Life, love, and the pursuit of chocolate.
From the category archives:
It’s that time of year again. You know, when even those who don’t follow football perk up at the mention of a Super Bowl Party. All of a sudden everyone’s got a favorite team. Or not. Football is just the excuse. The party is really about friends and the food. Actually, that’s really what life is about isn’t it? Good friends and good food… but I digress. We’re here to talk about the Super Bowl football food. What says football better than wings?
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I have never been a pickle lover. That is to say, I like pickles but I have never loved them. When a dill spear comes along side a sandwich at a deli, I often leave it untouched. But sometimes I do like a pickle or two on my hamburger. Given my lukewarm feelings about pickles, I’ve found it a bit odd that I have a mounting obsession around the art of pickle making… and the many varieties of pickles to be made. It started with the bread and butter pickles which to me were as much about canning as they were about pickling. But the success of those homemade pickles went to my head, and has lead to visions of fruit pickles, Asian pickles, watermelon rind pickles… all dancing around in my mind for a couple of months now. So I’ve gone about collecting pickle recipes and ideas from books and blogs and have tucked them away for the right moment. Pickled grapes with cinnamon and black pepper is one such recipe. It sounded just odd enough that I had to try it. The recipe comes from A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg (I’m sure I’ve said this before, but it’s worth mentioning again that A Homemade Life is a wonderful book).
So when I stumbled upon these lovely red seedless grapes at the farmers’ market, I knew what I had to do. I wasn’t entirely sure what I was getting myself into but I was excited just the same. Between the description from Molly in her book and the write up by Deb from Smitten Kitchen I knew they had to be good. (I mean, if Molly served them at her wedding, they have to be good… right?). Too impatient to wait eight hours, I tasted the grapes as soon as the brine went on… just to get an idea of how the flavors came together. And even though the grapes had not yet soaked in any of the vinegary tartness, I could tell it was going to be anything but boring.
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The other day it was so hot that I did not want anything warm to eat so I sent out a tweet “What is your favorite heat-wave meal?” I got a few responses, but the one that stood out was from Scott aka Seattle Food Geek: “My fave is a platter of mozzarella, tomato, basil, melon, prosciutto, bread, w/olive oil, + a bottle of Riesling.”
Why didn’t I think of that? It’s something we’ve had before, but somehow I couldn’t come up with anything beyond “cold. no-cook. cold…” (it was hot, people). Anyway, just because I couldn’t think of it myself, doesn’t mean I couldn’t eat it. So Dan and I made a meal of caprese salad and melon with prosciutto… a little baguette and good olive oil on the side. Perfect, light meal.
I have been craving pasta salad for about a week now. But we were busy last week so I didn’t really have a chance to make any until Saturday. I went out into the garden and found a couple of yellow squash that looked ready to be picked. It turned out they could’ve used a little longer on the vine (the skin was tough and the seeds still had some green around them). But I used it anyway and it was okay… I think we mostly picked around the squash.
Some mozzarella in the fridge that needed to be used up and a couple of tomatoes on the counter found their way into the salad. I picked a handful of basil which became a garlicky pesto that was nice on a baguette but really good mixed into the pasta. It was the perfect light dinner after our salami and cheese lunch out on the trail.
We were going to a picnic the next day, but while the batch I made with the garden squash was good enough for me and Dan to eat, I wasn’t comfortable serving the under-ripe squash to others. I wound up making another batch using zucchini and yellow squash from the produce market. It was a great side to hamburgers and hot dogs out in the park.
This is a good salad for those outdoor summer parties when a mayonnaise based potato or pasta salad might get questionable out in the heat (don’t get me wrong, I like the mayo-based salads too. But warm mayo is icky).
Garden fresh pasta salad
3-4 tablespoons pesto (recipe below… store bought is fine too)
mozzarella (boccocini aka the small balls packed in water or whey or just regular mozzarella cut into chunks)
tomato (grape tomatoes cut in half, or a larger tomato or two, diced)
zucchini and/or yellow squash (about two medium or one large), cut into short strips about the size of your pasta (I used rotini or fusilli)
pasta: fusilli, rotini, or whatever you have on hand… 1 package
1. Cook pasta in salted water for the time on the package (I like to add 2-3 big pinches of salt to the boiling water).
2. About 3 minutes before the pasta is done, add the squash to the pot.
3. Drain and toss with about 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Set aside to cool (or not… if you don’t let it cool, the mozzarella will melt a little which really isn’t so bad but for taking to a party I like to let it cool so that everything is still recognizable).
4. Toss the tomatoes, mozzarella and pesto into the pasta.
5. Enjoy.
Basil Pesto
about 1 to 1 1/2 cup loosely packed basil leaves
1/2 to 1 clove of garlic (depending on how garlicky you want)
about 1 tablespoon of pistachios
a pinch of salt
about 1/4 cup of olive oil
1. In a blender or food processor (the food processor worked better for me, but the blender worked too with a little coercion), pulse basil, pistachios, garlic, salt and about half of the olive oil.
2. When it is all minced up, add a little more olive oil until it is the consistency you like (more if you like thinner pesto).
3. Use right away or place in a plastic container with plastic wrap pressed onto the surface, store in the refrigerator.
A friend of mine graduated with her masters recently and her husband threw a little party in her honor. He asked me to bring a dessert (I seem to be getting a reputation). I had a hard time deciding what to make but finally decided to try out cupcake cones. They have been on my list for a little while. I’ve never made them before but have eaten one or two in the past. They look cute and festive, so I thought they’d be a fun addition to the bbq party. Of course, I couldn’t just take the easy way out with a cake mix or pre-made frosting… No, not me. I like to make things difficult.
So I proceeded to make devil’s food and vanilla cake batters from scratch followed by vanilla bean frosting and chocolate frosting. In retrospect, using boxed cake mix would have been smarter because wrapping the cones in foil (necessary for baking… at least according to the cone box) took a while. I wrapped each cone, then made a little doughnut of foil to stand it in. As she wrapped the last cone, my mom discovered that if you use a little bit longer piece of foil to wrap the cone, you can then make a stand with the extra length which was actually more stable than my doughnuts.
The cupcakes were a hit. Well, I should say the frosting was a hit. The cones and cupcakes were merely a vehicle for the frosting… hence, I will use cake mix next time. One suggestion/request from the cupcake-eaters was to add a little frosting at the bottom of each cone so that you finish with one last bite of frosting… on a high note if you will. But I don’t think that would work since the frosting would then get baked… what do you think? Can we make it work? Any ideas?
I’ll have to add the chocolate frosting and vanilla cake recipes later, I don’t have the cookbook with me right now (sorry). But I feel you should know, this month, you will be hearing from me quite a bit… daily in fact. I’ve signed up for NaBloPoMo for July which means I will be writing something everyday. I promise not to do too many “blah blah blah” posts as filler (maybe just one or two… I mean, 31 days in a row… come on, cut me some slack… joking… well, mostly). See you tomorrow.
