What's for lunch? Alton Brown's gazpacho

The big news about this meal is that I (Cullen) made it by myself while Oliver was not home! I'm three for three on cooking for myself this weekend. I've started easy (spinach salad with an egg) and have been working my way into meals with more ingredients and more steps. Last night I roasted eggplant and then mashed it with tahini, ground cumin & lemon. While today's gazpacho didn't require any cooking it did require much more knife work then I usually take on. And I learned how to peel a tomato! I recommend this recipe for any beginner cooks who love tomatoes (and/or salsa). Thanks to Alton Brown for another easy and great recipe!

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds vine-ripened tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped
• Tomato juice
• 1 cup cucumber, peeled, seeded and chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
• 1/2 cup chopped red onion
• 1 small jalapeno, seeded and minced
• 1 medium garlic clove, minced
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 lime, juiced
• 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon toasted, ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons fresh basil leaves, chiffonade

Directions

Fill a 6-quart pot halfway full of water, set over high heat and bring to a boil.

Make an X with a paring knife on the bottom of the tomatoes. Drop the tomatoes into the boiling water for 15 seconds, remove and transfer to an ice bath and allow to cool until able to handle, approximately 1 minute. Remove and pat dry. Peel, core and seed the tomatoes. When seeding the tomatoes, place the seeds and pulp into a fine mesh strainer set over a bowl in order to catch the juice. Press as much of the juice through as possible and then add enough bottled tomato juice to bring the total to 1 cup.

Place the tomatoes and juice into a large mixing bowl. Add the cucumber, bell pepper, red onion, jalapeno, garlic clove, olive oil, lime juice, balsamic vinegar, Worcestershire, cumin, salt and pepper and stir to combine. Transfer 1 1/2 cups of the mixture to a blender and puree for 15 to 20 seconds on high speed. Return the pureed mixture to the bowl and stir to combine. Cover and chill for 2 hours and up to overnight. Serve with chiffonade of basil.

Recipe copied from here. Click for original posting.

Eva's baby shower: food, games & favors

A couple of weeks ago Oliver and I co-hosted a girls only baby shower for a friend. While I organized invitations, decorations, games and favors - Oliver took responsibility for food and drinks.  The food was so incredible that two different guests asked if my husband was caterer. Later this month we'll share the "cupcake" lasagna recipe.
Oliver's Baby Shower Menu
Two types of finger sandwiches: 
• Apple slices with prosciutto and a drizzle of honey
• Cucumber slices with goat cheese and fresh dill
Two types of "cupcake" lasagnas:
• Meat • Spinach
Three varieties of crostini:
• Bruschetta  • Baba ganoush  • Goat cheese with fig jam and a pickled grape tomato

The Mom-to-be's last name is "Story" - so the theme of our shower was "Storybooks". I had a lot of fun coming up with ways to incorporate storybooks into the party. The first thing I did was to ask Eva's guests and out-of-town friends and family to help surprise the first time parents with a collection of books. Every invitation included a bookplate that read "The sweetest story" along with a note explaining the surprise group gift. Books arrived from as far as Korea and Austria (with guests coming from Los Angeles and New York City). 


The obligatory shower game was also used to highlight the theme: Pictionary - Nursery Rhyme edition! This game was super easy to prepare and a surprising amount of fun. Before the shower I wrote the name of 25 nursery rhymes onto 25 blank cards. Then I dragged my old easel, a pad of newsprint and some Sharpies from the art closet. BOOM! We were ready to play. Instead of teams we pitted the Mom-to-be against the young daughter of a friend and had the guests guess what they were each drawing.


For my bridal shower Oliver's aunt made a dozen ceramic, heart shaped, jewelry dishes. I was so flattered by her thoughtful handmade gift that I knew I wanted to pay-it-forward and do the same for Eva. My first thought (as vegetable garden crazed person) was to grow a dozen bean sprouts, replant them in cute terracotta pots and tie on a tag with a quote from Jack and the bean stock. But there was neither enough time or money for that idea so I improvised. Instead, I bought two flats of marigolds, replanted them into styrofoam cups, wrapped the cups in pink scrap booking paper and included a personalized tag that read:

A marigold for your garden-

Mary, Mary quite contrary

how does your garden grow?

With silver bells and cockleshells

and pretty friends all in a row.

I'd never hosted any type of shower before this one. I was nervous about how it'd go. Eva's wonderful friends and Oliver's impressive cooking made for a fun and easy going evening. My thanks to them! 

Bean Recipe

Beans are a staple of our food habits. Oliver usually makes one big pot, once a week, and we'll eat it as lunch or a dinner side everyday. It's cheap, it's very healthy, it's delicious and it's filling. A big bowl of beans never leaves me hungry. The following is Oliver's "recipe" for black or pinto beans. The measurements are more "guesstimates". You can top them with Greek yogurt, siracha, cheese or whatever fits your mood.

What you'll need:

2 onions, chopped fine
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 Tbsp cumin, toasted and ground
1 Tbsp coriander, toasted and ground
2 Tbsp chili powder
1 large can or 2 small cans of stewed tomatoes, undrained
4 cups stock
1 lime or some vinegar (cider or pepper)
salt/pepper/cayenne/Worcestershire/ hot sauce
1 pound of beans (give or take)
Some fat, generally olive oil

Soak the beans for 8 to 12 hours to cut some time off of the cooking.  After soaking, some people say to drain the water for the sake of flatulence. Some say not to drain for the sake of vitamins. I drain for the sake of flavor.  Why cook in water when you can cook in stock?

What to do: In a large pot, saute the onions until translucent. Add the garlic, cumin, coriander and chili powder and heat until aromatic.  Add the stewed tomatoes and cook down to a mush.  Add the beans and stock and enough water to cover everything by an inch or so. Add some salt*, pepper, and cayenne to taste and bring to a boil for ten minutes. Cut the heat to a simmer**, cover and cook for an hour or two stirring regularly and adding more water and adjusting seasonings as needed.  Beans are done when they tell you, not when a timer beeps. Add lime juice or vinegar, Worcestershire and hot sauce in the last few minutes.  Coll them and eat them three days later, that’s when they are best.

*Salting makes beans tough is a myth.  Acid however does slow things down.  That’s why they go in at the end.
**The more vigorous the cooking the more the beans will break up.  If you prefer your beans to be less like beans and more of a mush you can crank up the boil.

One week until Thanksgiving

This time next Thursday most Americans will be lazing around with full bellies - but until then there is a mad rush of things to do. Clean the house, buy the turkey, start the pies and side dishes! Speaking of side dishes, we spent Sunday evening at Oliver's cousin's annual Thanksgiving Sides Party. This was our third year in attendance and I have to say it's such a fun idea for a dinner party! Everyone brings one homemade Thanksgiving dinner side dish and sets it out buffet style. No turkey at this meal!  It not only allows for a practice run of dishes you're considering for the big day but it's also a great way to sample other's family traditions and secret recipes.


This year the meal started with with a yellow squash soup (last year it was tomato soup with a floating ginger man made of toast). Side dishes included: Oliver's sweet potato gnocchi with a sage butter (recipe below), my usual kale with olive oil, brussels sprouts and a sweet potato casserole topped with brown sugar (I think it was brown sugar).  Dessert was an incredible pecan pie made from our host's grandmother's recipe.

Sweet Potato Gnocchi
2 large sweet potatoes, baked peeled, mashed and cooled.
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp butter
2 egg yolks, beaten
1 tsp nutmeg
2 cups AP flour

Mix above then fold in up to two cups of flour, a half cup at a time,
just until you get a workable dough.  With floured hands and a lightly
floured surface, roll out a hand full at a time to half-inch wide
snakes. Cut them into gnocchi sized gnocchi and cook in boiling water.
 Pull them out with a slotted spoon as they rise to the surface and
drain on a kitchen towel.

Sage brown butter sauce:
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1 hand full of sage leaves (10?)
1 tsp ground nutmeg

Melt butter over medium heat until the milk solids are about to start
to brown. Toss in the sage leaves in the pan and swirl over the heat
until dark green and limp.  Toss with the warm gnocchi and serve.

Guest blogger: Sabrina in London

When I started this blog I asked a few like-minded, long-distance friends to join me as regularly featured guest bloggers. One of the people I asked is my lifelong friend Sabrina. We met in Kindergarten, grew up together in Dunwoody and went our separate ways as adults. While I was moving from Atlanta to Rhode Island back to Atlanta; Sabrina was moving from Atlanta to Florida to New York City to London. Despite the distance she has remained the kind of friend that never feels far away and is always easy to talk with no matter how much time has gone by. When Oliver asked me to marry him I knew it had to be Sabrina who officiated our ceremony - so off to the Internet sensation Universal Life Church she went! Suffice it to say, Sabrina is an incredible person. Sincerely beautiful both inside and out. Her first guest post follows:


This porridge is tooooo hot!

Before I moved to the UK, my opinions on porridge were grave at best.  To be fair I didn't know much about it - aside from the fact it was something Goldilocks ate.  I certainly believed the consistency was better suited for plastering one's wall.  That was before I met Dave.

My boyfriend Dave, Film Exec turned Acupuncturist, natural food enthusiast and over-all well being guru handed me a cup of tea our first morning together and exclaimed, "I'm making porridge, would you like some?"  Knowing I couldn't be rude I responded with a begrudging yes. Minutes later he handed me the steaming bowl of porridge, only this time it didn't look like prison gruel.  It was colourful!  It had berries in it!  And almonds and bananas and a little swirl of agave nectar on top.... this looked good!  Sure enough, one bite and I was sold.

Dave swears by porridge's nutritional qualities, namely a sugar free breakfast option that has a low GI and will keep you fuller longer.  Before I started eating it, I would be hungry and looking for snacks by 11am - now I start feeling hungry at lunchtime and have cut out the snacking... another bonus!

We have porridge every morning, but try our best to change it up as much as possible.  Fruits of all seasons make an appearance in our morning bowl of goodness - anything from the usual apples (with cinnamon mmm!) to the extraordinary pomegranate.  We've even started to add flax seeds and chia seeds for added texture and health benefits :)

We're a dairy-free house, so we use all kinds of milk when we make it (water's ok too but then I advise adding an extra teaspoon of honey).  Soy Milk is our usual favourite but we've also used Oat Milk, Almond Milk and even Hemp Milk!

One tip to cut down the amount of time it takes to make in the morning: Dave and i always have a bowlful of fruit in the fridge, already cut up in small bite size chunks which we toss on top of the porridge in the morning.  Slice up a banana and voila, breakfast!

Sabrina's recipe (serves 2)

1 cup rolled porridge oats

1 banana

1/4 cup blueberries

1 tablespoon agave nectar

handful of mixed nuts / seeds (we use almonds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds)

large pinch of dried coconut

Dump all of the above into a small saucepan and pour in enough soy milk to cover.  Turn heat on low and stir continuously so the porridge does not stick to the bottom of the pan.  The porridge will soak up a lot of the milk, so you can add a few splashes of water at this stage to thin out the porridge if it's too thick for your liking.

Serve piping hot with a cup of tea or coffee and enjoy! :)


Thanks again Sabrina! We're all looking forward to your next post. Sabrina documents her fabulous European travels on her blog - click here to read it. 
XO 
Cullen


P.S. The photo is from Halloween 1985. We're dressed up as Cabbage Patch Kids. 

KW's Food Day bread & her own food journey

KW and I met in 2003 at one of my favorite old haunts, Fontaines. We spent countless nights sitting at the bar eating raw oysters, drinking Miller Lites and becoming very close friends. Over the last eight years both of our lives have changed significantly. One of the less obvious changes has been our relationship to food. We've both moved towards "real food diets" but our motivations were independent of one another and quite different. 

KW was the first person I thought of when I decided to host a "real food" dinner party. Afterwards she offered to share her recipe for homemade bread. I asked if she'd also share the story of how her food choices have changed over the years. I was happy she said yes; her story follows:

I don't think I evolved into eating real food as much as I evolved into eating.  I am by no means a Foodie.  As I child in Michigan I ate vegetables from our garden, was not allowed to eat processed snacks and always had home cooked meals.  As an adult, I would skip meals and only eat when necessary. Sometimes this was a Lean Cuisine others times it was tuna in vinegar and oil. I didn't really put much thought into what I was eating. 

All of that changed five years ago when my body faced an unknown medical crisis and started rebelling against me. After lots of blood work and doctors appointments, I still can't say for sure what happened. I suspect the culprit was some medicine I was taking. This suspicion led to a parallel suspicion of FDA approved GMOs and processed foods.  I recognize that for some people it may seem like a giant leap from pharmacology to agricultural practices but the truth is nutritional science is still too young to know what effects Big Ag chemicals and methods are having on our bodies.   

I now look to food as fuel for my body. Not just calories, but also nutrients and vitamins. More importantly, nutrients and vitamins not modified by science and the poison we use to "grow" our food.  I only have one body and I am determined to treat it right.  I may not be able to control the air quality or the type of material being used in building supplies, but I can control my food intake. For me, eating real foods is a no brainer!   

KW's Homemade Bread
(the one she made for our Food Day pot luck dinner party)

Ingredients

• 3 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 2 (.25 ounce) packages active dry yeast
• 1/3 cup honey
• 5 cups bread flour (KW uses Hodgson Mill Premium Unbleached, All Purpose Naturally white Flour)
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1/3 cup honey (KW uses use dark organic honey)
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions

1. In a large bowl, mix warm water, yeast, and 1/3 cup honey. Add 5 cups white bread flour, and stir to combine. Let set for 30 minutes, or until big and bubbly.
2. Mix in 3 tablespoons melted butter, 1/3 cup honey, and salt. Stir in 2 cups whole wheat flour. Flour a flat surface and knead with whole wheat flour until not real sticky - just pulling away from the counter, but still sticky to touch. This may take an additional 2 to 4 cups of whole wheat flour. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to coat the surface of the dough. Cover with a dishtowel. Let rise in a warm place until doubled.
3. Punch down, and divide into 2 loaves. Place in greased 9 x 5 inch loaf pans, and allow to rise until dough has topped the pans by one inch.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 25 to 30 minutes; do not over bake. Lightly brush the tops of loaves with 2 tablespoons melted butter or margarine when done to prevent crust from getting hard. Cool completely

Tips and tricks:
1.You can use your Kitchen Aid mixer to knead the dough (step 2).  Use the hook attachment and knead the dough on 1 or 2 for about 8 minutes.  The result is dough that is smooth like a babies butt.

2.  This is a gluten free recipe that will yield a slightly more dense loaf of bread.  To make a lighter sandwich bread you can add some gluten.  I used about 4 tbs. for the the whole recipe and added in step 1.

3. Take the loaves out of the pans to cool. This allows the bread to "air out" and prevents early mold growth.