Late Summer BLT Salad

No, I didn't miss the freezing wind and rain outside.  But in my radio silence, I hopped up to Vermont this weekend and came back laden with heirloom tomatoes fresh from the garden, mass quantities of mixed greens and great sourdough and whole wheat rolls from Amy's Bakery in Brattleboro.  

 In my travels through online recipes and cooking magazines galore, I know I have come across more than one BLT Salad or BLT Panzanella.  I had to actually stop collecting them after awhile because the variations are few and the storage space is scarce.  Still, when I wanted to find one of these recipes, I couldn't quite find the ones I was looking for.  

I took a page from Alton Brown's book, but, as usual, did it my way. I don't subscribe to the "only one way" theory of cooking, so I usually avoid Mr. Brown on principle.  His croutons, however, swayed me to at least start with him.  He dries bread overnight and tosses them in bacon drippings.  What's wrong with that? Well, time, of course.  I wanted bacon posthaste. 

To speed up the crouton process, I cubed my fresh rolls and toasted them lightly (about medium on my toaster oven setting) to simulate day-old bread.  A crime for such lovely rolls? Maybe, but also great croutons come at a great price.  

And I have to give to my buddy Alton, the rest of the recipe pretty much made it through unscathed.  Starting with garden fresh tomatoes and greens and throwing in organic sunday bacon means that very little variation is needed.  

Late Summer BLT Salad (adapted from Alton Brown)

• 2 cups cubed bread (whole wheat, sourdough or a mix would be great)
• 6 slices uncured organic bacon, crumbled, drippings reserved
• 2 large heirloom tomatoes (try to mix your colors for maximum eye appeal)
• 4 cups organic mixed greens
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
• two handfuls roughly chopped garden herbs, basil and mint

1. Place bread in toaster and toast lightly on medium until dry.
2. Meanwhile, cook bacon until crispy.  Reserve 1-2 tablespoons drippings. 
3. Chop tomatoes and set aside. 
4. When drippings are ready, toss bread in warm drippings until lightly coated (a little goes a long way and of course, is way better for you). 
5. Mix together last four ingredients.  
6. In a bowl, combine greens, tomatoes, bacon and croutons.  Drizzle with herb dressing.  Enjoy!

Rainbow Chard with Anchovies, Pine Nuts and Cranberries on Polenta

On a cool rainy morning, it is hard to believe it is summer.  I'm sure many of you out there are grumbling and a bit blue, but, aside from the fact that I generally love cool rainy mornings most of all, I'm particularly satisfied because I'm stuck at home for a little while and I don't feel like I'm missing out on quite so much outdoor fun when it's gloomy. 

The other upside is that I have a chance to explore some summer comfort food.  Even on cool days like this, summer comfort food can't be too heavy or thick.  I crave warmth and a smooth texture, but still some lightness.  What could satisfy that call better than polenta? 

I used to buy the pre-prepared tube of polenta from Trader Joe's to keep on hand for these sorts of meals.  After buying a box of polenta, I realized how silly I was.  The biggest pain is that you have to keep stirring the polenta to discourage clumps, but otherwise there is no finesse and hardly any time involved in making a nice base for all manner of soothing meals. 

For this one, I took advantage of the beautiful rainbow swiss chard that we picked up from Phillips Farms at the farmers' market and turned to my friend Mark Bittman for inspiration.  I'd like to say that I tinkered and played with his recipe and improved on his perfection.  It's generally not possible since Bittman has a nice healthy simple (Minimalist, if you will) approach and his recipes generally do not go wrong.  I did use anchovy paste instead of anchovy fillets, cranberries instead of raisins and the polenta was all me.  His recipe was also for greens generally and I, of course, used the chard.  

I was drawn to this recipe because of the anchovies.  As gross as I always believed them to be, I can no longer deny that they are good for you.  Even my husband asked me to somehow slip more of them into our food after reading Real Food by Nina Planck (I haven't even read it yet and I'm eternally grateful for its effect on my household).  I use the anchovy paste to sneak some into pasta dishes and have come to like it.  This recipe was my attempt to go more full throttle into the world of anchovies.  Expect more to come.  

The most exciting addition was 1/2 of a Hot Portugal chili pepper straight from our garden.  I only used half because I had never worked with a Hot Portugal before, but they are on the light side, so I would use at least a whole one in the future.  If you don't have fresh chilis on hand, you can substitute about 1/2 teaspoon of red chili flakes or as much or as little as you prefer. 

Rainbow Chard with Anchovies, Pine Nuts and Cranberries on Polenta (adapted from Mark Bittman's The Minimalist Cooks Dinner)

• At least 2 servings prepared polenta (find your favorite slow version, it's worth it)
• 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, divided
• 4 large garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tbsp anchovy paste or up to 8 anchovy fillets to taste (or more if you're really a fan)
• 1/2 fresh small red chili pepper, sliced (optional)
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries or raisins
• 1/2 cup toasted pine nuts
• 4 cups trimmed rainbow swiss chard or other greens, washed, dried and chopped
• sea salt
• freshly cracked black pepper

1. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large deep skillet over medium heat.  Add garlic, chili slices and anchovies.  When garlic is pungent and anchovies dissolve into oil, turn heat to low. 
2. Stir in cranberries and pine nuts.  Cook for one minute. 
3. Add greens and 1/2 cup water.  Cover and cook until chard is tender (about 10-12 minutes). 
4. Season with sea salt and black pepper to taste. 
5. Serve greens over polenta in a bowl with greater proportion of greens than in the picture above.  Pour broth generously over each bowl. Enjoy!

The Great Haul: A Trip to the Farmers' Market

Perfect Brooklyn morning: a great yoga class and a leisurely stroll through the farmers' market shoving beautiful summer produce into sacks and running away with it.  I may amend this with pictures, but I'm a little distracted as I dream up our meals for this week with our amazing haul of goodies.  

My ingredients for the week: 

• Rainbow Swiss Chard
• Collard Greens
• Scallions
• Beets
• Cauliflower
• Kirby cukes
• Heirloom tomatoes: Cherokee green, Orange Russian and White Beauty
• Regular beautiful red tomatoes
• Raspberries
• Blackberries
• Red Currants
• Cape Gooseberries
• Hot peppers (a whole cup for $1!) - jalapeno, habanero, thai chile and maybe some others
• Raw unfiltered local honey

And the featured items from the Amish stand and my perennial favorite Valley Shepherd Creamery: 

• Cheddar
• Butter (ingredient list: cream.  What could be wrong with that?)
• Smoked bacon (get ready, collards!)
• Valley Shepherd fresh ricotta - mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. 

I can't wait for dinner.  And breakfast.  And lunch.  

Sundays in Brooklyn: The Pizza Edition

Aside from a barbecue here and a locavore party there (and here too), I really don't entertain anywhere near as much as I'd like to.  This is something that I'm always trying to work on, but there always seems to be more to do either to get the house ready for guests (fun summer repairs needed to the deck) or things to do outside of the house.  I decided recently to take a step forward and just invite some family over and let the chips fall where they may.

From this little flash of determination, I got a locavore pizza party! The plan had been to experiment with pizza on the grill.  Some iffy weather nipped that one in the bud, but some creative seating around the kitchen counter made for a cozy (ish) lunch indoors.  

The change in seating also resulted in a change in pizza plans since I'd originally planned on doing three large pizzas for four people.  (Yes, I realize the math is fairly ridiculous - I was raised to cook for an army when feeding a small family!)  Ultimately, I made two: The first, a locavore pizza with DiPaolo turkey sausage, Valley Shepherd ricotta salata, garden herbs and hothouse Phillips Farm tomatoes and arugula; the second, a simple fresh mozzarella pizza with pepperoni all courtesy of Trader Joe's. The crust also came from TJ's, I'm afraid, although I have my sights set on the dough from scratch project.  That's for another weekend.  

All in all, the pizzas ended up great because of the great ingredients, but also from the great company (and a little bubbly on the side never hurts!).  Next time, we'll hit the grill! 

Locavore Pizza

• 1 ball pizza dough (try Trader Joe's or your local pizzeria)
• 1-2 medium hothouse local tomatoes
• 2 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
• 1/4 cup olive oil plus 2 tbsp
• 1 small handful fresh Italian basil, roughly chopped
• 1/3 lb ground Italian spicy turkey sausage 
• 2 cups arugula
• 4 ounces ricotta salata, crumbled
• 3 tbsp freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• Sea salt and pepper to taste

1. Place pizza stone in oven (if you don't keep it there regularly).  Preheat oven to 500F.  
2. Chop tomatoes and add to bowl with garlic, 1/4 cup olive oil, basil, salt and pepper to taste.
3. On a lightly floured surface, stretch out pizza dough. Brush dough with remaining oil.  Sprinkle with sea salt and pepper. 
4. Top with tomato mixture, arugula and ricotta salata.  Sprinkle parmesan on top. 
5. Place in oven and cook for about 15 minutes until crust is golden brown.  Enjoy! 

Vermont Special: Earl's Eggs with Chinese Chives

Occasionally I've posted about our trips up to Vermont.  Aside from the fact that anyone could find a bounty of local food stuff in that region, I've also mentioned that we are lucky to have (currently) Vermont-local family who also greatly appreciate great local products.  That family also happens to be the source of my most authentic Chinese recipes. Again, this combination has served me well.  

We arrived home from our last Vermont trip laden with a multitude of greens picked right from the family garden and a carton of the oddest shaped (and tastiest!) eggs I've ever seen courtesy of Earl.  I've cooked with spinach and arugula a million times, and so these were slotted into familiar recipes.  What, however, would I do with the great abundance of Chinese chives? 

Chinese chives are also known as garlic chives which should give you a pretty decent sense of their flavor profile.  When I took a nibble of the uncooked chives, they tasted like ramps on crack with a heavy dose of garlic.  Yes, please! Once cooked, the flavor does become more subtle, but not much.  

In the past, I've pretty much exclusively had these lovely greens chopped up in pork dumplings (and maybe once sauteed on their own).  Life has been busy and while dumplings are on the list for future adventures, this was not happening in the middle of the week without planning. 

Action shot: A shoots while I whisk.Once accompanied by Earl's eggs, the chives pretty much cook themselves.  In a traditional family interpretation, I scrambled four of the largest, most golden yolks you have ever laid eyes on with a mountain of chives.  Usually a side dish, we ate it as a main course served over rice with a spicy cucumber and radish salad.  

It would have been satisfying even without the esteemed provenance of our eggs and chives, but the flavors were elevated to fabulous by keeping it close to home.  If you don't have access to my particular purveyors, good farmers' market eggs will do and I have seen the Chinese chives at the Union Square Greenmarket.  Give it a try! 

Earl's Eggs with Chinese Chives

• 1 large bunch of Chinese chives, chopped in roughly 2 inch lengths 
• 3-4 farm-freshest eggs you can find, beaten
• 1-2 tbsp light tasting oil (olive oil is fine, but something light is preferred), divided. 
• pinch of sea salt

1. Heat half of oil in large pan. Pour beaten eggs into oil and cook about halfway.  Remove eggs from pan and set aside. 
2. Heat remaining oil in same pan.  Add chives and stir fry over high heat.  When almost cooked and still bright green, add eggs to chives.  Sprinkle with salt and cook until just formed, but still moist. 
3. Enjoy over rice.