Olive Tapenade - Fresh Flavor Boost!

A restaurant in Las Vegas called Olives, created and owned by Chef Todd English makes some of the best Olive Tapenade. I did a comb on the web for a recipe and came across this one.

Olive Tapenade, adapted from Todd English of Olives
1 cup kalamata or Niçoise olives, pitted
1 garlic clove, peeled
1 tablespoon capers, drained and rinsed
3 oil-cured anchovy fillets
Zest and juice of half a lemon
Freshly ground pepper to taste
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard (optional)
2 tablespoons chopped parsley (optional)
1 to 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 baguette, sliced into rounds and toasted

Coarsely chop olives, garlic, capers, anchovies and lemon zest on parchment-covered cutting board. Place chopped mixture in a bowl. Add pepper, mustard, parsley and juice of the zested lemon, and stir in enough olive oil to bind the mixture together. Serve on baguette rounds as an hors d'oeuvre or on sandwiches, grilled chicken or fish.

It was very good, not too salty even compared to all the "salty ingredients". I did add the dijon, the parsley and I actually added a small, chopped and seeded tomato. It was very good. Served over broiled halibut.

Bread Bakers Apprentice: Challah

I love this bread! Bread Baker's Apprentice Group you are the best! I'm so glad that I'm baking my way through the book. It's been a wonderful experience.

Kayte of Grandma's Kitchen Table has a great result and even a wonderful idea of making the bread into rolls. I think I will try that next time.

A wonderful mixture of flour, eggs, yeast that you braid into a gorgeous loaf. Almost pull apart style. I cut the loaf but I think Kayte has a great idea about making it look pull apart.

Check out the official Bread Baker's Apprentice group at Pinch of Salt. Or follow our Slow and Steady group at Nancy's Corner Loaf. Either way, get the book by Peter Reinhart and start impressing your family and friends too!

Cooking Italy: Pasta and Pesto with Potatoes and Green Beans

A beautiful, very flavorful dish from Cooking Italy. I chose to serve the pasta with a pork chop just in case the pasta wasn't something I loved. It very much turned out to be something I love and will be making again. Soon. Very soon. As for the pork chop, sadly it was not yummy. But these things happen in the kitchen.

I must share the comment with you from Marcella Hazan's book. "When all its components are right, there is no single dish more delicious in the entire Italian pasta repertory." That right there says, make this dish and you will be rewarded.

Pasta and Pesto with Potatoes and Green Beans

small new potatoes
young green beans
pasta
pesto

Potatoes and green beans are cooked seperately, but till just tender. Potatoes are peeled and sliced after boiling.

Mix all ingredients together and serve.

It's the pesto that makes this dish. Flavors that burst in your mouth. First it's basil and olive oil and oo a bit of garlic and that parmigiano-reggiano and butter, just rounds out the finish.

Check out how the rest of the Cooking Italy group did with this dish and others by following the list of blogs.

Cooking Italy Blog Roll
Alphabet Soup
Cantbelieveweate
From Laptop to Stovetop
Grandma’s Kitchen Table
Maria Paray
Shelley Bakes
Spinach Tiger

Join Cooking Italy and make these dishes along with us! You will love it.

Saucy Mama Cafe

Interesting News!!!

I have signed up to be in a food contest! I am now entered in the Saucy Mama Condiment Contest! I'm very excited.

This morning, about 8:30am, the door bell rang, I snuck to the front door in my robe and wondered who would be at the door. The Fed-Ex delivery man was dropping a box and walking back to his truck.

I snuck the door open, snatched the box, and quickly looked to see who it was from. Barhyte Specialty Foods!! Yaaaay!!

The box contained several of their popular Saucy Mama Cafe dressing, marinades and mustards. I will be estatic to cook with their products and provide them the best recipes I can invent.

Kick back and watch for the new dishes! Thank you Saucy Mama!

Whisk Wednesday: Pork Tenderloins with Beer

This is a specialty dish of the Belgian town of Arlon. Often dark beer is used over wine in their sauces. In this recipe, beef, sugar and vinegar make the sauce presenting you with a blend of sweet and tangy. Very good and worth making again.

For more information about cooking along with us and the Le Cordon Bleu cookbook, visit Whisk Blog and check it out. Be sure to click on the Blogroll to see how everyone else did with this great dinner!

Whisk Wednesday: Cauliflower Soup

Cream of Cauliflower Soup. In Le Cordon Bleu at Home, it's Veloute Du Barry.

A velvety but light and creamy soup accented with leek and onion. It's very good. I made it for a rainy Sunday lunch.

Interestingly, this soup is thickened with rice flour and not owning rice flour had to puree brown rice in my mini chopper. Came out like suede dust. I will definitely try thickening with rice flour in the future. Very good, and mild tasting.

Follow the rest of the Whisk Wednesday crew as we cook our way through Le Cordon Bleu at Home!

Cooking Italy: Grilled T-Bone Steak, Florentine Style

With this amazing grilled T-Bone Steak, I served some half-moon fried potatoes and chives. It was a great Saturday night meal. Loved the Cabernet Sauvignon I paired with this meal too. This is a simple, rubbed, grilled steak finished with a crushed garlic clove rubbed over the steak and a drizzle of fine olive oil. I highly recommend this dinner.

Join us in Cooking Italy! We are led by Angela of Spinach Tiger and are following her agenda through Marcella Hazan's book, Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking. 2 recipes in and I'm extremely estatic about how the recipes are coming along. Can't wait for the next one!

2 T-bone steaks, 1 1/2 inches thick at room temperature
HOT charcoal or wood burning grill
Coarse seat salt
Crushed garlic clove
Extra-virgin olive oil

Perfect ingredients for a perfect steak.

Cooking Italy: Bruschetta

This is real bruschetta. The flavors were extremely fresh and absolutely perfect. I love how bits of the bread got a bit too toasty. It was just on the very edge but really added a rustic, real fire flavor. Perfect.

Bruschetta:

Grilled ciabatta topped with fresh, chopped and seeded tomatoes, julienned basil, salt, pepper and a drizzle of real extra-virgin olive oil. (Use a good olive oil, it really brings out the flavors)

We had this for lunch with a small shrimp cocktail. It was a light and flavorful lunch that we definitely will be having again!

To see how the other members of Cooking Italy did with their bruschetta, visit Spinach Tiger and follow the blog roll. The photos will make you want some as well.

Bread Baker's Apprentice: Casatiello

Casatiello. YUM. When the first sentence of the recipe description stated: "This is a rich, dreamy Italian elaboration of brioche, loaded with flavor bursts in the form of cheese and bits of meat, preferably salami." my mind said...YES! Grab grocery list, get notes of the ingredients.

What I found most different about this bread is that it is traditionally baked in paper bags or pannettone molds but can also be done in loaf pans. I did mine in loaf pans.

When you took a bite of it's warm-from-the-oven goodness, it was slightly cheesey, a bit of the Italian salami and the freshness of good homemade bread. Delightful!

Fresh & Fizzy Strawberry Sipper

In July's Bon Appetit magazine there is a great recipe for "The Strawberry Muddle". It is fresh strawberries muddled in the bottom of a glass and topped with Prosecco. It looked perfect for a refreshing, sit-on-the-deck summer drink. My report: perfect tasting, drink title needed help.

Fresh & Fizzy Strawberry Sipper (adapted from Bon Appetit, The Strawberry Muddle)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1 1/2 cups strawberries, rinsed, hulled and chopped
6 thin lemon slices
ice cubes
1 (750ml) bottle chilled Prosecco

Stir the sugar and water in a small saucepan over low heat until it dissolves. (Simple syrup) Cool.

Drop strawberries evenly into 6-8 oz glasses, 1T simple syrup, and mash with your muddler or small ladle. Add ice and fill with Prosecco.

I omited the lemon slices. It was bubbly, fresh, and with hints of strawberry. Great for summer.
*Do not stir. Use the ice cube weight to keep the strawberries at the bottom.

Brioche - Middle Class Buns

I'm late. I can't help it. I'm on vacation. Please forgive.

Today is a beautiful day, I'm kicking back, watching boats go by and sitting here with my laptop in the sun. I love it.

I downloaded some photos and realized that I had not created my post of the brioche. So here I am with a late, but hopefully motivating post.

This brioche recipe comes from the book Bread Baker's Apprentice. I am following outside the group with Nancy at Corner Loaf. She is lots of fun and can make the best breads.

As for the brioche, you can make the recipe 3 ways, according to Peter Reinhart. Rich Man's, Middle Class or Poor Man's. Rich Man's contains the most butter in the recipe. I chose the Middle Class version which was 2 sticks of butter. Then I also shaped mine into a hamburger bun size because we are always looking for great, fresh, large buns. That was the final result too. Great, fresh, large buns. Perfect for sandwiches, hamburgers, with a bowl of soup, or even open face at bunch.

I made these, cooled and used 2 that day. Also wrapped and froze the remaining buns individually and we have used frozen ones as well. They are even perfect defrosted. I will definitely be making these again!

Visit other BBA (Bread Baking Apprentice bakers) through here. There is also a list of all the food blogs who are official BBA members.

Get the book and join in! It's a ton of fun and the results are outstanding!