Grilled Shishito Peppers

Shishito Peppers and other thin skinned peppers like Spain's Padron Pepper are easy to grill on an open fire, charcoal grill or a grill pan on your stove top.  All the rage as an appetizer, sprinkled with coarse salt to accompany a cold beer, these also make a simple, pure side dish to grilled steaks or a topping for a burger.  The key is to use high heat to blister the skin and get a light char.

If you have some thin-skinned peppers, whether hot or sweet, in your garden try them grilled like this. Even if the variety is not thin-skinned, home grown peppers tend to have a thinner skins since these varieties are not bred for travel to supermarkets. 

We skewer the peppers whole using the double-skewer method that keeps narrow items like small peppers and asparagus from rolling between the grates and into the coals.  The peppers get a light coating of vegetable oil and cook once the steak is off the grill and resting.  Keep an eye on your peppers since these tender mouthfuls cook quickly.  Turn as the skin blisters, remove and salt lightly before serving. 

It is OK to eat these with your hands. 

To get the effect on a stove top, use a very hot grill pan.  Place the oiled peppers in the pan and turn as they blister  remove, salt and serve immediately.

On open coals (or a bonfire) use a long skewer or a "frank fork" to keep you cool and unblistered while the oiled pepper cooks over the open flame. 

Croissant Strawberry Shortcake

Presentation can make a simple, pure dessert shine.  For example, supermarket croissants can be split open like butterflies to make open-faced strawberry "shortcake" desserts.  This is lovely because the croissants are not sugary sweet and will let the lingering summer berry flavor star.

To cut a croissant into a convincing butterfly, use a long bread knife to cut from the inner part of the curved pastry.  Stop cutting about 3/4 of an inch from the far edge to create a small hinge.  Open the croissant and warm the butterflied croissant in a toasted oven.  We toast them just enough to brown the edges and crisp the cut edge of the pastry's layers. Serve topped with a 1/2 cup of yogurt, a tablespoon of strawberry jam and 1/2 cup fresh, sliced strawberries. 

Farmers Market Nectarines

Nectarines are overflowing their baskets at farmers' markets and its hard to resist this true taste of summer as the days grow shorter.  With an abundance of ripe fruit in the house we needed something fast that would compliment stone fruits at their peak.  Try this for breakfast or a snack-- sliced nectarines with good quality ricotta cheese drizzled with honey.  Whole grain bread goes with the ensemble perfectly.

If you have fresh basil in your garden, add a sprig to your breakfast plate.  Basil loves nectarines and so will you.

Peanut Butter Mousse Cupcake Filling

Pure peanut butter mousse is not only possible but very simple, making it a top choice to fill or frost cupcakes.  The secret ingredient is ricotta cheese which lends volume and helps create a spreadable consistency.  Ricotta adds a subtle complimentary taste to peanut butter and vanilla flavors.

Filling cupcakes may sound difficult but all it really takes is the patience to wait for the cupcakes to cool.  You can frost the cupcakes immediately after filling them.  Use a apple corer to pull a small plug of cake out of the top of each cupcake. Hang onto the plugs to reinsert before frosting.   You can also dig a little hole using the handle of a teaspoon.  Fill using a small spoon or better yet, place the mousse in a plastic sandwich bag, seal and snip off a corner to use as a pastry bag to fill the little cakes.

A plastic baggie makes a great piping bag.

The vanilla (yellow) cupcakes are from an all natural mix that replaces about half of the liquid with ricotta cheese.  The cupcakes taste great and have improved structure for holding fillings. Use your favorite mix or from scratch recipe for 12 cupcakes.

Make the mousse while the cupcakes bake.  Frost with a simple chocolate ganache of chocolate chips and cream.  The technique is included below.

Peanut Butter Mousse
Yield 1 cup, enough for 12 cupcakes or 4 servings

Ingredients
1/2 cup natural peanut butter
1 teaspoon coconut oil*
1/2 cup ricotta cheese, whole milk preferred
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon honey or golden syrup

*skip if using regular peanut butter which already contains an oil

Method

1. Mix all ingredients together in a small bowl.  Use a whisk to create a smooth texture, whipping for about 30-45 seconds.  
2. Taste and adjust for sweetness.  You can add more honey or a pinch of salt to bring out a bit more sweetness.  
3. Use immediately and store any leftovers, covered, in the refrigerator. Use within three days.

NOTE: The cupcakes must be refrigerated since the filling includes dairy.

You can also eat it as a mousse in a small cup with some dark chocolate shavings.


Chocolate Ganache
To make a chocolate ganache to glaze your cupcakes, place 1/3 cup good quality chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl with enough cream or whole milk to barely cover the chips.  Microwave on high for 30 seconds.  Remove and stir to finish melting the chips into the warmed cream. Cool for 3-4 minutes and spread on cupcakes.  The chocolate ganache will set within a few minutes to a smooth and glossy finish. 

Provençal Tomato Wellington

I’ve been craving the summer pizzas I used to get in the south of France that are often called tomato tarts here.  We bought them at beach side patisseries, cut into square slabs and wrapped to go in waxy paper.  We ate them room--or rather beach—temperature.  The small Nicoise olives lent a saltiness that perfectly complimented the season's ripe tomatoes.

I stumbled across a simple tomato wellington recipe using Pepperidge Farm® puff pastry on their online recipe collection and thought that with a few extra ingredients this would satisfy my travel taste memory.  It turned out pretty close and makes a great vegetarian main entree or, if cut a little smaller, a nice side dish to grilled dinners. 

Now is the right time to make this dish.  Farmers markets are selling the last of the summer tomatoes on the cheap and their sweetness can stand up to oven roasting.  Later in the winter you can make Provençal Tomato Wellingtons with hardier Roma or plum tomatoes sliced in half and roasted low and slow to develop their sweetness. 

This recipe can be prepared through step 7 several hours ahead.  If you are having guests this is a nice option.  Goat cheese is used here but you can also use any soft cheese or a Swiss style (Gruyere for example).

Provençal Tomato Wellington
Serves 4


Ingredients
1 sheet puff pastry (about 8 ounces), defrosted
1 large beefsteak tomato
1 teaspoon herbs de Provence*
1 ounce goat cheese
4-6 black olives (Niçoise or oil cured work nicely)
2-3 anchovies (optional, but give it a try)
½ teaspoon capers

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350˚F.  Slice tomato in ½ inch slices.  Place on a lightly oiled sheet or pie plate and sprinkle with half the herbs de Provence and some salt and pepper.  
2. Roast uncovered for 15-20 minutes, until the tomatoes are softened and have released much of their juice.  Set aside to cool.  
3. Prepare pastry by placing on a floured board and rolling into a 12” square, cutting away any extra for another use.  Lay pastry onto a small sheet pan.  
4. Crumble goat cheese over center of pastry, leaving a 1 inch edge at the top and bottom and 2-3 inches along the sides.  
5. Cover cheese with cooked tomato slices.  Distribute olives, capers and anchovies over the tomatoes.  Sprinkle remaining herbs de Provence over filling.  
6. Using a pastry brush or your finger, run a little water along the top and bottom edges of pastry.  Fold over one side of the pastry and seal edges.  Run a little more water along the long edge and fold over remaining side of pastry.  Use a knife to cut small slices through edges to ensure they are well sealed.  Next, make decorate slashes into pastry cutting through most of the pastry layers so it will puff nicely.  Cut through the pastry in several spots so that steam can escape during baking.  
7. Cover wellington with loose plastic wrap and place sheet in refrigerator for at least half on hour (or up to several hours).  
8. When ready to enjoy, preheat oven to 400˚F and remove plastic wrap from cold, unbaked tomato wellington.   At this stage you may brush some milk or a light egg wash over the top of the pastry to encourage browning.  
9. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until pastry is cooked through, crisped and golden-brown.  Remove wellington from oven and let rest 10 minutes before serving.  Slice into 3-inch slabs and serve over greens.  

They are also quite tasty cooled and served at room (or beach) temperature. 

Cucumber Rice Milk Soup

This is a heat wave two-fer.  Make a simple cucumber-dill yogurt dip on night one then enjoy a cold soup the following day.  No need to even look at the stove. 

Cucumber Rice Milk Soup
Ingredients

For the dip (feeds a small crowd):
3 small cucumbers, 3-4 inches long (or one regular cucumber, peel if waxed)
2 cups plain yogurt, drained
2 Tablespoons chopped fresh dill
salt and pepper to taste

For the soup (serves 2):
1 cup cucumber dip
1 cup rice milk

1. To make the dip, slice cucumbers very thin.
2. Fold into drained yogurt and add dill, salt and pepper. 
3. Serve with warmed pita, vegetable sticks and other dippers. 

1. To make the soup
2. Mix equal parts leftover dip with rice milk. 

How to Drain Yogurt
You can use a Greek-style yogurt for this recipe but if you have some wonderful real whole milk yogurt, it is easy to drain it quickly for the recipe.  Use a coffee strainer/filter placed over a bowl.  For 1 1/2 cups drained yogurt, add 1 3/4 to 2 cups yogurt. Cover and refrigerate for 1/2 hour. If you do not have a coffee filter, use a fine mesh strainer lined with cheese cloth or a paper towel.

Summer Beet and Pepita Salad

Beet salads have been featured here before.  Every summer the heirloom varieties come to farmers markets and August is a great time to celebrate these special vegetables again.  These beets are generally milder than their dark red cousins, the ones seen most of the year.  If you want to try beets out on your family, now is the perfect time.

Wrap them in aluminum foil, roast them in a very hot oven (450˚F) and test with a fork after 30-45 minutes.  Larger ones will take longer.  Wait a few minutes then peel easily to reveal their inner beauty.

Keep it simple.  Serve sliced beets with some goat cheese and toasted pepitas over bibb lettuce. 

Good Morning California! Croissant Avocado French Toast

California cousins inspired this Good Morning California! Croissant Avocado French Toast filled with savory ingredients including bacon, cheddar cheese and fresh summer tomatoes.  Slices of avocado as garnish signal the west coast nod.  Thanks to croissants being available in most supermarkets, you can make this simple baked french toast on either coast.

It's summertime and no one wants the kitchen to get too hot so we baked this pie-plate recipe in a toaster oven.  The dish serves two to four people so if you are making this for a brunch crowd, bake three of four using a regular oven. 

As with most baked bread puddings and quiches, this very likely keeps well and can be reheated or served room temperature with a side salad.  Sadly, we have no leftovers remaining to help us test the theory.

Good Morning California! Croissant French Toast
Serves 2-4

Ingredients 
2 large croissants, split horizontally
1 teaspoon vegetable oil to oil pie plate
2 eggs
3/4 cup milk
salt & pepper
3 slices cooked bacon
1 ounce shredded cheddar cheese (about 1/2 cup)
1/2 sliced tomato
1/2 avocado

Method

1. Toast split croissants on lightest setting to help dry out the centers.
2. Meanwhile, oil 9" pie plate. 
3. Preheat oven to 325˚F.
4. Lay toasted croissants, face up, in pie plate.  
5. Mix together eggs, milk, sat & pepper.  Pour over croissants.  Use a fork to ensure egg custard mixture moistens all crevices of bread.  Let dish sit at least 15 minutes (covered and refrigerated overnight is OK too).
6. Break apart bacon and tuck in between croissants.  Lay tomato sliced in a nice pattern as top layer.  
7. Bake dish for 20-30 minutes at 325˚F until egg custard is slightly puffed and beginning to brown on top.  Check the center with a knife to ensure that the egg custard has cooked through.  
8. Let rest five minutes.  While dish is resting top with avocado slices. 

Tropical Tabbouleh

Tabbouleh is perfect hot weather food.  No cooking and lots of flavor.  You already know how to make the usual tabbouleh, cracked wheat soaked in water and tomato juice and garnished with tomatoes, cucumbers, lots of mint and parsley and a good dash of lemon juice and high quality olive oil.  Now try a tropical version with fruit juice, pineapple, mango, scallions, cilantro and mint. 

Tropical tabbouleh goes really well with any grilled food and I've been bringing it to the office for a light lunch on steaming hot days.  I soak the wheat in its liquid overnight in the refrigerator then add fruits and herbs.  Most recipes call for soaking for an hour and that is fine if using bulgar wheat in your recipe.  If using cracked wheat, plan on at least three hours or more to get the grains to swell to a nice, chewy consistency.

Tropical Tabbouleh
Yield: about 2 cups, recipe can be doubled

Ingredients
1/3 cup cracked wheat (bulgar wheat may be substituted)
2/3 cup liquid (combination of water and fruit juice such as apple or pineapple juice)
1 tablespoon olive oil
Pinch salt
1 cup chopped fruit--any combination of fresh pineapple, mango, jicama, Asian pear*
2 scallions, thinly sliced
1/2 medium red bell pepper, diced
1/4 cup fresh, chopped cilantro
1/4 cup fresh, chopped mint

Method

1. Mix wheat, water, juice and salt in a bowl or resealable container that can hold about one quart.
2. Cover and store in refrigerator until wheat has absorbed the liquid and had softened.  Plan on 1-3 hours.  
3. Stir in fruit, scallions, red pepper and herbs. Taste and add additional salt if needed.  

*Tip: try using a fresh fruit salsa as the fruit in this recipe.  Many markets sell healthy ones like mango salsa that already have some onion and bell pepper too.

Cold Corn Soup

Three leftover ears of corn, a lime and a can of light coconut milk are all you need for a cold soup on a day when it's too hot to cook. We spiced ours up two ways.  American style with chopped heirloom tomatoes from the farmers market and Asian fusion style with sliced hot red peppers, cilantro and mint. 

Buy that extra half dozen ears of corn at the market this week and you'll have what you need.  This recipe serves three or four as a first course.  We served them as shooters and had enough to serve eight generously. 

Cold Corn Soup
Yield: 3 cups, four 2/3 cup servings

Ingredients
3 ears of corn, cooked and cooled
1 14-ounce can light coconut milk
juice of one lime
1/2-2/3 cup water
salt
Garnishes: chopped tomato, sliced hot pepper (red or green), extra lime, mint leaves, chopped cilantro

Method

1. In a deep bowl or pot, use a serrated knife to cut kernels away for corn cob.
2. Add coconut milk and half of the lime juice.
3. Use an immersion blender to puree soup.  Or puree in a blender.
4. Add water, 1/4 cup at a time to create a pourable consistency.   
5. Taste and season with salt.
6. Chill at least three hours for most refreshing flavor. 

You will need a blender or an immersion blender for this recipe.  If you do not own either, I would recommend an immersion blender with a small bowl attachment as the most versatile investment.  You can puree hot or cold soups, mix pesto, create smoothie concoctions and even smooth out a lumpy gravy.

Pantry Pickle Relish for Hot Dog Season

File this under the semi-homemade if you'd like.  The internet is clogged with recipes for truly homemade pickle relish that first requires you to make your own pickles.  We wanted one that could be put together in minutes using already canned and preserved pure ingredients.

Instead of starting with cucumbers, we start with your favorite jar of pickles.  We like dill pickle chips; you might like bread & butter pickles instead.  Roasted red bell peppers are the other main ingredient, either jarred or your own.  Heat seekers reading this are already making the leap.... your favorite hot pepper can be used in place of or in addition to red bell peppers.  Try jarred peppadews for a sweet/hot flavor or pickled jalepeños for a serious kick, for example. 

The ratio of pickles to peppers is about 2:1.  You can adjust this up or down to suit your tastes.  The great thing about using pure ingredients to create your own condiments is that you get to use your own taste buds to find your favorite flavor balance.  Design your own Pantry Pickle Relish and bring it to the next grilling party.

Pantry Pickle Relish
Base recipe yields about 1 1/2 cups relish

Ingredients
1 16-ounce jar dill pickle chips, drained
1 7-ounce jar roasted red peppers, drained
Optional: pinch cayenne pepper

Method

1. Place drained pickles in a food processor.  
2. Roughly chop roasted red peppers and place in food processor with pickles.  
3. Process/Pulse a few times until you reach the desired rough or fine chop for relish.  
4. Taste.  Add cayenne if desired.  
5. Serve immediately or pack in sealed container and use within 4-5 days. 

At our house, this pickle relish is de rigueur on grilled hot dogs with a smear of Dijon mustard.  You can also use pickle relish in egg salad, ham salad or mix it with a bit of mayonnaise to slather on a fried fish sandwich.  One of my sisters would put this in potato salad, I'll bet. 

Jalepeño Popper Chicken Casserole

There are several ways to prepare the jalepeños for this dish.  I like to grill them the night before but you can also dry-saute them in a cast iron skillet before making the rest of the dish.  If the peppers are very spicy, it may keep the fumes down to roast them as you prepare the cream cheese filling, as described in the recipe below.  In a pinch you can use canned green chilies and skip the cooking the peppers but the dish will not be as spicy. 

Jalepeño Popper Chicken Casserole
Yield 6-8 servings

Ingredients
8 jalepeños, halved and cored
4 ounces cream cheese
2 ounces cheddar cheese, shredded
2 tablespoons of mayonnaise, divided
2 packages thinly sliced chicken breasts (about 10 pieces)
1 egg
2/3 cup panko bread crumbs
Vegetable oil for pan

Method

1. Preheat oven to 425˚F.
2. Line a small baking dish with 1-2 inch sides with tin foil.  Oil lightly (or use spray oil.)
3. Roast jalepeños in prepared pan until wilted and a bit charred, about 10-12 minutes.  Remove jalepeños and allow them to cool.  
4. In a food processor mix together the cream cheese,  shredded cheddar and one tablespoon mayonnaise to form a thick cheese paste.
5. Lay chicken breasts out on a platter and cover each with a layer of the cream cheese mixture.  Use the back of a large spoon to spread the cheese evenly.  
6. Lay one-two jalepeños on each chicken breast and roll up.  Place rolled chicken breasts in the roasting pan.
7. Mix together one egg and the other tablespoon of mayonnaise in the bowl of the food processor or small mixing bowl that the cram cheese was in.  Spoon this sauce over the chicken breasts and sprinkle panko bread crumbs evenly over the top of the rolled chicken breasts.
8. Bake at 425˚F uncovered for 30 minutes.  Lower the heat to 325˚F and cook another 10 minutes.  A thermometer stuck into the center breast meat portion should read 170˚F.  Remove the pan from the oven and let casserole sit for 10 minutes before serving.

 This dish may may be cooked ahead, cooled completely and frozen.