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Aug 30

59 Comments

August Bakin Friends

I just started participating in a  great and very fun endeavor called Bakin Friends. A group of cooks are given an ingredient and are paired with another cook who participates, we make something that uses the ingredient and send it to each other, kind of a Food Pen Pal of sorts. I was paired with Jeanette from Houston, Texas  and the ingredient was pretzels. I sent Jeannette some cookies, everything I wanted to send sounded great until I thought about how hot it is in Texas and the thought of chocolate melting while waiting to be delivered didn’t sound appealing. So I decided to do cookies and also went out on a limb and did some white chocolate covered pretzels. I used my chocolate chip cookie recipe and went a little wacky, adding crushed pretzels and chopped snickers, I also threw in some nice dark chocolate. I think they turned out pretty nicely and I got a lovely note from Jeanette saying that she really liked them.

pretzel,snickers Cookies

pretzel,snickers Cookies

White Chocolate Pretzels

White Chocolate Pretzels

Packaged and ready for their trip to Texas

Packaged and ready for their trip to Texas

Now that is what I sent, here is what I received from Alex, totally delicious blondies that had pretzels and peanut M&M’s in them. They were moist and delicious and I loved them. Thank you so much Alex for baking those fantastic blondies, along with the super cute Kitty card and hand written recipe. I really enjoyed them as did a few of my close friends.

Blondies

Blondies

If you are interested in participating in Bakin Friends click on the link above that will take you to  Stephanie’s site for more information. It’s fun and a great way to meet other bloggers and taste their delicious baked goods.  You can send an email to stephanie; stephsbitebybite@gmail.com with Bakin Friends in the subject line and let her know you would like to participate.  On the 6th of every month you will be paired with another cook/baker and you will find out what the secret ingredient is. Your packages should be mailed by the 16th of the month. It’s a lot of fun to participate!

Bakin Friends

Bakin Friends

Aug 29

39 Comments

Awards And Thank You and An Apology!

I want to thank Effie from Food Daydreaming for awarding to me the Sunshine award. I so appreciate it.

Sunshine Award

Sunshine Award

I also want to thank Fae from the lovely blog Fae’s Twist and Tango for the Very Inspiring Bloggers Award.

Very Inspiring Blogger Award

Very Inspiring Blogger Award

I have said this before but truly mean it when I express how appreciative I am. It doesn’t matter how many awards you receive each one is important because you are being recognized by your piers, fellow bloggers, food lovers. cooks, chefs  and that is what is important.

I may not be able to pass it on, answer questions etc.. just being honest. This is where the apology comes in. Things are very busy with work and caring for my aging pugs. It’s like I have 2 full time jobs. I try desperately to keep up with all of the blogs I love and gain inspiration from, I try to post on my blog but sometimes I fall short on both counts. I would like to nominate everyone for an award, if you are reading this you are sunshine and inspiring and I look forward to seeing all the wonderful recipes and adventures of my blogging friends.

I highly recommend clicking on the links to the above mentioned blogs, they are both wonderful and you will love them. Here is one of Effie’s recipe’s on Food Daydreaming that I have to try. it sounds too good Fried Goat Cheese and Fig salad With Raspberry Balsamic Glaze. How about dessert, these delectable Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta Tartlets or Summer Vegetarian Lasagne Jamie Style

Fae from Fae’s Twist & Tango her blog is like the UN of food blogs, it’s wonderful. Iranian (Persian) food or  Japanese Food each post takes you on a journey and is a wonderful learning experience. You not only learn the recipe but a little of the history and cultural significance of the the food. How about Rack of Lamb Coated With Herbed Breadcrumb and Cheeses or Dashi And Miso Soup or my favorite Persian stew Khoresht Bademjan

Aug 24

88 Comments

Roasted Figs With Whipped Goat Cheese And Mascarpone

Lovely figs before roasting

Lovely figs before roasting

The other day I started my daily routine, feeding and medicating and walking the pugs, get my cup of coffee and sit down at the computer to see what I missed after sleeping all night. I saw a post from The Solitary Cook, one of my favorite blogs and just have to say that she is someone I greatly admire and look to for inspiration. The title of the post was DAVID LEBOVITZ’S ROASTED FIGS,  I was immediately drawn to this recipe. First, I LOVE figs, fresh figs not dried. How could I go wrong with a recipe from the very talented Mr. Lebovitz and Cynthia (The Solitary Cook). I knew this would be wonderful.

Now this was a revelation for me, really it was. I always poached my figs, at least the figs that I didn’t eat fresh. It never dawned on me to roast them. (one of those aha moments). Imagine roasting fresh figs with rosemary or thyme, honey and wine. I was immediately drawn in, inspired and I had to make this right away.

I changed the recipe ever so slightly, instead of red wine I used white and I chose to use thyme as Mr. Lebovitz suggests (because thats what I had)  and thought that whipped goat cheese and mascarpone  lightly sweetened with the syrup from the roasted figs would be wonderful. I really recommend you try this delicious recipe, it’s absolutely amazing, and if you are a fig lover like me you will be in fig heaven.

Whipped Goat Cheese And Mascarpone

3 oz softened goat cheese (Chevre)

3 oz mascarpone

2-3 tbs of the syrup from the roasted figs

whip the cheese and syrup together with hand held mixer. Easy right?

Add a dollop  to the figs. Drizzle with some of the syrup.  It’s heavenly!!

Figs and Creamy Goat Cheese/Mascarpone

Figs and Creamy Goat Cheese/Mascarpone

YUM!

YUM!

Aug 24

54 Comments

Rigatoni With Roasted Mushrooms And Eggplant And Wine Pairing

Rigatoni with mushrooms and eggplant

Rigatoni with mushrooms and eggplant

So here is the dish I decided to make with those beautiful roasted mushrooms and eggplant from the last post. It’s insanely simple, takes only minutes and is very tasty. It looks pretty boring, shades of cream and brown (those beautiful purple eggplant turned a homely brown) but it’s far from boring in the taste department You don’t really need a recipe per se for this, make as much as you need for your meal.  I didn’t really  measure anything estimated the amounts, you can judge by eyeballing it, it will feel right.

Serves 2-4 depending on serving size

Ingredients:

Roasted eggplant, mushrooms, shallot and garlic

1/2 cup chopped flat leaf parsley (a nice handful)

1/4 cup good white wine or a nice glugg, preferably what you will drink with this dish

olive oil to coat pan

Rigatoni  (1/3-1/2lb)

Goat cheese and mascarpone (use equal amounts of each)

Parmigiano Reggiano grated

Instructions:

Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add a tbs of salt and when it’s a vigorous rolling boil add the rigatoni. Stir occasionally and let boil for approximately 10 minutes or follow instructions on the package.

While your rigatoni is boiling, heat a saute pan with a little olive oil on medium/high, add the mushrooms,eggplant, shallot and garlic (remove the sprigs of thyme first) and a splash of white wine (about 1/4 cup). Cook just long enough to heat the vegetables, with strainer or spyder add the rigatoni to the vegetables. toss to combine and cook for a minute or two adding a little of the pasta water if it’s too dry. Add the chopped parsley. I topped this with  grated parm and a heaping spoonful of goat cheese and mascarpone that I whipped I used equal amounts of goat cheese and mascarpone and simply beat with my electric mixer. This will also be used for dessert, refrigerate what remains.  Hey you can never get too much goat cheese and mascarpone, right?  Stay tuned for dessert.

Wine Pairing courtesy of Stefano Crosio

I asked Stefano from Flora’s Table  and Clicks And Corks  to lend his expertise and  to pair wine with this dish. Here are his recommendations, and I would advise to find these wines, Stefano knows whereof he speaks. His recommendations are always spot on:

Given the characteristics of the ingredients of your dish, a proper wine to pair with it would have good acidity, tannins (or fairly robust ABV), intensity of flavors, tastiness and medium body.  A not overly structured Barbera, such as Coppo, L’Avvocata, would be a good wine for your dish at a very interesting price point (~$15). Otherwise, another good option in white would be Donnafugata’s Chiaranda’ (a Sicilian Chardonnay that retails for about $35.

Aug 22

55 Comments

Roasted Chanterelle’s, Baby Eggplant And Shallots

Ready to Roast

Ready to Roast

The other night I went to visit a very good friend of mine, her little pug had just had surgery and I wanted to visit and see how she was doing. When you go to the hospital to visit a sick friend you usually bring flowers, for this sweet little pug I brought a piece of pork tenderloin, she was happy with that.

While visiting they asked me if I would like some mushrooms and eggplant, they are friends with a Long Island Farmer and were given a windfall of delicious fresh chanterelle mushrooms and baby purple eggplant. Of course I said YES thank you!!

The mushrooms are beautiful and fresh and the eggplant is tiny, a couple of bites and you are done with it. I decided to oven roast, we all know oven roasting adds so much flavor to just about anything. So quickly cleaned the mushrooms removed the stems (kept them for stock) and eggplant, cut the little eggplant in half lengthwise, tossed in some olive oil, sprinkled on sea salt and generously peppered, added garlic cloves, shallots and some thyme sprigs. Baked in a 400 degree oven for 20  minutes stirring occasionally, remove from oven, cover with foil turn off the oven and put them back in, let sit for 15 minutes,  et voila!

I already have an idea of how I will use these lovely roasted beauties. Stay tuned!!

Roasted

Roasted

Aug 17

78 Comments

What I’ve Been Up To

Things have been very busy lately, with work and cooking related things that I am working on and I haven’t really been posting as much as I would like to. This week has been a whirlwind, so I thought it would be nice to post something about what I’ve been up to.  It started last Saturday when I met a dear friend and fellow blogger from DC, Emily here in Brooklyn, we had fun going to the farmers market and flea. Sunday I had the potluck which was so much fun, lots of great food and friends.

I work in real estate and it’s crazy and incredibly trying times in the NYC/Brooklyn market. There is a serious lack of housing stock and more people who want to buy than product available which makes for a very challenging market. So I have been really busy trying to find homes for the many people looking, Not fun.

I am also sure you have seen in several posts that I am involved with the startup company, Mealku, a food cooperative matching hungry eaters with eager cooks who prepare the food and it’s delivered by bicycle or skateboard (really, the delivery person came to pick up from me yesterday on a skateboard) amazing. Mealku asked me to cater an event for 40 people, breakfast foods to be ready this last Tuesday morning, very early 6:30 AM.  I was up for the challenge so of course I said yes, I would do it. I made muffins, scones,  banana bread, apricot/pistachio loaf and a seasonal fruit salad.

Packaged for Mealku event

Packaged for Mealku event

Mealku event

Mealku event

I made a small batch of tomato balsamic jam with some of the heirloom tomatoes I got at the farmers market.

Tomato Balsamic Jam

Tomato Balsamic Jam

I had leftover peaches and assorted plums so I made a galette

Mixed stone fruit galette

Mixed stone fruit galette

Yesterday I had a Mealku request for my Meatballs and Sauce, so I made it, slowly simmering the sauce and meatballs pretty much all day. Posted this a while back https://apuginthekitchen.com/2012/03/02/meatballs-and-tomato-sauce/

Meatballs

Meatballs

Aug 12

69 Comments

When Cooks Get Together-An End Of Summer Potluck Part II

The spread

The spread

Yesterday some wonderful cooks all converged at my home in Brooklyn for a Potluck. What made this so wonderful, besides the food, was that everyone is an accomplished cook and we all met initially on food websites (food52) through our blogs and also through Mealku my newest and most exciting food activity.

My friend Cristina and I worked together to organize the potluck, it’s not the first and certainly won’t be the last. Our little group (that is growing) is amazing.  We have a scientist, a locavore, an artist, all women of different and very interesting backgrounds that all have one thing in common, we love to cook and we LOVE food.  If it were not for the food websites like food52 none of us would have met most likely, and that in and of itself is amazing.

A potluck is a wonderful thing, everyone brings a dish of their choosing (usually more than one dish) and the selection of foods is as varied as the group of cooks and many of the dishes reflect the cooks ethnic background.

It was a a fantastic day, beautiful weather and the selection of food was beautiful as well as totally delicious. From Indian Khaman to a sweet potato and goat cheese salad to pulled pork sliders to chicken leg confit and many more. Then there was the dessert table:

Blueberry Pie photo by Cristina

Blueberry Pie photo by Cristina

Cake photo by Cristina

Marcona Almond Cake photo by Cristina

Aleksandra's chocolate bites photo by Cristina

Aleksandra’s chocolate bites photo by Cristina

Banana fudge ice cream by Cristina (photo too)

Banana fudge ice cream by Cristina (photo too)

We are already planning our next potluck (actually 2 more in the works,  we all plan on going on a tour of Long Island Wineries concentrating on the South Fork, we hope to rent a vacation house for a few days, visit the wineries and cook together, doesn’t that sound like fun?

The second potluck party is exciting also, Karen who is with Mealku offered us the use of their beautiful space in Tribeca to host a tasting, that sounds incredible also!!!

I made Panzanella and promised to post the recipe so here it is, please note I am not giving amounts because you don’t have to be exact, it’s a salad, but here is the list of ingredients:

Garden fresh tomatoes (assorted heirloom)

Cucumber (I used kirby)

flat leaf parsley

scallions

fresh basil (I used 8 leaves)

bufala mozzerella

salt, pepper, red wine vinegar and good olive oil

Ciabatta bread (preferably day old)

olive oil

garlic

Parmigiano reggiano

Make bread cubes

Cut ciabatta in half, slice garlic and place in mortar, add a little sea salt and crush the garlic. Scrape into a bowl and add some olive oil. Let sit for at least 15 minutes. Brush the garlic infused olive oil on the bread, cut into cubes and grate some parmigiana on the bread place in a pre heated 350 degree oven for approximately 30 minutes or until bread is crisp and toasted. Remove and let cool.

The Salad

Chop the tomatoes and add to a large bowl, add chopped cucumbers, sliced scallions, chopped parsley and torn basil. Season with salt and pepper and splash on some red wine vinegar and a good glugg of olive oil. Let sit for about 30 minutes so the tomatoes yield their juices. Add the mozzarella and bread cubes before serving, toss together.

Aug 12

35 Comments

Wine Pairing For Grilled Shrimp

Just a quick note this morning, Julian who pens the fantastic Vino in Love wine blog asked me to collaborate with him on a food/wine pairing. It’s summer and perfect for white wine and fish. I prepared two dishes one is my shrimp scampi that I prepared on the grill. I always have a hard time picking just the right wine to go with a meal, there is a real science to it and this is why I rely on the experts like Julian to help me make just the right choice. I love following the various wine blogs and learn so much from each. Here is a link to Julian’s post.  Thank you Julian as always I enjoyed our collaborations and learn so much from you. Salud!!

http://vinoinlove.com/food-wine-pairing-grilled-shrimp/

Shrimp Scampi

Shrimp Scampi

Aug 10

41 Comments

Summer Potluck And Farmers Market Inspiration- Part I

What better way to celebrate summer than a get together with friends and fellow cooks, enjoying each others company and eating great food. My friend Cristina and I decided to throw an end of summer potluck inviting cooks that we know from blogs, Food52 and Mealku. Everyone will converge on my house on a lovely, warm Sunday afternoon. Cristina and I began preparing for this weeks ago, sending out invites and planning what we will prepare. What do a bunch of cooks do when they get together, well, the answer is pretty simple, we talk about food and eat.

Summer produce is at it’s peak and I had no idea what to make as my contribution, I decided to visit the farmers market in Fort Greene for inspiration. I wanted to make something fresh and seasonal and after seeing the beautiful tomatoes at the market I decided to make Panzanella, it’s one of my favorite salads and with the very tasty produce I knew if would be delicious. Today was extra special, I had great company at the Market, my friend and fellow cook extraordinaire Emily (Em-i-lis) and her husband Tom were here visiting from DC so we met up in my hood, Brooklyn. We did some shopping at the farmers market and then went to the Brooklyn Flea making our way through the different food stands,

Heirloom tomatoes

Heirloom tomatoes

I am cooking for a Mealku event on Tuesday and needed inspiration for a fruit salad, look at these beautiful plums!!

Gorgeous plums

Gorgeous plums

Beauties

Beauties

Kale Anyone?

Kale Anyone?

The Brooklyn Flea is a neighborhood institution, every Saturday from April – November they take over the athletic field of a local high school. There you will find just about anything you want from antiques to arepas. We ate, and ate well.

Tom's porchetta

Tom’s porchetta

Em's grilled cheese

Em’s grilled cheese

Stay tuned for part II the potluck party! Today was fun and so good to finally meet Emily, I have to mention that she is a wonderful jam maker and she brought me a container of her fabulous plum basil jam. It’s extraordinary, have had it before and she knows its my favorite, thanks Em!!