recipe

KNR, p. 217 “Tomato Cucumber Feta Salad”

 

It’s grillin’ season!

Some of our pals grill all year round. We know a guy that keeps a snow shovel inside the house near the deck door – just in case it snows – in order to clear a path on the deck to his five-foot-wide grill.  🙂  But, we’re a little more conservative, and stick to mid-May until first frost in mid to late October.

Whenever your grilling months, you probably serve fresh vegetable salads of some kind along with the great meats and veggies you can sear on the grill top. We like this cucumber and tomato mix, tossed together with an easy salad dressing and feta cheese, for a light salad that goes well with a variety of BBQ food. Hamburgers and hot dogs or steaks and potatoes? It works with everything we’ve tried on the grill and nobody has died yet from eating the fig balsamic or the herbes de Provence. Promise.

 

Print
"Tomato Cucumber Feta Salad"
Author: 
Recipe type: Salad
Cuisine: American
Prep time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 4-6
 
Ingredients
  • 3 medium tomatoes, cut into one inch chunks (about 4 cups)
  • 2 large cucumbers, peeled and sliced (about 4 cups)
  • 1 6 oz package feta cheese, crumbled
  • 1/4 cup red onion, finely chopped
  • 1/4 cup fig balsamic vinegar
  • 1 Tablespoon herbes de Provence
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice
Instructions
  1. Place the tomatoes, cucumbers, feta and onion in a large serving bowl.
  2. In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the vinegar, herbes de provence, pepper, and lemon juice.
  3. Pour the dressing over the vegetables and cheese and lightly toss until combined.
  4. Serve cold.

 

Enjoy!

 

 

KNR, p. 217 “Tomato Cucumber Feta Salad” Read More »

KNR, p. 166 “Cobbles for Vegetable Stew”

If there are no paragraph separations in this post, double-click on the title and they will appear.  🙂

CobblesIMG_5113

Sheila and I eat in a lot of pubs whenever we visit Ireland. The food is tasty and in most places, is real comfort food. In order to get through those damp, cold Irish winters, food needs to be the hearty stick-to-your-ribs kind. We saw Vegetable Cobbler on the menu in a Killarney pub and thought it was a misprint. After all, we eat cobbler at home, but it’s always made with fruit – loads of different kinds of fruit, but always fruit.

We found out that Irish pubs rarely serve fruit cobbler and instead, go for a savory version and serve it as an entree. Until that day we had been served mashed potato topped stew and pie crust topped stew, but the gal told us that those were meat toppings. The cobbles (biscuits) are used primarily with an all vegetable stew. We learned something new every day!

Here’s the recipe that Sheila came up with to use with our year round hearty vegetable dishes. She modified her regular biscuit recipe and now it reminds me of those cheesy biscuits we get at restaurants here in the States.

 

Print
"Cobbles for Stew"
Author: 
Recipe type: Side Dish
Cuisine: Irish
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 4
 
Ingredients
  • 2 1/2 cups self-rising flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
  • 4 Tablespoons butter or margarine
  • 1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano (or rosemary, depending on the vegetable stew seasonings)
  • 1 jumbo egg, slightly beaten
  • 3/4 cup milk
  • Parchment paper
  • Aluminum cookie tray
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees (F)
  2. Mix the flour and salt together in a large bowl
  3. Add the butter/margarine and mix together with a fork or pastry blender
  4. Mix in 2/3 cup cheese and all the oregano (or rosemary). Set aside.
  5. Place the milk in a small bowl.
  6. Add the beaten egg to the milk and stir together.
  7. Add 1 cup of milk-egg mixture to the dry ingredients and mix together to form a soft ball of dough.
  8. Add more of the mixture if needed to include all the dry ingredients in the ball.
  9. Roll out dough (on a lightly floured surface) to about a 1/2 inch thickness.
  10. Use a lightly floured glass or lightly floured cookie cutter to cut two-inch circles.
  11. Add the cobbles to the top of your stew.
  12. Brush with leftover milk-egg and sprinkle the leftover cheese on top.
  13. Bake at 425 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.

We love that the ‘cobbles’ can also be baked on their own and eaten as an alternate bread at any meal. I taste-tested quite a few of these to make sure that the recipe was just right. 😉

If you are making the biscuit/cobbles without the stew, or have extra dough that doesn’t fit on top of the stew (as we did in the photo above) line the aluminum cookie tray with parchment paper, and increase the baking time to 13-14 minutes. Eat warm right out of the oven and serve with butter/margarine.

Enjoy!

 

 

 

Save

KNR, p. 166 “Cobbles for Vegetable Stew” Read More »

KNR, p. 157 “Butternut Squash with Chestnuts”

 

 

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year. There. I’ve said it.   🙂

All that fun food brought by people showing off their best recipes? The outrageously delicious pies? How could it not be a foodie adventure?

 

But, wait, you say… remember Lola’s food puzzle dish? Unrecognizable in any food group that we could figure out? That’s why it’s an adventure. You never know what will turn up.

 

Last year, we were invited to dinner at a college pal’s house. (Translation – we go waaay back) Everybody brought a side dish and the butternut squash was one of the standouts. I happen to love butternut squash, but at home we usually have it whipped and buttered. Mary’s version is so much more interesting. She added chestnuts and rutabaga and now it’s the only way we serve it.

 

Mary told us the secret ingredients (she cooks creatively and doesn’t always make a dish the same way twice) and Sheila and I went to work on crafting a recipe that could be shared. Well…Sheila cooked and I tasted, to make sure the balance of flavors worked. I did do some wicked peeling, chopping, and scooping though. 😉

 

Ingredients

4-5 cups cooked Butternut Squash (4 pound squash yields 5-6 cups)

1 teaspoon olive oil, extra virgin, cold-pressed

1 teaspoon Sea Salt + 1 teaspoon Sea Salt

2 Tablespoons water for baking squash

2 cups cooked Rutabaga, rough mashed or pureed (1 medium rutabaga)

3 Tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon Nutmeg

2 Tablespoons heavy cream

1 dozen Chestnuts, cooked and peeled, for garnish (Gefen sells a package of recipe-ready chestnuts – already peeled and cooked)

Pepper (to taste)

 

Preparation:

Start the prep of the squash first, then after it is in the oven, start the rutabaga prep.

Squash:

  1. Preheat oven to 400.
  2. Place whole squash in microwave. Prick 2-3 times with cooking fork. Microwave on high for 4 minutes to make it easier to slice.
  3. Remove from microwave and cut in half lengthwise, scoop out seeds and place both sides face up on baking sheet.
  4. Lightly coat with olive oil and 1 teaspoon of the sea salt.
  5. Place 1 Tablespoon water in each of the bowls of squash, place tray in oven and bake for 30 minutes.
  6. Turn the butternut squash face down in the oven and cook for another 20 minutes, or until tender.
  7. Remove the squash from the oven, scoop out all the meat, place the meat in a standing electric mixer, and mix on high for 1 minute.
  8. Slow to medium speed and add butter, nutmeg, and cream. Mix until well blended.

Rutabaga:

  1. Peel the rutabaga and slice into 1/4 inch thick pieces.
  2. Add 1 teaspoon Sea Salt to 2 quarts boiling water. Add rutabaga slices to the pot (Water should cover the rutabaga).
  3. Boil until tender enough to break apart when pierced – about 40 minutes.
  4. Drain rutabaga.
  5. Rough mash with spoon if you’d like a dish with texture or put through a food processor if you want a creamy mashed potato texture.

 

Add rutabaga to squash in the mixer bowl and whip on high for 3-4 minutes or until mashed potato consistency, adding salt if needed and pepper to taste.

 

If you are making this ahead of time, place the finished mixture into a large bowl suitable for reheating.

Garnish with chestnuts and serve.

 

Prep time: 40 minutes

Cooking time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Serves: 6

 

*Many thanks to Mary Gerrard for the delicious addition to the Thanksgiving table.  🙂

*Photo by Patti Phillips

 

 

Save

KNR, p. 157 “Butternut Squash with Chestnuts” Read More »