Asparagus, Olivje, Aubergine & Brussels Sprouts

Rustic Asparagus Gruyere Tart

Our friend Melinda came down from Orlando last weekend. She and Sally made a real "girl's weekend" of it by going to a wine and paint class at Matlacha, lunch at the Waterfront Restaurant on Pine Island, and then a Spiro Gyra concert Saturday evening. To feed this frenzy of activity I made them a fabulous vegetarian tart for Saturday dinner.

Just a quarter of the Asparagus Tart

Rustic here means "freeform" -- the puff pastry dough is not constrained by a round pan, it's just rolled out a bit and laid on a baking sheet before being topped.

"Rustic Tart" just sounds better than Asparagus Pizza, doesn't it?

1 sheet Puff Pastry

1/3 cup Sour Cream

1 cup shredded Gruyere cheese

1 lb fresh Asparagus -- the thinnest stems you can find

EVOO, salt and pepper as needed

Bench Flour (flour on a work surface to prevent dough from sticking when rolling/kneading)

Pre-heat oven to 400F. Thaw one sheet of puff pastry until it unrolls easily. Throw down some bench flour and roll out the pastry into an approximately 10x16 rectangle. Leave about a 1" edge, and dock the rest of the dough with a fork at 1/2" intervals, so it won't rise as much. Bake for 10 minutes.

Cool the pastry slightly. Brush the crust with sour cream, and sprinkle with the cheese. Trim the bottoms of the asparagus so they fit inside the border, and lay the stems down in a single layer, alternating tips and butts. Drizzle with EVOO, and sprinkle with salt & pepper as desired. Bake 10-12 minutes or until asparagus is tender. Serve with lemon wedges for drizzling on a hot slice of yummm.

Can't fine new spring thin-stem asparagus? You could make this by halving or even quartering thicker stems, and it would be almost as good.

Olivje (oh-liv-yuh)

A week or so back we had a couple of charming guests of Russian parentage, Irina and Ruslan, who have lived most of their lives in Germany. In our cabana guest book, they left me the recipe for Olivje, which they said could be a salad or a spread. The way it was written, it was hard to tell if the 4th letter was a U or a V, so I plugged the word into the internet and discovered some interesting history. But first, the recipe. Basically this is potato salad with additions:

4 Potatoes - cooked ( I used 4 large reds, skin on)

2 Carrots - cooked

2 Eggs - cooked

5-6 ounces Chicken or Turkey sausage - cooked

1 Onion - raw

3 Tbsp Mayonnaise

3 Tbsp Olive oil

Salt & Pepper - to taste

I'd never heard of a potato salad recipe that contained meat!!

Hard boil the eggs and cool them. Cut the potatoes (skin on) and carrots into 1/2" dice or thereabouts and cook them al dente. Chop the cooked eggs. Dice the onion fine. If you use bulk sausage it can just be cooked into crumbles, otherwise remove the sausage meat from the casings, and then cook. I used 6 oz of ground chicken with a teaspoon or so of Pride of Szged Chicken Seasoningtm, my new favorite poultry blend. Eight ounces would have even been better.

Mix everything together in a large bowl (I used a bit more mayo and no oil), adding liberal amounts of salt and pepper. 

Let the flavors 'marry' in the fridge for "several hours", although this is pretty darn good eaten warm like German potato salad. Serve as a side, put a big scoop on a bed of lettuce as a dinner salad, or serve as an appetizer spread on crackers or flatbread.

This salad was invented in the 1860s by the head chef at The Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia -- a Belgian gent named Lucien Olivier (Oh-liv-ee-aa). Hence the linguistic shift and the present name of the dish. The original recipe was very complicated and contained things like duck or grouse, crawfish, capers, and an assortment of other meats and vegetables with the potatoes and a proto-mayonaise dressing (oil and raw egg beaten together). Read all about at Olivier Salad on Wikipedia.

The recipe which Irina and Ruslan left me is for a simplified or "country" version of the dish, made from readily available ingredients. Many country versions also add diced dill pickle, which I did too -- about a half cup of diced pieces. The pickle adds a nice bit of texture, and the vinegar adds depth to the overall flavor without overpowering anything.

This is really GREAT potato salad, folks! Next time I'll add a bit more sausage and a dusting of nice paprika on the surface of the finished dish. That's the beauty of this recipe -- you can take it in all sorts of directions depending on what you have handy and what your wallet can afford -- quail eggs, capers, exotic poultry or other sausages. But make this simple, tasty, country version first, so you get a feel for the basic concept.

Shrimp Creole Stuffed Sicilian Eggplant

Sally and Mel picked up these two gorgeous Sicilian eggplants at the Sanibel Island Farmer's Market over the weekend, and I decided to stuff them.

Cut off the tops, and use a knife and spoon to hollow them out. You may want to microwave the hollowed aubergines for a minute or so, to make sure the meat inside is cooked a bit and isn't just a shell. As you can see in the cutaway, my 'shells' were quite thick and needed abitmore cooking time.

Saute about 3/4 of the removed 'meat' along with the Trinity - celery, onion and bell pepper. Add about a dozen cherry tomatoes, halved, plus a good amount of your favorite Cajun Seasoning -- I used the Healthy Solutions tm Cajun Seafood Blend. Don't forget the shrimp. I used eight large 21-24 deepwater Argentine shrimp, peeled, de-veined and chopped.

As things saute, a lot of liquid will be released. When the onion is tender, add about 1/4 cup of Panko or other breadcrumbs to soak up the yummy juices. Pack the eggplant globes with the saute mix, top with some shredded cheese, and bake at 350F for about 30 minutes.

 Here's a look inside the eggplant:

Pan -Fried Brussel Sprouts

A reader reminded me that I've mentioned Pan-fried Brussels Sprouts several times but never showed them, or really described how to make the dish. So here goes:

12-20 Brussels Sprouts (serves 2-3)

1+ tsp Your favorite spice blend (Creole, Evergladestm, Old Baytm, Cavender'stm, Emeril'stm, Fajita, Italian, etc)

Halve the sprouts from pole-to-pole, not at the equator. 

Rinse and shake them mostly dry. 

Place the still slightly damp cut sprouts in a plastic bag. I usually use one of those you get in the Produce Department. Sprinkle the seasoning blend over the sprouts, twist the bag shut, and shake well to distribute the spice.

Heat a griddle or large skillet and a tablespoon or so of oil. Place the sprouts cut-side down -- this is the finicky bit -- to start. Let them fry for 6 minutes or so, until you get some nice caramelization on the cut sides. 

 Now flip them over, more or less, and continue frying for another 6-8 minutes. At this point you can cover the pan if you like to speed the cooking process. Test with a fork, and when the sprouts are nicely al dente remove to a serving bowl. Want to be really decadent? Sprinkle finely grated Gruyere or similar hard cheese like Aurabela or Parmesan, on top.

Cheese-Cake, Salad, Pi(e) and a Review

Quesadilla Salvadoreña

NOT your madre's quesadilla!! No tortillas were harmed in the creation of this delectable treat. This isn't a cheesy Mexican snack, it's a Salvadoran dessert/coffee cake made with two cheeses. If you love cheese, and you love cake, you're gonna love this!

1 stick (8 tbs.) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated (use the cheap generic stuff in a can)

3/4 cup Ricotta or fine curd cottage cheese, drained
3 eggs, separated
1 cup sugar
1 cup all purpose flour*, sifted
1 tsp. baking powder*

3/4 cup Milk, room temperature
1 - 2 Tbsp sesame seeds for garnish

* Or substitute 1 cup of Bisquicktm baking mix, sifted.

Combine sugar, flour and baking powder in a bowl. Reserve.

In another bowl combine the cheeses and butter; then add the milk. Reserve.

In a large bowl, with a mixer, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Fold in the beaten yolks with a spatula, then fold in the cheese mixture. Lastly, fold in the dry mixture, until just combined.

Pour the batter into a greased or parchmented 9" or 10" springform or pie pan. Sprinkle the top lightly with sesame seeds.

Bake at 325F for 30 to 40 minutes or until golden brown. It goes from yellow/unbaked to golden brown to burnt pretty quickly! Start checking done-ness at 30 minutes.

Cool slightly before removing from pan. Serve wedges with good strong coffee. This is real CHEESE-CAKE. It's slightly sweet, wonderfully cheesy, and has the texture of a dense poundcake!

Yellow Tomato, Mint and Feta Salad

I found the basic idea somewhere on the net, and of course modified it into my own recipe. The tuna salad that I made used tuna, celery, mayo, and Ras al Hanut, the Moroccan seasoning.

1 head Red Leaf Lettuce (or Romaine if you prefer) chopped

1 large Yellow Tomato cut into 8 wedges

1 large Red Bell Pepper

1/4 cup of minced Mint

1 batch of Tuna Salad (see below)

4 oz Feta Cheese, cubed

2 oz Mozzarella Cheese

Oil & Vinegar for dressing

Core and de-vein the pepper, and broil it skin-side-up for about 6 minutes, until you get some nice black spots. Cool and sliced into 3/4" squares.

Make the tuna salad -- 1 can of Solid White Albacore Tuna, 1 stick of celery chopped fine, 3-4 Tbsp of Mayo, and a couple healthy shakes of Ras al Hanut, the Moroccan spice blend. Combine with a fork until everything is well distributed.

Combine some EVOO and vinegar (say 3 Tbsp oil and 1/4 cup vinegar) for a dressing. You really don't want a dressing with a distinctive flavor here -- let the tasty salad ingredients shine through!

Lay down a bed of lettuce, then put tomato wedges at the cardinal points. Sprinkle the mint over all. Then lay down the red pepper pieces, cubes of feta, and mozzarella. Add a scoop of tuna salad, and drizzle the dressing all around.

Low-cal Pi Day Offering

The other day we celebrated Pi Day - 3/14/16 - which is the constant Pi rounded up from 3.14159. Every year has Pi Day (3/14) but this one was significant to another decimal point.

To celebrate, you of course need to make and eat Pi(e). This year's Pi Day was celebrated with a low-cal berry pie, using a recipe from the American Diabetes Association. The original recipe (below) called for three berries (straw, red rasp and blue), but my megamart had blackberries on sale alongside the locally grown strawberries, so what the heck! Notice there is no added sugar, and the only fat comes from the cooking spray. That's what makes this diabetic friendly. See the nutrition facts below.

10 sheets 9 × 14-inch frozen phyllo dough

Nonstick cooking spray

1 quart fresh strawberries, washed and cut into raspberry-sized pieces

2 cups fresh blueberries

1 pint fresh raspberries

Defrost the phyllo according to package directions.

Preheat oven to 425°.

Divide the phyllo into two stacks. One stack will be the bottom crust, the rest forms the top crust

Spray a 9-inch pie pan with nonstick cooking spray. Place a leaf of phyllo in the pie plate and spray it. Top with another sheet of phyllo and spray. Repeat with the first half of the phyllo to form the bottom crust.

Mix all the berries together and place in the crust.

Cut the remaining phyllo into 1-inch pieces and toss together. Place on top

of fruit. Spray with nonstick cooking spray.

Bake for 20–25 minutes until crust is golden. If crust gets too brown before 20 minutes, you can cover with aluminum foil.

Nutrition

CALORIES 105 | CALORIES FROM FAT 20

TOTAL FAT 2.0 g | SATURATED FAT 0.3 g

TRANS FAT 0.0 g | CHOLESTEROL 0 mg

SODIUM 70 mg | POTASSIUM 195 mg

TOTAL CARBOHYDRATE 22 g

DIETARY FIBER 5 g | SUGARS 9 g

PROTEIN 2 g | PHOSPHORUS 40 mg

Sorry to say this is one of those "fooler" recipes... you know the "healthy" ones with the name of something really good, that only vaguely resembles the original.

Yes this has berries, and yes there is a crust of sorts. But frankly, I'd rather just have a bowl of warm fruit than go to all the expense (phyllo dough isn't cheap) and time consuming hassle of making that "crust", prepping the fruit, and baking this recipe.

Nathan's Famoustm  Review

Nathan's Coney Island Hotdogs may be famous, but you'd think after being in the hot dog business a hundred years (yep 100 years) that they would have partnered with a bakery to solve the Too Long problem. You know -- either the dog is too long or the bun is. Here, the dogs are 'way to long for the bun.  Just not aesthetically pleasing!

I must say I was not impressed. First off, I hate dining in a warehouse -- too high ceilings without sound baffles that reflect every clatter and clash of the kitchen and all the babble from the guests, and subject the diners to the resulting high volume cacophony. Granted, it was a bright, clean and neat warehouse, but still a warehouse.

Second, the hot dogs weren't anything to write home about. I ordered the Nathan's Regular Hot Dog. A skinny naked signature hotdog on a bun.  Not a nice plump dog worth nearly $4 -- a long thin dog cooked on a roller table, but not browned to bring out any flavor. This is a famous hot dog?? Not to me. If I want a brand name hotdog, I'll take Sabrettstm -- better flavor and more eye-appealing -- and grill them at home.

The tiny order of signature crinkle-cut fries that I didn't want to pay for were more soggy than crispy. Sad, really. The 6 Fried Shrimp for $1.99 were barely worth $1.99, and I had to pay extra, not substitute them for the fries, which is what I wanted. They were sort of shrimp-flavored coins of crispy breading with a tail. The crispy breading was done right, I will say.  But the shrimp were so flattened they were almost non-existent. That's what you get when you buy undersized shrimp and smash them flat to make them look bigger. Still they were an interesting "loss leader", and better, IMHO than the hot dog or fries. Next time I'll get two orders of the shrimp and skip the hotdog.

Yeah, I'll go back -- to sample the co-brands offerings -- Arthur Treacher's Fish & Chipstm, and Kenny Rogers Roasters Chickentm.  Read the history of those two restaurant chains, on Wikipedia, for yourself.   I'm not holding my breath for great fast food here, but one can hope...

Surf and Future Turf

Moqueca (moe-keck-kah)

Wow! This dish is an amazingly taste-filled way to prepare fish!  It's called a soup, but not by me. "Soup-y" maybe, but there's not nearly enough liquid to be a soup. Whatever you want to call it, it's downright delicious! Moqueca is a Brazilian dish, and not particularly spicy. Just a few red-pepper flakes from one of those packets you get with take-away pizza.  

 

I made this for two instead of six or eight diners, which was a sort of a pain. Sometimes it's hard to divide down a recipe. So, you do the best you can. I used half a pound of nice cod for the fish, but used more like half the onion and peppers rather than one-fourth of the recipe below. I used half a can, not a quarter, of the coconut milk. I also skipped the cilantro, as Sally doesn't like it, and I'm not that fond of the taste. Still, the result was very tasty, and nearly equal to moqueca that we've had at a couple of Brazilian restaurants around town. In retrospect, little cilantro would have been a nice touch.

1-1/2 to 2 lbs of fillets of firm white fish

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 Cup lime or lemon juice (three limes or two lemons juiced)

1 Cup Onion, sliced

1 bunch Green Onions with greens, chopped

1 Yellow and 1 Red Bell Pepper, seeded and sliced

2 Cups chopped Tomatoes (fresh rather than canned)

1 Tbsp Paprika (Hungarian sweet or smoky)

Pinch or more Red Pepper Flakes, to taste

1/2 Cup or more chopped Cilantro, to taste

1 14-ounce can Coconut Milk

Salt & fresh ground Black Pepper

Olive oil

Place the fish in a flat, fairly tight fitting pan or baking dish, add the minced garlic and lime juice so that the pieces are well coated. Sprinkle generously all over with salt and pepper. Keep chilled while preparing the rest of the soup.

In a large covered pan (I used my electric skillet) with 2 Tbsp of olive oil, saute the chopped onion, bell pepper, paprika, and red pepper flakes. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Cook until the bell peppers begin to soften. Stir in the chopped tomatoes and onion greens. Bring to a simmer and cook 5 minutes, uncovered. Stir in the chopped cilantro, to taste.

With a large spoon, remove about half of the vegetables (you'll put them right back). Spread the remaining vegetables over the bottom of the pan to create a bed for the fish. Arrange the fish pieces on the vegetables. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Now add back the previously removed vegetables, covering the fish. Pour the coconut milk over the fish and vegetables.

Bring to a simmer, reduce the heat, cover, and let simmer for 15 minutes. Taste and adjust seasonings. You may need to add more salt, lime or lemon juice, paprika, pepper, or chili flakes to get the soup to the desired seasoning for your taste.

Garnish with additional cilantro. I served it with white rice. 

 

Then on Sunday evening, I combined the leftover 'soup' with the leftover rice and added some beautiful 16-20 shrimp that I barbecued with a bit of butter and some Pride of Szegedtm Hungarian Fish Rub spice blend, to make a great second meal.

Chicken with Eggplant, Onion and Ginger

This is my take on a Mark Bittman recipe from the New York Times.  Mark has shallots, I didn't.  I had a couple pieces of cooked chicken breast and needed to make something "light with vegetables" for Sally's dinner one night last week.  I had an eggplant that needed to be used up, an onion and some powdered ginger.

Peel the eggplant and cut into 1" cubes. Peel the onion and cut into long slices.  Saute the two vegetables with a splash of oil, and get those onions sweet and caramelized.  When they're nearly done, add about a two teaspoons of ground ginger.  Add a bit of water, if necessary and saute to a thick consistency.

Ladle the vegetable 'goulash' onto plates, and add half a chicken breast and, in the foreground, the remnants of the Cauliflower Parmesan from last week, as a third veg.  Pretty darn tasty for leftovers.

Jones Creek Beeftm

From a food blogger site, I heard that Jones Creek Beef, out of Springville, UT was looking for some bloggers to help them promote their grass-fed, humanely raised beef, which just happens to be marketed through Walmart and its organic foods program. This is not stringy old range cow, folks. This is some fine, top-of-the-line beef!

After providing Jones Creek with my bona fides as an experienced food blogger and writer, I was given several categories of beef to choose from, and I elected to work with Chuck and/or Rump Roasts.

Jones Creek is sending me a Walmart Gift Card to buy five 2-pound roasts, take them for a test-cook, and present you my readers, and the Jones Creek Beef Company, with the delicious fruits of my labors. The five recipes I've chosen to develop present a wide range of "cultural flavors" which suitably enhance, without overpowering the delicate flavor of top quality grass-fed beef.

Over the next several weeks, I'll be preparing some of the recipes at Sally's. Others will be prepared and shared with my "dock mates" at the City of Fort Myers Yacht Basin, where I hang out in my sailboat ManCave when I'm not at Sally's. The recipes will be named in the appropriate week's blog title along with the usual assortment of other recipes, tips, and techniques.

Here are the five recipes, in no particular order, that I'll be sharing with you:

Cuban Ropa Vieja

Bajan Pepperpot Beef

Rump Roast Wellington

Mexican Shredded Beef

Mississippi Roast

Some of these you may have seen in earlier blog posts, but the new recipes will put those old posts out to pasture as I work my "culinary magic" on these Jones Creek roasts!

Cauliflower Biscuits?

Not so many dishes this week, but they sure are tasty. You'll really want to make these for yourself!

Southern Breakfast, Cabana Style

Our new guests this week are the first to ask for this southern classic breakfast done my way: biscuits, white gravy flavored with bacon, and chef-made marmalades.

Biscuits

The simplest, easiest, fastest biscuit recipe that I know of.  Makes 4-6 light, flaky biscuits suitable for gravy or with strawberries, for a classic dessert.

2 cups Bisquick tm baking mix

1/2 cup Sour Cream

1/2 cup Lemon-Lime Soda

Flour for prepping the work surface

Combine the baking mix, sour cream and soda into a soft dough. Liberally flour a working surface.  Turn the dough out on it and knead, flouring the dough as you go, until it comes together without being a sticky mess.

Pat the dough out about 3/4” thick and cut out biscuits with a 3-4" round cutter, and place them on a parchment-covered baking sheet. Collect scraps, knead and pat out again as necessary. Bake at 425F for about 15 minutes until GB&D.

Gravy

The gravy is a basic roux. Cook a couple of strips of bacon. Into the drippings, add some butter and flour. Stir together to make a roux. Cook the roux a minute or so, but don't let it brown. Now thin out that roux with half and half, and crumble the bacon into it. Add salt & pepper to taste

Ham Steak

The Brits would call this 'gammon'. About 6-8" diameter and 1/2" thick, serves two.

Marmalades

This week I've got two kinds of marmalade -- my signature Florida Marmalade (orange, lemon, lime) and my new favorite Blood Orange Marmalade that I told you about a couple weeks ago. 

 

Cauliflower Parmesan

This recipe is one of the 2015 Top Twenty recipes from the New York Times cooking section. Makes a great alternative to the classic Eggplant Parm. Several people commented on the original recipe with improvements, notably roasting rather than frying the cauliflower.  I'll show you mine.

1 Head Cauliflower, disassembled into 2" florets

½ cup AP Flour

4 large Eggs, lightly beaten

3 cups Panko

Kosher salt, as needed

Black Pepper, as needed

4 oz sliced Mushrooms

24 oz can Tomato Sauce (I used Hunt's tm Garlic flavored)

8 oz finely grated Parmesan

8 oz shredded Mozzarella

Preheat the oven to 425F.

Use a somewhat deep, narrow container (coffee mug) for the egg dredge, and a deep small bowl for the panko. Rinse the cauliflower in a collander, and shake mostly dry. Place in a plastic vegetable bag from the grocers. Add the flour, twist the top closed, and shake to coat the cauliflower. This will save you tons of time, trust me!

Dredge the floured florets, individually, in the egg and then the panko, and place on a baking sheet in a single layer.  Next time I'm going to try the bag trick with the panko too.  Drop a few egg-coated florets in the bag, shake, then transfer; and repeat.  It's gotta be faster than one-at-a-time.

Roast the cauliflower for 30 minutes, flipping it over at the halfway point for good color on both sides.

Spoon a thin layer of sauce over the bottom of an 8x10 or 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Sprinkle about a third of the Parmesan over the sauce. Arrange half the cauliflower over the Parmesan and top with half the mozzarella pieces. Add a layer of sauce. Now add a layer of mushroom slices. Repeat layering and end with sauce, some panko and Parmesan on top.

Transfer to the oven and bake about 40-45 minutes, until cheese is golden and casserole is bubbling, Let cool a few minutes before serving. 

This is a real keeper, folks. It's hearty enough that it can be served as a stand-alone main course, but can also be used as a side dish along with a green vegetable. Even if you're not fond of cauliflower, I challenge you to try this dish -- it really doesn't taste of cauliflower! Crispy and cheesy and tomato-y and oh so good!