Tomato & Grilled Bread Salad & Julie & Julia

I made this for Ben (with another buffalo New York strip steak, to which I will be addicted exactly as long as Whole Foods has them on sale) to celebrate his last official night of vacation. I could not have chosen a better menu—this dish perfectly captures the many flavors of summer. Incidentally, it’s also an ideal use for day-old bread.

We grilled up some sourdough slices, then cubed them and tossed them with tomatoes, basil, cucumber and red wine vinaigrette. The salad is just beautiful to look at, so colorful, and is a great starch/veggie combo to round out the meal. What’s so odd about this dish is that it tastes as though the toasts were rubbed with a garlic clove before being added to the salad... it has a delicious garlic-y tang. Yet, no garlic. It’s almost like bruschetta salad... oooh, Kalamata olives would be excellent in it. Yes, I’ll add those next time. Good idea (she said modestly to herself).

The only reason this is a four-star dish instead of five stars is because it seems almost impossible to not over-grill the bread, which leaves it a little crispy. Otherwise, it couldn’t be simpler or yummier (except, perhaps, with the aforementioned olives).

We had forgotten about this dish somehow, which is sort of sad, since it’s so easy and lovely and scrumptious. Not sure what sparked my memory... perhaps a discussion of gazpachos and other uses of stale bread? Regardless, even though summer is coming to a close, I say better late than never.

p.s. I saw Julie & Julia Saturday afternoon with Alison, then savored the most delicious French feast, al fresco, at À Côté, the bar attached to Z Cuisine Parisian Bistro in Denver. The movie was so inspiring it brought tears to my eyes and made me long for a calling. The food was so gorgeous and delicious that I will be returning there again. Soon. Very soon.

Roasted Salmon with Lemon Relish

In a wonderful twist of irony, I’ve been too busy cooking to blog about my cooking! Love it! So, sorry to my few faithful readers who wonder what’s been going on in our kitchen. Now on to the salmon... this is the most delicious, speedy dinner I believe I’ve ever made. Martha estimates 25 minutes to put this dish together, but I would say it only takes about 15. I serve it with couscous, which takes eight minutes tops, making it the perfect healthy and quick dinner. I started this as groceries were being put away after a late-afternoon grocery run and had it on the table within 20 minutes.

While salmon filets are roasting (10 minutes), you zest a lemon and combine it with raisins to soak in boiling water for a few minutes. Drain the zest and raisins and add olive oil, chopped fresh parsley and toasted pine nuts. To serve, simply lay each roasted salmon filet on a bed of organic baby spinach (washed, bagged and ready to use) and top with the relish with couscous on the side. It’s so incredibly flavorful, bright and tart, a perfect accompaniment to the salmon, and the couscous soaks up the extra lemon-y sauce. Delicious, fast and healthy... what more could you ask for? I can’t recommend this enough.

Oh, and this recipe is great for entertaining, because it looks beautiful, comes together in a snap and leaves caloric room for an indulgent dessert. We had angel food cake with organic strawberries and whipped cream! Perfect!

Cashew Tofu

This is another delicious recipe from one of my favorite cookbooks, Great Food Fast. I make this dish about once a month with jasmine rice, and I have gradually made a number of changes to improve it (sorry Martha!).

The first change, which I made the first time I prepared it, was to add a few small sliced zucchinis. As is, the recipe doesn’t contain a green veggie, and, well, you can’t have that! The zucchini was an instant hit, and I’ve always added it. 

The next time I made it, we decided that the sweetness of the hoisin sauce needed something to balance it. So, I doubled the amount of rice wine vinegar and steeped ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes in the vinegar, draining them off just before adding the vinegar to the dish. The red pepper flakes don’t really make the dish spicy, but the little bit of heat does balance out the cloying sweetness of the sauce.

Lastly, and, to me, most importantly, I got rid of the chicken. Personally, I’m not a huge fan of chicken, and I absolutely hate the way it tastes when reheated. (I feel I read somewhere recently that chicken is weirdly altered in the microwave... if I remember the source I’ll post it.) So, I’ve replaced the 1½ lb. chicken breast the recipe calls for with 2 lb. firm organic tofu, which I press for a few hours under my Le Creuset and 20 lb. of dumbbells for a wonderfully firm texture.

Not only is the tofu much less expensive than chicken, especially comparing organic to organic, but it gets nice and crispy, takes on the flavor of the sauce and reheats much better. 

Now, the dish is pretty perfect! One last note: it’s worth shopping around for hoisin sauce and experimenting a bit. The range of what you can get in the conventional grocery store is limited, and some are better than others. Soon, I vow to make it to Boulder to the Asian Market and try sauces from there. I imagine I’ll be hooked! 

Creamy Fettuccine with Asparagus

Ah... spring! Time to get our fill of asparagus, artichokes and fresh berries. This dish, while perfect on paper, resulted in pasta that was fine, but uninspiring. As mentioned in a previous post, Great Food Fast is my go-to cookbook for weeknight inspiration, and for a weeknight dinner this was certain tasty enough. However, the dish lacks interest.

The one change I’ve made is to omit the fresh dill, which I don’t like in anything but pickles and vinegar-based potato salads. I also doubled the pine nuts, because I had extra and because Sophia loves, loves, loves them.

Next time I have two pounds of fresh asparagus, I’m making risotto or serving it steamed with soft scrambled eggs (divine!). And there are certainly better uses of a perfectly yummy log of Haystack Mountain goat cheese. Crusty bread alone would put it to better use.

Lentil Soup

Tonight I did a bit of the “secret cooking” I mentioned in a previous post. To get ready for a great week, and to use up some leftover ingredients from last week’s menus, I made this most wonderful lentil soup.

If you do not own Great Food Fast: 250 Recipes for Easy, Delicious Meals All Year Long, by Martha Stewart Living Magazine, I highly recommend you rush out and buy it tomorrow. Why? Simply put, this is the perfect cookbook! Perfect? Yes, perfect.

First, it’s organized by season, encouraging you to cook with what is fresh, flavorful and affordable. Next, it features a full-page color photograph for every single recipe. Amazing! I love to see what a dish is supposed to look like, and I’ve found I’m much more likely to experiment with a new recipe if I can see what the final product looks like. If that wasn’t enough, for each recipe you get hands-on prep time, total cooking time, and, in the back of the book, complete nutritional information. Lastly, every recipe is intended to be simple and fast, making it the ideal cookbook for everyday meal planning.

Great Food Fast was also a gift from my mother-in-law, Lorraine, and it has made a huge impact on how I cook on a day-to-day basis. It has encouraged me to get out of the rut of making the same five or six weeknight meals without forcing me to spend too much extra time in the kitchen. I have given this to almost everyone I’m close with because I think it’s so wonderful. Buy one now! (No, I do not work for Martha Stewart).

So, the soup. I started making this because a) lentils are an inexpensive protein for lunches and b) it’s a great use of just a little bit of leftover bacon. I’ve modified the recipe only slightly, adding a 14 oz. can of diced tomatoes when adding the chicken broth, water and lentils, for additional veggie oomph and flavor. Also, if you decide to make this, spring for the imported tomato paste that comes in a toothpaste-like tube... much more intense flavor (Sophia likes to sample it every time I make this) and it doesn’t require you to deal with the inevitable leftovers from the little can.

The soup has wonderful, smoky flavor, is hearty enough to satisfy Benji and makes a generous enough pot for lunch twice during the week for all three of us. An instant favorite!