fall quiche: winter squash, kale, and fresh ricotta on fillo dough

A recent farmer's market trip resulted in two winter squash, a bunch of kale, 4 shallots, a tub of fresh ricotta, and 10 million ideas as to what I could do with them. I hadn't made a quiche in a while, and settled on a trying a fall version with fillo dough and almond milk to make it healthier. It's such a beautiful, rustic, and down-home dish that I thought a skillet would be the perfect touch.

Ingredients:

4 Shallots (sliced)

1/2 Large Sweet Onion (sliced)

6 Stems of Kale (chopeed)

2 Winter Squash

1/2 Tsp Mustard Powder

2 Pinches of Dried Thyme

1 1/4 Cup Almond Milk - Unsweetened

1 1/2 Cup Fresh Ricotta

10 Fillo Dough Sheets

4 Eggs

Salt & Pepper

Olive Oil

Cast Iron Skillet

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F and thaw fillo dough sheets.

2. Peel and cube winter squash. Spread out cubes on a cooking sheet. Season with minimal olive oil, salt, pepper, and thyme.

3. Saute onion and shallots until they being to appear see through. Add chopped kale with a dash of water to steam.

4. Line cast iron skillet with fillo dough sheets, basting with olive oil and alternating direction every two layers.

5. Beat together egg, almond milk, ricotta, mustard, salt, and pepper with a mixer.

6. First layer kale mixture into you pan, then squash, and then pour egg mixture over the top.

7. Stick you pan in the oven and bake for about an hour or until top turns crispy brown.

house-cured salmon

Lox is my favorite food, hands down. I was raised on it, it's in my blood and I crave it like water. When I heard that it was actually pretty simple to make at home yourself, I had to try. It took two tries to get it down perfectly, but for a food that is so luxurious in feeling, it is amazingly stupid easy to do. You can bet I'll be doing this a couple times a month....for the rest of my life.

It came in handy when the hurricane rolled around that I had just produced my second round of homemade lox. Adam and I were shut up inside, and so what better to do than cook up a storm. We've been on a bit of a benedict kick, and we decided to make a salmon version using the lox and Adam's homemade lemon hollandaise sauce. Even we were impressed at how delicious it all turned out - the perfect hurricane dish. :)

Ingredients:

1 fresh cut of salmon, choose your size (I like to get my salmon for lox at Wholefoods. It is the best high quality, wild caught, and fresh fish that I've been able to find in Philadelphia.)

chopped dill

1 part salt: 2 parts sugar (ex.1 cup salt, 2 cups sugar)

Directions:

1. Lay out a sheet of plastic wrap and set your salmon ontop, skin and all.

2. Sprinkle the cut with chopped dill, and cover evenly with about 1/2 inch of your sugar/salt mixture.

3. Wrap everything up tightly, and set it in something to catch any juices that may leek out. I used a flat casserole dish.

4. Place everything in your refrigerator for 36 hours.

5. After letting the salmon sit for 36 hours, pull it out and unwrap. Rinse the fish off to remove all salt/sugar.

6. Using a sharp knife, cut the skin off of your fish. Then, do make pieces of lox, cut in thin, long, angular slices.

arugula pesto and rainbow chard whole wheat pizza

Pizza is one of America's favorite foods, but often the ingredients are sugary, processed, canned, or from halfway around the world; however, it doesn't have to be that way. All toppings for the pizza above (cheese, tomatoes, rainbow chard, arugula, and garlic) were picked up at the local farmer's market and laid over a fresh whole wheat crust. It's guilt free and a great weekend dinner. Take the leftovers with you to lunch or make it for friends.

Whole Wheat Crust Recipe

Ingredients:

1/4 large heirloom tomato

2 stalks of rainbow chard

1 cup shredded mozzarella

3/4 cup crumbled Hillacres Pride Arcadia cheese (raw cow's milk cheese with earthy flavors and nutty undertones)

Arugula Pesto:

1 3/4 cups packed arugula

2 large garlic cloves

1/3 cup pine nuts

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 tsp herb salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F

2. Blend all arugula pesto ingredients together in a food processor.

3. Grease pan slightly, and roll out pizza dough. Place the dough in the pan and stretch it to fit precisely.

4. Spread arugula pesto, sprinkle cheese, and distribute chard and tomatoes evenly.

5. Cook pizza for 20-25 minutes until crust begins to brown. 

low fat seasalt corn bread muffins

As the weather cools, I usually go into soup mode. I love pairing a hot bowl with corn bread to give you the right mix of liquid and solid. In this instance, I added seasalt to the top of the muffins to balance out the sweetness of my squash soup. Traditionally, corn bread isn't the best for you, but there is a surprisingly easy way to cut a lot of the fattiness out. Simply substitute non-fat Greek yogurt for most of the butter. You still have a moist and delicious bread, just without all of that lard. I also like to use all natural sweetener, palm sugar, instead of white sugar because of it's brown sugary taste. 

Ingredients (makes 8 muffins):

1 cup cornmeal

1 cup flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup non-fat Greek yogurt

1 egg

3 tbs. palm sugar

3 tbs. melted butter

seasalt to sprinkle ontop

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F and line your muffin tins

2. Mix dry ingredients together in a large bowl

3. Mix wet ingredients together in a small bowl

4. Using a wooden spoon, slowly introduce the wet mixture into the dry, working the dough as little as possible.

5. Spoon mixture out into your muffin tin, and sprinkle seasalt ontop

6. Bake for 20 minutes, let cool slightly, and serve

an italian meal

Second Stop: Florence, Italy

The way that meals are prepared in Italy is something I've always tried to replicate here in the states. It starts with gathering the ingredients - not a simple run to the grocery store. You first stop at the latteria, followed by the macelleria, and so on, picking up item by item. You buy freshly baked breads and hand-rolled gnocci, sample cheeses and talk with shop owners. 

Once everything is home it's a long evening spent in the kitchen. You're preparing a gala of at least three courses rather than just one dish. Foods spend hours in the oven, and finally at around 8:30 pm you all sit down to enjoy the feast. Those who weren't in the kitchen, probably sat and munched on appetizers of parmigiana and salami, just waiting to eat.

I don't know if my family wanted to break him in, or they were seriously interested to taste his cooking, but on our visit, Adam was put up to the challenge of creating a full Italian meal. A simple request to cook dinner turned into a meal for twelve. To prepare, I took him to the center market and all of the little shops to get ingredients. We planned as we went, and I sheepishly told him how it was going to go. 

Back in the kitchen, we took our usual teamwork to the big leagues. I played sous chef, chopping and slicing, while he worked his magic: gnocci in a spinach & tomato cream sauce, swordfish with a lemon butter reduction, and a beautiful fall vegetable mash up. 

For me, the whole evening recalled memories of my childhood. I remember looking up at my grandmother, she in her fur coat and me holding my her hand, as the butcher fawned over me and how much I had grown. But this time I was holding his hand instead, and I guess you could say I was little more secure in my size. I remember asking my grandmother, who I adored, what I could help with next as she worked on dinner. Sometimes I was set to grinding the parmigiana and other times I would layer tiramisu. Maybe I got a knife this time, but I fit right back into my old role as the little helper, Adam taking the lead. 

Being in that kitchen, bringing him into that world, was something else. Not only do I love that kitchen and the Italian culture surrounding food, but it's also a big part of me. I was letting him into a magical world. One that before had been my own little secret. 

mamma's last of summer salad

There are three reasons why I like to cook: my mother, my father, and my love of eating. My parents are two of the best chefs I know. Eating well is never a problem whether you're at their house or even just within their presence. 

Last time I was home my mom put this salad together for lunch. It's healthy ingredients - beats, shrimp, artichokes, olives, heart of palm, and arugula - are brightened by a lemony mint vinaigrette  I told you, the woman knows what she's doing.

Ingredients (serves 3):

6oz shrimp - peeled, deveined, and cooked

1 cup pitted kalamata olives

3/4 cup pickled beets

3/4 cup pickled artichokes

1.5 cup arugula

3 heart of palm stalks

salt & pepper

Dressing:

1/2 cup chopped mint

1 cup olive oil

juice from 1/2 lemon

Directions:

1. Blend together dressing ingredients.

2. Lay out a bed of arugula on each plate. Place other ingredients on top one by one, circling around the plate.

3. Drizzle with dressing, salt and pepper.

salmon & chive stuffed breakfast pastries

It was Adam's birthday this past Sunday. We were out till dawn, warranting a late morning sleep in. I let him rest and finally dragged myself out of bed to whip him up something special. I had been plotting these stuffed breakfast pastries and so everything was already in my fridge. It took about thirty minutes to throw everything together, and I have to say, they were pretty tasty. 

Ingredients (serves 2)
4 large eggs

4 puff pastry shells

4 oz smoked salmon

3/4 cup smoked gouda, grated

1/3 cup creme fraiche

10 small chive stalks, chopped

1/2 tsp salt

juice from 1/2 lemon

Directions

1. Let your pastry shells defrost for about 30 minutes, and preheat your oven to 450F.

2. Lay the pastry shells out on a greased baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

3. Mix together salmon, gouda, creme fraiche, chives, salt, and lemon juice in a small bowl.

4. Cut out the center top of your pastries and fill with the salmon mixture . Close the top back up so that everything will melt inside from the heat of the freshly baked pastry.

5. Fry eggs in olive oil and place on top.

goat cheese polenta towers

We were in the mood to treat ourselves to something a bit more elegant than usual. Although the presentation may be deceiving, it's not difficult to make, but it is a great blend of flavors and a sight to see. Goat cheese polenta topped with eggplant, homemade tomato sauce, and sauteed shrimp - indulge yourself, you deserve it.

Polenta Ingredients (makes approx 5-6 servings):

3 Cups Water

1.5 Cups Cornmeal (you can use instant or finer consistency cornmeal if you would the process to go faster)

1 Tbsp Butter

2 Clove Garlic

1.5 Tbsp Goat Cheese

Salt and Pepper to Taste

Topping Ingredients:

1.5 Cups Homemade Tomato Sauce (or store bought)
half of one large eggplant

12 Shrimp

1 Clove Minced Garlic

2 Tbsp Olive Oil

1 Tbsp Butter

Salt and Pepper to Taste

Directions:

1. Heat about 1 tbsp. olive oil in a large pan and add half of the chopped garlic. Stir about a minute until fragrant. Add the eggplant. Drizzle olive oil over the eggplant and stir. Cover the pan for a few minutes so steam builds up, this will help the eggplant soften without having to pour gallons of olive oil into the pan as eggplant acts like a sponge and will just soak it up. Remove the cover, stir. Add the tomato sauce and sauté for 5 minutes, lower heat and let simmer.

2. Heat butter in a medium pot and slightly brown garlic.

3. Lower heat and add water/cornmeal. Stir vigorously until polenta reaches desired consistency.

4. Heat a sauce pan over high heat. Add olive oil.

5. Place shrimp and minced garlic into the pan.

6. Cook shrimp until dark pink on both sides. Then add butter to get a nice crispy brown coloring on the outside.

7. Salt and pepper to taste.