Salade Tapenade

 

I've made this salad a few times and, each time, I felt like I was inventing something new.  Well, in the food world (or the whole world), there's seldom anything new.  But one of the most cool things about being a well-seasoned cook (ha ha) is that you begin to have a sense, a feel, a love for whatever's around and what you can do with it.  It's not just, for instance, that strawberries taste better in late spring and so that's when you make strawberry shortcake.  But that's part of it.  I mean, don't make shortcake with fedexxed strawberries in January.  The rest of it is being able to look around the at the weather, your loved ones, the refrigerator,  the general mood of life, and figure out something to eat that uses up what you have and makes you (and others) pretty happy.  Maybe avoids a trip to the store.  Keeps you at home.  Perhaps saves you time by making something that doesn't require cooking from scratch that day.

I often make tapenade, which is generally a mixture of chopped olives and something else.  Spread it on a cracker or toasted baguette.   Of course there's more than one kind.  I have a cracker-licking good one that involves olives, figs, walnuts, and thyme...  Gee!  But I make a regular old kalamata-anchovy-garlic-parsley one that I use to top grilled pork chops or chicken.  I always have some left.  Sometimes I throw it into or on top of an omelette.  But I adore this salad.  The tapenade, some greens, maybe a few sauteed cherry tomatoes..  That's it.   Have a little leftover grilled fish you don't know what to do with?  Throw it in.  Deli chicken?  Shred it and make a meal.  I like it just like it is, though.  A little bread.  A little wine.  A little tapenade salad.  Make some and see.  Even if you bought the tapenade in a plastic bucket at Sam's for a party.

If I don't post again for a little while, I'm on a vacation break.   I've also just begun another Examiner title, so watch for me under the "Food and Drink" section of Colorado Springs for recipes.    More later.

Salade Tapenade
serves 4

8 cups greens of choice
Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper
1 lemon, juiced, divided
3 T olive oil, divided
8T tapenade
1 c cherry tomatoes


Wash and dry salad greens.  Place in a large bowl.  Drizzle a little lemon juice over all and dust with salt and pepper.  Put in frig briefly while you cook the tomatoes and make the dressing.

In a small bowl, whisk together   2T olive oil, 2T lemon juice, and a pinch each of kosher salt and fresh ground pepper.  Set aside.

Heat olive oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat, and add tomatoes.   Salt and pepper lightly.  Stir and saute for about 5 minutes until tomatoes begin to pop.

Remove greens from frig and divide among four salad plates.  Top with 2T tapenade for each salad.  Spoon the hot tomatoes over the greens.   Drizzle with dressing and serve immediately.

News from the Two-Dog Kitchen and from Around the 'Hood

Well, Tucker survived neutering, but I hardly did.  He's been the weirdest dog and his personality totally changed.  He spent the last week running outside to pee, only to sit down very quickly and look around at the world, as if to say, "What???"   No playing.   Lying around like a dumb bunny.   Jumping up in the middle of my bed.  Crying.  Carrying on.  Finally took him back to the vet today; he's infected himself (a  little)  and given himself a rash.  So I guess you'd act weird, too, with a rash on your tush and a chewed-up incision that hurt.  I guess.  (Eeeck.  Dogs.)

   The weather?  Funny you should ask.
77 and sunny on Mother's Day.  Other days:  rain, snow.... freezing....   I have a couple of pots of flowers already, but am not fool enough to plant anything.  I keep spending my time bringing them in and hauling them out.  In Colorado, you should buy plants on Thursday of Memorial Day Weekend.  Then you'll  have that weekend to plant them, and won't have to go in and out, in and out.   Here, however are a couple of things:

            Flowering crab, left.  Primrose on front path, above.



Sing a new song; don't plant anything,
Alyce

Prune Quick Bread or Something Different for Mother's Day Brunch

Before the quick bread post, click on the link below to send a Mother's Day Card that will work toward ending hunger...  from THE WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME--BLOGGERS AGAINST HUNGER.  HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY, FRIENDS...

http://gifts.wfp.org/

                                                NOW ON TO THE BREAD!!

My husband loves this bread.

But, when I mentioned to him (before he tasted it)  that I was working on a recipe for prune bread, he made a face, rolled his eyes and laughed.  Sometimes, we never escape third-grade humor.

I don't cook a lot with prunes, but have remembered a couple of great recipes  lately...one was from THE SILVER PALATE.  I want to say it was Chicken Marabella and it was famous.  The other is a pork roast with prunes that's to exhale repeatedly over. French recipe. OOOOh.  It's lovely. So different.  So smooth.   So company friendly.  Reheats like a champ over the weekend after a Friday night dinner party.

Back to the bread.  I made this bread when I was working on an article called, "Quick Bread 101,"  in which I attempted to work out a basic quick bread recipe that let you add whatever you had on hand ...say bananas, apples, blueberries, etc.  I think I got it right, but this variation is my absolute favorite.  It would be a sweet Mother's Day gift, a great addition to brunch. 

I've been gone a few days to a funeral, so thought it was a good time to bring out the prune bread recipe and share it on the blog.  If you tried it from examiner, sorry.  I have re-written the recipe specifically for prunes.  It makes stuperous muffins!!  (stuperous is my word for something between stupendous and super)

Alyce's mom and nephew Michael.....

Prune Nut Bread        

makes 1 9x5x3  loaf

                                                         

1 c prunes, chopped

1 1/2 c orange juice 

     Simmer chopped prunes in orange juice for about five minutes.   Let cool slightly.

4T melted butter, cooled, or canola oil 

1 egg (you might want to use 2 at altitude)

     Mix cooled butter/oil and egg and add to orange juice and prunes. 

     Set aside.

21/2 c unbleached flour

1 c sugar

3 1/2 t baking powder

1 t salt

1 c chopped nuts

     In a large bowl, mix well all dry ingredients.  Add wet ingredients and stir just until well-mixed.

Spoon into greased and floured 9x5x3 loaf pan.  Bake about 50 minutes until bread is firm to the touch, is pulling away from the sides of the pan, and a toothpick inserted in the middle of the bread comes out with just a few moist crumbs.  Let cool in pan 5 min.   Bang pan on counter or board and turn out onto rack to cool completely before slicing.  Keep well-wrapped on counter for 1-2 days or freeze for up to 2 months.

Can be made into muffins.  Pour into greased muffin tins and bake at 400F 15 min.  Turn out on to rack to cool.

TWO-DOG KITCHEN AND AROUND THE 'HOOD

  As I write, Friar Tuck is over at Dr. Bill's getting a little nip and tuck done to raise his voice.  Yes, Tucker's getting neutered, but, you know, it had to happen.   I apologized ahead of time because he'll be a little groggy afterward.

          ....              .....                .....                         .......

(Below:   Later this afternoon......Poor baby)

.)

Our sour-cherry tree in bloom.  Pie cherries will be ready about the fourth of July.  Come pick before the birds get them all.  If we get up early to bake before the heat comes, we can have pie for the holiday.

Sing a new song; bake a new bread;

Happy Mother's Day!

Alyce

-----

In Memorium...Carol Curtiss..The Quintessential Lutheran Party Girl..

God, Love Her!

Cherry Tomato Chicken Pasta with Basil or I'm Gonna Fit in the Slinky Black Dress in Three Weeks

Here with rotini  (new photos added November, 2012)

 As cooks, we sometimes wake up with something special on our minds.
Something that just keeps going round and round and, until we make that dish, we just can't do anything.
No one should get in our way then.  No how.
Then we go to the grocery store.
Are way-laid by a point of entrance display of, say, raspberries.  Or avocados.  Or, in this case,
CHERRY TOMATOES.
I had every intention of making a Splendid Table newsletter dish called something like "Sicilian Chicken."
Until I saw cherry tomatoes

10 PINTS FOR $10

And my world went spinning until I could figure out and make  (a large detour from Sicilian Chicken)

Here, the original photo with linguine

Cherry Tomato Chicken Pasta with Basil
serves 4

3 pints cherry tomatoes
2 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus a little extra for chicken
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper, ditto
5 cloves garlic
1 small red onion, sliced
8 ounces sliced mushrooms
Pinch of crushed red pepper
1/4 cup white wine
1/4 cup kalamata olives, chopped
1teaspoon fresh rosemary, chopped very finely
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

3/4  pound  (12 ounces) whole wheat linguine

10-12 fresh basil leaves

4 tablespoons gruyere cheese, grated, optional

Bring to a boil a 10qt pot of salted and peppered water for linguine.  Add a few leaves of fresh basil.  Lower heat a little and leave water ready for pasta as you make the sauce:

In a deep, 12 or 14" saute pan,  heat 2T olive oil over medium heat and add tomatoes, salt and pepper.  Cook 10 minutes until tomatoes begin to pop, stirring often.  Add garlic, onion, mushrooms, dried red pepper, wine, olives and rosemary.   Continue to cook for another 10 minutes as tomatoes begin to fall apart.  Heat another saute or grill pan and add 2t olive oil.  Salt and pepper chicken breasts and grill very briefly, about 1 minute on each side.  Lower heat under tomato sauce and add the chicken to the  sauce.  Cover and cook at a low simmer for about 12 minutes.   Bring pasta water back to a rolling boil and add linguine.   Let covered chicken in sauce sit 10  minutes.   Test pasta for doneness and pour out into colander.   Divide the pasta into four pasta bowls and top each with a piece of chicken and a good serving of the tomato sauce. Garnish with torn fresh basil leaves and a dusting of fresh ground pepper.  Sprinkle with cheese, if desired.

Wine:  We liked a not-so-rough chianti with this dish.  Don't buy the bottom of the barrel, literally.  Go up one notch to a chianti classico for a tish more smoothness in your mouth and in your stomach.

Dessert:  Now you know I'm watching every bite (except at birthdays and wine dinners like Saturday), so I'm just having a bite of whatever Dave's having.  He eats dessert and he's thinner.  Hmm.  I consider this a justice issue.    I made a parfait for him out of layers of strawberries, blackberries, whipped cream and chocolate sauce.  In between each layer, I put a tablespoon or so of crushed shortbread cookies.  A long, skinny iced tea spoon and he was in business.

Two-Dog Kitchen and Neighborhood News

If you want to eat things grown with 50 miles of here, this is what you can eat....

So, 'Hood news in no apparent order:
Snowed every other day, at least.  Doves out this morning taking a walk right down the middle of the street at 5:30am.   Crab apple trees, bright pink, prettiest sight in town.  Book  Club is Wednesday night.  The neighbor with the best lawn already had to mow.  (Not us.)  Wed. we had 70mph winds and so much pollen that the entire sky was coated in waves of what looked to be smoke.  Praise God, there were no fires. 

 Sing a new song; change your mind at the store,
Alyce

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JUDY MAYS!

Judy Mays

Lover of politics and fried chicken.

(Always a great combination)

Blackberry Jam or No, My Phone is Still Working

 

The problem with making jam at home is that it's no problem.
A regular batch of freezer jam doesn't even take 45 minutes
                                                                                  and that includes washing/drying containers.

You can have it on toast.
You can put it on waffles.
Try a teaspoonful in your plain yogurt.  (Just buy plain yogurt and do this or add a tad of honey.)

You can give it away.  Oh, the friends you'll have.
Even if you do, you'll have enough jam to last quite a while.

Here's my jam cooling out on the deck.
I couldn't do that today because the wind is blowing 70 mph. 

So here's what I did... I followed the directions on the pectin packet.  Just for grins, I'll recount the experience.

Freezer Blackberry Jam ala SureJell Package and Alyce
makes about 7 cups of jam

Wash and dry about 10 c worth of containers.  (1 and/or 2 cup--your choice)   While you're only making 7 cups of jam, you'll need space at the top of each container for expansion.  Set aside on a big baking sheet or on counter where they can stay for a day or so.

Wash and pat dry about 3 pints fresh blackberries.

Mash them with a potato masher or put them in the food processor.  Leave some partial fruit; don't completely puree.   Measure to make sure you have exactly 3 cups of mashed berries.  Eat any left.

Measure into a large bowl exactly 5 1/4 c white sugar.  Mix 3 cups measured mashed blackberries into it.  Let stand 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Meantime, measure 3/4 c water into a small saucepan and add package of pectin (Surejell).   Stir well; it will be lumpy.   Bring to a boil over high heat and let boil 1 min.  (30 seconds extra at altitude.)  Pour into blackberry-sugar mixture and stir for 3-5 minutes continuously until the sugar is completely melted.  Taste to make sure no grit remains behind.

   Ladle or spoon into prepared clean plastic containers (1 or 2 cup) and leave 1/2 " at top for expansion.

Cover with well-fitted lids.

 Let sit 24 hours without disturbing to set.  Freeze for up to a year or  store in refrigerator for up to two weeks.  I don't think it'll last that long. 

Bon confiture!

Two-dog Kitchen...  Yes, they do more than sleep.  They eat and they go outside.  haha

Jammin'

Alyce

Name that Salad!

I would rather eat this salad (or whatever you call it) than many, many things.  It's just that yummy, healthy, faaaaast and keeps me within my new/old eating less is good life.  But I don't know what to call it. So this post is one just for you.  Read, enjoy the pics, but come up with a name for this dish.  This is the day to comment on this blog! 

Before the fish story, here's one piece of this week's weather.  We had winds so high I'm surprised any grass is left (I have little), snow, rain, sleet, hail, and just about anything else.  We also had  a rainbow...

 About the fish salad:  provenance?  I've had a similar, but still different, salad at Wahoo Fish Tacos.  I think that's where the idea came from.  For almost a year, though, I've been trying all kinds of fish and vegetable combinations, and am really interested in fish cooked in vegetables.  Great thing is that it's in keeping with my cutting my caloric intake by 25%.  It's working! 

Re this recipe:  It sounds labor-intensive, but it's actually quick like a bunny.  Grill a big bunch of vegetables sometime during the week, and you'll have them ready for this salad or any other meal.
Then all you need to do is throw out some greens on a plate and cook the fish.  You can be eating in 10 minutes.  I keep individually frozen pieces of tilapia in my freezer and then I'm ready any time.  (One of my favorite lunches is grilled vegetables in a high-fiber, whole wheat tortilla..topped with a little ranch dressing and a sprinkle of grated cheese.)  Grilled vegetables are also a super starter...Just do a neat dip and you're ready to go.  A little more interesting than the ubiquitous veggie  or cheese tray. Check out my grilled asparagus post.  Ok, here it is.  What shall we call it?

Fish Salad/needs name

Serves 4

3 ea small zucchini and yellow squash, sliced horizontally and grilled*
1 large red bell pepper, sliced and grilled
2 large red onions, sliced thickly and grilled
1 medium eggplant, peeled, sliced thickly and grilled

1# medium button mushrooms
½ c sliced shallots

6 c fresh baby spinach leaves
2 ripe avocados, peeled, seeded and split in half, dipped in lemon juice

8 tilapia filets or similar white, firm-fleshed fish
5T olive oil, divided
1 t (or more to taste) chili powder
½ t kosher salt
¼ t fresh ground pepper

½ c light Ranch dressing, best quality
¼ c salsa

2 large tomatoes, chopped finely, optional

1 lemon, halved. ((You'll use half to squeeze and slice the other half.)

In a medium skillet, heat 1T of the olive oil over medium heat. Add the mushrooms and shallots. Saute until mushrooms are golden, tossing regularly.

Meantime, divide the fresh spinach among four large plates. Divide the grilled vegetables and mushroom-shallot sauté atop the spinach, leaving room for the fish that you’re about to sauté. In the corner of each plate, place one half avocado. Set plates aside.

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and add 2T olive oil.** Add four tilapia (or other) filets, showering each with chili pepper, salt and pepper. Cook for about two minutes, until golden on one side. Gently turn the fish over and season second side. Cook for another two minutes or until crispy and flakey. Be careful not to overcook; this fish is done quickly. Taste a bite, if necessary, to assure yourself.

Remove fish from skillet and add two cooked filets each of two dinner plates. Repeat procedure with the other four fish filets, first adding the other 2T olive oil to the skillet.

While fish cook, mix the ranch dressing and the salsa in a small bowl or measuring cup to make the salad dressing.

After adding the last of the fish to the other two dinner plates, take the lemon half and squeeze it over each plate, making sure every element gets a bit of juice. Scatter chopped tomatoes over plates, if desired. Slice the other half of lemon and add the slices to salads for garnish. Drizzle salads with a bit of salad dressing each, and bring the rest to the table to pass.

*Another option is to oven-roast these vegetables. To do that, heat the oven to 400 F. Toss all of the vegetables with a couple of tablespoons of olive oil on large baking sheet. Salt and pepper liberally. Roast about 30 minutes (to your taste), taking them out and stirring them mid-way through the cooking. If you don’t like these veg, choose others. Asparagus grills nicely. You could add tiny potatoes, too, particularly if you’re roasting the veg.  If you're really pressed for time, cut the vegetables and cook them briefly in the microwave.

**Grill the fish outdoors if you’d like. Make sure the grill-pan is well-oiled.

Two-Dog Kitchen Continues....

This week's dog stories include.........  (pics below)

    Fun with Gabby and Tucker

Gab ate pectin and part of a 5# bag of sugar out the back of the car while I delivered an article to a restaurant.   Needless to say, I had to shop again to get ready to make blackberry jam.  (Next post, maybe.) I also got to be on puke clean-up patrol all night long.  Thank goodness I have a carpet shampooer.
 
Tucker learned to snack on the toilet paper hanging off the roll.  He loves it, and I don't have to buy dog treats anymore.

Gab was on guard one night all night long, and barked, growled, and jumped on the bed so many times to alert me of the skunk/deer/bobcat/coyote/squirrel/robins/doves....about to attack the house that I finally just got up and stayed up.  So much for sleep.

Tucker is finally traveling with us in the car, but discovered he's not all that fond of motion, and might prefer to stay home and sleep for now on.  He lost and regained his breakfast repeatedly on Saturday.  He also put deep claw marks on the console of my brand-new Subaru Forester.   There are few words.  And all of them are nasty.  After that episode, we did take Tucker back to the house before continuing errands.  Well-behaved Gabby, on the other hand, was allowed to continue the trip.  While Dave went in to Ace to buy Thai basil (and came out with Sweet Basil, Tarragon, and German Thyme), I ran into the ARC to check on some Havilland Limoge plates.  Gabby jumped into the back of the car and ate a whole package of the high-fiber tortillas mentioned above, as well as a French roll I had bought for Dave's dinner...  We didn't know about her al fresco meal (she's so sneaky) until we unpacked the groceries, because she jumped back to the middle seat after her "lunch," and was sitting there primly when we returned.

Tucker does not like to heel, and almost killed both Gabby and me refusing to comply with commands when cars were coming.  He is now literally on a very short leash and practising more often.  He is interested in chasing leaves in the high winds we've been having.  Not much else.

Sing a new song; name a new salad, love your dogs no matter what,

Alyce

Blackberry Cobbler or It's Spring Somewhere....

I've always dreamed of living in a place where I could pick blackberries.

Off I'd head, early morning, basket in hand.

Maybe some gloves. 

These things can be scratchy, to say the least.

I might take one of the dogs.

Sometimes I read the blogs of women who live in such places.

They have so many blackberries that they blog about jam.

But I live up on the mesa.

Near the mountains.

And there aren't any blackberries growing wild.

In fact, there's nothing growing.

Unless someone planted it in a yard. 

And then:

They have to pay the water bill.

Silly, huh?

Wanna eat locally here?

You better enjoy cactus, of which I have plenty.

(I do have a sour cherry tree and rhubarb....)

I once had a $37. tomato I grew on the deck.

I pay hundreds a year for a couple of patches of grass.

(So my dogs don't have to pee on rocks.)

All that leads you to know that  if I made blackberry anything,

my blackberries came from King Soopers.

On sale.

10 half-pints for $10.

Deal?

No, but it's as good as it's going to get.

And were we glad to get cobbler made from store-bought blackberries?

Uh-duh.

Alyce's Blackberry Cobbler made from Store-bought Blackberries

7 c washed blackberries

1/2 c white sugar

1/3 c all-purpose flour

1 cup flour

1T white sugar, plus 1t for dusting crust right before baking

1/4 t salt

2t baking powder

4T butter, chilled

6-7T milk

1T melted butter

In 2qt casserole or a deep-dish pie pan, mix the berries, sugar and flour.  Set aside.

In a food processor, or using a pastry blender or two knives, mix the dry ingredients for the biscuit topping and cut in the butter until it's all crumbs.  Shouldn't be even, but will have tiny irregular bits and pieces.  Add milk, one tablespoon at a time, either processing briefly or stirring constantly with a fork.  When dough holds together, pull it together into a ball and knead it a few times until it looks and feels smooth.  Pat or roll it out into the shape of your pan and lift it onto the top of the berries, tucking it in to bed around the edges. Brush the crust with the melted butter.  Sprinkle with a little sugar on top (no more than a teaspoon full).  Bake about 35 minutes, checking in 10 minutes before that.  If it's golden brown and bubbly, get it out of there and put it on a rack to cool.  Do let it cool quite a bit or you'll have berry juice and crust for dessert.   Makes a lovely dessert, but a better breakfast.  Add some ice cream or gelato if you're eating dessert.   A bit of milk on top of it in a bowl rounds out the dish for breakfast.

Two-dog Kitchen presents:

Whose bone is that?

A little neighborhood news: 

I have a flicker (and, no, this isn't a place to put pictures) on my chimney.

He thinks it's wood, but the part he's on is metal.

A hollow, chimey jack-hammer.

Out front, the primroses, which look nothing like roses, are blooming inky, dark purple.

Nearby, a rabbit (he lives here) sits up just like a picture and looks at...?

Our house dove is at the edge of the roof cooing at her mate, who maybe skipped town.

Three young lady deer spent a lot of time peering in my window today, scared of Gabby.

The robins, down to a pair, are in and out, all around.

I've yet to figure out where they're nesting.

My neighbors' houses have forsythia in bloom.  Including Sarah M's if she's reading.

Why is yellow so hopeful?

In memoriam:  my pool-shooting buddy, Janet Egbert, who died yesterday suddenly...at the beautiful age of 52

Sing a new song; craft a new cobbler; love your friends while you have them,
Alyce

Friday Night Dinner in the Fireplace or Still too Cold for the Grill

Usually I do a lovely dinner on Friday nights.

While we're Christians, we think of it as our Sabbath...

We're both home.  Time to breathe, rest, catch up.   Live.

No watches.

No cell phones.

No television.

Music.

Candles.

Sigh.

But where was spring?  I was getting desperate for a little lamb grilled outdoors.

Maybe a glass of wine on the deck before it got too cold.  (The light is lasting now.)

Mother Nature had other plans.

In Colorado Springs, we have so little rain that I usually can't remember the last time it rained.   So when it does blow up a storm (we often have dry storms come summer) and then drizzles all day, I must be grateful.  Even if I can't cook on the grill.

So I had some chicken apple sausage, which, to my not-very-sausage-saavy-palate, tastes a lot like brats.  A fraction of the fat.  They're pretty versatile.  Already fully-cooked, you can grill them and eat them on a roll, slice them into a salad, put them in bean soup, or chop them up into scrambled eggs.  Lots.   Friday night, I said, "Ok, if the grill won't come to me, I'll come to the fireplace."  Or something like it.  We dug out the wienie forks from the dusty camp kitchen stored in the garage, and while I heated up some soup I'd frozen last month, grilled onions and buns, Dave built a fire.  When it was ready, we roasted wienies in the basement.    Tucker, of course, wanted some.  No way.

and watched "Gladiator."  So sad at the end....

Sing a new song; skip the grill and cook at the fireplace, let sleeping dogs lie.....

Alyce