Panzanella of Bell Peppers

Another one from Chef Matt:


This salad is one that often has tomatoes, but the real “heart” of this salad is the bread. (Hence the use of “pane,” meaning “bread” in the name.) The best choice for the bread is to use leftover stale bread, since this will really soak up the flavors of the oil, vinegar and fresh herbs.  Tuscan bread is typically made without salt, and while it is traditional, it’s not my favorite choice. Use leftover focaccia (page XX) to really bring this salad to life.

Yield: Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

• 3 Tbsp        red wine vinegar
• 1 clove     garlic – minced
• 1 tsp        fresh thyme – minced
• 1 tsp        fresh oregano – minced
• ¼ tsp        crushed red pepper
• ½ tsp        salt
• ¼ tsp        freshly ground black pepper
• ½ cup        extra virgin olive oil
• 3 cups        stale bread cubes – or fresh bread cubes lightly toasted
• 2 ea        red bell peppers
• 1 ea        yellow (or orange) bell pepper
• 1 ea        green bell pepper
• ½ ea        red onion
• 1 ea        cucumber – large
• ½ lb        fresh mozzarella
• 20 ea        fresh basil leaves – large,  roughly torn by hand

Method:

1. In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the vinegar, garlic, thyme, oregano, crushed red pepper, salt and black pepper. While continuing to whisk, slowly add the olive oil to the bowl, and whisk to fully emulsify.
2. Pour half of the vinaigrette into a large serving bowl.  In the medium bowl where you mixed the vinaigrette, add the bread cubes and toss to coat. Set aside and allow to soak while you make the rest of the salad.
3. Slice the sides off all of the bell peppers (of all colors) and remove any seeds and white ribs on them. Cut peppers into 1” squares, and toss with the vinaigrette in the large serving bowl.
4. Cut the red onion into thin slices, and toss with the peppers.
5. Peel the cucumber and slice in half lengthwise. Remove the seeds with a spoon, and then slice crosswise into semicircles. Toss in with the peppers and onions.
6. Cut the fresh mozzarella into ½” cubes and toss with the peppers.
7. Add the bread and vinaigrette mixture to the salad, and toss everything together to combine.  Taste and correct for salt and pepper.
8. Top the salad with the torn basil leaves and toss in lightly. Serve immediately.

RESULTS:
This one has real wow factor. I made it for a lunch with Chris, Tiffany and Tom, and it was really pretty. Really pretty. And it went over pretty well. The one thing we all agreed on was that maybe there was too much onion. Like, if you really really love red onions, it would be a good amount. But if it's just sort of OK to you, you might want to cut back. Also, personally, I like my vinaigrette more on the vinegar side, but I think that's the beauty of this recipe, it's so changeable. This would be a great one to make, especially in the late summer when we've got all these peppers and no one really knows what to do with them.

Oh, and, there weren't any leftovers. Well, there were, but they didn't survive the night...If you know what I mean...Because I ate them.

Roasted Red Peppers

This is the roasted red peppers recipe that goes with this penne dish.  Chef Matt mentioned that this will work with any number of peppers (you don't need to use 4). And just a note from me: I would strongly recommend you not skimp on the foil. I did, and I have completely ruined one of my baking sheets. Good thing they're super cheap.

These roasted peppers are a useful base for so many dishes, and can add flavor and color to a lot of dishes where we are excluding tomatoes. This technique also works just fine if you want to roast orange or yellow peppers too.

Yield: ~ 2 cups

Ingredients:

• 4 ea        red bell peppers
• As needed    olive oil, salt, pepper

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 450°F.
2. Split each of the peppers in half lengthwise. Remove all the ribs and seeds from the inside.
3. Rub the outside of each pepper with olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Place peppers on a baking pan lined with aluminum foil.
4. Roast the peppers until the outsides are very dark – black even. Rotate the pan while cooking to ensure even coverage. This process could take up to 40 minutes. Be patient and let them roast thoroughly.
5. Remove the peppers from the oven, and immediately place them in a large sealable plastic bag. Seal tightly, and let sit for 20 minutes so the skins can steam off.
6. Remove the peppers from the bag, peel off all the skin.
7. Cool peppers, and use as needed.

Penne with Roasted Red Pepper, Ricotta, and Sausage

One of my brother's former college roommates is a chef, and he's writing a cookbook. He asked for volunteers to help him test some of the recipes, and I volunteered, knowing it would be a challenge. It's not that the recipes are hard, it's that part of the deal is that you have to follow the recipes exactly to truly test them. I think we all know how hard this is for me. I mean, one of my favorite Christmas presents this year was the Food Substitutions Bible. Which I've already read. Cover to cover. Not much of a plot.

The first recipe that Matt gave me to test is the one posted here (don't worry, I made sure it was ok with him that I post it). This was a great first one for me because 1) I almost never cook with sausages, 2) I almost never cook with bell peppers, and 3) I almost never cook with ricotta. Although it was really hard to make sure to follow all the directions exactly, it was kind of fun that my input might make it into the finished product. By the way, for those of you in the D.C. area, Matt also teaches cooking lessons. He's got a fun blog, too.


This dish really highlights the flavors of Roasted Red Peppers in a pairing that just can’t be beat. The sausages can be hot or sweet depending on your preference, or if you want a slightly healthier version, you can always use slices of grilled chicken breast.

Yield: Serves 4-6

Ingredients:
6 oz         fresh ricotta
1 lb        penne pasta
2 Tbsp        vegetable oil
¾ lb        Italian sausage (sweet or hot) – removed from casings and crumbled
1 ea        onion – thinly sliced
2 ea        Roasted Red Peppers (page XX)
2 cloves    garlic
1 Tbsp        fresh flat-leaf parsley – chopped
2 Tbsp        fresh basil – chopped
¼ tsp        crushed red pepper
2 Tbsp        extra virgin olive oil
TT        salt and pepper
½ cup        Parmeggiano Reggiano – freshly grated
10 leaves    fresh sage – sliced thin
2 Tbsp        capers – drained and rinsed

Method:

1. Spread ricotta on a double layer of paper towels.  Lay another 2 paper towels on top, and press down to remove excess moisture from the cheese. Change top towels a few times as needed to pull out excess water. Set aside.Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat.  Add the penne and cook until al dente.
2. While pasta is cooking, heat a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the vegetable oil, and then the crumbled sausage. Cook the sausage until done and remove to a paper towel-lined plate.
3. Add the onions to the pan which the sausage cooked in, and cook quickly in the oil in the pan until softened. Set aside with the sausages.
4. Place the roasted peppers, garlic, parsley, basil and crushed red pepper in a food processor. Pulse a few times, and then with the blades running, slowly add the extra virgin olive oil. Remove from food processor to a small bowl, and season to taste with salt and pepper.
5. When the pasta is done, drain and return to the pot in which it cooked.  Stir in the ricotta, red pepper puree, sausages and onions and parmesan.
6. Place in serving bowl or on individual plates and garnish with the sage and capers. Serve immediately.

 RESULTS: Very filling and very satisfying. It sort of socks you in the mouth with flavor. Just a note here: I initially didn't like the sage or the capers. And then they grew on me so much that for the leftovers (and there were lots, I think this made more like 8 servings rather than 4-6) I ended up adding MORE capers and MORE sage. So don't be afraid of the capers, but I think Matt said he might make them optional. Also, you might want to reserve some of the pasta water in case you pull out too much of the moisture from the ricotta (like I did).

SEEDS!

I got a Seed Saver Exchange catalog in the mail and drooooled over it for a while before deciding what I wanted. I was toying with the idea of lettuces and kale and all sort of herbs... and then I remembered that I have no where to put them yet because I didn't make my veggie bed last year. Serves me right. So I just settled on a few things.

• Milkmaid Nasturtium--I had a LOT of luck growing nasturtiums from seed last year. So much luck that they sort of took over the garden. But I just love the leaves. I'm going to restrain myself this year and just plant these in the containers in front of the garage and see how they do there. I was trying to grow clematis, but, well, that didn't seem to work out. Mostly because you have to water clematis.
• Historic Pansies love pansies.
• Basil My plan for the basil is to stagger the seeds a little throughout the season so it doesn't come in all at once. We'll see it that works.
• Black Eyed Susan Vine Lots of luck with regular Black Eyed Susans in my yard, but these aren't the same species. Hopefully it'll still work, though. I desperately need something that would work in hanging baskets.
• Blue Boy Bachelor Buttons They looked fun and are supposed to go well with the perennials in my garden--coneflowers and black eyed susans.

 In my excitement at receiving the seeds yesterday, I may have made a critical error. You're supposed to start these inside 6-8 weeks before the last frost. We're still a good 10 weeks, at least, before what people generally consider to be our last frost, but this winter has been so warm that I'm hoping the groundhog was right and spring comes early.

Overnight Museli

Ingredients

• 2 cups rolled oats
• 2/3 cup mixed nuts and seeds (like sunflower seeds, chopped walnuts, pecans, almonds, cashews, sesame seeds, etc.)
• 1/3 cup shredded unsweetened coconut, optional
  1/3 cup raisins or chopped dried fruit
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon, or to taste
• Dash salt
• 3 cups yogurt, plus more for garnish

PreparationCombine the oats, nuts and seeds, coconut if you’re using it, raisins, cinnamon, and salt in a medium bowl. Stir in the 3 cups yogurt, cover, and refrigerate overnight. Serve garnished with additional yogurt.

Time: 10 minutes, plus time to chill

Serving Size
4 servings 

Results
Tastes about like what you would expect: oatmeal that's been soaking in yogurt overnight--which is to say, it tasted pretty good. It's great for a quick breakfast on the go, which I'm trying to get more used to doing instead of waiting until getting to work to microwave some oatmeal (that's just too long to wait for breakfast, I think). I might try making up a few dry portions of this at the beginning of the work week in tupperware or corningware (with lids) and then just adding the yogurt the night before I want to have one for breakfast, that seems like it would work great. My one sad face about this is that with my usual hot oatmeal, I don't tend to use all that much dried fruit (more expensive, more sugar, than fresh fruit). I rely more on apples or applesauce, bananas, and fresh or frozen berries. The apples would brown if they were left cut up overnight, I would think, and I'm not sure if the frozen berries would defrost without making the whole thing a watery mess. More research is needed.

Oatmeal

Mark Bittman once again proves how worthy he is of my love and adoration with this article slamming McDonald's oatmeal, saying everything that I've been thinking since that atrocity disguised in health-food clothing was released last year. Why couldn't they have just made it healthy, since they were making it at all? It's almost evil genius-y, complete with the twirling of the mustache. Someone not paying attention might be fooled into thinking they're eating right, when in fact they are eating all wrong. Couldn't it have been easier to do it right?

OK, I'm climbing off my soapbox now. Here's a video and some recipes, which I'm sure I'll be trying soon. Tomorrow, the museli.

Rockstar dinner

I don't know if you noticed, but life in Wisconsin has been cra-cra. Haven't spent much time trying new recipes. Tonight though, I made us a great chicken dish, and not from a recipe! Roasted chicken, shredded into a sautéed mushroom sauce with olives and tomatoes, served over gnocchi. Dessert was mocha pudding (ok, I had a recipe for the pudding). Pretty great.