Barefoot Bloggers: Greek Panzanella

Greek Panzanella was this month's Barefoot Bloggers pick. Though it may not take any longer to prepare than any other salad, this is no ordinary salad. The tangy, Mediterranean flavors in the vinaigrette along with the toasted bread cubes gives this dish its original flair. It would be a great dish for a party or dinner guests as it's more memorable than your everyday salad but isn't any more trouble to prepare. It's the kind of dish that guests are sure to remember, but you won't have to sweat over it too much.

This recipe was paired with an Herb-Marinated Pork Tenderloin in the episode guide. That sounded good so me so I whipped that up too. The recipe utilizes fresh herbs and lemon juice as a marinade which compounds the tenderness of the already tender loin. A bright and cheerful dish - both to the eye and to the palette.

Greek Panzanella
(from Barefoot Contessa)

Ingredients nocoupons

• Good olive oil
• 1 small French bread or boule, cut into 1-inch cubes (6 cups)
• Kosher salt
• 1 hothouse cucumber, unpeeled, seeded, and sliced 1/4-inch thick
• 1 red bell pepper, large diced
• 1 yellow bell pepper, large diced
• 1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
• 1/2 red onion, sliced in half rounds
• 1/2 pound feta cheese, cut in 1/2-inch cubes
• 1/2 cup calamata olives, pitted
• 
  

vinaigrette:

nocoupons

• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1/4 cup good red wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup good olive oil
  

Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in a large saute pan. Add the bread cubes and sprinkle with salt; cook over low to medium heat, tossing frequently, for 5 to 10 minutes, until nicely browned. Add more olive oil as needed.

Place the cucumber, red pepper, yellow pepper, tomatoes and red onion in a large bowl.

For the vinaigrette, whisk together the garlic, oregano, mustard, vinegar, 1 teaspoon salt and the pepper in a small bowl. While still whisking, add the olive oil and make an emulsion. Pour the vinaigrette over the vegetables. Add the feta, olives and bread cubes and mix together lightly. Set aside for 30 minutes for the flavors to blend. Serve at room temperature.

Barefoot Bloggers: Sour Cream Coffee Cake

This cake was fabulous! I admit, I did make quite a few adaptations. I don't do a lot of baking in the summer, particularly baking rich, heavy foods. So the changes that I made were in an effort to make it lighter and healthier while still staying as true as possible to the original recipe and flavor.

First off, since this cake looked gigantic, I made a half batch. I also used part whole wheat flour and low fat sour cream. I opted against the glaze and instead put all of the streusel on top. The cake was moist and and the flavors light and simple - the perfect after dinner treat. This is definitely a keeper and I will no doubt be seeking this recipe out to make as it was originally intended for a special occasion or holiday.

I've posted my adaptations below - as always you can click the title to view the original recipe.

Sour Cream Coffee Cake
(adapted from Barefoot Contessa)

6 tbs. butter, room temperature
3/4 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
3/4 c. sour cream
1/2 c. whole wheat flour
3/4 c. all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt

Streusel

2 tbs. brown sugar
1/4 c. flour
3/4 tsp. cinnamon
pinch of salt
1 1/2 tbs. cold butter
1/2 c. chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour single layer 8-inch cake pan (I used a cheesecake pan so that I could remove the outer rim without disrupting the topping).

Cream together the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, then add the vanilla and sour cream. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add flour mixture to the batter until just combined.

For the streusel, mix together sugar, flour, cinnamon, and salt. Cut in cold butter, then add walnuts. Pour into prepared pan then sprinkle streusel evenly on top. Bake for 40 - 50 minutes or until tester comes out clean.

Serve and enjoy!

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Barefoot Bloggers Meets Summer Supper

The BB pick for this month is Scalloped Tomatoes, but when I checked the episode guide I decided to make everything from that show in one meal. The episode was entitled Farm Stand Food and also included Zucchini Pancakes and Cape Codd Chopped Salad.

I must admit that while the scalloped tomatoes were pretty good, I enjoyed the zucchini pancakes and chopped salad more. The scalloped tomatoes were a wee bit too sweet for me and if I make them again, I'll be sure to put 1 tbs. of sugar instead of 2 - perhaps even less. I also think that the bread chunks are sufficient if the entire portion is eaten at once. However, this is almost never the case at my house as I'm only feeding my husband and myself. I typically cook 4 nights per week and the days in-between are leftover nights. When we reheated the scalloped tomatoes the second night, the bread chunks didn't hold up, and kind of dissolved into the dish. I'm glad that I tried this dish but I think I will stick with my stand-by stewed tomatoes which I prepare similar to chicken n' dumplings, by cooking mounds of dough in boiling tomatoes. All said, it was a great Summer Supper!



The zucchini pancakes were quite tasty and the Cape Cod Chopped Salad was excellent! It has the blend of flavors that I most love in a salad with the saltiness from the bacon, the sweetness of the cranberries, and the slight tang from the dressing. It is definitely one that I will make again and again.

I'm including the recipes for the Zucchini Pancakes and Cobb Salad with my minor adaptations. (I've included a link for the scalloped tomatoes but I'm not posting the recipe here since I didn't make any changes.) Of course, you can click the links to see the original recipes.
Zucchini Pancakes



2 med. zucchini
2 medium shallots, minced
2 eggs, beaten
6 tbs. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
olive oil

Grate the zucchini and then transfer to a strainer. Press zucchini with a cloth to release some of the water. Stir in shallots and eggs, then flour, baking powder, salt, and pepper.

Heat a non-stick skillet over medium heat then brush with olive oil. Spoon 1/3 c. pancake mixture onto pan and flatten with spatula or spoon. Note: Ina's recipe said to cook for 2 min on each side but mine took way longer than that - I'd estimate about 5-6 min. per side. I just kept checking them until they were sufficiently brown.

Pancakes can be kept warm in a 250 - 300 degree oven. I have an electric skillet so I simply threw all the pancakes back on the skillet for a few seconds to crispen them up before serving.
Cape Cod Chopped Salad



8 oz. Canadian bacon, sliced thick and cubed
1 apple, peeled and diced
1/2 c. walnut pieces
1/2 c. dried cranberries
1 bag of Italian Salad mix with herbs

Dressing:

3 tbs. apple cider vinegar
1 tsp. grated orange zest
juice from 1 orange
3 tsp. Dijon mustard
1 tbs. maple syrup
pinch of salt
pinch of pepper
1/3 c. olive oil

In a large bowl, toss together the bacon, apple, walnuts, and cranberries. Whisk together ingredients for the dressing then pour over the chopped mixture. When ready to serve, spoon the mixture over Italian salad mix.


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Where in the world have I been?!?

Yes, I have had a bit of an unexplained absence lately. No, I did not fall off the blogosphere. I've just been on vacation. Now, if I was a good little blogger I would have posted to that effect and indeed I intended to but there was so much to do in the days leading up to our departure that it just didn't happen. As each day unfolded I would think to myself, when I get everything done, I'll sit down and post. . . You see how that turned out.

So where in the world have I been? Actually, nowhere too terribly exciting. I just spent a quiet week at Topsail Beach in North Carolina. We rent a house there every summer and we only go out to eat one night during the week so preparing for the trip is quite the ordeal. With all the stuff we have to take I tend to feel like I'm moving instead of going on vacation.




In the midst of the chaos before we left, I did manage to cook one good, wholesome meal. I had intended to post this as a grilled shrimp recipe for Barefoot Bloggers, however, it rained nearly every evening during the week that the post was scheduled so I finally gave up and just sauteed them. I followed the recipe for Ina's Grilled Herb Shrimp exactly, except of course, for the actual grilling part, and they were still delicious. I served them over vermicelli seasoned with garlic, salt, and parsley and alongside some sauteed kale, which we purchased locally from our Farmer's Market.

This was a great summer supper! It didn't take long to cook and the flavors were fresh and crisp. Since next week marks the beginning of summer, I intend to post one "Summer Supper" per week.

I'll leave you now with a few images from my week at the beach. . .


This shrimp boat was actually way off in the distance. My awesome Nikon Coolpix s630 captured the people on board, which you couldn't see from the shore.



This is the view from Daddy Mac's, which is where we typically go for our one meal out. That night, I had some fabulous grilled shrimp skewers.

Barefoot Bloggers: Spring Green Risotto

I actually made this a while back and I must confess, I made a few omissions. Miguel has an aversion to peas so I left those out, and I forgot to get asparagus when I went to the store, so that's absent as well. This is the first time that I've ever made risotto and I think it turned out pretty well. Though I may have cooked it just a few minutes too long. It was not overdone but I think I let too much of the liquid cook away. I've never had risotto before but it seems like I remember seeing it on TV and thinking that it was a little more liquidy. I don't know, but the flavor was great. I was tasting it all throughout the cooking process and I can say that the addition of the mascarpone, Parmesan, and lemon juice mixture at the end really makes it special. This dish embodies the flavors and colors of spring.

You can find the recipe at Foodnetwork.com

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In other news, Thursday is meal planning day and I'm looking at my list and it's totally empty. Do you ever get into a food rut? I think I'm in one - though it's not because of a shortage of ideas. I have a whole three ring binder and a bookmark folder that's full of ideas but I can't think of a single thing that I want to cook. It seems that I often feel this way in the spring. I'm not quite ready for the cool, light meals of summer nor do I have an appetite for the heavy flavors of winter. I need something in between . . .

Barefoot Bloggers: Jam Thumbprint Cookies

Oh my goodness, these cookies are so very, very delicious.

They came out so much better than I thought they would. When I first started to prepare them yesterday, I intended to make a half-batch. Then as I was mixing together the flour with the other dry ingredients I had a change of heart and decided to make the full batch and give some of them away. Later, after all the ingredients were mixed together I turned the dough out onto the carving board and attempted to bring it all together in the disc that was to go into the refrigerator. The dough kept crumbling and would not come together! I was beginning to get worried and thought that possibly in my decision to make a full batch I had miscounted the cups of flour and dumped in too much. So I divided the dough in half in order to make it easier to work with and kept at it until I finally formed two cohesive discs.

I remained unconvinced, however, that my little cookies were going to be okay. In fact, I was so sure that they were irreversibly wrecked, that while they baked in the oven, I composed a whole post in my head about kitchen failures and what that does to my inner chef (or in this case, my inner baker).

So you can imagine my delight when I pulled them out of the oven looking all sweet and dainty. I could barely allow them enough time to cool before I bit into them. They were soft and scrumptious; not at all the dry, crumbly mess that I had envisioned. In retrospect, I think my blunder may have been, in my haste, not waiting for the butter to fully come to room temperature. Thankfully, it ended up being just a tiny mistake that didn't affect the outcome.

I really think that the quality of the jam makes or breaks this cookie. Use an ordinary jam and you will have an ordinary cookie. Use a quality jam and you will have a fabulous cookie!

For about 1/4 of the cookies I used this seedless raspberry jam from West Virginia. I love that this jam does not contain corn syrup. It's hard to find store-bought jams and jellies that aren't made with corn syrup.

For most of the cookies, I used this orange marmalade that my parents brought back for me from Florida. They were so good that when I made the second disc of cookies I used only the marmalade.

Jam Thumbprint Cookies - a Barefoot Contessa Recipe



Ingredients nocoupons

• 3/4 pound (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water, for egg wash
• 7 ounces sweetened flaked coconut
• Raspberry and/or apricot jam

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar until they are just combined and then add the vanilla. Separately, sift together the flour and salt. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture to the creamed butter and sugar. Mix until the dough starts to come together. Dump on a floured board and roll together into a flat disk. Wrap in plastic and chill for 30 minutes.

Roll the dough into 1 1/4-inch balls. (If you have a scale they should each weigh 1 ounce.) Dip each ball into the egg wash and then roll it in coconut. Place the balls on an ungreased cookie sheet and press a light indentation into the top of each with your finger. Drop 1/4 teaspoon of jam into each indentation. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the coconut is a golden brown. Cool and serve.

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Barefoot Bloggers: Raisin Pecan Oatmeal Cookies

The Barefoot Blogger pick for this week was Raisin Pecan Oatmeal Cookies. The timing of this recipe could not have worked out better for me. 1) My mom recently gave me a ton of toasted pecans and I had no idea what I was going to do with them all. 2) I'm going out of town tomorrow to visit the in-laws and had yet to think up something to bring. I always bring with me a little hospitality gift - usually a quick loaf of some sort but I wanted to do something different this time. This fit the bill. I also had the added bonus of already having all the ingredients in my pantry.


I thought these cookies were a success. I left out the raisins because my hubby is not a big fan. Otherwise, I did everything according to the recipe. They seemed to retain quite a bit of their chewiness after cooling completely, which is nice. I loved the simplicity of this recipe. The measurements are standard and easy to remember. I can imagine making these another time or two and then never having to look at the recipe again. It's that simple.

Also, this is the first time I've ever baked with parchment paper. There's no turning back now.


For the in-laws, I put about a dozen cookies in two large treat bags (there are two because my husband's parents are divorced) and whipped up a couple of little tags to adorn them. They're sure to bring smiles tomorrow.

Future Note: This would be a good recipe to revisit this summer as an ice cream sandwich with some homemade vanilla ice cream.

I'm a Barefoot Blogger!

Woo hoo! I'm now a Barefoot Blogger.


Barefoot Bloggers is an online community for those who love Ina Garten, also known as the Barefoot Contessa, on Food Network. The group makes two BC recipes per month and posts about them on a specified date. I love love love her recipes and have always had pretty good success with them so a while back I requested to join the group. I mistakenly thought that I would get an email confirmation so I'm not sure exactly when I was added but I just checked the site this morning and my blog was on the participant list.

The posting for yesterday was supposed to be Raisin Pecan Oatmeal Cookies. I have all the ingredients so I'm going to whip up a batch after I run some errands and hopefully have a posting up by this evening.

Check back soon to see how they turned out!