Sherry – Page 55 – Rosemary and the Goat

Balsamic Cippolini Onions with Tomatoes

Pronounced chip-oh-LEE-nee.

Another side dish to go with any meal. Not too many calories either.

These were great with the pulled pork sandwich and the cheese grits. You can’t see much of the onions in this picture but there were more onions than tomatoes in the dish.

While in Houston a few weeks go, I was at Central Market grocery. I love walking around in specialty grocery stores, especially this one because they have so many different kinds of produce than you would ever see in your corner grocery. They have more than 100 kinds of fish and have so many kinds of bread and cheeses it makes you just want to stand and drool over them. I am always looking for something different to try for the blog and I knew this store would have it. At first I saw this “budda’s hand” fruit (see below)

and thought that that might be interesting to try, but frankly it was a little scary looking and I had no idea what I would do with it.

I was looking at their selections of onions and they had so many to choose from. The cippolini onions were so cute I couldn’t resist them. These onions are specific to Italian cooking and a smaller, flat with a yellowish skin and are sweeter onions that have more sugar than the garden-variety of yellow or white onion. This onion is great for roasting. Cippolinis are actually the small bittersweet bulbs that come from the grape hyacinth.

Using balsamic vinegar when roasting these at high heat makes for a perfectly beautiful glaze and the onions become caramelized and the tomatoes soft and sweet. This makes a great side dish with just about anything you are putting on the table.

We use to grow both onions and tomatoes and did so quite successfully until we moved to Texas and got a dog. We could always tell when the tomatoes and onions were ready to be picked because our dog would return to the house after doing her business smelling like either tomatoes or onions. She enjoyed them quite often; and two dogs later (we now have no dog) I buy my onions and tomatoes at the grocery. Maybe some day we will give them another try — that is if we can keep the squirrels from eating them.

When we went up to my sister’s back in January, I took these tomatoes and onions. One of her friends brought over a smoked pork butt for us and I decided that the onions and tomatoes would be a great side dish to go with our pulled pork sandwiches with creamy cheese grits.

February 28, 2012 By Sherry

Side dish

French Breakfast Radishes and Baby Carrots

Rabbit food you say!

While strolling through Hubble and Hudson grocery awhile back I was looking for a cute and interesting vegetable to make on Valentine’s Day for my husband. I’ve always loved radishes but these French Breakfast radishes grabbed my attention with their candy cane colors; and right beside them were the cutest French baby carrots. Both of theses vegetables are from Babé Farms in Santa Maria, CA.

I’ve read that these breakfast radishes with butter and salt is a French classic and a radish sandwich with fleur del or sea salt and unsalted butter on a baguette is a great children’s snack in France. Doesn’t that sound a lot healthier than that bag of Doritos the kids might grab after school. Don’t underestimate this little radish it has an elongated shape and a crisp texture with a delicate sweet flavor and it has much more going for it than those little globe radishes that get thrown into the salad mix.

I’m hoping we are going to be seeing these radishes in France next month at the markets we will be visiting because I will be grabbing a crusty French baguette and some great butter and taking that back for an evening snack with a nice glass of wine.

So my Valentine’s dinner was a filet mignon with King Crab piled on top with a compound butter with a Salad Lyonnaise (posting soon) and these French Breakfast Radishes and Baby Carrots as a side dish.

February 23, 2012 By Sherry

Appetizers/ ColdApp

Domaine Chandon Blue Cheese Spread

Quick little appetizer spread.

I made this appetizer last night when friends came over. It’s always a winner.

Don’t we all have those “go to” recipes when we want a quick tried and true lip smacking recipe? I know I do. I have to omit that I love making recipes that need a lot of ingredients, take a long time to make, and I’m complaining by the time I’m done because I’ve been in the kitchen all day, my legs hurt and I’m ready to go to bed before I even have a bite of what I have prepared. But, 99% of the time it is well worth all the trouble. This recipe will not keep you in the kitchen long and you will be sitting with your feet up relaxing before your guests arrive.

Don’t know why I haven’t posted this before now because I have been making this spread for about 15 years and with little change to the original recipe. Back on one of our birthday’s, my sister and I went to Napa to celebrate one of our “big ones”. We each took a friend instead of our husbands and had a great time in all the wineries. Not that it would not have been fun with our husbands, but it was a lot cheaper to not take them and we just needed some sister time.

February 18, 2012 By Sherry

Salads

Tomato and Edamame Salad

I have a confession! And, I’m sure NO ONE has ever done this.

First, I want to say Happy Valentine’s Day to everyone and I hope you have something in mind for your special valentine that involves chocolate. Just in case you don’t and you want a little sweet treat, here’s my Peanut Butter Filled Chocolate Dipped Strawberry that will be a great finish to your meal.

This salad has some yummy RED (for Valentine’s Day) tomatoes to go with your dinner any night. I should have done some type of decadent chocolate dessert, but then I would be forced to eat it. So, instead, here’s a pretty healthy salad recipe for you to try.

Several years ago while on a mother/daughter trip with a friend and her daughter we visited San Francisco and then Napa. While in San Francisco we had sushi at Ozumo. You ask me how I could possibly remember the name of the restaurant from 5 years ago. Well, I journal all trips we make especially the food and the restaurants. So, we had their edamame made with sautéed garlic and a splash of soy sauce and it was outstanding and is now the only way I eat edamame.

So, my confession. We have a favorite sushi place that we go to about once a month. One time my friend and I had lunch there so I sauteed my garlic and took it in a small container and then we order their steamed edamame. I took out my garlic, added it to the bowl of edamame and then added a splash of soy sauce. The waitress came by and wanted to know what smelled so good and I confessed what I did. The next time my husband and I visited that restaurant (we always sit at the bar so we can watch) I asked if they could saute some garlic and add to the edamame and they did. Then on another visit when I asked for the same, the waiter said “oh, are you the one that asked for that before”. I said yes. I think they KNOW it is a better option that sprinkling it heavily with their Cajun season (I’m sure that’s what they were putting on their spicy edamame.).

February 13, 2012 By Sherry

Egg Dishes/ Morning Foods

Egg and Pesto Stuffed Tomatoes

Colorful egg dish for your next brunch.

I saw this recipe on paleodietlifestyle.com and decided I must try it for Sunday brunch and I took some liberties with the recipe. I decided to add some meat (fried chopped pancetta) and basil pesto to the bottom of the tomato before adding the egg and also some Parmesan cheese. If you aren’t following the paleo lifestyle (I’m not) feel free to add some grated cheddar or Swiss to the top before baking.

I cringe at the thought of scrambled eggs for breakfast. Sometimes my husband will ask for them (if he doesn’t do them himself). I refuse to put butter in a skillet, melt it, and throw in a couple of eggs and call it done; those taste like the eggs you might be served in a hospital. If I am forced to do scrambled eggs, I will start by sauteing a little green onion and maybe some bell pepper and mushrooms and then throw in those beaten eggs and do a soft scramble.

February 8, 2012 By Sherry

Cookies/Bars

Chocolate Coconut Macadamia Cookie

“C” is for cookie and that’s good enough for me!

Chocolate, Coconut and Cookie, those are three “c” words I love.

We went back home for my grandmother’s funeral a couple of weeks ago. She lived to be 98 years, 7 months and 30 days; a long life and to live it in her own home until the end was amazing.

I have so many memories of food and family dinners at her house and we will never forget her. When I see an ice cream machine, I will always think of the rich sweet vanilla ice cream she always made my grandfather, or just thinking of a simple pot roast reminds me of Sunday lunch she would have ready to pull out of the oven after church. She was never a cookie maker, that was something my mother loved doing. My grandmother did make good fried chicken, milk gravy and homemade biscuits and the best fried cream corn. Her style of cooking may have been more like Paula Deen’s but hey, she almost made it to 99 drinking cultured buttermilk, eating souse, pickled pigs feet and the occasional Twinkie.

While staying at my sister’s for a week, she and I had a chance to stop by their local Grandad’s Deli and had a wonderful reuben sandwich (we halved it) and potato soup. Sharon, the owner, had a mouth watering selection of desserts but the thing we both zoomed in on was a big fat cookie (Cookie Monster size for sure) that we knew was going to be delicious as soon as we saw the big macadamia nuts studding the cookies. I knew this was one recipe I was going to have to recreate. My daughter and husband had been there earlier and she brought back remnants of her cookie and shared a bite with me. That’s when I knew I had to have one and I WOULD NOT BE SHARING IT–not one bite.

I think any recipe is only as good as it’s ingredients, so for these cookies I decided to use an organic salted butter, my vanilla bean paste (for a more vanilla taste) and of course the macadamia nuts and dark chocolate chips. I also splurged for organic eggs even though I never buy them. I’m not sure if someone could actually tell whether something was made with organic products or not but look at the picture below. The organic egg yolk does look darker in color and the white whiter than the penned up non-exercised hen’s egg. I wasn’t taking any chances in this recipe. I wanted it to be delicious so why not use the best.

(Note: these were delicious cookies, but still not the same as the ones from the deli that I loved so much. I guess that means the next time I’m up there I will have to go try another one and then tweak this recipe.)

February 2, 2012 By Sherry

Appetizers/ ColdApp

Smoked Salmon Stacks

What a quick little appetizer to make.

My only experience with salmon before I got married was with the canned variety being made into salmon patties (croquets) by my mother; and our favorite way of eating the crispy, pan-fried patties was with mushroom soup poured over them like a gravy and that would have been canned mushroom soup.

Then we moved to Texas where I discovered more varieties of fish than I could have ever imagined. We now have available all kinds of fresh fish and I’m constantly coming up with different ways of preparing it. Salmon is one of my favorites especially when my husband cooks it on the grill.

My friend, Peggy, can always come up with a little appetizer that can be throw together at a moments notice. We have been trading recipes for years and back in the summer she did a smoked salmon recipe where you put a softened whipped cream cheese with chives, parsley, lemon zest and lemon juice in processor until smooth. Then you simply squirt a small amount on one of the thick style potato chips, top with a small piece of smoked salmon and serve. Talk about quick!

January 29, 2012 By Sherry

Entree/ Pasta/ Side dish

Zucchini Pasta with Pine Nuts

Want a healthier pasta recipe?

Again, I find myself sitting around trying to dream up a new recipe. While in Austin last weekend for our grandson’s birthday I was 2 days into the South Beach diet. It’s easy for me to get started on any new diet because I tend to obsess over what to cook and make. If someone likes to cook, then any diet should be easy, it’s a challenge for me to take something boring and make it more delicious.

Seems like everyone is always looking for a healthier way to prepare recipes. This can probably be made even healthier than I made it, so feel free to change up any of the ingredients. My daughter makes julienned zucchini all the time in place of pasta. I just wanted to add a little whole wheat pasta for some texture.

For our Christmas dinner this year we made mashed potatoes mixed with sauteed kale and onions. So, I’m sitting over the weekend thinking how good those potatoes were and maybe I could try doing a cauliflower mash and add the kale and onions to that mixture instead of mashed potatoes. I’m doing that this week and will post the results if they are worth mentioning.

Back to the weekend and the dieting. Well, I blew the diet and it was worth it. My son made about 7-8 different kinds of homemade pizza and a beautiful Mickey Mouse Birthday cake. (Remember the train wreck cake from last year?) I was only two days into the diet so why not just wait until Tuesday to restart.

So, before I get back into “the diet” why not try a healthier pasta dish. The third week of this diet allows for some whole wheat pasta. Here’s what I decided to do. Since whole wheat pasta is suppose to be so good for you, I cooked a very small amount of pasta and then julienned 3 zucchini which I sauteed along with some garlic. A few toasted pine nuts were added along with some Parmesan cheese and some parsley out of my herb garden. I drizzled in a little browned butter but that could easily be changed to olive oil. (I used four tablespoons of butter; but two probably would have been plenty.)

January 25, 2012 By Sherry

Side dish/ Vegetables

Cauliflower Mash with Kale

Oh how I love mashed potatoes.

Very good side dish for my roasted chicken.

I’m really trying to be good with this new year just beginning. I’ve been going to the gym 3 times a week and have drug out my Zumba tapes that I paid a fortune for and clumsily trying to do the dance steps in my kitchen (with no one watching of course).

I do dream of mashed potatoes (not really). We never eat potatoes much since our kids have left home because we really don’t need to be eating them. I remember as a kid loving to lick the pan. In fact, I would rather have licked the mashed potatoes out of the pan than have a big heaping pile in my plate.

Mashed potatoes are great for holding all kinds of gravy and even sauerkraut (for my sister) or to put on top of a shepherd’s pie. I always loved the little lumps my mother would leave when mashing the potatoes. Sure way to tell that she did not use instant potato flakes. There’s just something about cold weather (and we are having some now here in Texas) that makes me crave something mashed and smooth and comforting to go with roasted chicken and this cauliflower mash with kale hits the spot and not too many calories either.

I know a lot of people have mashed cauliflower to make mock mashed potatoes, but they don’t fool me. We had Giada’s recipe for mashed potatoes with kale with our prime rib for Christmas dinner and it was wonderful; but this recipe is healthier and I have added parsnips to the cauliflower mash to give it a little more character. See what you think of this recipe. If you try it, please leave a comment below.

January 20, 2012 By Sherry

Beverages/ Dessert

Chocolate Martini Blox

Who didn’t grow up loving Jello and Jello Knox Blox?

Remember the song from the Jello commercial —

♫ Watch it wiggle, see it jiggle. Cool and smoothy, Jello brand gelatin. Of all desserts you’ll love the one that tastes so light and makes such fun. Make Jello gelatin and make some fun. J-e-l-l-o!♫

It’s hard to imagine a life without Jello as a kid. My favorite was strawberry with bananas. My grandmother had a particular refrigerator tray that was a light blue aluminum pan, and that was what she made her strawberry jello in and then she added bananas to the chilling mixture. We couldn’t wait for it to set up so we could dig in. My mother came up with all kinds of desserts using Jello over the years; but it seems like you just don’t see it used in recipes as often now. I don’t even make the Jello salads anymore like I did back in the 70’s and 80’s. No one in my family ever ate them but me. I have an appetizer that has been a catering favorite for years — Garden Vegetable Terrine that has Lemon Jello in it and it’s delicious — kind of sweet, kind of hot and spicy recipe.

These days it seems like if we eat Jello we are sick or getting ready for some kind of medical test.

Well this particular gelatin recipe is made with Knox gelatin. End results I guess would be like Jello Knox Blox that we use to make for our kids. They really loved being able to pick up Jello and eat it with their hands; but these Jello Blox are for adults only. My sister tore this recipe from one of her magazine and put it in “to make” notebook so I copied it while visiting and thought why not try them out for my bunco group at my house last week. I’m sure this recipe was a Knox advertisement because it specified Knox unflavored gelatin.

♫”It wiggles, it jiggles, it’s fun for everyone”.♫

January 12, 2012 By Sherry

Soup

Shrimp and Corn Chowder

What a comforting bowl of soup for a cold winter night.

I don’t know where you live in this world of ours, but whether you are having a warm sunny day or a cold chilly wintry evening, I think you will enjoy this soup.

Soup is one of my favorite dishes to make. Seems like you can throw just about anything in a pot and come up with a wonderful dish that will make your family or guest think you have slaved over a hot stove all day. Add a nice crusty bread and a beautifully dressed green salad and a soup becomes a fantastic meal. Potatoes, pasta, or rice can be added to soups or stews to make a simple pot of simmering vegetables hearty enough for anyone in your family who might say “no” to soup for dinner. I often think of “what would our pioneer mother’s have made for dinner”. I’m sure stews were often on their menus. Dad comes in with something he had shot while out tending the fields (??) and she adds it to the pot and then throws in any kind of root vegetables they may have in their cellar. I’m not sure I could live like that but I often think I would like to be a time traveler to go back and experience some of the things our forefathers lived through; but with one foot in the present.

Don’t you just love what you can do with a soup. You can serve a pumpkin tomato soup in small hallowed out pumpkins or you can put your soup in a beautiful soup tureen. There’s always dessert soups that are simple and delicious and will impress your guest when served in a martini glass. At my daughter’s wedding back in October we had, as one of our hors doerves, a tomato bisque that was served in a tall shot glass with a grilled cheese triangle teetering over the top of the glass. Now that was fun; the grilled cheese could either be eaten as is or dunked (I did) into the soup and then you could finish off the soup by a swift tilt of the head and down the soup. I also just posted a Crab and Corn Bisque from our Hawaiian feast weekend.

I did not have any sherry in my liquor cabinet and didn’t want the extra stop while shopping to pick it up so I lazily opted for the cooking sherry from the grocery.

January 8, 2012 By Sherry

Beef/Veal/ Entree/ Salads

Thai Steak Salad

I’m a copycat but it’s worth it for this recipe.

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season. Christmas came and went so fast and the New Year is here, and everyone is wanting to cut calories and food intake.

What are your New Year’s resolutions? Well when it comes to food I would like to do one vegetarian meal a week, fish at least 2 times a week (baked or pan fried), a main dish salad at least once a week, and then try and fill in the other days with healthier meals made with chicken and some pork. I think having salad is a perfect start to the new year.

What is it about a salad that is so refreshing even if it is loaded with tons of ingredients? I don’t know but I think most people feel like they are watching their calories when eating salad and that’s not always true.

A couple of years ago I gave up buying all those creamy prepared salad dressings and now whip up any type of vinaigrette at a moments notice. As long as you have olive oil, vinegar (some balsamic also), some Dijon mustard or other types of mustard and seasoning, you can whip up a dressing almost as quick as you can grab for that high fat store bought dressing that might still be in your refrigerator.

I don’t really think about the calories when I’m making a salad at home. I’m just thinking I can make one thing and not doing a protein, sides, etc., etc. Even though this salad has a long list of ingredients, you can prep everything early in the day and then just throw it together for your evening meal. For a salad with few ingredients and big taste, I posted the Bitter Green Salad with Yuzu dressing from our Hawaiian feast a few weeks ago.

My sister has always loved Houston’s Restaurant Evil Jungle Thai Salad. I have yet to taste it but I take her word that it is a delicious salad and she says it’s her most favorite restaurant salad.

So I started googling their recipe and came up with several copycat recipes. I’m sticking with the dressing recipe but added more garlic (or course) and for the salad, I omitted the noodles just because I didn’t think I would like noodles in a salad. I also added oranges instead of mango (I eat enough mango as it is), added the fresh ginger, jalapenos, the avocado and the savoy cabbage along with a mixture of lettuce. I browned my sesame seeds (not in their recipe) and the peanuts in a dry skillet which really adds a nice toasty taste to the salad. I think I changed enough ingredients in this salad to call it my own but I would have to say the Evil Thai Steak Salad from Houston’s Restaurant was definitely my inspiration.

While visiting in Chicago before Christmas, we made this one night at our son and daughter-in-law’s house, and we all enjoyed it along with some fresh crusty French bread and some Cambozola cheese.

January 4, 2012 By Sherry

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