An Estrogen-packed Independence Day

Another friend is leaving Boston in pursue of higher education... dear Ann is headed for medical school in Texas next week, so we thought we would get some girls together for this Fourth of July to send her off right.

I already gave you a little preview, so you've probably guessed that I am feeling quite festive and smily from my watermelon cocktail, and I'm ready to grill!

obviously

Okay, fine, I'm grilling on a grill pan. It's girls' night, what did you expect? Hamburgers on the grill?! Pshhha! Try Portobello burgers on the grill-pan! Before you pooh-pooh me, let me assure you that these portobello burgers are to die for. I can't remember where I got this recipe, but I've been using it for years, and have refined it a bit, so I can call it my own now, right?

...I bought some flowers for the party...

This morning I washed and dried 6 portobello caps and put them in a gallon-size ziplock. In a bowl, I whisked balsamic vinegar, olive oil, 2 small cloves minced garlic, a splash of horseradish sauce (Nope. Forgot to add that.), and s+p. I poured it into the mushroom bag and gave it a good shaking. I put it in the refrigerator, where it has been marinating for the past 3 hours or so. I turned it once, so that both sides would coat evenly.

After I prepared those, I mixed up that watermelon drink (see previous post), using Sanne's Cuisenart hand mixer, which is so much fun I wanted to make something else with it.

Then I remembered a can of black beans in the pantry and some salsa in the fridge, so I made the Joy of Cooking's Black Bean Salsa! Why is it that the best ideas come to you either a) last minute or b) in the bathroom?

you'll need:
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
6T salsa
1 clove garlic, mincified
2T fresh lime juice (I didn't have any, and it was still tasty without it...)
tomato and/or cilantro, for garnishment

Blend all of these things with your nifty hand-mixer. I have a funny story. The first dozen or so times that I made this recipe, I just read the ingredients and not the directions, so I didn't realize it was blended. It wasn't until I moved up here and we threw a Mexican Fiesta that I looked closely and realized what I wasn't doing. It's really good that way too! Unblended, its more salsa-consistency. The JOC recipe is technically a dip.

it aint pretty

While we waited for the other patriots to arrive, Elizabeth and I had ourselves a nice little cocktail hour. Elizabeth made a delicious Margarita and a Fresco something-or-other, which was comprised of pineapple juice and ginger, and if the spirit moves you, rum :)

When given a choice, I typically go with flavored margaritas, because I am not a fan of the regular ones (I can't get past the salt-- blurg!), But Elizabeth's margarita was GOOD. Like, capital letters good. Here's the recipe for 4 servings:

6oz limeade concentrate
6oz tequila
2oz triple sec
water
blend with ice until smooth

and for the Fresco a la Firework Cocktail:
5c pineapple (1"cubes)
4c water
1/2c sugar- we made a simple syrup (1/2c sugar, 1c water) instead of adding the straight cup of sugar.
2t grated ginger
ice
blend until smooth.

We made this one dry, in case anyone didn't want alcohol, and then added rum to our individual drinks. ;)

In regards to corn, I just boiled it for 10ish minutes and dredged it in butter. Sorry, corn. No special treatment today. Mushrooms are the stars.

When it was time to grill(pan) the portobellos, I heated some olive oil in the pan at med-high, and cooked them until done, about 5 minutes each side.



I wish this were scratch-n-sniff

Kasia brought the appropriately named Cowboy Caviar, which was deliciously fresh, the perfect light component to our dinner. It was awesome.

Cowboy Caviar

Dressing

1 c. olive oil
1 c. sugar
½ c. cider vinegar

Mix together and simmer until sugar is dissolved. Cool.

Ingredients

1 (15 oz.) can shoepeg corn
1 (15 oz.) can black beans
1 (15 oz.) can black eyed peas

Drain all three cans listed above and rinse in a colander.

Jalapeno peppers (4 oz. or less – depending on how hot you like it)
½ c. chopped red onion
½ c. chopped green bell pepper

serve with tortilla chips

Ann brought this incredible Indian dessert. Sadly, I was too stuffed to try it. Hopefully I have a piece saved for later... recipe coming soon!

And here are some photos from the rest of the evening...

sweet, sweet Ann

Neville (every girls' night needs a token man) and Kasia

Jenni, aka The Pyranose Producer



Neville approves of this meal

Sadly/Amazingly enough, this all went down while Sanne was sleeping off her jet lag. Sanne, check the fridge for leftovers!

m

Happy Birthday, America!

I found this recipe for watermelon and vodka cooler, I thought, what better way to celebrate America's birth, than by adding liquor to her favorite fruit? And so I did, and America loved it! I strayed a bit from the recipe, but the spirit was the same.

watermelon, blended
vodka
triple sec
lime juice (just a splash)
sugar, to taste
a few thin watermelon slices, for garnish

Right before I serve it, I'll blend in some crushed ice.

Here's a preview of what's to come...

Well, that's what I'm contributing to the meal. My friends are bringing the rest. Be sure to check back later for the finished meal.

What are you cooking/ eating today?

If you haven't already, please "like" our facebook page! Have a very happy and safe Independence Day!!

m

Zucchini: The Sequel

As my zucchini bread only required 1 zucchini, I needed to find something to do with the other 2. That's when I came across this. I should be doing some homework, but making a zucchini and ricotta galette is just so much more fun.

Again, I followed the recipe pretty closely, except for substituting the white flour with wheat, yoghurt for sour cream and adding some minced onion to the cheese mixture. I also made a second galette (why are they called that?) with mushrooms and tomato.

Now please excuse me if I copy and paste...

Filling:
1 large or 2 small zucchinis, sliced into 1/4 inch thick rounds
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon olive oil
1 medium garlic clove, minced (about 1 teaspoon)
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
1/2 cup (about 1 ounce) grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup (1 ounce) shredded mozzarella
1 tablespoon slivered basil leaves

Make filling: Spread the zucchini out over several layers of paper towels. Sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon salt and let drain for 30 minutes; gently blot the tops of the zucchini dry with paper towels before using. In a small bowl, whisk the olive oil and the garlic together; set aside. 

In a separate bowl, mix the ricotta, Parmesan, mozzarella, and 1 teaspoon of the garlicky olive oil together and season with salt and pepper to taste.

For the pastry:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, chilled in the freezer for 30 minutes
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces and chill again
1/4 cup sour cream
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup ice water

Make dough: Whisk together the flour and salt in a large bowl. Sprinkle bits of butter over dough and using a pastry blender, cut it in until the mixture resembles coarse meal, with the biggest pieces of butter the size of tiny peas. 

In a small bowl, whisk together the sour cream, lemon juice and water and add this to the butter-flour mixture. With your fingertips or a wooden spoon, mix in the liquid until large lumps form. Pat the lumps into a ball; do not overwork the dough. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

I had to add a little more flour, my dough came out a little too moist...

Prepare galette: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. On a floured work surface, roll the dough out into a 12-inch round. Transfer to an ungreased baking sheet (though if you line it with parchment paper, it will be easier to transfer it to a plate later). Spread the ricotta mixture evenly over the bottom of the galette dough, leaving a 2-inch border. Shingle the zucchini attractively on top of the ricotta in concentric circles, starting at the outside edge. Drizzle the remaining tablespoon of the garlic and olive oil mixture evenly over the zucchini. Fold the border over the filling, pleating the edge to make it fit. The center will be open. Brush crust with egg yolk glaze.

The dough was kind of tough to work with. I think it probably had something to do with the fact that it's 90 degrees in my kitchen.

The plain zucchini came out prettier than the tomato-mushroom on, so I'll showing you that one...

Bake the galette until the cheese is puffed, the zucchini is slightly wilted and the galette is golden brown, 30 to 40 minutes. Remove from the oven, sprinkle with basil, let stand for 5 minutes, then slide the galette onto a serving plate. Cut into wedges and serve hot, warm or at room temperature.

On smittenkitchen.com, she mentioned a few (seasonal) variations: wild mushroom and bleu cheese, and roasted butternut squash and caramelized onion. MMmm. What would you put in it?


That was a Sunday well spent. But I still have 1 zucchini left!! So, stay tuned for Zucchini part 3: At Zucchini's End. Any ideas?

m

flashback

Can you guess what I'm baking?

Don't know? How about now...

Yeah! zucchini bread! I never had zucchini bread growing up. This is something Sanne introduced me to last year. It was so amazing, I thought I'd give it a whirl. I found a recipe on allrecipes.com that made two loaves. I halved it, and substituted wheat flour for white. Easy!

If you don't feel like clicking on the link above, you're a visual learner or my mom, I will now show you exactly what I did.

Sift the dry ingredients: 1 1/2c flour, 1/2t salt, 1/2t baking powder, 1/2t baking soda, 1 1/5T cinnamon.

sifty

In a separate bowl, beat together 1 1/2 egg, 1/2c sugar, 1/2c vegetable oil, 1c sugar, 1 1/2t vanilla extract. Then add to dry ingredients.

Grate about 1c zucchini and fold into batter. 

Now I'd like to direct your attention to this little device. This is a nut chopper straight from the 70s. My mom had one when I was little (and still has it, in fact). I mentioned it a few months back and she tracked down the company, which is still making these things, and sent me one. Its funny how some things get better and more advanced with time, and others, no matter how many variations come out, just work because they are so simple. That's good design, folks.

As I was saying, add 1/2c chopped walnuts.

Fold it together, pour it in your greased & floured loaf pan, and bake for 1 hour at 325 degrees.

eeew 

While my bread's baking, I thought I'd put the zucchini remnants to good use...

That's zucchini, sweet italian sausage, tomato, mushrooms, parmesan, oil and balsamic vinegar.

And now, the main event...

This is a really good recipe, not too sweet and perfectly moist. It would be interesting to make it more on the savory side... any ideas?

Besides the walnut chopper, there are a few other kitchen accessories that I remember in my mom's kitchen growing up, like this groovy tupperware. It makes me happy that some of them have survived over the years. What about you guys? 

m