Gazpacho with a Special Guest Chef

Do I have to admit that I have never had gazpacho until yesterday?  I had a guest blogger talk me into   it...The Tipsy Gourmet.  She is a food blogger like me who enjoys good food, good friends and lots of laughs!  

Whenever we get together, fun things happen.  I was happy to have her and her son Wes over to cook, play with the boys and enjoy a cup of coffee.  

I had a ton of tomatoes on the counter, so she suggested gazpacho.  I admit, I was like Um, yeah, that sounds...um...yeah.  Once she looked up my favorite celebrity chef's recipe:  Ina Garten (The Barefoot Contessa), how could I say no?  Here is where you can find her recipe:  Ina Garten's Gazpacho Recipe. 

All of the ingredients were in the house, except for tomato juice.

We decided to just make it.  I put a 28 ounce can of whole tomatoes into the food processor.

And then put it through a strainer to take out the seeds.

Billie started by cutting up a giant cucumber I picked out of the garden.  She took all the seeds out of it, cut it into chunks, and put it into the food processor. 

Fellow bloggers hard at work.  We make a pretty good team!

The recipe called for red peppers, but my husband bought this ridiculously large bag of mini peppers, which were mostly orange...so there you go.  Use what you have in your house!  There is no need to go out and buy red peppers if you have orange or green in your fridge. I cut and seeded these.  Billie gave them a large chop and put them in the food processor.

Next the beautiful Roma tomatoes.  I love to grow these.   You can do so much with them!  And they are delicious!

Here is The Tipsy Gourmet ready to take a few pictures for her own blog.  

Next came the red onion.  The recipe called for a whole red onion, but we did half.  Later we decided 1/4 cup would have been plenty.

Four cloves of garlic, minced.

Billie added all the processed veggies to a large bowl, while I got the white wine vinegar, olive oil and tomato juice ready.  She also added salt and pepper.

Here is our bowl of gazpacho.  I couldn't wait to taste it!  It smelled delicious in my kitchen!

Here is one of our photographers, Wes (Billie's son), taking a shot of us for her blog.

Wishing for crusty bread doesn't make it appear.  We settled for a regular grilled cheese.  It did the job!  The boys had a sandwich too.

Billie got the kids plates ready while I started on another project.

Nicholas, food critic and photographer for Janis Cooks.

Marcus (in the blue shirt), official taste tester.  Wes, official taste tester and photographer for The Tipsy Gourmet.  

Here is the project I was working on while she got the boys sandwiches on plates.  I know I made a Caprese tart before on this blog, but this time I used Roma tomatoes.  It was a lot easier to clean them, much quicker to make, and oh so delicious!

Hope you enjoyed our collaboration.  I loved cooking with Billie and blogging this.  Maybe we can do this every month!  

Glorious Morning Muffins

These are so yummy and easy to make!  The only ingredient I didn't have on hand were carrots.  I got this recipe from the Silk Soymilk homepage under recipes.  Here is the link:  http://www.silksoymilk.com/recipe/vegan.  It is a winner!

Here is what you do:

Mix the dry ingredients with a whisk (whole wheat flour, brown sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt).

Whisk the wet ingredients (soy milk, oil, applesauce and vanilla), and add shredded coconut, apple and raisins.  (Carrots too, I just didn't have any.)

Line muffin pan with paper liners.

Using a large scoop, fill each liner with the batter.  Top with 1/2 cup chopped pecans.  Bake in a 350 degree oven for 30-35 minutes.  (I did 30 minutes and they were perfect.)

Allow to cool on a wire rack.

Here is your muffin!  Enjoy this delicious and healthy muffin!

Tomato, Eggplant and Mozzarella Stacks & Pasta with Beans

This recipe is adapted from my Martha Stewart Dinner at Home cookbook.  I have been using it a lot lately!  Fantastic recipes inside!  I have made these stacks before roasted in the oven with another recipe, but loved the idea of not heating up the house!  This is a great alternative.  I went out to the garden to pick some veggies.  I grow the Pingtung Long Eggplant.  This year I planted yellow and purple.  I am making you look at my garden picture now.  

If you have never tried eggplant, you are missing out!  I love it grilled, baked, roasted, you name it!  All you have to do is add a little olive oil, salt and pepper.  

I also picked some fresh Roma tomatoes.  When you pick or buy your tomatoes, don't put them in the fridge!  I know everyone does it, but you should actual keep your fruits and veggies the same way they do at the store.  If they are not cold at the store, they do not need to go into the fridge unless you are afraid they are ready to go bad...or close to it.  

Here is what I picked!

Yum!  I admit I have been slacking on my garden.  I should have planted my second row of green beans and more spinach.  Weeding has been...put off...I need to get on the ball.  Even with my lack of enthusiasm I have yummy veggies!  I will try harder from now on!

Back to the recipe!  (Full recipes listed at the end of this post.)

Start by grinding up your bread in a food processor and add a tablespoon of olive oil to it.  Mix well and bake at 375 for 10 minutes until they are golden brown.  Just a little tip:  when you are done with the loaf of bread and are ready to throw out the ends, don't!  I put the ends into a large ziplock bag in the freezer.  Then when a recipe calls for fresh breadcrumbs, I take the ends out and process them.  It is easy.  If you are too lazy for this step or in a hurry, use dried breadcrumbs from a can.  

Here are the golden bread crumbs....sooooo worth making them fresh!

Bring a large pot of water to a boil.  This is to cook your pasta.

In the meantime add two tablespoons of olive oil to a pan and saute your red onion and garlic.

The recipe called for a couple of beans I'd never heard of and couldn't find.  With my abundance of green beans, I used those.  Add fresh rosemary and salt.

Another bean I had never heard of was in the recipe...couldn't find it....so used kidney beans.  They are Marcus' favorite (my 5 year old), so went with those.  Add the pasta to the dish after it is fully cooked (10 minutes boiled).  Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle on bread crumbs.

Place sliced eggplant and tomatoes on a hot grill pan.  The eggplant and tomatoes were drizzled with extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper.  DO SPRAY the pan.  I didn't do it the first time around and the tomatoes were a mess.  I use a misto sprayer that you pump and then spray the olive oil.  It is like pam, but will not ruin your nonstick cookware.  Pam has extra stuff in it that puts a film on your nonstick pots and pans.

Once you flip them all (make sure there are nice grill marks), cut up mozzarella and put a piece on top of each eggplant piece to let it melt slightly. 

Once the other side is finished cooking take them out, put them on a plate and top them withe grilled tomatoes.  Sprinkle with fresh chopped basil if you like.

Add dried breadcrumbs to the top of the pasta salad.  Additional can be put on individual plates too.

Enjoy!

Tomato, Eggplant and Mozzarella Stacks
1/2 large eggplant (about 1 1/2 pound), sliced crosswise into 12 1/4-inch rounds
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Coarse Salt
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh red chile
2 tomatoes (about 1/2 pound)
Fresh Basil leaves


Heat grill pan over medium heat.  Brush eggplant slices with 3 tablespoons oil; season with salt.  Cook eggplant, turning once until charred in places and very tender (8-10 minutes).  Transfer to platter.


Meanwhile, stir oregano and chopped chile with remaining 3 tablespoons oil; season with 1/2 teaspoon salt.


Dividing among four plates, stack eggplant, mozzarella and tomato slices.  Add basil and drizzle with chile oil as you go.  Top each stack with basil and salt.  


Whole-Wheat Pasta with Shell Beans
3/4 cup coarse fresh bread crumbs
1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
1 red onion
3 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
8 oz Romano beans, trimmed and cut diagonally into 3/4-inch pieces
1 1/2 cups jarred barlotti beans, drained and rinsed
3/4 pound whole-wheat pasta shells, or other short pasta shape

Preheat oven to 375.  Toss bread crumbs with 1 tablespoon oil and a pinch of salt.  Bake about 10 minutes.

Heat 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons olive oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat.  Cook onion and garlic until golden brown, stirring about 4 minutes.  Add rosemary and Romano beans, and season with 1 1/2 teaspoon of salt.  Cook until beans are crisp-tender, stirring often, about 4 minutes.  Stir in borlotti beans and cook until heated through, 1-2 minutes.  Cover to keep warm.


Meanwhile bring a pot of water to a boil and add salt, cook pasta according to package directions.  Drain pasta, reserve 3/4 cup cooking water.  Toss pasta with beans and enough reserved cooking water to coat.  Season with salt and pepper.  


To serve, divide pasta among bowls, serve warm or at room temperature.  Sprinkle with bread crumbs and drizzle generously with oil.

Blackberry Shortbread Squares

With all the fresh fruit everywhere I wanted to try something new.  This recipe came from Martha Stewart's Dinner at Home cookbook.  We served it with a scoop of ice cream on top, which wasn't in the recipe.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Put a piece of parchment on a 9 x 13 pan and spray with Pam.  Place Almonds on top.  Cook in the oven for 12-15 minutes, until golden brown. 

In the meantime, cream butter with confectioners sugar in mixer.  Add almond extract.  Whisk together flour, salt, and cinnamon in a bowl.

Pulse almonds until finely ground.

Once ground, add to bowl with flour, salt, and cinnamon.

Add mixture to butter until a crumbly dough forms.  Press dough (except on cup) into the pan.

Add blackberries to the top.

Add one cup of the dough to the top of the berries.  Cook for 40-45 minutes. 

Let set for 5 minutes to cool.

Enjoy!!

Homemade Soft Pretzels

I finally made them!  Yes, they were fantastic, but they were also much easier than I anticipated.  I did a search on my favorite food blogs and they all were using Alton Brown's recipe.  Who am I to argue with Alton?  We took the kids to the drive-in last night, complete with homemade soft pretzels.  We dipped ours in mustard...what will you use?  Here are the steps to get to your delicious pretzel:

Line two sheet pans with parchment paper and lightly brush with vegetable oil.  Set aside.  Combine the water, sugar and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer and sprinkle yeast on top.  Allow to sit 5 minutes.  Add the flour and butter.  Use the dough hook attachment to mix until combined.  Knead until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the side of the bowl.  Remove dough, clean the bowl and oil with vegetable oil.

Return the dough to the bowl and cover with plastic wrap (I used press and seal).  Let sit in a warm place for approximately 50-55 minutes, or until dough has doubled in size.

When the dough is ready, preheat oven to 450 degrees and bring a large pot of water and baking soda to a boil.

Divide dough into eight pieces.  Roll each piece into a 24 inch rope.

Begin to shape your dough into a pretzel shape.  Start with a U and then cross the ends over each other to form your pretzel.

Press down at the seams so they do not come apart while boiling.  Place onto greased parchment paper.

These are shaped and ready to go into the boiling water.

Drop each pretzel individually into the boiling water for about 30 seconds.  It will rise to the top of the water when it is ready.

Remove them with a large spatula and place back on parchment lined sheet.

Brush them with egg yolk mixture.  Sprinkle with salt.  (I didn't have pretzel salt on hand so I adjusted my salt grinder to make thick grinds of salt.)

Here is a close up of what it should look like when ready to go into the oven.  Bake for 12-14 minutes. 

They should be dark golden brown in color.

YUM!

Place on a cooling rack to cool for 5 minutes before eating.

I like to use a stackable cooling rack for something like this.  Saves space and ensures they all cool quickly.  The faster they cool.  The faster you can eat them!

We plan to try different varieties next time.  But for a first run, I think they turned out perfect!

Here is the recipe for Homemade Soft Pretzels by Alton Brown.