Panzanella, The Perfect Summer Salad

Panzanella with Yellow Heirloom Tomatoes, Cucumber, Anaheim Pepper, Red Onion and Fresh Mozzarella (Ciliegine sized). I made a simple vinaigrette. I admit it might have been a bit over-dressed but it was good and pretty easy.  

Yellow Heirloom Tomatoes

Tomatoes, Cucumber, Red Onion

In the bowl

The results

I accompanied it with seared London Broil and Basil Pearl Couscous.  A good summer meal.

Pork and Greens

Martyn (Bro-in-Law) and I cooked up a great grilled meal. Pork chops and grilled bok choy and garlic scapes. We had an additional salad of mixed greens, cucumbers and tomato. It was simple and delicious. I made a creamy salad dressing with a slew of leftover cheeses. The meal was great after a hard fought softball victory.

Pork Chops

Grilled Bok Choy

Garlic Scapes

Creamy Dressing with Assorted Cheese

The Final Plate

Morocco - Good Eats

Breakfast at the Dar. Rolls, hard-boiled eggs, fresh OJ, goat cheese, and Jam

Cucumber slices, Lentils and Beans, spiced Cauliflower, spicy olives, and roasted eggplant. The Cauliflower was awesome and so was the eggplant. I wish I spoke Arabic so our house cook could have given me the recipe.

Fried anchovies at the outdoor Asilah restaurant. Fish french fries!

Lamb Tanjine with potatoes and parsnips

Pigeon Pastilla - sweet and savory

Celebrating with Dessert

My sister is becoming quite the baker. I mean she is fearless to try a new recipe so for the Easter weekend (or Yeah, Jesus rose from the dead Day!) she set out to make two difficult, from scratch recipes. I was, of course, along for the ride and more than willing to help. The one recipe was the cold water biscuits, passed down from Martyn's grandmother. They are good folks. Not easy or quick, but delicious. It's a lot of proofing and the 2 extra hours in the car of final proofing really expanded they're sizes. The rolls were epic big, in a good way of course. We also set out to make a coconut cake. It was quite the process. Note to all readers, egg whites in the carton do NOT whip into meringue. Also, delicate cakes can sometimes spontaneously fissure over night. Also, an egg white icing does not like fluctuating temperatures. But this Cake was good, it was all from scratch and good looking.

The age old, tried and true, rice krispie treat also made an appearance with the addition of a popsicle stick and a little caramel. We also had a store bought, Key Lime Pie.

Jenn sent this picture along of her wonderful biscuits!

High Altitude 3-Bean Chili and Lentil with Flowering Kale Soup

So it turns out that feeding 17 people can be quite a challenge and for an additional test of skill, do it at altitude (10,000 ft) in a rental house kitchen with dull knives. Well we pulled it off. With my two friends, Megan and Jenn (Jenn doubles as my sister), we cooked up quite the feast. On a few scraped knuckles later, we had a triumphant meal for 17 with Grilled cheese with Fontina, White Cheddar and spinach, 3-Bean Citrus Chili and Green Lentils with Flowering Kale Soup.

It became quite hard to predict the amount of ingredients needed to pull of this feet. But sticking to the basics of creating a good foundation with the Onions, Celery, Peppers (the trinity) for the chili and a mirepoix (carrots, celery, and onion) for the lentils, we pulled it off. I added jalapeño to both as well as garlic and diced tomatoes.

The hightlights were definitely the flowering purple kale in the lentils, the zest and juice of 2 oranges in the chili, and the perfect grilled cheese with spinach. And of course my two cooking companions, Jenn and Megan.

Megan and Jenn

Another highlight was mushing this team of dogs!

Pear, Argula, Roaster Pepper Sandwich

On Sunday I was over at my sister's for a haircut and I managed to get a sandwich out of the deal. So it was multi-grain bread, hummus, garlic and herb goat cheese, roasted red peppers, Bosc Pear, and arugula. Moist and delicious and surprisingly sweet.

Eggs and Kielbasa

Eggs and Kielbasa with Melted Swiss on toasted Honey Wheat Toast

This is a simple breakfast sandwich. My eggs were cooked over medium, the cheese melted perfectly and salty seared kielbasa. This was one great breakfast.

Skirt Steak, Brussels Sprouts and Yukon Gold Potatoes

I'm going to let the pictures do most of the talking. The meal was pan seared skirt steak with sautéed mushrooms, roasted Brussels Sprouts, and seared Yukon gold potatoes. It was good.

The Brussels Sprout

Bottom sliced off.

Halved

Bowled

Tossed with Olive Oil, Salt and Pepper, Garlic, Ground Sumac (A Spice from Turkey)

Yukon Gold's

halved

Diced

Cremini Mushrooms

Skirt Steak

From http://whatscookingamerica.net/Q-A/SkirtSteak.htm Skirt Steak is a boneless cut of beef from the lower part of the brisket. Cut from the beef flank, the skirt steak is the diaphragm muscle (which lies between the abdomen and chest cavity).

THE RESULTS

French Lentils and Kale

On a cold and rainy Sunday morning when my cold seemed to be never ending, I turned to a new hearty, healthy and warm meal. Lentils. I kept them pretty simple as I always do. French lentils, onion, garlic, jalapeño, fire roasted tomatoes, and kale. The recipe called for a lot of water and trust me it needed it. I also brought them to a boil and then back to a simmer and let them cook for a long time. I'd say about 30 minutes and then added the tomatoes for another 20-25 minutes of cooking time. I couldn't resist the urge and my first bowl included some very al dente lentils, albeit tasty. I nearly forgot to add the kale at the very end. I just rinsed the kale and added it directly to my bowl. I had a fresh and crusty baguette to accompany as well. It was a warm and fulfilling meal that has me feeling better already.

And then the meal was topped off by some great cookies from my friend Jessica. Peanut butter blossoms (aka neeps), chocolate chocolate mint filled delights, and some fudge.

Waffle House, a culinary adventure

So while in the south (or anywhere for that matter) it is almost a requirement that one must go to the local Waffle House for some culinary mastery. I mean it's cheap, fast, tasty, and served with the perfect amount of butter/lard. I stuck with the two marquees of the Waffle House menu, waffles and hash browns.

We went to two different waffle houses on our trip to Mississippi.

This one in Biloxi.

And this one in Ocean Springs, MS.

I went with the pecan waffle on day one and the blueberry waffle on day two. And each time I went with hash browns, smothered, covered, and diced (if you don't know what that is, look it up).

Well it's sort of tasty, but it's more about the experience. I tend to stay away from the chains, but when there's one every mile or so, it's hard to resist. Now my colon might want to chime in when it comes to the after effects of the amount of shortening used, but hey, how often am I in the Southeast and eating at the WH, no not the White House, the Waffle House.