Savor what's left of summer!

I've had a case of the blah's when it comes to my side dishes lately.  I love the gorgeous fresh vegetables that are in season right now, but I've been in a rut on how I've been using them.  Same ole, same ole stuff.  You've been there, right?

So I mixed it up a bit this week by doing a grilled panzanella salad.  Oh my, was it tasty.  This dish is going into the summer must-make handbook.

All these ingredients are interchangeable.  If you're like me, folks this time of year are giving you all kinds of random vegetables from their overflowing home gardens, so there is no real planning on what ingredients I will have on hand from one night to the next.  Don't stress if you have a squash instead of a zucchini, or only green bell peppers.  The only ingredients you must have for this are garlic, onions (even if its red onions or vidalia, they would work wonderfully), tomatoes and bread (I use ciabatta, but french bread would would be fine).  From there, use your imagination...

You have likely seen panzanella salad recipes before that use vegetables raw.  Grilling them takes this salad to a whole other level of yummy-ness.  Trust me.

Grilled Panzanella Salad

Ingredients:

Salad:

2 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Kosher Salt/Pepper

1/2 Green Bell Pepper; seeded

1/2 Red Bell Pepper; seeded

1 Bunch Green Onions; washed and trimmed

1 Medium Zucchini; sliced

1/2 loaf Ciabatta Bread; halved like sandwich bread

2 Tomatoes; large diced

7-9 Basil Leaves; sliced into little ribbons

Dressing:

4 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil

3 tablespoons Red Wine Vinegar

1 clove Garlic; minced

Kosher Salt/Black Pepper/Italian Seasoning; added to taste

Directions:

Preheat grill to medium heat.

Line up bell peppers, onions, zucchini, and bread on a cookie sheet.

Brush with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Grill veggies and bread just long enough to get good grill marks on them.  Be careful to not let the zucchini get too cooked and mushy.  I turned these after about two minutes, then let them cook for another minute to two before taking them off.

Let the veggies cool on the sheet tray while you slice and dice the tomatoes and basil ribbons.  Add them to a large mixing bowl.

 

In a small jar with a lid (or whisk with a wire whisk in a bowl) add in olive oil, vinegar, minced garlic, salt, pepper and Italian seasoning.  Put the lid on the jar and give it a quick shake to combine.

Slice the cooled veggies from the grill.  You want these to be in large bite sized chunks.  Add veggies to the tomatoes and basil.  Pour dressing over vegetables and give them a stir to combine.

 

Lastly, cube grilled bread.  Add bread to the bowl and gently stir to combine all the ingredients.  The outside of the bread will sop up the dressing and juice from the fresh tomatoes.  Yum-O!

 

I served my panzanella salad with a side of BBQ'd Pork Tenderloin.  It was a perfect summer meal.  Come on.  Break out summer side dish rut! 

If you want to make it ahead of time, assemble salad.  It will keep at room temperature for 30 minutes to an hour.  But wait to put mix in the toasted bread cubes a few minutes before serving. 

Let me know if you likey...

Thufferin Thuccotash

Everytime I say "succotash" I think of Sylvester saying "Thufferin Thuccotash".  If you haven't made that connection to succotash before.  Your welcome.

Oh. My. Goodness.  Its been a hot minute, hasn't it?  I've missed sharing my adventures in food with you.  Life has been crazy.  But I've vowed to make more time for things I enjoy, and here I am, doing a blog entry again. (*Grins*)

Let's dive right in shall we?  My husband and I adore a Chili Rubbed Scallop dish at Sambucca in Nashville so I cooked my own version of the dish.  Now, first a disclaimer.  I have an unfair advantage over you.  My Father lives in Florida and brought me a ton of beautiful, fresh seafood on his last visit.  I froze these scallops to enjoy them over the next couple of months.  Scallops we purchase here in Tennucky are not as nice, so feel free work with what you have.  Salmon, tilapia, or even chicken would be just as good prepared this way and served on top of the summer succotash.  However, if you can get your hands of decent scallops, say, at Whole Foods, this dish is worth every penny.

Before I give you the recipe, let me provide you with my Four Scallop Commandments:

Thou shall get thy pan screaming hot before adding scallops.
Thou shall make sure thy scallops are thoroughly dry before seasoning and cooking.
Thou shall not be afraid scallops are burning and turn them too soon.  No unnecessary poking, no prodding.

Last and most important:

Thou shall not overcook thy scallops!

Chili Rubbed Scallops over Summer Succotash

Ingredients: (2-3 servings)

Scallops

8 Sea Scallops

Chili Powder

Smoked Paprika (might be hard to find, not a must for this dish, but definatlly adds a nice smokey flavor if you can find it)

Kosher Salt/Black Pepper

Non Stick Cooking Spray

Succotach

Drizzle of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 clove of garlic, diced

1 jalepeno, seeded and diced

1/4 cup chopped red onion

1/2 red pepper chopped

4 ears fresh corn, cut off the cob (or 1 cup frozen corn)

1 cup frozen Baby Lima Beans

10 cherry tomatoes; halved

1-2 tablespoons red wine vineager

Kosher salt/Black Pepper

Directions:

Boil 1 cup of baby lima beans in a small pot of water for 10 minutes to soften.  Drain and set aside.

To start, find your two non-stick pans.  Rinse and pat the scallops dry (very well dry, remember the scallop commandments).  Season one side of scallops with chili powder, smoked paprika, salt and pepper.  Set aside while you start the succotash.

Chop and dice everything before you begin. 

Heat a non stick skillet with a drizzle of EVOO over meduium heat.  Add in the diced garlic and jalpeno pepper.  Let this satuee until the garlic starts to sizzle, not brown. 

Add in the diced onion and red pepper.  Sautee for 1-2 minutes unitl the onions start to soften. 

Lastly, add in lima beans, corn and cherry tomatoes, salt and pepper.  Let this all cook together over meduim heat for 2-3 minutes.  Pour a couple of spashes of red wine vinager and reduce heat to low.  Let the vinager reduce a bit and stir occasionaly while you cook scallops.

Heat another burner to medium-high (closer to high, depending on you stove settings) heat.  Spray the pan with non-stick spray while it is still cool.  Now be brave, you want the pan screaming hot before you add the dry scallops.  Let the pan heat up, don't rush this process.  Once your pan is hot add in the scallops seasoned side down. 

Let the scallops cook on this side for 3-4 minutes.  Don't you dare think about poking or turning them before the three minute mark!  Turn scallops and let the cook on the other side for 2-3 more minutes. 

The pan might smoke, sizzle, or hiss at you with the cool scallops carmelizing in the hot pan.  Don't panic.  You want the sugars on the surface of the scallop to carmelize.  It's what give them the yummy crust outside.  Trust me.

I advise you to remove the scallops j u s t before you think they are done.  They will continue cooking for a mintue or so out of the pan. 

Spoon the succotash on plates and top with 4 scallops.  I served ours with a side of mashed potaotes.  The succotash was a great light summer addition to the chili rubbed scallops I adore from Samubucca.

 

Enjoy!

Promise you will hear more from me soon....   



Dry spell

I know, I know, I've been seriously neglecting my blog. I changed jobs and things are beyond hectic right now. I haven't been cooking anything new due to this crazy adjustment.

Promise I'll get back in the groove very soon... With healthy recipes too!

Resolution Solution

If you make New Years resolutions, I'd bet the ranch you made one that involved eating well or exercising. I'm 3 months shy of my 30th birthday and I have finally learned that putting "I'm going to lose (insert absurd number here) pounds this year", or "go on a diet" in my resolutions is an automatic FAIL.

Older and wiser. Ain't that something?

This year, I decided to dump the word "diet" on my laundry list of to-do's for 2011. Over the last couple of months I've adopted the Bethenny Frankle way of thinking, that diets don't work. Eating well is a way of life. Eating well is not a measurable number on the bathroom scale that you starve yourself to reach, then binge on celebration cheeseburger and fries. Limiting your eating to a "diet" will NEVER, I repeat NEVER create long lasting, healthy results.

So what's my food resolutions? Funny you ask...
1. Nix refined white things. Meaning white bread, pasta, flour, yada yada... Whenever possible choose wheat, whole grains, and high fiber.

2. Don't have a mini emotional breakdown every time I eat white refined things. I need to give myself a break with the guilt trips. I really do.

3. Forgive myself for the 7 pounds I put back on over the holidays and get my pants fitting comfortably loose again (instead of slightly snug). I mean it happens, I don't need to keep beating myself up over it. Gah.

4. Work on my portion sizes. Like most Americans, I eat ridiculously inflated portions size of everything. To tackle this one, I'm going to buy smaller dinner plates. I've read several articles that say huge dinners plates are part of the problem. If you're not part of the solution, you're apart of the problem.

5. Last but not least. Consciously work to make each meal healthy for me. I reliaze that's a pretty broad statement. I'm cutting myself a break. Not adding in numbers, weight, or calorie limits. I just want to make each meal healthier. Pure and simile. I think this will pay off by making a lifestyle change in the long run. Well, that's the plan anyway.

To show my dedication to my plan, I just turned down my husbands offer to pick me up food on his annual Taco Bell Sunday run. I started temptation right in his pretty baby blues and said, "No thanks, I"ll have my leftover healthy soup".

Victory dance ensued.

New addiction

I tasted, tried and cooked all kinds of new dishes over all the holiday parties.  Although there are several things I tried and liked, nothing came close to how much I LOVED this little concoction.  My sister-in-law blew all our small bites and dips away this Christmas with her Ham and Pickle Pinwheels.  Yes, you read it right, ham and pickle.  God bless that Paula Deen for this recipe. 

To answer your lingering question when Paula Deen's name is associated with recipes, no. 
No stick of butter involved.

I've had a variation of this recipe before with asparagus in the middle.  Trust me, that way is yesterday's news.  The dill pickle is where it's at, my friend.  You might have an eyebrow raised at the odd combo of flavors involved here.  I understand, I was a little skeptical myself.  One bite and you will wonder how you made it so long in life without these.  These were the hit of the buffet!  My husband and I both ate our weight in them.

I would venture to say you could make these a little lower in fat without having to sacrifice flavor.  (Since the New Year's resolutions are right around the corner)  You could use reduced sodium ham and low-fat cream cheese.

Recipe link:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/ham-and-pickle-pinwheel-appetizers-recipe/index.html

If you like pickles and ham, I double dog dare you to make these and not fall in love.  I can't wait for the next small gathering to whip these up.  That's right, next gathering.  Because I could never trust myself not to eat all of them if these were just hanging around my house.

Thanks for my new snack addiction, Sal!

New cookbook alert

Greetings from my NEW IPAD! (Good golly I love my husband) Hope you had a wonderful Christmas with family and friends. I can honestly say, my cup runneth over. I had perhaps the best Christmas ever.

I received a new cookbook for Christmas that I had to share with my peeps. Usually, I don't find Rachael Ray's cookbooks that appealing...however she has stepped up her game with her latest release, Look + Cook. I LOVE the recipes in this one. Plus, a bonus for all the visual learners out there is that there are tons of step-by-step photos for each recipe.

So many dishes I'm dying to try! For starters, I'm eyeing the Spinach and Artichoke Mac 'n Cheese recipe (for after I lose the holiday weight I found, *sigh*). I'm making the Winter Minestrone soup recipe for lunch this week. I will blog that this week if it's worthy of sharing ;-)

I think you would love this cookbook if you are looking to get out of your usual recipe rut. She uses lots of diverse, strong flavors. A perfect solution, since we are all sick of traditional, heavy holiday fare right now. Bleh.


Here is a link to the book on Amazon. You can see others give it glowing reviews as well.
http://www.amazon.com/Rachael-Rays-Look-Cook-Ray/dp/030759050X

Sour Cream Horseradish Sauce

My husband has become the king of the smoker.  We've smoked tons of ribs, shoulders, butts and loins. But never had we smoked the king of meat...the beef tenderloin.  Mainly because we were a little scared of messing up such an expensive cut of meat.  But after years of contemplation, last weekend my husband smoked his first beef tenderloin for our little tasters get-together.  My, oh my, it was amazing!

I have to give my husband credit.  He did his fair share of research to get the timing and methodology right.  The meat was perfectly seared with a light smokey flavor, and inside it maintained a gorgeous ruby red hue.  Perfectly cooked, just on the edge of "Are you sure this is done?".  NO beef tenderloin should be cooked to medium.  I'm telling you, it should be against the law.  Rare, to medium-rare at most.  Otherwise you have wasted good meat.  If you can't do medium rare beef, save your money and buy yourself a sirloin and cook that 'til it's double-dead if you must.  Leave the good stuff for the rest of us.   

After he cooked such an amazing main course I went to work making a horseradish sauce to accompany it.  I researched a couple of different methods and I went with a sour cream base.  It's a perfect cool, creamy topping for the rich beef.  I served the tenderloin with split Hawaiian sweet rolls in case someone wanted to make a sandwich.  It was a hit at with the tasters.

Sour Cream Horseradish Sauce for Beef Tenderloin

1 cup sour cream

2 tablespoons prepared horseradish

2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives

Sprinkle of fresh cracked black pepper

Mix all ingredients together and keep chilled until ready to serve.  Can be made up to a day ahead of you dinner or party.