Panzanella

I just got Ellie Krieger's cookbook, "So Easy," and I found a great-looking recipe for a dish we made in culinary school: Panzanella (Italian Bread Salad). Ellie's recipe is a bit different from the one we made in school, but it has the same basic ingredients - bread, cucumbers, tomatoes, and onions. So, I decided to combine the two recipes into my own version of the classic Italian salad!

Panzanella

3-4 cups of bread, cubed

1 English cucumber, seeded and diced

2 cups grape tomatoes, halved

1/2 of a small red onion, thinly slivered

1 avocado, peeled and diced

a few sprigs of fresh fennel (or any other fresh herb you have on hand)

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar

Salt & Pepper to taste

dried italian herbs to taste

3 links of chicken sausage

First, preheat the oven to 320 degrees F. Then put the cubed bread on a sheet pan.

Next, combine a few tablespoons of olive oil with salt, pepper, and dried italian herbs in a shallow bowl.

Dunk each bread cube into the olive oil mixture on two or three sides. Put them back on the sheet pan and toss them around a bit.

Stick the sheet pan in the oven on the bottom rack and allow them to cook for 15 - 20 minutes (until they're crispy). While they cook, combine all of the vegetables and herbs in a bowl. Sprinkle salt and pepper on them and toss.

Once the bread cubes are done, add them to the vegetable mixture.

Pour the rest of the olive oil and the balsamic vinegar over the vegetables and bread. Now toss it more. I added some black cooked lentils (from Trader Joe's) as a garnish - you can too if you have them. If not, it should be just fine! Then I cooked the sausage, sliced it, and served it alongside of the panzanella. That was Ellie Krieger's pairing idea - and it was perfect! I also plated the salad overtop of some mixed baby greens.

I hope you enjoy it! It was so simple to make - I couldn't even believe it! Plus, it was delicious and full of texture!

~ Mari

Chicken with Goat Cheese and Spanish Couscous

I would be lying if I told you that Chicken is my favorite meat. It's definitely not. In fact, it can get pretty boring. But, they had some nice-looking organic chicken breasts on sale at Kroger and I figured I could come up with something tasty to make with them. So, I looked through Ina Garten's (she's pretty amazing) "Barefoot Contessa at Home" cookbook and she had a great recipe for Chicken stuffed with goat cheese that I decided to make. I made a few minor adjustments, but here it is:

Chicken with Goat Cheese and Basil

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

3 heaping Tbsp. of goat cheese

6 fresh basil leaves

Extra virgin olive oil

kosher salt and ground pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Finely chop three of the basil leaves and mix it with the goat cheese in a small bowl with a fork. Then add some salt and pepper. Put a Tbsp. of the goat cheese mixture into each of the three basil leaves. Put the chicken breasts on a cutting board so that the tenderloin is facing up. Take the basil leaves with goat cheese inside and stuff each little basil "package" underneath the tenderloin on each breast. Next, rub each breast with extra virgin olive oil. If you have "Silpat" (a nonstick surface for cooking on), you can use that, but if not, put parchment paper down on a sheet pan. Then place the chicken breasts on the sheet pan and sprinkle with kosher salt and pepper. Put them in the oven and allow to bake for 35 minutes, basting them with olive oil (or spray with olive oil cooking spray) frequently.

After the 35 minutes, check that the internal temperature of the thickest part of the breasts is at 165 degrees F. Once it is, turn off the oven and turn the broiler on high. Watch the chicken closely as it will brown very quickly! Once the breasts are golden brown, take them out and allow them to cool.

While the chicken is cooking, you can make the couscous (it's so nice, they named it twice!):

Spanish Couscous

1 Tbsp. butter

1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

3/4 cup chopped onion or shallots

3 cups chicken stock or broth

1.5 cups couscous

1 ear, grilled corn, off the cob

10-12 cherry tomatoes, halved

1 cup frozen, chopped spinach

1.5 tsp. chili powder

Melt the butter in a large pot and add the olive oil once it's melted. Add the onions/shallots and saute them over medium-low heat for about three minutes - until they become translucent. Next, add the chicken stock and bring to a boil. Turn off the heat, stir in the couscous, add the frozen spinach, cover the pan, and set aside for about 10 minutes. The couscous will soak up all that yummy liquid and the steam will cook the spinach.

In a smaller pan, saute the corn and tomatoes with a little olive oil and some chili powder. After the couscous has soaked up the liquid, add the corn and tomatoes and stir until mixed well.

Now that your chicken and couscous are perfection, plate, eat, and enjoy!

Here's what the inside looks like with the melty goat cheese and flavorful basil leaf:

Hope you like it! Happy eating and buon appetito!

~ Mari

2 Weeks with Andy Saftel

Where have I been? I've been at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg, TN! Mom and I are taking a class from one of our favorite artists - Andrew Saftel. Andy is not only a FABULOUS artist, but he's a fabulous person as well. It truly is an honor to spend two whole weeks making art and learning from him.

The class is a mixed media class (aka- use whatever the heck you want in your artwork!), so it's fun and messy! There are nine of us in the class (someone came as far as Michigan!) and we get along great! Everyone has their own unique style with their art (even though we've talked extensively about why "style" is not necessary in art...).

Here are some pieces that I've been working on in the class:

Here are three bug-inspired pieces done on artist board. The one on the bottom left isn't finished...but, I'll let you know how it goes!

Here's a stamp I carved (on Speedball Easy-Cut) of a catfish...hehe

And here's what it looks like when he's stamped!

Here's another work in progress...

Then I worked on some more 3-D pieces

They are moving right along! Not finished yet, but almost!

(notice the tomato theme... hehe)

So, things are moving right along! It's a pretty intense experience...living and breathing art! It's wonderful! :)

Thanks for looking!

A Little Food Porn

I was going to post the photos of the food at the Garden Soiree/Shower/Party, but I decided that it was so lovely that it needed its own post. Marilyn set up the buffet table with the garden party theme in mind.

In the photo above, there are some fresh purple grapes and these amazing sausage skewers (chicken sausage, cherry tomato, basil, and a kalamata olive on top). Delicious!

There are Michael's famous chicken wings with bleu cheese sauce and ranch dressing. And that colorful bowl on the other side of the table (to the right) is Christine's avocado, tomato, and mango salad (AMAZING, btw).

There's mom's delicious broccoli salad (complete with bacon, almonds, grapes, cranberries, golden raisins, and sunflower seeds) that I ate a boat-load of!

Mmmm... Marilyn's lemon pepper shrimp was so tasty!

If you've never had Ellie Krieger's zucchini rolls, I would highly recommend them!

This is my dad's famous corn salsa (black beans, fresh corn, tomatoes, cilantro, and lots of other goodies!).

Marilyn made homemade spicy pita chips and served it with guacamole and spicy chipotle hummus (from Earth Fare)

This is another Ellie Krieger recipe - Devilled eggs... with tofu!

And there is some delicious pasta salad with asparagus and cherry tomatoes!

Quite a spread, huh? It was all so delicious that I thought you might enjoy seeing it all!

~ Mari

The "Whatever You've Got in Your Fridge" Pizza

Don't judge this pizza by her looks - she's unbelievably tasty, however knobbly she may be. Every two weeks or so my mom and I get a hankerin' for homemade pizza. And tonight, the above photo is what came of our efforts. Are you ready? It was a: goat cheese - roasted tomato - spinach - caramelized onion - hard-boiled egg - mustard vinaigrette pizza! And how did I discover that all of these ingredients made one hell of a pizza? By making it...out of random goodies in the fridge!



Mom made her famous pizza dough (which I will put on here eventually), but you can make any pizza dough recipe or buy a ready-made pizza crust. Then we drizzled olive oil on it, put the pre-roasted tomatoes (mom does this in the summer when we have more tomatoes than we know what to do with) on top and plopped globs of goat cheese on it. Then we baked it in the oven on 500 degrees F until the crust browned and bubbled.

Next we put fresh spinach, caramelized onions (I caramelized them before-hand in a little red wine), and sliced hard-boiled eggs on top. Then I drizzled my homemade mustard vinaigrette (dijon mustard, honey, apple cider vinegar, thyme, and basil) over the whole thing!

I must say, it was quite good! The combination of the sweet onions, the tart roasted tomatoes, and the creamy eggs and mustard vinaigrette was a great variation on the old "pizza with red sauce and lots of cheese" trick.

~ Mari

Spinach

Eggs for Dinner

It was such a nice day out today that I thought I might make a light dinner. So, I decided a quiche would be perfect! We had some goat cheese and cherry tomatoes in the fridge, so I thought that would be a delicious mix.

First, I made the dough for the crust. All you need for the crust is:

1/2 cup cold butter

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. cracked black pepper

1/2 tsp. dried thyme

1 egg

1 Tbsp. ice cold water

1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

Mix the flour, salt, pepper, and thyme together in a mixing bowl (with your hands...I promise it's fun!). Then chunk the butter, plop it in the bowl, and smoosh it around until the butter chunks are evenly distributed. Then pour in the ice water and mix it around. If it is too wet - add more flour. If it's too dry, add more water!

Then just wrap up your little dough ball in plastic wrap and stick it in the fridge while you work on the rest of your quiche!

Now, we will make the quiche filling. Here's what you'll need:

3 eggs

3/4 cup Half & Half

2/4 cup light soymilk

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp. dried thyme

8 oz. goat cheese

Combine everything in a bowl and mix it around until the eggs are completely combined. The goat cheese will be chunky , but that's fine!

By this time, your dough should be ready to roll (lol...)! Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Roll out the dough to be about 1/8 inch thick. Put it in a greased & floured tart pan and cut off the excess with a pairing knife. Then stick the whole thing in the fridge!

I had some extra pie dough and I didn't want to waste it, so I thought I would cut circles out of the dough (with a biscuit cutter) and bake them to make crispy, buttery crackers! They came out delicious!

I brushed them with egg so that they would brown and become nice and shiny!

After it's chilled, take your crust out of the fridge and cut a piece of parchment paper that fits in the bottom of the pan. Then put pie weights on top and stick it in the oven! Bake it for 15-20 minutes.

Then take it out of the oven and remove the parchment paper and pie weights. Brush the entire thing with egg and stick it back in for about 2-3 minutes. This will brown the crust and seal it off from the moisture in the egg mixture.

Once it's brown and delicious-looking, take it out and let it cool a little. Halve cherry tomatoes and place them on the pie crust cut-side down.

Sliver garlic cloves and sprinkle them over the tomatoes. Then poor the egg mixture over the whole thing, leaving the tops of the tomatoes peeking out.

Bake it for 20 minutes and it will be a beautiful thing of beauty! Let it cool, slice it, and serve it!





Mmmmmmm... it came out so good! We sliced it up (it kinda looks like pizza doesn't it?) and served it with some simple sauteed spinach with garlic and pine nuts.

Happy eating everyone!

~ Mari