to me (I was always a very good girl) and my mother would prepare brunch for everyone.  Menu items were usually the same every year and for most things it was the only time of year they appeared on our table, so it became tradition to always have these special items.

One year my mother decided that she wanted to change up the menu and believe me when I say there was mutiny on the bounty!  I revolted.  Huffed.  Puffed.  Whined.  Until she agreed to at least keep most of my favorites (so maybe I wasn't a very good girl all of the time), including this hashbrown casserole which can NEVER. EVER. be removed from the menu. 

Reminiscent of Cracker Barrel's version, this is the warmest, cheesiest, creamiest, most delish thing you will ever put into your mouth.  This year, I was in charge of Christmas brunch with Boy Toy and his family and you know hashbrown casserole was on the menu.  The entire 9x13 dish was scarfed down in the blink of an eye - what you can't see in this photo is someone's hand on the spoon waiting to dig in so I barely got a chance to snap the photo before it disappeared. 

If you are making this for a brunch, you can prepare it the night before and bake it off the morning of, but the best thing is that you don't have to wait until Christmas to try it!

Cheesy Hashbrown Bake
Serves 12

32 oz. frozen shredded hashbrown potatoes, thawed
21-1/2 oz. condensed cream of potato soup (I've also used cream of celery or mushroom)
16 oz. sour cream
16 oz. sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1/4 cup minced dried onion
salt and pepper, to taste

Combine all ingredients, stirring well.  Spoon into a greased 13x9 baking dish.  Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 40 minutes or until bubbly and golden brown on top. 

No tricks for you today - just this fun little Halloween treat. 

The idea for these cute cheese pumpkins originated from a blog called That's So Michelle which features some really fun, easy and creative ideas and since Boy Toy and I were headed to a tailgate party I thought I'd borrow her idea.  It's things like this that have awarded me "Food Nerd" status because who, in their right mind, could show up to a party with just cheese and crackers when you can turn heads with this??

It's really simple to do.  All you need is a tub of cold-pack Cheddar cheese, some pretzel sticks, finely chopped nuts (I used pecans), a few sprigs of fresh parsley and crackers of your choice (I used Triscuits because they are sturdy). 

I used a small cookie scoop but you can also just use a tablespoon to portion out the cheese and roll it into a ball with your hands (my method yielded approximately 20 pumpkins).  Chill them for a bit afterwards to make them firm enough so you can work with them.  Using a toothpick or wooden skewer, score lines into your cheese pumpkins from top to bottom.  They don't have to be perfect as a real pumpkin is beautiful in its own rite with irregularities. 

Dip the bottom of the pumpkin into some finely chopped nuts of your choice and refrigerate them until serving time.  Just before serving, decorate with a broken pretzel stick "stem" and a piece of parsley for greenery.  You don't want to do this until just before serving because the pretzel stick becomes soft when it is refrigerated. 

Serve them atop a cracker for ease of handling, but keep in mind this is quite alot of cheese to eat in one bite or for one cracker.  Serve a basket of crackers alongside so your guests can spread some cheesy pumpkin cheer!

Visit That's So Michelle's rendition of the pumpkin cheese plate and check out some of her other totally cute and fabulous ideas. 

 

With the temperatures in the Queen City reaching all-time record highs of 100+ degrees these past couple of weeks, my summertime meals have become more of a nosh than an actual meal.  The heat just seems to completely zap my appetite and who wants to heat up an already blazing hot kitchen with an oven and long cooking times?

This quick and easy recipe from Southern Living featuring two of my favorite things: cherries and bleu cheese certainly fits the bill for something light yet satisfying on a hot summer day.  The combination of the sweet cherries and honey, the salty bleu cheese and the savory rosemary and arugula sends the taste buds into deliciousness overload. 

This is meant to be an appetizer and the kind where you can set out all the individual components and allow your guests to assemble their own crostini or you can assemble and plate in advance.  The cherry compote also keeps for at least a week in the refrigerator.  The only change that I would make from the original recipe next time is to coarsely chop the cherries and possibly even the arugula as leaving them whole made for a pretty hefty crostini and it was awkward to bite into and maintain a lady-like appearance. 

Stay cool but don't stay out of the kitchen!

Honey-Rosemary Cherries & Bleu Cheese Crostini
Southern Living, December 2011

printable recipe

1 shallot, thinly sliced
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 (12-oz.) package frozen dark, sweet pitted cherries, thawed
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons honey
1/4 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
2 cups loosely packed arugula
16 (1/4-inch-thick) ciabatta bread slices, toasted
1 (8-oz.) wedge bleu cheese, thinly sliced*


1. Drain cherries and coarsely chop, reserving the juice.  Sauté shallot in hot oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat 2 to 3 minutes or until tender. Add cherries (and reserved liquid) and next 5 ingredients. Cook, stirring occasionally, 8 to 10 minutes or until thickened. Let stand 10 minutes.

2. Divide arugula among toasted bread slices (you may want to coarsely chop this as well if your leaves are large). Top each with cherry mixture and 1 bleu cheese slice.

*Manchego or goat cheese may be substituted.

Just in time to try and capture the Super Bowl crowd, Domino's Pizza is advertising their Stuffed Cheesy Bread and how great it is. Their claim is that they sampled cheese bread from all the other competing pizza joints and then made theirs even cheesier.

I've got news for you Domino's....my bread is even more cheesier than the cheesiest bread you could ever dream of creating! With a whopping 1/2 pound of melted mozzarella and Havarti oozing out of this, who could argue??

This recipe hails from a 2008 issue of Gourmet magazine and claims to be a close replica of a traditional bread from the Republic of Georgia (the country, not the state) called khachapuri. The combination of Havarti and mozzarella is similar to the salted cow's milk cheese called sulguni used in the Georgian version of the bread. Of course we Americans are notorious for putting our own "traditional" spin on things and serving this warm, cheesy goodness with marinara sauce or a garlicky butter sauce would no doubt make this an over-the-top Super Bowl game snack.

This bread is best right out of the oven but the dough can be made the day before and left to rise slowly in the refrigerator, so you can have a batch of this ready to bake just before kick off or during half-time if you want to avoid another display of total narcissism.


Georgian Cheese Bread
Serves 8

2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast (a 1/4-ounce package)
7 tablespoons warm water (105-115°F)
1 2/3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, divided
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/4 pound Havarti cheese, coarsely grated
1/4 pound salted mozzarella, coarsely grated
1 teaspoon unsalted butter, melted

Sprinkle yeast over warm water and stir in 1 tablespoon flour. Let stand until creamy, about 5 minutes. (If yeast does not activate, start over with new yeast.)

Stir together salt and remaining flour in a large bowl, then stir in egg and yeast mixture to form a dough.

Turn out dough onto a well-floured surface and turn to coat with flour, then knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Form into a ball and dust with flour. Let dough rest in a bowl, covered with plastic wrap, punching down with a wet fist every hour, at least 2 hours and up to 3.

Preheat oven to 500°F with rack in middle.

Turn out dough onto floured pizza pan, turning to coat, then flatten with your fingers into a 7-inch disk.

Toss together cheeses and press into a compact 3-inch ball with your hands. Place ball in middle of dough, then gather dough up around ball of cheese, squeezing excess dough into a topknot. Press down on topknot with a damp fist to press cheese out from center. Continue to flatten dough and distribute cheese evenly, pressing outward from center, until dough is an 11-inch disk.

Cut a 6-inch X through top of dough to expose cheese. Bake until pale golden, 10 to 12 minutes. Brush surface of dough with butter and bake until golden and cooked through, 3 to 5 minutes more.

Cooks' note: • Dough can be made 1 day ahead and chilled in bowl (for a slow rise), covered with plastic wrap. Punch down and bring to room temperature before proceeding with recipe.