Grilled Chicken Sandwich on Walnut Cranberry Bread

 

Ever since I had this packaged sandwich at a Wholefoods Market south of Boston I was hooked: a delicious sweet, tart and crunchy bread popping with dried cranberries and walnuts that could stand on its own feet for a meal, and a slice of grilled chicken breast in the middle with a dollop of mango chutney. A perfect sandwich! While I enjoyed the sandwich the wheels in my mind already started spinning: I need to make a cranberry walnut bread! The rest would be simple. 

I still had a few Bob's Red Mill low-carb bread mixes in my pantry, so this is where I started (any simple bread mix will do, just avoid sourdough or other flavors). I added plenty of cranberries and walnuts (it might be good to actually soak the cranberries ahead of time), and maple syrup for the extra flavor.

1 package Bob's Red Mill low-carb bread mix (for a 2 pound loaf)
1/2 cup King Arthur all purpose flour
1 1/4 cup warm water
2 TB Baker's milk powder
1 TB yeast
2 TB maple syrup
1 TB organic canola oil
1 egg, slightly beaten
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup mix of pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds and raisins

Pour lukewarm water into kitchenaid standmixer. Add the bread mix, the flour, the yeast and baker's milk powder. Start mixing the dry ingredients on slow speed. Add egg, and canola oil as well the cranberries, walnuts,  trail mix and the maple syrup. Use dough setting to mix the dough, first on slow and then on higher until dough forms a ball. Let the dough rest for 60min.

Knead the dough one more time, and take dough out of stand mixer, and shape dough into a loaf, and add to a floured bread basket. Let rise for 1-2 hours until dough doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 350F, and bake for 50-60min. 

P.s. if you have a large enough breadmaker you can also make it in the machine.

Spicy Refrigerator Pickles

This is a simple and tasty recipe, sweet garlicky pickles, crunchy and easy to make. I tried this Cooking Light recipe last year, and loved it. This year I gave it a spin of my own: the addition of two decorative hot peppers. Likely, it will not be only decorative.... but pickles with a kick will be great on a burger or in a tuna salad sandwich.

* about 1 1/2 pounds of thinly sliced pickling cucumbers

* 1 large thinly sliced white onion

* 2 cups white vinegar (I used a mix of white winegar, sherry vinegar and TJ white balsamic vinegar)

* 1/2 cup sugar

* 3/4 teaspoon salt

* 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds

* 1/2 teaspoon celery seeds

* 1/2 teaspoon tumeric

* 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper

* 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

* 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

* 2 long thin spicy chili peppers

Place the garlic slices on the bottom of a sterilized large pickling jar. Slice the cucumbers thinly. Cut the onion in half and also cut into thin half moons. Layer both in the pickling jar, switching between cucumbers and onions. Once the jar is half full, position the chili peppers on the side.

Combine vinegar and remaining ingredients in a small saucepan, heat and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Bring to a boil and cook for 1 minute. Pour over cucumber mixture; close the lid of the jar, and let cool. Chill at least 4 days in the fridge.

Note: Pickles may be stored in the refrigerator for up to one month.

Miso Cod and Vegetables

My current favorite mix of sauteed vegetables is zucchini, cut into thin strips, diced red bell pepper or tomatoes, and thinly sliced lacinato kale, sauteed with small diced some onion, salt and pepper, and when it is all done and still has a light crunch I add red miso. A half table spoon of red miso, dissolved in a 1/3 cup of hot water, and mixed into the vegetables, and slightly cooked down for 1 min. Sometimes,  I add farro soaked over night, and 1 TB of harrisa or Trader joe's red pepper spread for serving. A wonderful earthy seasonal flavorful combination.

A few days ago I came across the famous "Miso black cod" served at Nobu. Although google search told me that black cod and regular cod have not much in common, besides both being fish, I tried the recipe with the delicious fresh cod fillet that I had bought on the farmers market the other day. And, I admit, this recipe is a winner.

Miso Cod

1 cod fillet, cut into serving size pieces

Mariande:

3 TB red miso (I guess, white miso works, too)

dissolved in 1 cup of boiling hot water 

2 TB sake

1 TB rice wine vinegar

2 TB sugar

Immediately add the sake, rice wine vinegar and sugar to the hot miso mix so that the sugar can dissolve. Mix well, and let cool down to room temperature. Pour mixture in a glass dish with a lid, place cod fillets inside, and marinate at least overnight in the fridge. The chef's version of the original recipe calls for 2-3 days of marinading. I tried it after 1 day and it was delicious.

To prepare: Heat pan with cooking spray, and saute fillets on both sides for about 2-3 min each. Serve!

Elderberries..... the other blueberries

The plants in the garden are early this year with the long summer. The wild blueberries are gone, and the elderberries are already here, hanging low from the high branches with the heavy weight of the sweet juicy berries, as if lowering themselves to be picked. In other years, they were ripe in early Fall, and, with the onset of first colds, I made juice and drank it, giving me a few more weeks of immunity. But in mid August? Smoothie time, with greek yogurt. Different, but tasty.

1 cup greek yogurt

1/3 banana

1 cup elderberries.

Blend, and serve. Enjoy!

Simple Zucchini Salad

Zucchini are plentiful this time of the year. They likely grow in your own garden, are available at roadside farm stands and are 3 for 1$ at the farmers market. With the long and hot summer this year, not only are they plentiful but also huge. Truly, a zucchini deluge by this time. This is a wonderful simple salad with few ingredients and very refreshing for the hot summer days.

1 large zucchini

salt, pepper to taste

white grapefruit balsamic vinegar  (or just white balsamic vinegar or lemon) (*available at Fiore, Bar Harbor)

olive oil

fresh herbs (e.g. mint, cilantro, or fresh oregano)

feta crumbles  (best also from the farmer market)

special equipment: mandolin.

Slice the zucchini really thinly using a mandolin. Arrange on a plate, and season with salt and pepper. Drizzle with the balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Cover with wrap and marinate for 15 min in the fridge. To serve, sprinkle with fresh chopped herbs and feta crumbles. 

Spaghetti with local wild chanterelles

A few weeks ago, I had the great pleasure to be invited over for home-made chanterelle ravioli at my friends' house.Yesterday, armed with a large basket (slightly overoptimistic) and with one half of the mushroom expert couple, I explored the woods in the back of my house. S., with her well-trained eye for even tiny chanterelles, immediately spotted some. Lucky me, they ended up being dinner for me tonight.

Spaghetti with fresh Chanterelles (makes 1 serving):

1/4 white onion, finely chopped

1/2 TB butter or ghee

cup of fresh chanterelle mushroom, cleaned with a wet towel, and slightly chopped

salt, pepper to taste

1 TB creme fraiche

1 TB freshly chopped flat-leaf parsley

to serve: parmesan 

2 oz spaghetti, cooked al dente based on instructions.

Cook pasta first. In a skillet, heat the butter or ghee, and on low-medium heat sautee the onions until they are translucent. Add the chanterelles, and cook on medium heat gently for 3-5 min. Add salt and pepper to taste, and the creme fraiche. The creme fraiche should melt into the wild mushroom and intensify their flavor. Once the spaghetti are cooked, at 3-4 TB of the pasta water to the sauteed chanterelles mix, and also add the drained pasta. Stir gently, mix, add in parsley and serve with freshly grated parmesan cheese.

Balsamic Roasted Beets

It is the time of the year again: beets are abundant at the farmers market, and Mark sells them in huge bags for $5 a bag. After hauling one home today, I made my favorite recipe, beets roasted/steamed in a mix of vegetable broth and balsamic vinegar. The beets are tender with a wonderful balsamic flavor. To serve? With pine nuts and goat cheese.

preheat oven to 375F.

4-5 beets, cut off ends, and cut in thick slices

arrange in a baking dish until the dish is full

mix 1 cup of vegetable broth or beef broth and 1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar

add a few cloves, a bay leaf, and fresh ground pepper

cover with foil, and bake for 45 min (turn off oven at 35min).

Golden Beet Salad at Rupununi

 
It was one of those hot summer day, temperatures in the upper 80s, bright blue sky, bright sun and a light ocean breeze (likely). I drove to Acadia National Park to get a dose of vacation in 'vacationland', still being back home in the afternoon to get some work done. It was the first time I went there since the Obamas had visited. I wondered if it was the newly added national PR or simply the height of summer tourist season that the parked cars at the start of the hikes had tripled and that at Jordan Pond House the cars parked a 1/2 mile down the carriage road. Okay...

The walk around Jordan pond was relaxed and picturesque. I was not up for climbing heights due to the heat, but the light breeze and the shady trees made for a great, relaxed, breezy, even leveled hike. 

Back at Jordan Pond House, I was redirected from the lawn to the receptionist to the information desk to be handed a beeper and a "1h waiting time". After 15 min waiting, I decided that despite of visions of popovers and lobster salad I did not have the patience to wait, and handed the beeper to another guest in line at the information desk. I headed out of the crowds towards a relatively empty Bar Harbor, and my other favorite restaurant, Rupununi, had no line and plenty of tables. "Life as it should be". The golden beet salad with goat cheese, greens and pine nuts was delicious, as usual.

The crowds felt a bit un-Maine-ish today.

It's the time of the year again...

The height of summer is announced by fields and barrens of ripe wild blueberries. Around mid-July, the first pints of local blueberries pop up at the farmers market, and it is around that time that I schedule my annual 'blueberry field trip'. In the region around (appropriately called) Blue Hill, many wild blueberry barrens are tended by local farmers, and the blueberry fields stretch endlessly into the horizon. Last year, 88 million pounds of wild blueberries were harvested in Maine, and around 600,000 pounds were sold fresh. Maine is actually the largest producer of wild blueberries in the world. 

Naturally, there are also many patches with truly wild blueberries, which you can pick yourself, including a back ache from bending over for hours, and tinted fingers and mouth, but being shielded from investigating farmers for illegal picking. Anyway, I get my blueberries from the farmers market after a few of those bent back adventures, but I am still mesmerized by the blueberries fields. They remind me of the Beatles song "Strawberry fields forever". Just blueberry fields forever, in my case. There is a true beauty to those endless fields of barely 10 inch high plants, which turn a deep reddish purple in the fall, the tiny green leaves, and the clusters of sweet blueberries,..... a sea of blueberries. 

Haddock en Escabeche

When I saw Rick Bayless the first time on the newly launched Cooking Channel a few weeks ago, I was hooked: this man knows Mexican cuisine. He does not only have his James Beard award and a Top Chef win to prove it, but his talking about Mexican cuisine speaks for itself. Since his shows are on PBS (appropriately), but not available on satellite, I ordered a few of his DVDs from his website.  Today, I watched one of the DVDs, and lunch was decided: haddock en escabeche.

Serves 2

2 TB olive oil

1 medium white onion, sliced in full rounds, 1/8-inch thick

2 large garlic cloves, peeled and sliced into thin rounds

2 carrots, peeled and sliced thinly sliced into long thin sticks

1/4 cup cider vinegar

1/2 cup of water

1 large sprig fresh thyme (or 1/2 teaspoon dried), plus a few sprigs for garnish

1 sprig fresh marjoram (or 1/2 teaspoon dried), plus a few sprigs for garnish

A 1-inch piece cinnamon stick

1/2 teaspoon black pepper, preferably freshly and coarsely ground

2 bay leaves

3 whole cloves

a few black and green olives
2-3 pickled jalapeño chiles, stemmed, seeded and thinly sliced

Salt, about 1 teaspoon

2 haddock fillets

1. Making the escabeche. Heat the oil in a large (12-inch), deep skillet over medium heat. Add the onions, garlic and carrots on not too high heat; stir often, until onions are crisp-tender but not brown, about 5 minutes. Stir in the vinegar, water, thyme, marjoram, cinnamon stick, pepper, bay and cloves. Cover, and simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally, for 20-30 minutes. Remove from heat, add the jalapeños, and season with salt, usually about 1/4 teaspoon.It should still be brothy.

2. Season the haddock fillet with salt and pepper. Wipe out the skillet, add a 1/2 tablespoon of the oil and set over medium heat. When hot, fry the haddock. Cook, turning once, until cooked through, about 3 minutes per side.  Transfer the haddock to a baking dish and pour the escabeche over the fish. Let cool to room temperature, and serve.

3. Serving. Remove the bay leaves, cloves and cinnamon. Garnish with sprigs of thyme and marjoram. Enjoy!

So, they are here

The First Family is spending weekend getaway on Mount Desert Island this weekend. We Mainers feel honored, and admire their good taste. Mount Desert Island is one of the most beautiful island in the US to go hiking with phenomenal ocean views, biking on sandy and shady carriage roads,  kajak along the sounds, sail to nearby islands like the Cranberry Islands from Southwest Harbor, swim in Echo Lake, and, of course, eat lobster or steamers at a roadside lobster shack (or something more fancy). The weather could not be better this weekend.

It seems reasonable to avoid MDI for the next few days, or factor in to be stopped to let the motorcade pass by, or see your favorite hike being closed for the Obamas. But then, there are plenty of other hikes, and typically even in the height of the tourist season Acadia provides a relaxing degree of privacy and calm.

So, what will they do? Take in the views from the mountains.....

Enjoy a lunch at Jordan Pond house, and eat the famous popovers with strawberry jam...

Enjoy the view of Bar Harbor's harbor at sunset from their hotel.... (the blueberry pie at the Bar Harbor Regency is definitely worth trying!)

Sail in Southwest Harbor...

And maybe, eat a steamed Maine lobster.

Well, at least this is what I would do this weekend. But then, there is always next weekend.

Lobster Ravioli

As part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker program, I received a coupon for a Buitoni Frozen Meal for 2 a while back. There are several seductive options to choose from, but, of course, my first choice had to be: Maine Lobster Ravioli! Unfortunately, I could not find this particular product in my local Target store, and so I settled for Lobster and Shrimp (close enough!). The entire package, found in the frozen food section, is a meal for 2 people (but about 4 full meals for me!). The ravioli are large and filled with a tasty mix of lobster, shrimp and a creamy sauce. I was delighted when I tasted large pieces of succulent lobster meat in the ravioli, just how it should be. Definitely a treat worth for a special meal!

Finds from the Farmers Market

It was finally cooling down, and rain was predicted for the day. Looking at the weather map, it was clear the best time to go to the farmers market would be before 9am. Obviously, everyone else thought so, too, and I've never seen so many people at the FM. Despite telling myself "only the essentials!" I spent a fortune as usual, but the finds were wonderful: an almost 1 pound blue fin tuna steak from the Stonington fish truck, free range eggs from Maine-ly Poultry, mixed lettuce with some yellow flower petals and fresh summer squash from Peacemeal farm and my favorite goat cheese from Olde Oak Farm. Good eats!

Day on the beach

The July 4th weekend is finally here, the official start of summer. Of summer-summer, with temperatures in the 90s, humidity, and a desire to be close to water.... any water, a lake, a river, a pool or the ocean. Since the ocean's water temperature are frigid along the coast, it is most attractive on a really hot day like today. The cooling breeze invites for a stroll with the feet in the water, the only body part that can really get used to the water temperatures.

Kale smoothie, the summer version

Kale, the superfood. I am not particularly fond of curly kale, but adore lacinato kale. The one planted in my garden is growing, and every other morning, a kale smoothie is breakfast with fresh cut leaves from the raised bed.

Ingredients:

8-10 medium sized lacinato kale leaves

1 cup greek yogurt

1/2 frozen or fresh banana

1 TB agave nectar or honey

Put in blender and puree until smooth. If consistency is too thick, add water.