Watermelon Gazpacho

I took the summer off.

A couple months ago Emma and I took a cooking class at Crate, a local cookware shop and cooking school.  The class was focused on fish and was taught by chefs from Penn Avenue Fish, a local fish shop and delicious restaurant.  They grilled three delicious fish with different marinades or glazes, all of which we got to enjoy.  They also made an excellent Watermelon Gazpacho.  I will modestly say that I make an excellent Gazpacho myself, using V-8 and tomato juice and inspired by The Moosewood Cookbook.  But I have not had too many good sweet versions, so I was pleased to discover this:

Seedless watermelon, skinned and diced
2 cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced
2 green peppers, diced
2 red peppers, diced
4 celery stalks, diced
1/2 purple onion, diced
2 c. lemon juice
3/4 c. extra virgin olive oil
1/2 c. wine vinegar
black pepper
salt
Sriracha

The ingredients here makes a lot of soup; you may want to cut it down.

Mash watermelon very well.  I failed to do that and there were a few rather too large pieces.  Add cucumber, peppers, celery and onion.  Add the lemon juice, olive oil and vinegar.  Then add salt, pepper and Sriracha to taste.  It tastes best if you can let it set for a few hours for the flavors to mix.

Also, it absorbs the liquid so in a couple days you really don't have soup, but more of a thick vegetable and watermelon mix in a little broth, which is still quite delicious.  You can really taste the lemon juice and the olive oil.  They are a perfect foil to the sweet of the watermelon juice.

While you are waiting for the basil...

For the gardeners out there, while you are waiting for your fresh basil, try this delicious Spinach Pesto:

10  oz  spinach
  2  T   pine nuts or walnuts
1/4 c    parmesan cheese (or nutritional yeast if you want to make it vegan)
1/4 c    extra virgin olive oil
1/2 t     granulated garlic
salt

Place all ingredients in blender and pulse until smooth, scraping sides of bowl as necessary.  Add water or olive oil if necessary to reach desired consistency.


We used it on pasta and also on broiled chicken.  Would be great on pizza dough, with or without more cheese and other toppings.

Recipe compliments of Penzeys Spices, Early Summer 2011 catalog

Blue cheese and greek yogurt

My friend Rebecca told me about a dressing she recently enjoyed featuring two of my favorite taste sensations:  blue cheese and greek yogurt.

Now Rebecca must be a very confident cook because when she sent me the "recipe", it consisted simply of five ingredients:  low fat plain greek yogurt, blue cheese, red wine vinegar, finely sliced scallions and sugar, and basically no instruction.

I am not such a confident cook, so I measure everything (or almost).  I used:

7 oz        low fat plain greek yogurt
6 oz        blue cheese (I love blue cheese, this amount could be too much for some palates)
2 T         red wine vinegar (plus more to try to thin it out)
1 t          sugar
2            finely sliced scallions.

You just mix it all up.  It is so thick, I kept adding vinegar, but it would not thin out.  This is definitely a spooning dressing, not a pouring one.  I think it works better with heartier greens rather than fine ones.  It could also be used as a vegetable dip, in fact my friend, Carol, thought it was better that way than as a salad dressing.

But the richness of these two flavors, the yogurt and the cheese, is just delicious.

Not Your Mother's Vinegar and Oil

Easy and delicious:

1/2 c.  extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
1/2 c. vinegar (any kind; I used red wine)
   1 t.  salt (or less)
   2 t.  sugar (or less)
   2     cloves garlic (crushed)

Combine and shake.

Greek yogurt

Greek yogurt is very hip right now.  A couple years ago it was hard to find in a regular supermarket and only a couple brands were available, admittedly authentic Greek brands, but only a couple, and often the only "flavor" was plain.  Now it is everywhere: mass marketed by Dannon and Yoplait, and so many flavors (I like chocolate).  It is so thick and rich.  I think the even plain tastes sweet.  Yum.

Please stay tuned for a few dressings featuring this fabulous ingedient.

Balsamic Garlic Rosemary bread dipping oil

We recently tried a new bread dipping oil, Balsamic and Roasted Garlic Dipping Oil, from CDKitchen.com (#50862):

25 cloves garlic (unpeeled)
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus
1 cup olive oil (preferably extra-virgin)
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
2 1/2 teaspoons minced fresh rosemary

Preheat oven to 350°F. Place unpeeled garlic cloves in baking dish. Add 2 tablespoons olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper; toss to coat. Cover dish tightly with foil and bake until garlic is golden brown and tender, about 45 minutes. Cool. 

Squeeze garlic between fingertips to release cloves. Transfer garlic cloves to blender. Add vinegar and rosemary and puree herb mixture until smooth. With machine running, gradually add remaining 1 cup olive oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper. (Dipping oil can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Let stand 15 minutes at room temperature and whisk before using.)

This oil is very tasty - a strong, but not overwhelming garlic flavor and just enough rosemary to make the taste and scent quite interesting.  It is fun to make and the roasting garlic makes the house smell terrific.  My friend Renee and her family tried the oil with bread, like mine did, but she said her son also liked dipping cucumbers.  But, I have to warn you, no matter how good this tastes, it is not an attractive dish,  The balsamic "takes over" and colors the oil a very dark brown.  Using the blender makes a very thick mix -- of this very dark liquid.  Use your imagination.  But no matter how unappetizing this recipe may look, it tastes delicious.    

chocolate chip cookies

A change of pace from salad dressings and bread dipping oil:  dessert.

A couple weeks ago I made chocolate chip cookies from a recipe taken from www.crepesofwrath.net (recipe below).  Almost identical to the traditional toll house recipe found on the back of every bag of chocolate chips, the only difference is a substitution of one-quarter cup of olive oil for the two sticks of butter, a little more salt and a splash of milk.  The cookies were well received by my daughter Emma and her friend, Andrew.

So, I did a little experiment at the office on Monday.  I made two batches of chocolate chip cookies:  one made according to the toll house recipe (Group A) and the other made with olive oil (Group B).  I asked my colleagues to tell me which of the two versions they preferred and which one they thought was made with olive oil.

15 people in my department responded and overwhelmingly they preferred Group A (14 of 15).  Only one person misidentified which one had butter vs. olive oil

The comments were most interesting.  Consistently Group A was described as crisper and Group B "more chewy".   A couple people commented that they liked the look of Group A more than Group B. Group A were plain and flat, while Group B was "puffier" and smooth.  I was surprised at this reaction, but several folks said that Group A looked more like what they thought of as a home-made chocolate chip cookie.  One person said Group A smelled sweeter.  Someone else said that although she preferred Group A and she thought B had an oily residue (yuck), she thought Group B might lend itself better to mass production.  Good to know in case this law thing does not work out and I need to find a new career.

There was some discussion on the relative calories in the two versions.  I really wish I understood the science of food more (actually, I wish I knew anything).  Clearly the oil has fewer calories than the butter (one-quarter cup olive oil has about 480 calories versus 800 for two sticks of butter), and it has no cholesterol vs 31 grams cholesterol per tablespoon butter and the olive oil has more monounsaturated fats, etc.  But, remember, a cookie is still a cookie.  These are not diet foods.  But they taste damn good.

Many, many thanks to all who participated.


Olive Oil Chocolate Cookies

2 1/4  c. flour
1 1/2  t. salt
1        t. baking soda
1/4     c. extra virgin olive oil
1        t. vanilla extract
3/4     c. granulated sugar
3/4     c. packed brown sugar (altho I always uses less brown and more regular sugar -- I like the
                        lighter color -- just so it totals 1 1/2 cups)
2        eggs
1        T.  milk (or more)
1        c. chocolate chips (I always use more)

Preheat oven to 375

Combine flour, baking soda and salt and set aside.
Combine sugars, vanilla and olive oil.  Beat eggs in one at a time.  Gradually add flour mixture, then add one tablespoon of milk to make the dough a bit firmer, maybe add another tablespoon if you need it or feel the dough is too sticky.
Roll dough into balls and place on greased or lined cookie sheets and bake for 10-12 minutes until lightly golden and set.  These overbake quickly, so pay attention.
Allow to cool for a couple minutes on the cookie sheet and then transfer to another surface to cool completely.