Friday Food Find: Casa Pav's Garden Lettuce

Now this really says, “Fall”!

I’m super excited to share what’s going on in our garden here at the casa.  We have 2 raised beds full of winter lettuce and greens.  And they are growing at record speed.

Just the other night we harvested baby red leaf, arugula, chard, pak choi and just a little free growing purslane.  We had a beautiful salad for dinner. 

I can’t take much of the credit for how lovely our garden is growing…it’s mostly my husband Mike.  Planting, growing and tending the garden soothe him after a long day in the office. 

It looks like his tender lovin’ care is taking off in spades.  I’ll keep you posted on all the different recipes we’ll use to enjoy this garden of ours. 

Have a great weekend! And I’ll see you next week for “Lessons in Technique: tuesday tip - how to clean herbs”.

Our dinner lettuce & greens.

Friday Food Find: A (My) Perfect PB&J & Dad's Lunches

There’s no denying it.  I love a peanut butter and jelly sammich!  And if I’m going to indulge it better be pretty darn close to perfect. 

I’m not sure when my little  pb&j love affair began.  But it’s safe to say that it probably all started around the time when my Dad began making lunches for my sisters and me. 

While my Mom worked the daytime shift as an RN at the hospital, Dad was going to graduate school and taking care of us kids.  And did he have a lunchtime repertoire.  It went like this: 1/2 peanut butter and jelly sandwich (grape jelly), cottage cheese and a 1/4 pickle.  Sometimes he’d shake it up a bit and we’d have fruit, cheese or even a fried egg sandwhich w/ mayo.  

Dad would bring our small plates of food out to the living room. And we’d have a picinic while watching “Let’s Make a Deal”.

Now that’s a food memory. 

So, today I find myself thinking about that memory all the while making one of my favorite sandwiches: a (well, my) perfect PB&J.  It’s all about perception and taste - right? And for me a craving of a delish flavor dynamic & texture that can’t be beat.  Here it is.

Ingredients

2 pieces of your favorite bread (I used a sprouted wheat bread. A nod to healthy eating.)
2Tbls of your favorite peanut butter (I use only Peter Pan)
1 1/2Tbls of jelly or jam ( I use only Smuckers Grape)

Process & Pictures

Place one of your two pieces of bread on a plate.  Slather your peanut butter side to side & edge to edge; like icing a cake.  On top of the peanut butter spoon jelly or jam in the center.  With a knife or small off-set spatula begin spreading the jelly as you did the peanut butter while gently bring the two ingredients slightly together.  Lick the knife or spatula of remaining pb&j, set aside and place second piece of bread over the first.  Align all sides.  Cut down the center for two even halves.  Eat immediately with abandon & joy! 

p.s. I’ve published this blog on Thursday because of the ACL Music Festival this weekend. Mike (hubby) are there all 3 days.  OMG!

Friday Food Find: A Composed Salad: Leftovers & Pantry Accouterments

After a morning of shooting for my next three Tuesday Tip videos, I was pretty ravenous.  But needed to get my Friday Food Find post published. 

Not one to have a solid time-line (I know, I should, and am working on it!), I thought I’d just go out and find a fun restaurant with a great menu. 

As it were, and after catching up on calls, e-mails and thinking about where I would go for my FFF, I looked down at my iPhone to 2p. 

With dinner plans in the not too distant future I decided to make do with what was in my fridge and pantry.  And here’s what I came up with: A Composed Salad of Leftovers & Pantry Accouterments to “dress it”. 

I think I did a pretty good job. YOU CAN TOO! 

Have fun and know you can replace any of these ingredients with what you have in your own fridge and pantry.  The sky’s the limit…

Ingredients

2C mixed baby lettuces
1/2 - 1Tbsp of your favorite vinaigrette
6oz of leftover herb/lemon chicken, sliced thinly
1/4C of calamata olives, pitted
1/4C of Feta Cheese, cubed
1/4C of a bell pepper, julienne
1/4 to 1/2C of baby tomatoes, sliced (or not-up to you)
1Tbsp of leftover stove grilled lemon, minced

Process

Place the lettuces in a small bowl.  Drizzle 1/4Tbls of vinaigrette over the lettuces and gently mix.  If the lettuces seem dry add more vinaigrette; do not overdress.  Take the dressed lettuces and pile them softly on a dinner plate.  Arrange all other ingredients the way you like.  Serve immediately and ENJOY!     

Yields 1 dinner or 2 lunch/side servings.

Friday Food Find: Goat & Cream Cheese Pate

I first saw this recipe in Gourmet Magazine years ago.  Always looking for fabulous party dishes for my catering company this one caught my eye immediately.  It’s visually inviting, tastes heavenly (especially if you like goat cheese) and it’s perfect to have or bring to a party.  I generally serve it with garlic toasts or multi-colored vegetable chips.  Really you can use anything that you find pleasing.  It’s gone through a lot of tweeks since I first made the recipe from the magazine.  And by trial an error I learned a few things which you will see below under “Tips”.  Have fun and enjoy!

Ingredients

4 - 8 ounce packages of cream cheese
1.5 C of goat cheese
¼ to ½ C of whipping cream
1-2 Tbls of fresh lemon juice
Salt and pepper
1-2 small containers of sun dried tomatoes in oil, drained and patted between paper towels
½ to 1 C of pesto
Fresh herbs or flowers to garnish

Process

Line the inside your favorite ceramic or pyrex dish with plastic wrap (7"x10” rectangle or a square works great). Make sure that the plastic wrap is very smooth on the insides & pressed smoothly up and around every edge. Leave enough plastic so that it hangs over each side and over the edge of your dish.  Set aside.

In a food processor process cream cheese, goat cheese until smooth.  Drizzle in whipping cream to open up the cheese mixture. Which will make it smoother and more airy.  Drizzle in up to ½ C although you may not need it. Add one TBLS of lemon juice at a time for flavor only.  You may not need the second one.  Stop machine at intervals to scrape down the sides with a spatula.  Mix in salt and pepper to taste.  Place cheese mixture in to a pastry bag with a large round tip.  

Place your plastic lined dish in front of you, very gently pipe in your cheese mixture with your pastry bag so that you have one even layer on the bottom of your dish. I generally begin piping from the outer edge of the bowl.  And then move inwards towards the center following the line of the dish you are using.  On top of your 1st cheese layer gently finger or spoon in the sun dried tomatoes so that they are spread evenly over the cheese layer. Then pipe another layer of cheese mixture over tomatoes.  Repeat this process with the pesto.  Then pipe one more layer of cheese over the pesto. This will be your last layer.  Smooth each cheese layer out with a small off-set spatula and cover tightly with the overlapping plastic.  Place in refrigerator overnight.

The next day take pate out of refrigerator and peel plastic from the top.  Place a serving platter (large enough to cover the pate dish) over the ceramic dish and gently invert.  Gently pull the ceramic dish from the pate and set aside.  Very carefully pull the plastic wrap from the pate.  Smooth pate with a spatula.  Garnish with herbs and flowers.  Serve with parmesan toasts.

Tips
*The smaller & deeper your dish the more layers you may have or excess ingredients.   
*Always drain the oil from the sun-dried tomatoes & pesto prior to using in this pate.  Excess oil will seep out of the final pate if there is too much.
*Use the added liquid (cream, lemon juice) sparingly.  You only want the cheese mixture to be “spreadable” not too soft.  If it is too soft add more cream cheese.  It will spread somewhat once unmolded if too soft. 

Friday Food Find: The Extraordinary Rapini, Sautéed

It must have been in culinary school that I first tasted this unique leafy green.  It’s generous leaves, budding broccoli-like florets and striking yellow flowers were captivating; and still are.  It has a few names that are familiar to us: Broccoli Rabe (or Raab) and Rapini.  It is essentially a turnip but is grown for it’s shoot rather than it’s root (turnip).  When cooked it has a flavor that is both sweet and bitter at the same time.  This recipe is super simple.  And once finished it can be used as a side dish,  tossed with pasta or grains and added to soup.  How versatile is that?

Ingredients

1 bunch of Rapini, rinsed and patted dry
4 large cloves of garlic, sliced very thin
2 tsp of red chili flakes (optional)
2 Tbls of olive oil
2 tsp of kosher salt
1 tsp of fresh ground pepper
1/4 C of water

Process & Pictures

Take the bunch of Rapini and cut the stems from the leaves.  Slice the stems into 1/2” pieces. Slice the leaves (and there will be a little stem along with florets) into 3rds.  Set aside. 

Place olive oil into a large sauté pan and begin warming it over medium heat.  Add garlic, red chili flakes, salt and pepper.  Cook until garlic is soft.  Add the chopped Rapini stems and water.  Turn heat up to medium high.  Stir all ingredients until the stems soften but still have a good crunch.

Add the remaining leaves of the Rapini piling high into the sauté pan.  With a tong begin to gently moving the bottom leaves to the top turning them repeatedly until they begin to wilt.  Continue this process until soft.  It should take no longer than 5 minutes. Remove from heat and serve. 
Yields 4 side servings.

The Finish - 2 views

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