Basil Pesto with Fresh Mozerella

Peter and I catered a great dinner this weekend and it was great because it was all about fresh ripe ingredients. We wanted to showcase the beautiful flavors of summer and this salad was the best way to go. The salad is very simple, ripe tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, olive oil and basil pesto. This pesto sauce can be used on just about anything. I’m looking forward to using some of it on pasta.

4 cups packed fresh basil leaves, washed well

1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted until golden, cooled, and chopped fine

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan (about 1 1/2 ounces)

2 large garlic cloves, minced

1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoonsextra-virgin olive oil

In a food processor purée basil with remaining ingredients until smooth and season with salt and pepper.

To assemble the salad slice a ripe tomato and lay the slices out on a platter. Season the tomatoes generously with sea salt and pepper and drizzle with a fine finishing olive oil. Cover the tomato with a slice of fresh mozzarella and drizzle with pesto.

Mango Salsa

We all just got back from an incredible sailing trip in the British Virgin Islands. Since we had chartered a large sail boat we were lucky enough to be able to cook all of our own meals. Peter really took the lead on this and went shopping for the week before we got on the boat. The kitchen on the boat was laid out great and both of us were able to work together on putting together some great meals.

For me the best meal of the trip was when we made Coconut Curry Chicken with Mango Salsa. I love this salsa because it is sweet and hot at the same time. You can control the heat by adjusting how many chillies you use. This mango salsa can be used on just about anything so I thought I should share it with you.

Mango Salsa

4 mangos diced
1/2 pineapple diced
2 shallots finely diced
1 scotch bonnet finely diced with seeds removed
1 jalapeño finely diced with seeds removed
2 limes juiced
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt
¼ cup finely chopped cilantro

Combine the mangos, pineapple, shallots and chillies. Pour olive oil and lime juice over the fruit. Stir to combine. At this point taste the salsa and add salt to taste. Stir in cilantro. Serves 8.

Checking Out

We'll be heading down to St. Thomas for ten days of sailing. We'll be coming back with lots of new cooking adventures. See you in a couple of weeks.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

It looks like summer has finally decided to show up. I made my first Strawberry Rhubarb Pie of the season. mmm.

Fromage Blanc Tartlets

I have a large dinner coming up at the end of the month and I wanted to start the dinner with a great little fromage blanc tart. I did a little test run this weekend and I was really pleased with the final product. Earlier in the week I stopped by my cheese shop Foster and Dobbs and talked with the owner about what cheese I should use. She was generous enough to talk me through and let me taste several cheeses. I settled on a plain fromage blanc. After I settled on a cheese it was time to put some thought to the pastry crust. For the last couple of years I haven’t been very happy with my pastry crust. It’s been hard to work with and temperamental. I found a recipe that I think solves all of my problems.

I combined the fromage blanc with some fresh tarragon, thyme, chive and chervil and then piped the cheese into the tart shells.

For crust
3 cups all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup chilled solid vegetable shortening, cut into pieces
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into pieces
10 tablespoons (about) ice water

Make crust: Combine flour, sugar and salt in processor. [Alternately, you can use a pastry cutter to make your dough, as I did.] Using on/off turns, cut in shortening and butter until coarse meal forms. Blend in enough ice water 2 tablespoons at a time to form moist clumps. Gather dough into ball; cut in half. Flatten each half into disk. Wrap separately in plastic; refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Keep chilled. Let dough soften slightly at room temperature before rolling.)
Using a biscuit cutter cut out rounds and press them into a mini muffin pan. Bake until golden brown at 350.

Raspberry Opera Cake

This months Daring Bakers challenge was kind of fun. I've always wanted to make an opera cake, but it's one of those recipes that I just couldn't get around to making. This month we got to make a "light" opera cake. Normally an opera cake is made with chocolate and espresso butter cream, but this time I had to make the cake with light components. I'll admit that I didn't get very adventurous and I went with a flavor combination that I know works well together. The first layer is an almond cake. The cake was then moistened with a lemon syrup. The first two layers were filled with raspberry buttercream. The third layer was topped with white chocolate raspberry mousse.

In the end I was pleased with the challenge. It was a good day spent in the kitchen.

Tart Sweet Hot Delicious

This isn't so much a recipe, but rather a great discovery. Pineapple topped with Thai chillies and flake salt. This makes a great dessert on a hot night. The pineapple was sweet and juicy. The salt is a pleasant contrast and the chillies give the pineapple a complex heat. Give it a shot.

White Chocolate Toffe Oatmeal Cookies

This morning I was perusing my favorite food blogs and came across this great recipe. I had to drop everything and make these cookies. As it turns out they are fantastic. These oatmeal cookies are light and crunchy with a rich buttery flavor. When you bake these cookies the small chunks of caramel bubble up into a crunchy toffe. Makes 24 cookies. Adapted from Smitten Kitchen.

1 Cup flour
¾ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons butter (1 ½ sticks)
1 Cup sugar
¼ Cup brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 ½ Cup quick oats
4 oz white chocolate chopped into small chunks (NO white chocolate chips)
3 oz chewy caramels cut into small pieces


Preheat oven to 350.

In a small bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Scrape down the bowl. Add the egg and vanilla and mix until smooth. Slowly add the flour, oats, white chocolate and caramels.
Scoop the dough into round balls about 2 tablespoons in size. Place six on each cookie sheet. Press them down slightly until they are about ¾” thick. Bake for 12-16 minutes until golden brown. Cool cookies on a cookie rack.

queso fundido

Cynco de Mayo

The star of Cynco de Mayo was our new commercial gas grill. Each burner has 25,000 btu's. I'm not quite sure what that means, but I can tell you this baby can cook. The portable grill is hot fierce mess. We seared off twenty pounds of hanger steaks, chicken verde and spicy shrimp.
On a side note Cynco de Mayo marks our blogs one year anniversary. If you want to take a look at last years celebration go check out here.
Even the Jack and Rufus got in on the fun.