STUFFED JALAPENOS POPPERS FOR A SPICY DINNER WITH PATE

    A dinner with Pate is always a hilarious "do not repeat what I tell you" affair, so when he was guest of honor, along with Michael, Erik and Carrie, I had to keep things fresh and spicy. Stuffed Jalapeno Poppers and a bottle of champaign to start and we were laughing all night long. 

    If I ever buy a jalapeno pepper, I just buy one and I'm lucky if I ever use it. So I was at a loss when I got six from the CSA. Sadly, all I could think of were jalapeno poppers. I liked the idea of making spicy little appetizers, especially since Pate loves spice, but I wanted to stay away from the deep frying. So I figured I'd do what I do best, stuff 'em. Normally I would stuff a bell pepper with rice, meat, eggs, tomato sauce and peas. I didn't have any of those things, and I wouldn't have really been able to fit all that into a jalapeno. So I stuffed the jalapeno how I stuff a mushroom, bread crumbs, basil (I normally use parsley), grated cheese and garlic. (I actually forgot the garlic, a true sin.) The Stuffed Jalapeno Poppers were perfect appetizers, cheesy with a nice kick, and you could pop 'em in one bite. 

   To balance out the spice and just because its delicious I also served Spiced Candied Pecans. I got this recipe from Padma Lakshmi's Tangy, Tart, Hot and Sweet. Try these and they will become so go-to. They are so easy and addictive. Its just 1 C. whole pecans, 1/4 C. Maple Syrup, and 1/4 tsp. chili powder. She bakes them, but I cook them on the stovetop in a non-stick skillet on low heat and stir them constantly until the syrup dries up. There are a lot of other really amazing recipes in her book. 

    The last appetizer was Fresh Sliced Avocados, drizzled with olive oil, lime juice, salt, pepper and sprinkled with paprika.

    For dinner I served Pasta with Fresh Basil Pesto. My stinking chopper died, so I had to make my pesto by hand with a mortar and pestle. I literally broke a sweat but it was worth it. It came out better than any pesto I ever made in the chopper or blender and the reason is that by grinding everything you better release the natural oils and flavors from the basil, garlic and pine nuts. I also liked how the pesto leaves were still somewhat in tact making a nice texture for the pasta. Pesto means paste in Italian and this paste, originating in Genoa, is traditionally accomplished this way rather than in a food processor, so I am happy the piece of junk broke. And if you are vegan, leave out the cheese and the pesto is just as delicious.

   As side dishes I served a Fennel Salad with Oranges and Pine Nuts, and a Bitter Purple Lettuce Salad with Cucumbers and Peppers. Both were dressed with olive oil, red wine vinegar and salt and pepper.

   For dessert I was tempted to make another peach cobbler but we opted to enjoy the Fresh Juicy Peaches in their natural form. They were so sweet and refreshing. I could make you laugh with a few Pate stories, but I promised not to tell...

Stuffed Jalapeno Poppers

6 jalapenos

1/4 C. bread crumbs

1/4 C. grated cheese

1-2 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 egg

1/4 C. milk

1 TBSP chopped basil or parsley

1 TBSP olive oil

salt and pepper

Cut the jalapenos in half and scoop out the flesh and seeds. Set the seeds aside. Boil the jalapenos in salted water for no more than 3-5 min. Meanwhile, mix the rest of the ingredients in a bowl along with the seeds, olive oil and salt and pepper. Adjust the dry and wet ingredients so you have a thick wet mixture thats not watery. Pour a little extra olive oil and salt and pepper in the bottom of each pepper half. Stuff each pepper with the mixture and sprinkle the top with grated cheese. Bake for 10-15 minutes in a preheated 350 degree oven.

Fresh Basil Pesto

Bunch of Basil

2-3 cloves of garlic

1/4 C. toasted pine nuts

1/4 C. pecorino romano or parmesan cheese (optional)

olive oil

sea salt and pepper 

These measurements are approximations. You must try the pesto as you go and adjust the ingredients accordingly. In a marble mortar, grind the basil leave with sea salt and garlic until creamy. Add the pine nuts and grind into a fine paste. Add the olive oil and cheese and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve over hot pasta.

Read more about pesto at Wikipedia.

LOCAL STRING BEAN SALAD

    This salad is the base ingredients for Salade Nicoise, which is Rocco's favorite salad. And its a french salad, although he will claim Nice is Italian. Caught you there, Rocco! You like French things! I will make a proper Salade Nicoise when I have all the ingredients together just to drive Rocco crazier than he already is.

    In the meantime, this colorful string bean salad is a perfect warm day meal. Boil some string beans, red potatoes and onions together for a few minutes, drain them and dress them with olive oil and red wine vinegar salt and pepper. Some fresh herbs and chic peas would be nice, too. Dress the salad while hot because it really absorbs the olive oil and vinegar flavor. Serve warm or cold.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BROTHER JOSEF!

BREAD SALAD AND BEET GREENS

    What to do with stale bread? Bread crumbs. Croutons. Wait for it ... Bread Salad! This is my first bread salad and I am delighted with it. It was a lovely day, Angie came over and the bread salad with a side of sauteed beet greens and bellini cocktails made a perfectly light girl's lunch.

    Bread salad, in Italian called panzanella, is a Northern Italian dish, something that I didn't grown up eating probably because down south my ancestors finished their bread like good hearty Sicilians. According to a really interesting website called Food Timeline, "The concept [of panzanella] is ancient, the practice is contemporary ... Why? Tomatoes are a new world food." Riveting.

    Angie was wondering whether it would hold up to eat the next day or get too soggy. I honestly ate it for about 5 days after and it held up really well.

Bread Salad

2-3 cups of cubed day old Italian Bread or Baguette (1 loaf of Italian bread or 1/2 long baguette)

1/2 tsp lime zest

extra virgin olive oil, enough to generous coat the bread

red wine balsamic vinegar to taste

2-3 cloves of garlic chopped

1/2 onion chopped (red onion is probably best)

salt and pepper

1/2 to 1 cucumber, chopped

2-3 vine or plum tomatoes, chopped

handful of basil leaves, torn

few sprigs of fresh oregano

Combine everything but the basil and oregano and let it sit for 20 minutes. Then add the oregano and basil and serve. Other ingredients you can add: capers, peppers, olives, goat cheese, grated cheese ... have fun!

Sauteed Beet Greens

A bunch of beet greens

extra virgin olive oil

1/4 onion sliced thinly

1 clove of garlic sliced

dash of peperoncino

1/4 C. toasted pine nuts

     Dry toast the pine nuts in a pan and set aside. Wash the beet greens thoroughly! They are very sandy and gritty, so rinse them and soak them in water to let the grit fall to the bottom. Repeat at least three times. Sautee garlic and onions in olive oil. Add peperoncino. Add the beet greens and sautee a few minutes then cover and steam until tender. Add the pine nuts.

SIMPLE SHAVED FENNEL SALAD

     I really dislike the flavor of licorice, but I love fresh fennel, from which licorice is derived. It looks like a big white bulb and sometimes the green fennel fronds are still attached. Don't discard the fronds which can be used like any herb to add to salads to soups. Fennel is a really clean tasting, crisp and crunchy vegetable that I usually cut up and eat plain like a carrot or celery stick. One really memorable fennel salad I had at World Pie in the Bridge Hampton was fennel, watercress, blood oranges, shaved parmesan cheese and pistachios. I always recreate it because its such a perfect combination of flavors. The salad pictured here is very simple, just shaved fennel, lemon zest, salt, pepper, balsamic vinegar, extra virgin olive oil and sprinkled with fennel fronds. A few pistachios wouldn't hurt, either.

HERB FARRO SALAD

     Right off Rustichella D'Abruzzo's Whole Farro Cereal Grain package reads, "Farro is recognized as the first cereal grain to enter the human alimentation and dates back to the Latin period. The poet Virgilio even mentions it in the Georgics" (Book 1, Verse 73) referring to it as the "blond farro". It is a very rustic and hardy plant and so does not necessitate the use of either chemical fertilizer or pesticide treatments. Farro is a grain which is strongly coated with gluten, so to obtain a flour further stone milling and cleaning with fresh air ventilation is required." Sounds good to me.

   My brain is in whole food finding mode, after just finishing Michal Pollan's In Defense of Food and this grain is the perfect way to get on track to eating "real" food, as opposed to processed "food-like substances" as described in the book. Farro agrees with all of the rules for defining food. It is something my great great grandmother would recognize as a food, it does not contain ingredients that are unfamiliar, unpronounceable, more than five in number and it does not contain high fructose corn syrup. Last the packaging makes no health claims. Another score is that it was not treated with pesticide or herbicide. 

    And farro tastes fantastic, so nutty and gooey, and delicious prepared like a wild rice salad. Just go crazy and throw whatever fresh herbs and veggies you have around. And enjoy it while you are reading In Defense of Food. What? You haven't read it yet? Eat your farro then go to the library and get it. Its a super must read!

HERB & FARRO SALAD

1 lb. Farro cereal

2 big shallots

2 cloves of garlic

1 yellow (or any color) pepper

1 C. grape tomatoes cut in half

chopped fresh parsley

chopped fresh mint 

chopped fresh fennel fronds 

chopped fresh basil

lemon zest

1/2 C. raisins

1/2 C. walnuts (or any nuts, pignola would be great!)

Extra virgin olive oil

Balsamic Vinegar

 

    Follow the directions on the package to cook the farro. First you soak it in cold water for about an hour. Then rinse it and put it into a pot and pour in just enough water to cover it. Add salt and olive oil. Bring it to a boil then simmer for about a half an hour uncovered until its soft and all the liquid is absorbed. 

   While the farro is cooking prepare the rest of the ingredients. Roughly chop the veggies and herbs and put everything together in the bottom of a bowl. Then pour the warm farro over it so all the flavors steam together. Zest an entire lemon on top and season with salt, pepper, lots of extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar, to taste. Enjoy warm or cold. 

MELON PEPPER SALAD

While I was visiting the country I really wanted to try to only prepare dishes with ingredients that I could get locally. Usually, I do food shopping in NY and cart everything up here. It gets really cumbersome and I always end up running out to the store anyway. The first farmer's market I tried had nothing but plants, but Antidormi's up the road had a lot of nice fresh veggies and some delicious local honey. I imagined how pretty fresh cantaloupe and green peppers look together then began to imagine how would they taste together? I quickly sauteed the peppers in a little olive oil with hot chili flakes for a nice kick, then combined it with fresh raw cantaloupe, chopped parsley, fresh honey, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. The flavors combined really nicely. The crunchy pepper complimented the mellow cantaloupe flavor, and the sweetness of the melon and honey was rounded out well with the lemony parsley. The little bit of heat from the chili flakes and tang of the vinegar brightened up the whole salad. 

MELON PEPPER SALAD

1/2 Cantaloupe shaved with a potato peeler

1/2 green pepper

Hot red pepper flakes to taste

Olive Oil

2 tsp. honey

2 tsp. balsamic vinegar

Chopped parsley for garnish

Salt and Pepper

Shave the cantaloupe with a potato peeler and set aside. Slice the pepper and sautee quickly, keeping the crunch, in oil with hot red pepper flakes to taste. Combine the pepper with the cantaloupe. Drizzle with honey and balsamic vinegar. Season with salt and pepper. Garnish with fresh chopped parsley.

RADISH SALAD WITH SCALLIONS AND ORANGE GINGER DRESSING

(photo: ©Jennifer Galatioto)

Wishlist: Mandolin Slicer with Finger Safety

I always thought that pink fruits and vegetables like beets and pomegranates were the best for you, but I was shocked that radishes were NOT on the World's Healthiest Food list. For whatever it is worth, according to wikipedia, "Radishes are rich in ascorbic acid, folic acid, and potassium ... vitamin B6 riboflavin, magnesium, copper, and calcium," and, "... an alternative treatment for ...whooping cough, cancer ... liver problems, constipation, dyspepsia, gallbladder problems, arthritis, gallstones, kidney stones and intestinal parasites." Thats just not good enough though because they didn't make the cut. Good thing they are delicious.

Above: Radish mouse with a jackhammer?

Radishes are a celebrated vegetable nonetheless. In Mexico they have their own night, called Night of the Radishes and clever little fingers carve figurines out of them. 

Radishes should have their own festival and should not be just an aside to leafy green salads. Plus what do you do with all the leftovers if you only use one or two? Don't waste them, make them the the main event. Today I made off the top of my head a radish salad with scallions, fresh grated ginger and orange slices. Radishes on their own are powerful with a uniquely bitter starchiness. The green onions give them a nice punch, while the orange brings a delicate sweetness that is really enhanced by the potent fresh ginger flavor. I used the juice of the orange as the dressing with a little olive oil, salt and pepper.

(photo: ©Jennifer Galatioto)

RADISH SALAD WITH SCALLIONS AND ORANGE GINGER DRESSING

Ingredients

A Bunch of Radishes (like 10 small radishes) sliced thinly

3 Scallions chopped

1-2 oranges segmented

1/2 inch ginger finely grated

1 TBSP olive oil

Salt and Pepper

Toss everything together and enjoy!

I learned how to make the fancy oranges slices from a show on Food Network called Secrets of a Restaurant Chef with Anne Burrell. She explained the citrus segmenting technique when she made a Warm Shaved Fennel with Pink Grapefruit, "Cut the bottom and top off of the grapefruit. Using a knife, cut the peel off of the sides, following the curve of the grapefruit and being careful only to cut away the peel and bitter pith. Hold the fruit in 1 hand over a bowl and cut the flesh of the grapefruit away from the membrane to release a wedge. Repeat until all segments are released." Saveur.com has a similar description and a few other good chef techniques. 

CUCUMBER SALAD WITH BLACK SESAME SEEDS AND DILL

Sometimes I just feel like some straight up cucumber. Cucumber is an anti-inflammatory and helps if you're ever feeling bloated. Its also great for your skin because of all the moisture it provides. I made this salad as an accompaniment to hot dogs. I had to balance out all that sodium somehow!

Cucumber Salad with Black Sesame Seeds and Dill

1 C. chopped cucumber

2 TBSP black sesame seeds

1 TBSP chopped dill

2 TBSP Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 TBSP red wine vinegar (optional)

Salt and Pepper