I continue to struggle with looking at a bunch of ingredients and imagining a meal. In general, I follow recipes and make a few changes to account for ingredients available or to suit my tastes. But yesterday, a friend and I came across fresh ricotta and the most beautiful fresh cherries. The cherries were slightly tart so I thought they would make an amazing “dessert alternative” or a somewhat sweet appetizer.
We topped toasted baguette pieces (also from the market) with some of the ricotta, pitted cherries, mint, and a touch of honey to make this Cherry Ricotta Bruschetta.
Today is International Picnic Day, so what better time to do a roundup of some of my favorite foods that are picnic friendly? With Diner en Blanc fast approaching, it’s also time to start thinking about what to make for the big event!
Diner en Blanc is celebrating its 25th anniversary and has grown to include a dozen participating cities. The first Diner en Blanc was held in Paris and included just a few of its founder, François Pasquier’s, friends. Now, thousands worldwide congregate to be a part of this great event! Philadelphia’s Diner en Blanc will be held on Thursday, August 22 and the wait list is being formed now. You can sign up for the wait list here.
Philadelphia’s first Diner en Blanc was held last year and it was a huge success. This year, 2,300 participants will be notified of the secret location moments before. Guests arrive with their own tables, chairs, place settings, and meals and enjoy the outdoors and company together. Each attendee is dressed head-to-toe in white, with a white table cloth, and white chairs. Photos from last year’s event are truly beautiful! With the beautiful white place settings, the food can really be the star. So bringing a colorful, delicious, and easy meal is key! Here are some of my suggestions for the big night:
I (like most people, I’m sure) cook mostly things I want to eat. Every now and then, I will get a special request and will go outside my comfort zone (like this Meatloaf recipe, or this Sriracha Deviled Eggs recipe) but when it comes to a weeknight dinner, I’m really selfish about what I cook. So I thought it might be nice if I finally made something that was up my boyfriend’s alley more so than mine.
Don’t get me wrong, I still like what’s going on in this recipe. I just don’t usually make meals with sausage. But I was reminded of this recipe for Clams with Spicy Sausage as a suggestion to make on World Oceans Day as a Perfect Protein blogger (more information on that in my post on Thai Coconut Mussels), which was June 8. So. Um. I’m a little late. But this recipe is too tasty not to share!
This recipe can be found in the book The Perfect Protein: The Fish Lovers Guide to Saving the Oceans and Feeding the Worldand is from the ultimate seafood chef, Eric Ripert. This man knows his fish; one of his restaurants, Le Bernardin is known as a seafood mecca. But this recipe is really easy to make and cooks quickly, making it perfect for weeknight meals. I altered the recipe slightly but the gist is still the same.
I am excited to announce that I will be a Perfect Protein Blogger for the summer, to help promote a book called The Perfect Protein: The Fish Lovers Guide to Saving the Oceans and Feeding the World. Written by Andy Sharpless, the CEO of Oceana, and Suzannah Evans, the book discusses how protecting, maintaining, and consuming wild seafood can help to fight both famine and obesity globally.
I am only a few chapters in to the book and already find it fascinating. The general idea behind the book is to try to eat seafood, but to try to eat WLLS: Wild, Local, Little, and Shellfish. Many supermarkets, such as Whole Foods, label their seafood which makes sticking to these more sustainable choices a cinch. But even without the labels, you can still find sustainable options at your local grocer.
As a food blogger, I immediately went to the back of the book, where there are 21 sustainable seafood recipes from some of the nation’s top chefs. They all sounded delicious, but I decided to start off my Perfect Protein posts with a recipe that is simple but packs a ton of flavor into the dish: Sam Talbot’s Thai Coconut Mussels. I love making mussels because they cook up so quickly. This recipe takes about 30 minutes from start to finish. (For another take on mussels, check out my recipe for Mussels in White Wine Garlic Sauce)
I altered the recipe a bit to make it into a meal for 2 instead of an appetizer. I also subbed in some ingredients for what I could find. All of these ingredients can be found in Whole Foods.
Ingredients:
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons peeled and grated fresh ginger
4 large garlic cloves, minced
1 shallot, finely chopped
2 tablespoons lemongrass
2 tablespoons unsweetened coconut
1 pound mussels, debearded, scrubbed well, and washed clean
1/3 cup dry white wine
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon fish sauce
1 teaspoon sambal (chile-garlic paste)
1 (13.6 oz) can coconut milk, divided
2 tablespoons torn cilantro leaves, stems discarded
Blueberry Mushroom Risotto. Hear me out. I know you read the title of this post and probably thought I’ve officially lost it. But I promise you this is amazing. I first heard about this bizarre combo in a book called The Flavor Thesaurus: A Compendium of Pairings, Recipes and Ideas for the Creative Cook. This book is fantastic. It lists pairings, common and strange, to help make your cooking a bit more adventurous. I page through it all the time, and have learned some yummy pairings. But the one that has stuck out to me the most is the mushroom and blueberry combination.
Apparently northern Italy cooking commonly pairs fruit with mushrooms according to the book. Who knew? My fellow Philadelphian (and internationally known chef) Marc Vetri also has a porcini and blueberry lasagna in one of his cookbooks: Il Viaggio Di Vetri: A Culinary Journey.
So when I found myself the proud recipient of a bunch of mushrooms from To-Jo Mushrooms, I knew it was finally time to try it out. It has been a really crummy, rainy day so I was craving comfort food. Risotto is a perfect rainy day food: hearty, creamy, and absolutely delicious! I’m a huge fan of mushroom risotto so I was excited to try this spin on it. In the past, I’ve made a traditional Mushroom Risotto, as well as a Wild Mushroom Farro Risotto.
Ingredients:
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1/2 cup shallots, sliced
3 slider mushrooms, sliced (or 2 large portobello mushrooms)
1/4 cup assorted dry mushrooms, optional (I used a mixture of morel, chanterelle, and trumpet mushrooms)
When I have time on Sundays (which isn’t terribly often), I like to make a batch of muffins so I have breakfast for the week. Because I had some overripe bananas, this week I decided to make Banana Bread Muffins. I was recently sent some coupons to try Kretschmer Wheat Germ products so I thought adding some of the Honey Crunch would add some nice texture and flavor to the muffins.
So what exactly is wheat germ? Wheat germ comes from the wheat kernel, which is the part removed when refining whole grains into white flour. Wheat Germ is a great source of Vitamin E, B vitamins and folic acid. You can find it in the cereal aisle. Wheat germ can be used in recipes calling for flour or breadcrumbs so its quite versatile. I’ve also used it in smoothies.
So that you can try wheat germ for yourself, Kretschmer is giving away some coupons good for free wheat germ products to an I Can Cook That reader! More on that below.
Ingredients (makes 12 cupcake-sized muffins, of 6 large muffins):
I am in a grilling mood so there is going to be an influx of barbecue recipes on here, I think very few people will complain. We finally have a grill, but haven’t set it up yet (oops) so I am still making this recipe on my grill pan. This is a recipe from Cooking Light in the latest issue. I made a few changes just based on what I could find but the recipe is primarily in tact.
Ingredients:
1/4 cup nonfat buttermilk
3 tablespoons 0% Greek yogurt
2 tablespoons minced fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 tablespoon minced shallots
1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme
1 teaspoon cider vinegar
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
1 large garlic clove, minced
4 (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
Almost every citrusy post I have on my blog is dedicated to my mom. She is obsessed with orange, lemon, bergamot, etc. So in honor of Mother’s Day, here’s another one!
As a Walkers Official Blogger Ambassador, Walkers Shortbread sent me an awesome assortment of treats my way to make a spring/Mother’s Day themed post. Walkers Rapsberry Thins was in the mix, my mom also loves raspberries, so I decided to use the rapsberry thins to make a shortbread crust for a lemon tart. To make it even more citrusy, I topped the tart with candied orange peel.
Ingredients:
Candied Orange Peel:
2 oranges
Water
1/2 cup sugar
Crust:
1/2 cup finely ground Walkers raspberry shortbread thins cookies (about 6 cookies)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup salted butter (cold cut into small chunks)
I am less than one month away from attending Eat Write Retreat in Philadelphia and am getting so excited for it! Not only is the lineup awesome, but I get to meet a ton of other bloggers, what could be better? As we get closer to the big weekend, the attendees were sent a secret ingredient and were asked to try to incorporate into an appetizer recipe. I received California raisins, which people tend to think of more for sweet foods, but play off savory dishes oh so well. It goes without saying that I haven’t been able to get California Raisins’ classic commercial out of my head since I received them! OXO generously also sent us a few spiffy tools to help create our recipe; I can never have enough of their products!
Raisins are a great addition to a meal to add some sweetness without any added sugar. The dried fruit is loaded with antioxidants and fiber while being fat free and cholesterol free. Did you know that one serving of raisins (just 1/4 cup) has more potassium than a banana?
I have a friend that absolutely raves about Mediterranean Stuffed Peppers that her grandmother used to make for her, with rice, nuts, spices, and golden raisins. I decided to make an appetizer version, using mini sweet peppers. My version of these Mediterranean Stuffed Mini Peppers are stuffed with a lamb-farro mixture that includes tomatoes, raisins, pine nuts, and a touch of lemon zest (using my new snazzy OXO zester (paid link)). The peppers are then topped with feta cheese and broiled to make this recipe for Mediterranean Stuffed Mini Peppers!
Ingredients (serves 8):
16 mini sweet peppers, seeded
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped (no more than ½ cup)
2 garlic cloves, minced
½ lb ground lamb
2/3 teaspoon cinnamon
1/3 teaspoon cumin
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 plum tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1 tablespoon tomato paste
the zest of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons golden raisins
2 teaspoons raisins
2 tablespoons toasted pine nuts
½ cup cooked farro – I used Tuscan Fields vegetable farro
I tend to make dinner based on what I’m in the mood for and my boyfriend just has to at least pretend to enjoy it. That involves a lot of fish, pasta, and rice which I’m sure can get a bit boring. So I thought it might be nice if I finally made some steak. But, naturally, I still included some scallops, because I’m still the one cooking! This recipe for Seared Scallops and Steak with Manhattan Sauce from Rachael Ray is simple, quick, but absolutely delicious. It’s a perfect date night meal.
Ingredients (serves 2):
Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling, plus 1 tablespoon
I had corn tortillas left over from making the Fish Tacos with Tomatillo Sauce. I needed another taco recipe that was completely different flavor-wise than the fish tacos, so I went for Cooking Light’s Steak Tacos with Lime Mayo in the May issue. (Note: the May issue has a ton of taco recipes, even a dessert one!)
I’m having a busy week at work, so I need some quick meals that still taste delicious but I can make in no time. My go-to for quick meals are Cooking Light’s tacos. I don’t know how they do it, but their taco recipes are awesome. Here’s one of their newest, from this month’s issue.
East Passyunk Avenue is hosting “Flavors of the Avenue” this Saturday, an event where 25 restaurants will be handing out samples from their menus. I was given the opportunity to go to a media tasting for this event a few weeks back and have been unable to think about anything else since! I am SO excited for this event!
I must not be alone, pre-sale tickets are completely sold out, although some limited tickets will be available at the entrance to the tent on Saturday. During the media tasting, I was able to sample food from 7 of the participating restaurants.
Last weekend, I had some friends over to celebrate my boyfriend’s birthday. I made a bunch of little bites for everyone to snack on, but I also wanted to offer a cocktail or two for everyone to try, like this Fizzy Old-Fashioned!
The most recent Cooking Light had this recipe for a Fizzy Old-Fashioned cocktail that sounded like a perfect warm weather drink. The recipe plays off a traditional Old Fashioned (muddled sugar and bitters, bourbon, orange rind) but adds in Blood Orange Soda to give it more flavor and a beautiful color!
Ingredients (4 servings):
3/4 cup bourbon
The juice of 1 lemon
1/4 teaspoon Peach bitters (or whatever bitters you have)
Note: Bourbon does include grains that contain gluten. However, distilled alcohol is considered gluten-free because the process of distillation removes the harmful gluten protein, which is why I have this recipe listed as gluten free. If you are highly sensitive to gluten, bourbon may be off limits for you.
This weekend, we had two beautiful spring days: a little bit of chill in the air but sunshine and clear skies. To celebrate the return of outdoor weather, I wanted to make a lemonade. I found this Martha Stewart recipe for Lavender Lemonade and kicked it up a notch by adding in some Rhubarb Tea, a spirit made here in Philadelphia by the people at Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction (the same makers of Sage, Root, and Snap).
Rhubarb Tea, or Rhuby, is made from rhubarb, beets, carrots, lemon, petitgrain (an essential oil extracted from the green twigs of a bitter orange plant), cardamom, pink peppercorns, coriander, vanilla, and pure cane sugar and delivers a tangy yet sweet flavor, perfect for this drink! Even better, the ingredients are all certified organic.
