Away We Go

The Circus is dark for a week and I'm about to run away for a much needed vacation. I have a guest post or two that I'll try and get up, and I may check in when I can. If I don't see you though, have a lovely week. I intend to!

Clams with Fresh Corn and Heirloom Tomatoes and Happy Endings

Okay, this. This was one of those amazing kick ass plates of food that you make, and then instantly think about who else you can make them for because you feel like showing off.
I've been knocking around the idea of tomatoes, corn and white wine for a while, and I know this isn't a new idea because I've seen other people make variations on the theme. I put this together for a lunch with Myles.

I think I've mentioned Myles before. He's my best friend here in the desert and he's just landed a touring job with the circus. He was on my show, but now he's off to travel the world. He starts in Tel Aviv at the end of next week and he'll be going to Italy and Greece and Germany and pretty much everywhere. He's excited and I'm excited for him. This is his happy ending.

So he was supposed to come over and drop off some stuff. He doesn't need his pantry anymore, so I inherited it. I now have a huge amount of grains that I have no idea what they are because they are unlabeled (one of them is blue). I also have a plethora of alcohol, including two huge full bottles of Blueberry Vodka. I have no idea what I'm going to do with most of it, but it's going to be fun playing around.

I used this exchange of goods as an excuse to make this nice plate of food. It took five stores to find fresh clams, and I was looking for mussels, but it was worth it. Fresh seafood in the desert is not exactly easy to come by.

It's a really amazing lunch, very balanced, quite delicious, and super quick. The broth is absolutely divine and the sweetness from the corn is a great pairing with the acidity of the wine and the tomatoes.

Bon voyage and bon spectacle, Myles. This one's for you.

Clams with Fresh Corn and Heirloom Tomatoes

Pick good quality corn and tomatoes for this dish. They really are the glue that holds the dish together and should be yummy and fresh and delicious. I found little heirloom tomatoes at Trader Joes, so if you have one in your area it's a good place to start. As for wine, I used a very very cheap Pinot Grigio. Go for a wine that isn't too dry.

12 Fresh Littleneck Clams or 18 Fresh Mussels
1 Ear Fresh Corn
1 Cup Heirloom Cherry Tomatoes, quartered
1 Cup White Wine
1 Shallot, minced
2 Cloves Garlic, minced
2 Tablespoons Fresh Chives, minced
3 Tablespoons Butter
Pepper
1 Loaf Crusty Bread

Soak your clams or mussels in a big bowl or sink of fresh water for thirty minutes. This will get a bunch of the dirt out, though they shouldn't be too dirty.

In a very large wide pan that you either have a lid for, or can invert another pan over, melt a tablespoon of the butter. Add the garlic and shallots and saute over a medium heat until softened, about 5 to 10 minutes. Cut the corn off the ear and add that with the tomatoes, chives, clams or mussels, and the wine. Add a few grinds of pepper and stir around. Bring up to medium heat and cover. When covering, you want to make sure that the clams will have room to open, so you don't want the lid to be tight over them. I used another pan that I placed upside down. It didn't form a perfect seal, but it was enough.

Simmer over a medium heat until all of the clams or mussels have opened. Probably about another ten to fifteen minutes. Pour everything out onto a curved plate or in a shallow bowl so that the clams are swimming in the broth.

Eat with a loaf of fresh bread, tearing it off in chunks to soak up the broth with your best friend while you talk about the awesome adventures they are about to embark on.

Serves 2. 

One Year Ago: Whole Wheat Couscous with Goat Cheese and Slow-Roasted Tomatoes

Apple Torte and Skipping Ahead

When my Stunt Guy was in town a couple of weeks ago, he was working a convention that provided lunch for all of the volunteers. Those silly people were going through their lunches and pulling out their apples, and they got dumped into a big bag. At the end of the convention, everyone was leaving town and the bag of apples needed a home. Since they knew he has a girl that lives here, they gave the bag to John and he in turn gave it to me.

So  had a giant bag of apples and a sweet tooth. My first thought was to see about making Tarte Tartine. There is a recipe in Molly Wizenberg's book A Homemade Life that I keep meaning to make. On further inspection, though, it required puff pastry and I didn't have any on hand. So I decided to turn it into a simple torte.

I used my fancy new quiche pan that I hadn't broken in yet and wished after that I'd used a pie pan, because it didn't spread the way I thought it would. I pulled is out of the oven, let it cool, and drizzled on some whipped cream. Not bad, I thought, after chowing down on a slice. But nothing to blog home about. I then wrapped the torte in plastic wrap, got busy, and left it on the kitchen counter.

Skip ahead.

Two days later I'm craving a snack (and some more counter space). I decided to see if I should throw the Apple Torte either in the trash or in the freezer. I pull off another slice, drizzle over a smidge more cream, and take a bite, fully expecting a stale and horrible mouthful of sawdust.

Woah. Not the case my friends, not the case indeed. Over the two days, the juices from the apples had soaked even more into the surrounding sponge, and the cake was now flavorful.....moist...delicate.... delicious! Everything that I had wanted it to be after pulling it out of the oven. I was stunned and delighted.

So you should make this. Then, you should leave it wrapped up in plastic wrap and eat it a day or two later. It's delightful.


Apple Torte

Use apples that are on the tart side rather than the sweet side for this. 

3 Apples, peeled and diced (or sliced)
4 Tablespoons Butter, softened
1/2 Cup Light Brown Sugar
1 Egg
1 Cup Flour
1 Teaspoon Cinnamon
1/2 Teaspoon Baking Powder
1/4 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1/4 Teaspoon Nutmeg
1/8 Teaspoon Salt

Preheat your oven to 350°F. Grease a 9-inch pie pan.

In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Add the egg, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Mix well. Sift in the flour, baking powder and baking soda. You'll have a fairly thick dough. With your hands, add in the apples and work into the dough as best you can. It'll be stiff and seem like a lot more apple than dough. Press into the pie pan.

Bake for one hour until the top is turning golden brown. Let cool all the way.

Eat, two days later, with surprise, delight, and a drizzle of cream.

Makes 8 servings.

One Year Ago: Fried Green Tomatoes

Tilapia Fish Cakes and Being Prepared

I really like tilapia. I think I might be one of the few people that adores it. It's a really great base fish. It's easy to cook and it takes seasoning very very well. It's also pretty inexpensive, which is another big tick in the plus column for me.

That was very British, wasn't it?

Anyways. I've been cooking in batches recently to try and replenish my freezer with things that do not require much attention. I generally go through phases where I make extras of things and put them in the freezer so that when I get busy I have quicker options. My reserve was drastically depleted over the last month, so I've been playing around with some good stock up recipes. I hate when I have nothing in the freezer. I feel unprepared for disaster. I think I need to make some quiche again, that worked exceptionally well last time.

I have a secret weapon when it comes to Tilapia. I buy Louisiana Fish Fry in a package and use that to coat a tilapia fillet, then I usually just put it straight in a non-stick skillet with no oil. It's delicious. I know I could probably mix my own fish fry seasoning, but one little package of it is less than a dollar and I use very little. I usually keep it in a jar in my pantry and just pull out what I need. Easy peasy.

So I decided to make fish cakes out of some tilapia so that I could keep them in my freezer, and I also decided to coat them with fish fry to give them a little extra something something. They tasted delicious with some fresh tomato and some Cypress Grove Humboldt Fog Chevre.

Tilapia Fish Cakes

6-8oz Uncooked Tilapia Fillets
2 Tablespoons Tomato Paste
2 Tablespoons Fresh Parsley or Chives, minced
1 Shallot, minced
1 Egg
2/3rd Cup Breadcrumbs
2 Tablespoons Fish Fry Seasoning
Salt and Pepper

Put the tilapia fillets in a mixing bowl and mash up with a fork. Add the tomato paste, herbs, shallot, egg and breadcrumbs. Grind in some salt and pepper. Mix well.

In a shallow bowl or on a small plate, shake out two tablespoons of fish fry seasoning. Divide the fish mixture into four pieces and form it into small patties with your hands, about one inch thick. Coat with the fish fry seasoning.

Heat up a non-stick pan and place the patties in to cook. Turn a couple of times so that they brown evenly. Cooking them will take about ten minutes total.

Eat with something fresh and acidic at three in the afternoon on your day off while sitting at the dining room table reading other peoples blogs.

1 Year Ago : Curried Carrot Soup

Whilst I'm Not Cooking #12

Chocolate Swirl Buns from Smitten Kitchen

I've been swooning over lots of other peoples blogs for the last little while. There are some really gorgeous recipes knocking around the internet right now. Since I don't have much to say, here's twice the normal inspiration!

The Chocoholic's Dessert Bar from Kevin and Amanda (No recipe, just some awesome Food Porn)

Cold Rice Noodles with Peanut Lime Chicken from Smitten Kitchen

Potato Skins from The Pioneer Woman

Chocolate Swirl Buns from Smitten Kitchen (lead photo)

One-Banana Banana Bread from 80 Breakfasts

Tarragon Corn Chowder from Simply Recipes

Mushroom Pate from Vegalicious

Brownie Bottom Caramel Cheesecake Bars from Cookies and Cups

Ginger Bars from The Sweets Life

Graham Cracker Chocolate Chip Muffins from How Sweet It Is

Open Sesame

I wanted to take a little trip back into the past to the weekend I spent in LA. Mostly because I wanted to give you a quick restaurant recommendation if you are ever in Long Beach. I went to Open Sesame for lunch with Amee, and had a really darn good meal.

Open Sesame is apparently so popular that they had to open a second location just a few buildings down the road to handle their overflow. It's Lebanese food, and it was really great. We sat in the front of the restaurant at a very very little table. The staff were really nice and very friendly.

 

We got hummus to start and, as always, not the right ratio of hummus to pita bread. The hummus was very tasty and beautifully presented, but we had about half the dish left by the time we ran out of pita bread. I think we would have taken it home, but we were going to be out for the rest of the day so that wasn't too feasible.

They did have Mango Mimosas though, which made me supremely happy. They were very delicious, made with prosecco. Amee went with the Pomegranate version. Definitely a perfect lunch time drink.

I had the Pita Kafta - Charbroiled Ground Lamb and Beef with onions, parsley, hummus, and I slathered extra hummus on top. It was absolutely delicious, the char on the meat was really tasty and the onions and parsley were almost juicy and fresh. It was a big meal, though, and I ended up only eating half and then pulling out just the meat (which I then covered in more hummus).

It was a good meal, and fairly inexpensive too. If you're in Long Beach I would definitely recommend swinging by for lunch. But make sure you order extra pita!

Moroccan Chicken with Golden Raisins

It feels like college was forever ago. There's nothing like realizing you were a freshman ten years ago to make you wonder where on earth your twenties went.

I loved my University. I went to Clayton State University which is a teeny tiny school in Atlanta, Georgia. When I started, they only had 6,000 students. The campus was gorgeous. A little island of beauty in the middle of an iffy county. We had lakes, we had swans, we had awesome professors and over air-conditioned classrooms. We had a little newspaper called The Bent Tree. I loved my school.

I met a lot of great people in college, and I've lost touch with a lot of them. So I was pretty happy when six months or so, Dana started popping up on my radar. She and I weren't super close, but we knew each other.

After college, she went and got a Masters degree, and now she lives and works in Norfolk, Virginia. I don't think I've seen her in at least five or six years. But the neat thing is that she turned into a food blogger too! I started seeing her food pop up on Facebook and started reading her blog. She writes over at Whisks and Words. She is also working on her first novel and I seriously cannot wait to read it.

A couple of weeks ago, she posted a recipe for Moroccan Chicken in a slow cooker. I haven't been able to stop thinking about it, so yesterday I made it. It's ridiculously delicious and pretty darn healthy. I ate a bowlful with some quinoa, and then I ended up going back to the slow cooker at least half a dozen times to grab another bite. Because it makes such a big batch, I'm going to get to take this to work a whole bunch this week, which makes me really happy because I'd gotten bored of sweet potatoes. This is one of those wonderful dishes that develops more flavor as it sits.

If you get a chance, take a peek at Dana's blog. She's pretty darn awesome.


Moroccan Chicken with Golden Raisins
Adapted from Dana and Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook

One of the things I loved the most about this recipe is that the golden raisins get all plump in the slow cooker, and then when you get them on your spoon you can't necessarily tell if they are raisins or chickpeas. It's like a neat surprise every time!

4 Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs
2 Cans Chickpeas
1 15oz Can Diced Tomatoes
1/2 Cup Golden Raisins
1 Red Bell Pepper
1 Small Red Onion or 4 Shallots
2 Tablespoons Tomato Paste
2 Tablespoons Water
1 1/2 Teaspoons Cumin
1/4 Teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
1/4 Teaspoon Paprika
Pinch of Cinnamon
Salt and Pepper
2 Tablespoons Peanut Butter

Grab your crockpot or slow cooker. Drain and rinse the chickpeas and add them with the tomatoes, tomato paste, water, cumin, cayenne, paprika, cinnamon and raisins into the crockpot. Dice the bell pepper and onion and add them in. Stir everything up. Then, cut up the chicken thighs into 1 inch pieces. Try and trim away as much fat as you can. Lay the chicken pieces over the other ingredients and grind over some salt and pepper.

Turn the slow cooker on high and put the lid on. Let cook for twenty minutes so the ingredients all come up to temperature. Stir in the chicken. Cook for ten more minutes on high, then turn down to low and cook for four more hours. Turn off the heat and stir in the peanut butter to finish.

Serve over quinoa, rice or couscous, or eat straight from the slow cooker after going to the gym. Try really hard not to splash any of the liquid on your tummy while stirring it, because that will hurt like hell. Three guesses how I know.

Makes about six large servings.