Barefoot Bloggers: Pasta with Sun-Dried Tomatoes

I’m normally so on top of my Barefoot Bloggers posts. I’ve had this made for a few days but have been kind of lazy with doing a write-up. Oops!

This week’s pick comes courtesy of Cat of Delta Whiskey. I enjoy the pasta so was not opposed to giving this recipe a go. This recipe gets bonus points for being super easy to throw together.  Perfect for summer because the only cooking required is making the pasta.  Who doesn’t love that?

The key to success here since nothing is being cooked is to buy really high-quality ingredients.  I ended up going to my fave Italian grocery store, Grande Cheese.  I wish they had a website but they don’t.  I go to the Orfus Road location in Toronto.  I picked up some great olives and sun-dried tomatoes from their antipasto bar and also bought my mozzarella there.

The dressing is super flavourful but not overpowering.  It could likely work in other applications so it’s worth keeping the dressing portion of the recipe on-hand.  This dish was great and would be a lovely addition to your summer BBQ or potluck.

Enjoy!

Pasta with Sun-Dried Tomatoes

Ingredients

* 1/2 pound fusilli (spirals) pasta
* Kosher salt
* Olive oil
* 1 pound ripe tomatoes, medium-diced
* 3/4 cup good black olives, such as kalamata, pitted and diced
* 1 pound fresh mozzarella, medium-diced
* 6 sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained and chopped

For the dressing:

* 5 sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained
* 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
* 6 tablespoons good olive oil
* 1 garlic clove, diced
* 1 teaspoon capers, drained
* 2 teaspoons kosher salt
* 3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
* 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan
* 1 cup packed basil leaves, julienned

Directions

Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water with a splash of oil to keep it from sticking together. Boil for 12 minutes, or according to the directions on the package. Drain well and allow to cool. Place the pasta in a bowl and add the tomatoes, olives, mozzarella, and chopped sun-dried tomatoes.

For the dressing, combine the sun-dried tomatoes, vinegar, olive oil, garlic, capers, salt, and pepper in a food processor until almost smooth.

Pour the dressing over the pasta, sprinkle with the Parmesan and basil, and toss well.
(Copyright, 2002, Barefoot Contessa Family Style, All Rights Reserved )

Chopped Salad Goodness

A few years ago when I was still in university, a few girlfriends and I went to Boca Raton for spring break.  If you’re familiar with Boca then you know that it is filled with retirement communities, which was kind of perfect for lazy, laid-back spring break. We stayed with my friend’s grandparents at Boca West and feasted on chopped salads from the clubhouse as often as possible.

Is it just me or do salads always taste better when other people make them for you?  Not sure why but it’s almost a rule.

Anyway, I was flipping through the June issue of Cooks Illustrated when I came across a recipe and accompanying tips for making chopped salads.  Some of the key ones were to incorporate the lettuce last, remove excess liquids from watery ingredients such as cucumbers and tomatoes, and to allow ingredients to marinate in the dressing for a bit before adding the lettuce.

I used the recipe below as a guide and modified to fit my tastes. I omitted cucumbers because I don’t love them.  Used regular tomatoes instead of grape tomatoes, used balsamic instead of red wine vinegar, I forgot to add the red onions and parsley but added tuna, artichoke hearts and young garlic to the mix.  I also omitted the feta cheese.

The key to a good chopped salad is to chop everything small enough so that every forkful is the perfect bite with a bit of everything on there.  No digging around necessary.

Enjoy!

Mediterranean Chopped Salad

• 1 medium cucumber, peeled, halved lengthwise, seeded, and cut into 1/2-inch dice (about 1 1/4 cups)
• 1 pint grape tomatoes, quartered (about 1 1/2 cups)
• table salt
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1 medium garlic clove, minced (about 1 teaspoon) or garlic clove, pressed through garlic press (about 1 teaspoon)
• 1 (14 ounce) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1/2 cup chopped pitted kalamata olive
• 1/2 small minced red onion (about 1/4 cup)
• 1/2 cup roughly chopped fresh parsley
• 1 romaine lettuce, heart cut into 1/2-inch pieces (about 3 cups)
• 4 ounces feta cheese, crumbled (about 1 cup)
• ground black pepper

1. Combine cucumber, tomatoes, and 1 teaspoon salt in colander set over bowl and let stand 15 minutes.
2. Whisk oil, vinegar, and garlic together in large bowl. Add drained cucumber and tomatoes, chickpeas, olives, onion, and parsley; toss and let stand at room temperature to blend flavors, 5 minutes.
3. Add romaine and feta; toss to combine. Season with salt and pepper and serve.

Grilled Salmon with Nectarine Salsa

A few months back I went to Costco and bought a side of salmon.  I looked in my freezer the other day and noticed one lonely portion waiting to be consumed.  Incidentally I also had two nectarines in my fridge that had been floating around for about a week.

I was looking at the most recent recipe collection from Bon Appetit on Epicurious when I saw this recipe for salmon with nectarines.    How convenient!  Plus, I’m a sucker for mix meats with a sweet/spicy combo.

This was a totally quick and easy meal… ready in about 20 minutes.  I threw together the ingredients for the salsa while the broiler was heating up (nope, no grill for me).  I let the fish cook under the broiler for about 8-10 minutes.  While the fish was cooking I made some couscous and that was it.

I loved this dish.  The key is to have ripe nectarines.  I had some ripe nectarines that I thought were super ripe but could have used another day or two.  The salsa was fine anyway but would have benefited from a touch more sweetness.  The balance between the sweet fruit and the peppers worked really nicely.  I love a fruit salsa (mango tends to be my fave!) but now I’m thinking that a nectarine/peach combo may just rival it.  The salsa could also work nicely with chicken or another type of fish if you want to get creative.

Bon Appétit | July 2009

Ingredients

2 nectarines, pitted, diced
2 green onions, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1 teaspoon grated peeled fresh ginger
1 teaspoon minced seeded serrano chile
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
4 5- to 6-ounce salmon fillets with skin
Additional olive oil (for brushing)
2 teaspoons whole coriander seeds, coarsely cracked, divided

Preparation

Mix first 7 ingredients in medium bowl. Season salsa to taste with salt and pepper.

Prepare barbecue (medium-high heat). Brush salmon with oil. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and 1 1/2 teaspoons coriander; press to adhere. Grill salmon until slightly charred and just cooked through, 3 to 4 minutes per side. Transfer to plates. Top with salsa and sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon coriander.

On The Town: The Real Jerk

The Real Jerk
709 Queen Street East
Toronto, ON
416-463-6055

(Photo borrowed from Tyson WIlliams’ Flicker)

The Real Jerk is a Toronto institution.  It has been around for about 25 years and has expanded to include 2 locations.  Despite having been born and raised in Toronto I had not been to The Real Jerk until last year.  It was my first year buying the famous Entertainment Book and there was a BOGO coupon for an entree at The Real Jerk.  I figured why not give it a try.

I ordered the Jerk Pork and was thoroughly disappointed.  I don’t even remember the flavouring because I was too concerned about the hunks of fat on each cube of pork.  Totally unappetizing.  I wasn’t ready to give up on The Real Jerk just yet (it has been around for AGES) so when I got a coupon in the 2009 book I figured I’d give it another ago.

This time I decided to go for the Jerk Chicken.  I also considered the curry goat and oxtails but figured I’d have something that I don’t normally eat at home.  I was disappointed once again.  The chicken wasn’t bad but the flavour was weak.  When I eat Jerk I want some heat and different levels of flavour.  No such luck.  It almost seems as if the flavour was brought down to the lowest common denominator.  My dining companion had the oxtails.  These were okay but on the sweet side and again, no pepper.  Did they run out of scotch bonnets??  On the side I had rice and peas and coleslaw.  All were ok.  The rice and peas could have used more peas (beans) but that opinion might be based on the fact that my mom always puts too many peas in her rice!

Service was friendly if not a bit slow.  I watched my food sit on the ledge outside of the kitchen for about 5 minutes before it was brought to me!  Several waitresses looked at the order but no one let my waitress know that it was there or bring it over.  That was beyond frustrating.

Would I visit them again?  Not on purpose.  If I were in the neighbourhood and hungry I would choose The Real Jerk over say, Dangerous Dan’s but I’m not rushing back.  Oh, and for the record I’m a fan of the Jerk Chicken at Ritz Caribbean Food on Yonge.

Vanilla Bean Whipped Cream with Strawberries

The other day I ended up with two boxes of strawberries.  I love strawberries but I realized that I needed to do something with them fairly quickly before they went bad.  That’s when I got the idea of strawberries and cream!  I didn’t grow up eating whipped cream and probably had my first can of whipped cream not that many years ago and then learned how to make my own.

To me it’s almost a sin not to make your own whipped cream.  The stuff in the can has all sorts of gross and unnatural ingredients in it like corn syrup and lots of things that are hard to pronounce.  Making it yourself is so easy.  At the most basic you just need heavy/whipping cream and sugar.  This time around I remembered that I had some vanilla beans at the back of my cupboard and knew there was some way to integrate them into my whipped creamy goodness.

Enter Martha Stewart and her recipe for vanilla bean whipped cream!  Sure there’s an extra step of soaking the vanilla bean seeds (are they even called seeds) in the cream but it’s worth it.  The berries themselves were lackluster but the whipped cream made them more palatable.  Really, the berries were just a vehicle for eating more whipped cream.

Enjoy!

Vanilla Bean Whipped Cream

Ingredients

• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1 vanilla bean
• 1/4 cup sugar

Directions

1. Chill the bowl and whisk attachment of an electric mixer. Place cream in a medium bowl. Cut vanilla bean in half lengthwise and scrape seeds into cream. Add bean to cream; whisk to combine. Cover mixture and refrigerate for 1 hour.
2. Strain cream mixture through a fine mesh sieve into chilled bowl of an electric mixer. Transfer bowl to mixer fitted with chilled whisk attachment; beat on medium speed for 1 minute.
3. With the mixer running, sprinkle in sugar. Increase speed to medium-high and beat until soft peaks form. Serve immediately or cover and refrigerate, up to 2 hours.

Chicken Souvlaki with Tzatziki Sauce

I’m always looking for new things to do with chicken.  I’ve made it clear that I’m not a lover of chicken but I have a hard time coming to terms with that since it’s a pretty affordable and versatile protein.  My main “beef” (no pun intended) with chicken is that the next day it has a funny taste to it.  I’ve tried cooking chicken all different ways but have a hard time getting past it.  I’ve found that the “naturally raised” chickens from Metro seem fine, but not fine enough to entice me to eat chicken more often.

This time around I opted for the “free form” chicken from Loblaws.  I figured that since the chicken is marinated it would be fine.  It was great fresh out of the oven (I opted to broil the chicken versus using a grill pan).  Totally moist, well flavoured etc.  But the next day…it still had that weir chicken-y thing happening.  Not a fault of the recipe but of my aversion to chicken.

Anyway, back to the recipe.  It’s simple enough to make and uses ingredients that you would most likely have on hand.  I’m really a fan of the Tzatziki sauce although I think next time I would add some dill.  I was kind of eating it by the spoonful.  Inappropriate, I know.  But would be yummy with some pita chips.

This is a keeper for a weeknight for sure.  I turned this into souvlaki in a pita but you could totally serve this with some rice or roasted potatoes.  This also reminds me that Greek foods are pretty underrepresented.  Let’s turn that around…

Here’s what others have to say about this recipe:
Sugar Rush
FFG’s Recipe Reviews

Souvlaki:
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh or 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
2 teaspoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 medium zucchini, quartered lengthwise and cut into (1/2-inch-thick) slices
Cooking spray

Tzatziki Sauce:
1/2 cup cucumber, peeled, seeded, and shredded
1/2 cup plain low-fat yogurt
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 garlic clove, minced

To prepare souvlaki, combine the first 5 ingredients in a zip-top plastic bag; seal and shake to combine. Add chicken to bag; seal and shake to coat. Marinate chicken in refrigerator for 30 minutes, turning once.

Remove chicken from bag; discard marinade. Thread the chicken and zucchini, alternately onto each of 4 (8-inch) skewers.

Heat a grill pan coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add skewers; cook 8 minutes or until chicken is done, turning once.

To prepare tzatziki sauce, combine cucumber, yogurt, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1 garlic clove, stirring well. Serve the tzatziki sauce with souvlaki.

(Recipe from Cooking Light, March 2003)

Apple Date-Nut Bars

I know, this is a random one.  I got my Good Food Box a few weeks back and in it was a box of fresh dates.  I know, fresh dates.  I had NO CLUE what to do with them.  So I logged onto Epicurious and searched for dates.  The most appealing recipe (aside from date bread which I’m making soon) was for date bars.  Now, I don’t think I’ve ever had a date bar before.  Not for any good reason but I’m just not sure when I’d choose a date bar over something else…. like chocolate.

I settled on the date squares thinking they would be similar to a cross between an apple crisp and a fig newton… and they totally were!  Sure there are somethings that I didn’t LOVE about the recipe like the “crust”.  It tasted great but it was so crumbly.  I’m surprised that I even got a half decent picture of them.

Next time I think I would do something different with the crust.  I’m not sure what, but it would be something.  I’d also increase the filling to crust ratio.  I could have used way more filling for sure!

Enjoy!

Apple Date-Nut Bars
2 large Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and chopped fine
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons water
1 1/2 cups pitted dates, chopped
1 cup unsalted butter, cut into bits and softened
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups finely chopped pecans
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

In a heavy saucepan combine the apples, the granulated sugar, the lemon juice, and the water and simmer the mixture, covered, stirring occasionally, for 5 to 10 minutes, or until the apples are tender. Add the dates, simmer the mixture, uncovered, stirring it and mashing the dates, for 3 to 5 minutes, or until the dates are soft and the mixture is almost smooth, and let the purée cool. In a bowl combine the butter, the brown sugar, the salt, the flour, the pecans, and the cinnamon and blend the mixture well. Press half the flour mixture evenly into a buttered 13- by 9-inch baking pan, spread the purée over it, and crumble the remaining flour mixture over the purée, pressing it lightly to form an even layer. Bake the mixture in the middle of a preheated 375°F oven for 35 to 40 minutes, or until it is golden, let it cool completely in the pan on a rack, and cut it into 36 bars.

Gourmet
September 1992

On The Town: Poutini’s House of Poutine

Poutini
1112 Queen Street West
Toronto, ON
(no phone # available)

* Photo borrowed from Blog TO

I totally love Poutine. As I mentioned in my review of Smoke’s Poutinerie I didn’t grow up eating poutine because of my dislike for gravy but now that I’ve overcome that I say bring on the poutine.

When I heard that a new poutine spot was opening up in the city I knew I had to go.

THE FOOD

Fries: Can I get a yum yum? I thought these fries were pretty darn good. They had a very fresh cut taste to them AND they are fried to order which is a bonus (it does take a bit of time though). The fries weren’t overly crispy or overly soggy AND they weren’t too salty. If you are a fan of salt you may find them a tad under seasoned. But if you’re like me and don’t love salt they are perfection.

Gravy: Now, I’m not gravy connoisseur but I kind of think the gravy was perfection. The right amount of meatiness, the right consistency, the right spicing. Plus the gravy distribution was perfect. There was even a mini pool of the stuff at the bottom. And unlike the weird gravy at Smoke’s there was no bizarre herb-y flavour. SCORE! I would totally eat this gravy at Thanksgiving (if I were the type to ladle gravy on things like that).

Cheese: Ok, people get all bent out of shape about squeaky curds. I’ve never been quite sure about what they mean by “squeak”. Does it have to do the resistance when you bite in or do the curds actually squeak? Either way these were some good cheese curds. They use a fair amount of curds and the way they put the fries in the bowl (kind of vertically versus horizontally) means that it is easy enough to have some curds with most of your fries.

The menu is short but sweet.  Fries, poutine and baked potatoes.  There aren’t any fancy poutines, the biggest choice is between regular or vegetarian gravy.  They definitely avoid the gimmicks associated with Smoke’s.  My one concern is how long  they can stay in business (in that area) with such a limited menu.  That remains to be seen.

THE PLACE

The space is great.  Lots of exposed brick and muted colours. Seating is limited to three stools in the window but there are other high tables that you can eat over.  Although they should really just go out and buy 12 more chairs to increase the seating situation. Just a thought.  Luckily when we got there there were 3 guys sitting and eating their poutine.  They then sat lingering over the empty bowls.  A few minutes (and a couple of death stares later) they got up and we got seats.  SCORE.

Oh, and I must give props to the folks at Poutini for being virtually waste free.  The containers and cutlery are all biodegradable.  A nice touch.

OVERALL

A solid poutine spot.  Good portion size and totally worth the price ($7).  I would totally visit again when I’m in the ‘hood. One thing to note, they don’t have air conditionner.  It was about 28C outside when I was there and I was literally sweating while eating poutine.  And I know it wasn’t my usual meat sweats because I wasn’t eating meat.  Just be prepared to melt.  It was worth it though.

Here’s what others have to say about Poutini:
Blog TO
Chowhound

Barefoot Bloggers: Gazpacho

Hello all, a few things to explain off the top.

1. Sorry the colour in the photo is kind of off.  Ive been inspired to work on my photo setup but my first foray didn’t work out.  Better things to come down the road, promise.

2. I got a Blackberry and have been MIA from the interwebs as I’ve been struggling to get it setup.  A $55 phone call to RIM later I’m all ready to go!

This one is another Barefoot Bloggers pick this time courtesy of Meryl at My Bit of Earth. What a perfect summertime pick! Fresh produce and no stoves or ovens to heat up.  Sold.  Plus I enjoy gazpacho.  I’m not sure when or where I first had gazpacho but I kind of love it.

This was definitely an under 15 minute meal.  The fruits/veggies just have to be roughly chopped by hand and then coarsely chopped individually in the food processor.  Everything gets thrown into a bowl a with some liquid and you’re done. As Ina would say, “how simple is that?”

I followed the recipe exactly except that I topped the finished product with avocado.  Why not?

Delicious, easy and wonderful.  I served this with some garlic bread for a lightt dinner.

Gazpacho

Ingredients

• 1 hothouse cucumber, halved and seeded, but not peeled
• 2 red bell peppers, cored and seeded
• 4 plum tomatoes
• 1 red onion
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 23 ounces tomato juice (3 cups)
• 1/4 cup white wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup good olive oil
• 1/2 tablespoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Roughly chop the cucumbers, bell peppers, tomatoes, and red onions into 1-inch cubes. Put each vegetable separately into a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse until it is coarsely chopped. Do not overprocess!

After each vegetable is processed, combine them in a large bowl and add the garlic, tomato juice, vinegar, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Mix well and chill before serving. The longer gazpacho sits, the more the flavors develop.

(Recipe via Foodnetwork.com)

Pulled Pork

I love pretty much anything barbecue.  I’m not sure where I got that gene being Canadian and all but I just roll with it.  In Toronto there aren’t that many great bbq restaurants (although there are a few that I still have to try) and I don’t have a bbq to make my own so I usually just get my fill when I visit the U.S.  That’s why I got excited when I saw a recipe for oven roasted pulled pork come through my inbox to test!

I can’t get into too many details until the recipe is published but I can say that it was totally easy to make.  I’m a sucker for tackling a big cut of meat.  The recipe called for pork butt but I couldn’t find it anywhere so I bought a 4lb shoulder… for two people.  I’m a champ like that, I can handle it.

The most unique ingredient in the recipe list was liquid smoke. I’d heard of liquid smoke before but never had a reason to use it. All I have to say is use sparingly and wash surfaces carefully!  I could NOT get the smell of smoke off of me or out of the kitchen.  WHO KNEW.  And liquid smoke is not some crazy chemical either.  The ingredients are… liquid smoke.  True story.  The liquid smoke added a nice hint of smokiness to the meet.  I was totally impressed.  As someone without the means to make things “smoky” I think this is a decent alternative.

The finished product was delish.  The pork was fully cooked but still moist.  The accompanying sauce wasn’t amazing but it worked.  I was going to make a pulled pork platter but ended up with slider buns from SIlverstein’s bakery and the direction changed.  I served these with some coleslaw courtesy of Paula Deen and had a great dinner.  Actually I had two dinners and still have some leftovers in the fridge.