Obsessively Good Sandwich!

Some people might call me obsessive over the Pan Bagnat sandwiches I have been making, but I think when you find a good thing, there is no such thing as too much!

We had a delicious Sockeye salmon recently, which my terrific husband expertly prepared on our Big Green Egg.  He says everything turns our perfect because of the grill, but I give him credit too.

Simply seasoned but incredibly delicious Sockeye Salmon prepared on a Big Green Egg.

We have loved "cooking out" even more this summer with our grill, but the other part I love is that the leftovers are terrific--and I don't like leftovers.  Well, I didn't always like leftovers, but I have learned to intentionally cook more than we need because of the "planned-overs" that will be just as delicious the second time around. 

Leftover Salmon from the fridge.

Notice the leftover salmon isn't as moist looking, and we have found that it isn't as good re-warmed, but if you can eat it cold it is still delicious.  Here's where the obsessive part might come in. 

Cold salmon mixed with both green and black olives, capers, and shallots.

With the beautiful fall weather we are experiencing, I suggested a picnic lunch to my husband.  We could take a lunch break outside in the middle of the day and sort of pretend we were in the French countryside again.  I substituted the delicious leftover salmon for the canned tuna that I usually use, and VOILA--a French picnic was made. 

Two sandwiches coming up!

I also am enjoying the heirloom tomatoes with every meal, so I added them and off we went.  For people who don't really like leftovers, this was a surprisingly wonderful meal!

Fill your plates with COLOR!

I am passionate about good food. I love to make delicious, beautiful meals and share the love of food with others.  I wasn't always this way.  I used to eat simply out of hunger without taking a few extra minutes to think about how foods work together.  Now I give a lot of thought to texture, color and flavors when I am planning a meal.  After all we do eat with our eyes also and I have some examples of these types of dishes for you.  My daughter taught me the importance of making the plate look good about 20 years ago, and I have taken this lesson to heart!
Notice in the photos below how colors and textures play off each other and appeal to our appetites. 

Adding some red tomatoes and green herbs to artichokes, white beans and olives really makes an impact.

Putting some cheese, herbs and balsamic glaze on top of tomatoes zips up the color.

Green and red again but in different textures.

Potatoes and beans are pretty but using some purple potatoes is even prettier.

Add some fruit to your cheese plate to get some more color.

Salads are an easy way to use color.  Even using red can be done differently by including tomatoes, red cabbage, salami and red onion.

A celebration of color on a platter!

Even plain old Butternut squash can look more interesting and colorful when made into a salad.

Try varying the colors in your foods and see what you notice.

Summer Pesto

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I am re-posting this for all of you who have fresh basil available now.  Use it before the weather changes!

I have a lot of lovely basil in my herb garden so it’s time to make pesto.  Whenever there is an abundance of something, that is the best time to preserve it.  In the case of fresh herbs, it’s also good to be taking cuttings as that encourages more growth. 

Fresh Basil growing in my herb pot. 

Panzanella

I knew that we were ending up with too much bread in the house for how we eat bread, so I thought I should try something a little different.  Instead of toast, sandwiches, and croutons for on top of salads, I thought of making Panzanella--bread salad!

It's a very simple salad to make.  All you really need are tomatoes, bread and some vinaigrette ingredients.

I had a little surprise thrown into my plan--bread that was too hard to cut into cubes!  It turned into this:

Bread that was too hard to cube.

Bread that is too stale can become breadcrumbs in your food processor.

And it will live in my freezer until I need bread crumbs for something.

Lucky for me, I did have some other bread that I could cube up.  I decided to make it into croutons so I coated the cubes with olive oil, salt and pepper and baked them in the oven for 15 minutes. If you have a hearty loaf that's a little stale, you can skip toasting and use it fresh.

Bread cubes ready for the oven.

While these were toasting, I made a vinaigrette using red wine vinegar, finely diced shallot, fresh basil, salt and pepper.

Panzanella!

I diced up a tomato and mixed it all together.  Then I had to wait 10-15 minutes until the croutons and tomatoes and vinaigrette all worked together to make a delicious salad.  Agonizing wait, but well worth it!

The lovely Tomato

Last week I proclaimed it to be "the week of the tomato" at my house. This is absolutely the best time of year for tomatoes and we have been enjoying them every day, sometimes more than once.  Here are some of the ways that we've eaten them:

Make a caprese salad appetizer--put it on a stick!

I love Caprese salads and have come up with some variations of that such as the appetizer pictured. 

I have found a great local source for heirloom tomatoes and have also discovered a new cheese (to me) that is incredibly delicious with tomatoes: Burrata. It is sold in the same areas of the cheese case where you purchase fresh mozzarella. 

Sliced Tomatoes with Balsamic Reduction, fresh Basil and Burrata cheese.

Tomatoes are a great addition to a sandwich.

Put together skewers of meat and vegetables.

Make Panzanella!

Mixing different colors of tomatoes together looks delicious all by itself.

Put a few tomatoes on a potato and green bean salad.

How are you enjoying your tomatoes?

Summer Cucumbers in Sour Cream Updated

Cucumber Salad

As a kid I loved the family picnics for all the fabulous picnic foods.  I remember fondly that I had an aunt who would make this salad, but I didn't know how to make it, and didn't consider asking for the recipe.

As a young adult I encountered this same salad through my husband.  His grandmother, who was an outstanding cook, would make this salad during the summer.  I tried to learn how to make it from her, but she never measured anything, and I lacked confidence that I could make something without a recipe.

Now I try to impress upon people that a recipe is only "a starting place", and sometimes it is "only a suggestion". 

I am quite sure that the salad I had as a child was simply sliced cucumbers in sour cream, a little milk and salt and pepper.  Not being knowledgeable about food at that time in my life, I could be wrong and it might have had a little vinegar mixed in also.

Nana, my husbands lovely grandmother, had a more involved process for her salad. First she sliced the cucumber very thin, and then she put it into a colander, salted the cuke slices, and weighted it down for several hours to remove a lot of the water.

Sliced and salted in a colander.

Put some weight on top and let the liquid come out in a bowl, not in your salad. Can you see the liquid in the bottom bowl?

Salted cucumbers after thirty minutes. 

This is the way I do it now because I have discovered that salting the cucumbers helps keep the salad from being too watery and seasons the cukes without tasting salty.


I put the colander in one bowl to collect the water that drains off, and one bowl on top with jars of food to put some weight on the cukes.  I leave that on my counter for several hours and then taste the cukes.  If they do taste overly salty, rinse them and give them time to drain. 

Water from Salted Cucumbers

About 1 cup of water was removed from cucumbers in 4 hours.

 If I want to make this ahead of time, I would also squeeze out some liquid before combining with my dressing.

I don't usually have sour cream in the house, but I always have plain yogurt, so I now make most creamy dressing using yogurt.  I put about 1 cup yogurt, 1 tbsp. cider vinegar, salt and pepper in a bowl and whisk.

Next, take a piece of cucumber and taste the two together.  Adjust as needed.

TASTE!

Adding dill and a touch of sugar.

When everything tastes delicious, combine it in one bowl and enjoy.

My Cucumber Salad. 

Because of the draining off of excess liquid, this salad will last in the fridge a couple of days without becoming "soupy". 

Minimalist Macaroni and Cheese--Your new favorite!

I consider this a "minimalist" dish for these two reasons:
You can make this with a minimal number of ingredients  AND  with a minimum number of dirty dishes!  Who doesn't love that?

First gather your ingredients and equipment (Mise en Place)

• One deep pasta pot
• 1 pound dried pasta, any shape 
• Colander for draining pasta
• 3 cups (or more) grated cheese (I used a medium cheddar once, and a combination of what I had in the fridge--mozzerella, co-jack, cheddar-- another time)
• 2 Tbsp. all purpose flour
• 1- 2 tsp. dry mustard
• 1-1/2 cups whole or 2% milk
• Salt
• Pepper

Bring water to a boil in your pasta pot.  Add pasta and 2 Tablespoons salt and stir.  When water returns to a boil, turn down heat, stir again, and set timer.  I like to check my pasta a couple of minutes before the package directs you to stop cooking because I want my pasta perfectly firm, not mushy and soft. When it tastes right to me, I drain it in the colander.  I don't rinse because I want the cheese sauce to coat the pasta.

 While the pasta cooked, I mixed up 1/2 cup of the milk with 2 Tablespoons flour in a lidded jar. 

Using the same pan that you cooked your pasta in, pour in the 1 cup of milk and heat over medium heat.  Stir.  Once you see that the milk is steaming, whisk in the flour mixture.  If you used a jar and shook it up hard it should be lump free.  Continue to whisk for 2-3 minutes, or until the mixture looks thick and creamy.  Next, stir in handfuls of cheese, salt and dry mustard; continue stirring in cheese until it has all been incorporated.  Remove from heat.

Put half of the drained pasta in the cheese sauce and stir to coat evenly.  Continue adding pasta until you have all of it mixed up with the cheese sauce.

Now you can put it into individual bowls and serve!  Here's what is left for clean up:

Minimal clean up. (plus the pan)

I like mine topped with chopped fresh tomatoes and ground pepper.

Creamy Macaroni and Cheese!