salad days

Just a quick one this week because I have work cramming in so I can move on to my favorite long weekend of the year! I wanted to introduce you to a new favorite salad dressing of mine.



I had some friends over for dinner last week and “something healthy” was requested. Which I'm always happy to oblige with. Not to mention it's getting hot out there, which means big salads are on the agenda almost all the time at my house. For this particular salad I combined Boston lettuce, black beans (cooked, drained), slices of avocado, a bit of diced red onion, some scallions and some fresh corn, cooked and hacked off the cob and I served it with some jalapeno corn muffins. Obviously some heavy Tex-Mex-ish business was going on, so I came up with this riff on vinaigrette that came out great. It would also make a top notch marinade for chicken, shrimp, steak or veggies (especially shrimp I think). In fact, later on that week, I added a little more citrus and olive oil and used it as a vegetable marinade for a big bunch of kabobs I grilled.




SPICY SCALLION LIME VINAIGRETTE

two scallions, chopped
one small clove garlic, minced
juice from one lime
1/2 tsp(ish) of honey
pinch of cumin
pinch of cayenne
couple shakes of hot sauce (I used Franks)
salt and peppa
olive oil (about a scant ¼ cup)



Combine all ingredients in a wide mouthed jar and whiz with an immersion blender until creamy. If you don’t have an immersion blender, you could make this in a regular blender, a food processor or even just chop the scallion and garlic very fine and do a shaken vinaigrette.



Try this on mixed greens, or a black bean confetti salad. It’s really delicious. There’s a little bit of bite from the spices and hot sauce and a nice well rounded flavor from the lime juice. Oh and as for the "homemade" corn muffins, I naturally turned to childhood nostalgia in the form of Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix, to which I added chopped jalapenos. Total Sandra Lee style but whatever, homemade corn muffins required corn meal that cost like $4.00 and for me to pay attention to what I was doing and a box of Jiffy was seriously I think 39 cents and required zero brain power whatsoever.



Enjoy your holiday weekend! I will be making lots of goodies to bring to our respective cookouts and then leaving the rest of my weekend wide open for a few of my favorite activities: eatin’, beachin’, yakkin’, cacklin’ and day drinkin’. Because nothing says “I love my country” like a 3 p.m. blackout.

smooth but tough

This cocktail is a great summer drink. It’s tart, sweet and refreshing, but with a nice amount of boozy bite. The bourbon doesn’t get lost in the lemonade which is a good thing because I believe a cocktail should taste like a cocktail not a sleeve of Sprees. It’s smooth but tough. I think I’ll call it the Burt Reynolds. Because early Burt Reynolds is equal parts lady-friendly sass and mustachioed bad assery. He’s like the kind of dude who will totally get a pedicure with you and somehow make it seem very masculine. Maybe that’s because the vibe I get from him is that if you dared to make fun of him he’d show you the business end of his cowboy boots and fast.



When I originally made this drink I just eyed it out, because of my years of study in the bartending sciences. What I’ve put together here are some approximations, so if it tastes like straight snake poison, adjust the amounts accordingly by adding more lemonade mix and water to thin out the bourbon. I’ve offered two varieties: one round, or a full pitcher. Choose whichever suits your needs.



BURT REYNOLDS (a/k/a Vanilla Bourbon Lemonade)

To make just one round of Burts:

ice
2-3 oz. Bourbon
½ tsp. pure vanilla extract
2 heaping tablespoons frozen lemonade concentrate
water (¾ - 1 cup)

Fill a martini shaker with ice cubes. Pour in bourbon (to measure out ounces just count: three ounces “one, two, three” while a steady stream of booze pours in- not, mind you giant splashes, but a steady stream) if you’re not comfortable or tend to have a heavy pour, use a jigger. Add vanilla and two scoops lemonade. Pour in water (probably about 1-1 ½ cups). Cover the shaker and shake well. Strain into a rocks glass filled with ice, garnish with lemon twist or a slice of lemon.

To make a pitcher of Burts:

ice
1 cup bourbon (I like Maker’s Mark)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
half container Frozen lemonade concentrate (Minutemaid)
2-3 cups water, or dilute to taste

Fill a large pitcher with ice. Add bourbon, vanilla and lemonade concentrate. Top with water, stir well. Serve over ice, garnished with lemon twists or slices. If your Burts come out super tart, you could also opt to dilute the drink with a splash or two of soda water. If they come out too weak, add some more bourbon, dummy.



Also, I can’t NOT mention this cake. I saw this last month on Smitten Kitchen and I drooled. I made it Sunday with some fresh, local strawberries. Do yourself a favor and make this cake immediately. The strawberries are perfect right now.



It is sooooooooooo good. It’s also very pretty in a nice rustic way and would make an excellent dessert, OR a great addition to a brunch spread. Do it. DO IT NOW!





Also, do yourself a favor and make homemade whipped cream with it. My corner store only had Cool Whip, which is disgusting and tastes as though it’s actually giving you diseases as you eat it. No ‘fence (as my niece Charlie would say) if you’re a fan. I am decidedly not. Seriously, make this cake, it's silly it's so good.

a step in the right direction

So, you may have noticed over there in the side bar that I have a new little section called "Recipes by Category." This is, for now, as close as it gets to a Recipe Index. Eventually, some day, when I am a more perfect human and my life is so organized it looks like a window display at the Container Store (does any one else go in there and think "if I could just spend a couple grand here my whole life would improve exponentially"?) anyways...where was I. Ah yes, the list of recipes. So when I started this list/database/organizational widget (several months ago), I had a staggering number of categories. Like way too many it was annoying. So, what you see here is a list of categories that makes sense in my head and encompasses as much as it possibly can. I do realize that making sense in my head may not help you all that much, but this is a nice baby step in the right direction.

I hope, eventually, to lay out some different pages, including a proper "about me" where I hilariously explain who I be and what makes my world go round. I also would like to have a proper list of every recipe by title and maybe even get them to a printer friendly format. We'll see. Though judging by how long it took me to get this up here, I'd say the aliens and global warming will have us captured/eradicated before that actually happens, but I'm hopeful. Who knows? Maybe I'll win a gift certificate to the Container Store or something and my whole life will change.

You will still have to scroll through a LOT of my fart jokes and sentimental stories to get to the good stuff. Also, the categories aren't perfect but I think they cover the major groups. There's "Beverages, Adult and Otherwise" which means drinks, dummies. There's "Starters, Sides and Snacks" where you will find side dishes, appetizers and any little munchies that did not fit into a different category. You'll find "Soups, Salads and Sandwiches" which may be my favorite "s" alliteration trifecta of all time and would be the place to go if you're looking for lunch. "Sweets and Carbs" means any dessert or bread-like thing I've ever featured on here. "Main Dishes" means they're suitable to take center stage at your next meal; and "Vegetarian/ Healthy" are not, as you'll see mutually exclusive. Some things are pretty healthy but not at all vegetarian like say, steamed littlenecks or a soup where an optional inclusion is to start with prosciutto. And some things are vegetarian and completely NOT healthy (mac and cheese would fall squarely into this sub category). And finally, a personal favorite, I have included the "Let's Party" section. Which should, now that I think about it, definitely have an exclamation point because really Let's Party! Here, I've tagged any recipes that are fit for entertaining whether they be quick, easy appetizers, feeding a crowd the easy way or some good old fashioned hooch concoctions. So it's not perfect, but it's a step in the right direction and I hope you like it. Let me know what you think, or if you have any doable suggestions for improvement.

xo, jess

P.S. I went to the BEACH this weekend and even went in the water. Yay summer! Container Store or not, my life is pretty sweet!

laid back company

I had my eye on this recipe since last summer. Last summer. My brain holds on to things like images of ice cream sandwiches and holds them in a strangle hold until I can eat them; even if it’s years later. Tasked with bringing dessert to a Sunday dinner party, I knew it was time. However, I’m nothing if not realistic about my culinary shortcomings (desserts/baking/time consuming techniques/measuring) and as such, I tried to approach this recipe with an attitude of what the yoga heads call “nonattachment.” As in don’t get bent out of shape if this whole thing goes to shit, fast. Be prepared to purchase an ice cream cake on the way to dinner if it’s unsalvageable. I like to refer to nonattachment as “Pringles Mind”, which references my favorite Mitch Hedberg joke where he says: “I think Pringles’ initial intention was to make tennis balls. But on the day that the rubber was supposed to show up, a big truckload of potatoes arrived instead. But Pringles is a laid back company so they were like “F*ck it. Cut ‘em up!”



When I realized, about 2/3 of the way through Step Three of this recipe that there was no way in hell that my sandwich layers would produce 7 adequate sized ice cream sandwiches, I shrugged my shoulders and thought to myself “f*ck it. Cut ‘em up.”



What resulted were not artfully stacked ice cream sandwiches, which you will see, with the real recipe here. If you really want to make ice cream sandwiches, follow the directions exactly, but double the cookie recipe. Instead, I opted to layer the ice cream, blueberry compote and blondie cookies into jars as a sort of parfait. The end result was perfectly portable, remarkably less crazy-making and undeniably delicious.



LEMON ICE CREAM PARFAIT with BLUEBERRY COMPOTE

ICE CREAM:
2 pints premium vanilla ice cream (I prefer Brigham’s)
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

BLUEBERRY COMPOTE:
2 cups blueberries (10 ounces), fresh or frozen
¼ cup sugar
2 strips lemon zest
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons cornstarch

SANDWICH LAYERS:
1 cup all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
¾ cup packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract



STEP ONE: Ice Cream
Soften ice cream at room temperature; or, alternately with your microwave in small 10 second intervals until soft. Combine ice cream, lemon zest and juice in a large bowl and mix together thoroughly. Return to the freezer while completing the rest of the steps.




STEP TWO: Blueberry Compote
Cook blueberries, sugar, and zest in a 12-inch heavy skillet over medium-high heat, stirring often and thoroughly crushing blueberries with a spoon or potato masher, until juices are released and sugar has dissolved, about 2-3 minutes. In a small bowl, stir together the cornstarch and lemon juice until the cornstarch has dissolved and then add this slurry to the blueberries. Boil, stirring constantly for one minute; the mixture will thicken. Remove from heat, transfer to a bowl, fish out the lemon zest strips and chill until cold, about an hour. While this chills, you can make the cookie layers. (This compote, alone, would make a delicious sauce for ice cream and takes about 5 minutes to whip up).



STEP THREE: Blondie “Sandwich” Layers
Preheat oven to 375°F with rack in middle. Butter a long, lipped cookie sheet (with at least a 1 inch depth) and line with foil, leaving a 1-inch overhang on each side, then butter the foil. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl. Beat together butter and brown sugar in another bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes; beat in egg and vanilla. Turn mixer speed to low and add flour in two batches, making sure it’s combined in before adding the second. Your batter will look a lot like chocolate chip cookie dough sans chips. Spread batter into a thin, even layer on buttered, foiled cookie sheet. Bake until golden-brown but still tender, 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool completely.



To assemble the parfaits layer ice cream, compote and crushed up cookie; repeat until the jar is filled, clamp the lid on and freeze until about 30 minutes before serving. Let thaw at room temperature for a bit so that the ice cream and compote can soften and become scoopable.



Other ideas: as I was making these I was thinking if you were short on time, you could fudge these Sandra Lee style with all purchased, prepared ingredients. A good strawberry jam, vanilla ice cream and Oreos; or, vanilla ice cream, peach compote and crushed ginger snaps; OR, coffee ice cream, fudge sauce, chocolate cookies and crushed up almonds. I could go on like this all day.

the antidote

Whew, hot enough for ya? I refuse, after the snowy winter we had, to remark in a disparaging way about warm weather, but there is kind of no denying how instantaneously steamy it has gotten this week. It’s as though the East Coast has decided to forego June’s sweet 70 degree breezes all together and plunge head first into August swelter.



But don’t worry, I’ve got the antidote: a perfect summer salad which is equal parts ease and deliciousness. A delightful little dish that fuses together ripe, juicy peaches, sharp hits of purple onion and heady basil. It’s sweet and juicy, with just the right amount of punch (which is, incidentally, exactly how I would describe myself if I were a kickboxing instructor *roundhouse kick*).



I was in New York last weekend staying with the lovely Neens. Who is such a gracious host I sort of feel like her apartment is my favorite bed and breakfast in the world. She had breakfast fixings stocked in the fridge so Saturday morning when we woke up we whipped up a delicious brunch. The main event was cheesy baked eggs with chorizo, mushrooms and spinach, but this salad is what I’m still thinking about.



It’s perfect in that summer cooking way in that you just assemble fresh, ripe ingredients and don’t really mess with them at all. I’m in general not a fan of fruits in salad…but this one changed my tune. I can’t wait to make this again.




PEACH, BASIL and RED ONION SALAD

3 ripe peaches, pitted and sliced
Handful basil leaves, torn off the stem but left whole
½ small purple onion, very thinly sliced
Juice from ½ lemon
Olive Oil (just a drizzle about 2-3 tbs.)
Salt and pepper

Slice your peaches over the salad bowl to catch any juices that may drip down; add basil leaves, onion, salt, pepper. Pour on lemon juice and lightly drizzle just a bit of olive oil. Honestly, I probably used even less than what I suggested above. I have a light hand with oil and with dressing salads in general. You can always add more dressing, but if you over do it, there’s no way to dry your salad off.

I think a lovely addition to this salad would be some tangy goat cheese crumbles, or fresh mozzarella. You could serve it with a side of mixed greens and a loaf of crusty bread for a light dinner; as lunch, or like we did, at brunch. Simply delicious.

among the converted

Consider me a Crockpot convert. I have only really used it twice, for the same cookout, one year apart and it is simply the easiest way to cook a ton of meat, really well, and keep it heated up all day long without having to turn your oven on, or keep firing up the grill. Not that we didn’t fire up the grill, we had a variety of sausages, grilled chicken and even burgers, but the pulled pork carnitas were the mainstay of my menu.



Though seriously similar to the cheater pulled pork I wrote about this time last year, these carnitas are too simple and delicious not to share. This would be a perfect easy summer dinner party. Very little hands on work because everything can be done well in advance, can be (nay, should be) served buffet style so people can deck their plates out with whatever condiments they want and get back outside with their plates in hand. We served these with a ton of different garnishes including tomato salsa, guacamole, corn salsa, sour cream, sprigs of cilantro, chopped purple onion, black bean salsa, you get the point. You can have as few or as many toppings as you like.



SLOW COOKER CARNITAS
(found on thekitchn.com)

1 (6-8 pound) pork butt, also called pork shoulder
2 tablespoons coarse salt
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon dried oregano
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste
8 whole cloves garlic, smashed
4 chipotle peppers (canned or dried)
1 cup tomato juice
1 cup orange juice



Trim excess fat from the meat and discard. Place all ingredients in the slow-cooker. Set to cook on LOW for 8 hours. Meat is done when it literally falls off the bone (my butt was boneless (HA!) so I cut it up into big hunks for easier fitting into the Crockpot). When cool enough to handle, lift the meat from the juices and place in a large bowl. Remove the bone, then shred the meat. Skim the fat from the juices and keep as a medium for re-heating the meat. For carnitas tacos, reheat the meat and serve in corn tortillas with sour cream, cilantro, chopped red onion and lime wedges. (makes 20-30 taco-sized servings).



Do not adjust your eyes. Those are the only steps. Purchase meat, add meat and stuff to Crockpot, turn on. What I did was arrange my ingredients in the Crockpot at about midnight the night before my party. When I woke up at 8 am, I went downstairs, did a temperature check on the pork to make sure it was done and shut the cooker off. I then let it cool off a bit while I assembled my Mexican Slaw and Potato Salad. About two hours before company came I hoisted the chunks of meat out of the cooker one at a time and shredded it using two forks, discarding any big hunks of fat that didn’t render. I also scooped any solidified oil off the top of the juices. Once all the meat was shredded, I returned it all to the bowl of my Crockpot and kept it on warm for the remainder of the day/evening. So easy it hurts.



SPICY CUMIN SCENTED SLAW

1 bag cole slaw mix (or alternately, a shredded head of cabbage and grated carrots)
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
1-2 small bell peppers (any color), thinly sliced
1 jalapeño, partially seeded* and thinly sliced into strips
1 ½ tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 lime, zest and juice
1 teaspoon cumin (add to taste if you want more, I did)
Kosher salt
Freshly ground pepper
Healthy splash apple cider vinegar
Sriracha chili sauce, or your preferred hot sauce (to taste)
2 healthy pinches of sugar
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
Handful cilantro leaves, chopped (optional)



In a large bowl, combine the cole slaw mix, red onion, pepper and jalapeno. In a separate large bowl combine the next 8 ingredients, whisking together slightly to combine. Then whisking with one hand, slowly add your olive oil in a thin stream to emulsify the dressing. You could likewise use an immersion blender or a regular old blender, combining all the ingredients. If using, add cilantro just before serving. I even left myself a note right on the bowl to remind me to do this, but I didn’t. Whoops. I blame the tireless hosting duties/ margaritas.



Because I knew my slaw would be out on the buffet for most of the day, I wanted something with absolutely no mayonnaise in it. The dressing on this slaw is great: just slightly spicy, with a smoky hit of cumin and a little lime zing. I assembled this about 3-4 hours before the party which gave it ample time to marinate in the dressing, without getting soggy at all. It had a nice crunch and was delicious with the carnitas. This slaw would be a hit in any cookout situation, whether it have a Mexican bent or not.

*seed completely if you don’t want your slaw to be spicy.



I wasn't lying about the note.



CUZZIN SAL’S STEEL CITY MARGARITAS (and other awesome beverage tips)

My cousin Sallyann is a mix master. It might have something to do with the fact that she’s an architect (so precision is the name of her game) or that she’s a big food and beverage enthusiast. Either way, every summer when she comes home to Mass (from Pittsburgh, hence the name I gave these ‘ritas) she always makes the MOST delicious cocktails, which are essential and perfect for porch relaxing and post beach appetizer eating (both of which we do a lot of).



I was at the grocery store Saturday morning getting my party supplies and I saw the frozen Minutemaid Limeade as I was picking up some lemonade mix. Instinctively I grabbed a couple cans and texted Sallyann “I know you make something delicious with frozen limeade. What is it?” She hit me back with an email I will be referring to for guidance all summer long. Check out not only the margarita recipe (with a watermelon alternative-YUM) and the recipe for agua fresca which I am most certainly going to have a pitcher of in my fridge throughout the dog days this year.



Our traditional margarita (quick and easy)

1/2 can limeade
1 lemon squeezed
1 cup tequila
1/4 cup triple sec or Cointreau (for fancy ones)
1 cup water

We mix all ingredients and serve on the rocks, but you can also mix in a blender with ice to make slushy. Serve with salt rimmed glass and lime.

Variations:
Purée ripe watermelon and add 1 cup purée to each cup water.

(we frequently make watermelon agua fresca but add 1/2 can limeade and then use it as the base for both margaritas and alcohol free drinks... Any type of good ripe melon will work well.)

Also, I highly recommend either lime or lemonade with a hearty splash of vanilla extract. This make a nice base for vodka drinks too.

For our party, I quadrupled the traditional margarita recipe (what can I say I’m friends with a lot of boozebags?) and we offered them along side some delicious white peach sangria that my friends Mish and Anthony whipped up. Both of the cocktails did not make it past the first 2 hours of the party, because they were all THAT good. Many thanks to my contributors, both local and long distance, the drinks were absolutely perfect. I’m looking forward to making some vodka based cocktails in the not so distant future with the vanilla extract tip. Dangerously good!