Sun-Dried Tomato, Goat cheese, and Walnut Monkey Bread

I generally, mostly, when not celebrating a special occasion, try to avoid sugar and stick to more savory fare. Armed with a new book devoted to the non-sweet side of baked goods, I was excited to pull out some pans and get the oven pre-heated. Savory Baking is from Erin Jeanne McDowell, and I received a review copy. This isn’t a gimmicky approach of turning sweet recipes into things that aren’t sweet. This is an informative baking book that teaches great technique through recipes that are savory, although there are also some suggestions for making sweet variations. And, in addition to the baked goods, there are recipes for putting them to use. For instance, there’s Green Chile Sausage Gravy to go with Buttermilk Biscuits, Always Salad to go with Flaky Frico, and Mama’s Salmon Sandwiches for Ciabattina Rolls along with quick pickles, sauces, flavored butters, and more. I knew this book was going to deliver great results when I read the thoughtful explanation about when and why to cut butter into flour at the size of walnut halves versus the size of peas versus the texture of cornmeal. Helpful information is found in every chapter like perfecting crepe-making, methods for cooking flatbreads, and strudel dough handling. I especially appreciated the chart that shows how much focaccia dough to make to fit different pan sizes. There were oodles of things I wanted to try, but first was the Pickly Pepper Bialys. I used to eat bialys on occasion when I was a college student in Illinois, but I’d never made my own. They’re very similar to bagels minus the hole in the middle. I have made tortillas many times, but I usually make corn rather that flour. I suspected the recipe for flour tortillas here would be a winner, and I was correct. I went with the spinach version and was delighted with them. The savory pastries all look delicious, and I have my eye on the Croissant Breakfast Pie. Also, the Roasted Garlic Naan, the Pizza Babka, and the Stuffed Pretzels all look hard to resist. I might have to bake page by page through the Snacks, Bites, and Appetizers chapter with Parmesan Palmiers, Jalapeno Pastry Poppers, and Panfried Mushroom Dumplings to name a few options. Circling back to something I’d never made before, I needed to try the savory monkey bread. 

Monkey bread always looks addictive. I’m not sure why I’d never made it before, but this recipe with sun-dried tomatoes, goat cheese, and walnuts was too interesting to skip. The yeasted dough was made with milk, milk powder, one egg, butter, and creme fraiche. While the dough proofed, the filling was made by cooking sun-dried tomatoes with smashed garlic and olive oil. Off the heat, butter was added with herbs and tomato paste. The mixture was pureed, goat cheese was crumbled and blended with creme fraiche, and walnuts were toasted. Working with the dough was fun and a little messy. First, it was rolled into a big square, and the goat cheese mixture was spread over one half. The walnuts and sesame seeds were sprinkled on the goat cheese. The dough was folded over and pinched around the edges to seal. It was rolled out into a big square again before being cut into strips that were cut into little squares. Each little square of dough was dipped into the sun-dried tomato mixture before being placed in a bundt pan. Then, it was left to rise before baking. 

Of course, the garlic and herbs made the bread small amazing as it baked. And, after it cooled a bit, the tender pull-apart pieces were as addictive as I knew they would be. There are other flavor combinations offered including Gooey Cheese Monkey Bread; Caramelized Onion, Balsamic, and Parmesan Monkey Bread; and Roasted Garlic and Herb Monkey Bread as well as other ways to shape the bread like in pull-apart sheets or circles. I want to try all of those and then use this dough for every other thing that comes to mind. I have lots more savory baking to do.

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Cherry Tomato and Goat Cheese Cobbler

I keep coming back to the book Huckleberry. I had a feeling this would happen when I first read it. I haven’t baked my way entirely through the Muffins chapter yet, but I did find out just how delicious the Chocolate Chunk Muffins are. And, I don’t know how I haven’t baked the Blueberry Brioche or made the Brown Rice Quinoa Pancakes yet but I will eventually. Lately, I’ve been flipping back through the pages of all the savory dishes for breakfast or brunch. The photos of the sandwiches cause serious cravings. The Fried Green Tomato and Spicy Slaw Tartine and the Smashed Avocado Toast with Hard-Boiled Eggs and Anchovy Dressing will need to happen soon. But then, I remembered this lovely tomato cobbler that Barbara showed on her blog back in April. Roasted cherry tomatoes were topped with biscuits made with a mix of whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, and cornmeal. I had pretty, little Juliet red tomatoes, Sungold yellow cherry tomatoes, and local heirloom cornmeal, and the time was right for this cobbler. It’s pretty quick and easy to prepare, and it’s even easier if you make the biscuits in advance and leave them in the freezer. 

To start the biscuits, whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt were combined. Butter was worked into the flours by hand, and this is the way I almost always make pastry, scones, or biscuits. You can really feel how well the butter is getting worked in, and you stop when the butter pieces are broken up just enough. Buttermilk was added to bring the dough together, and it was transferred to a board to knead a couple of times. The biscuits were cut, and they were placed on a baking sheet in the freezer. I made them a couple of days in advance. For the cobbler, cherry tomatoes were cooked on top of the stove, and I added some garlic and crushed red chiles. Once they were softened, I transferred them to a baking dish. The tomatoes were topped with the biscuits, and the biscuits were brushed with an egg wash. The cobbler baked for about 25 minutes, and then goat cheese was sprinkled around between the biscuits. The oven temperature was increased, and the cobbler went back in for another 10 minutes. I topped the cobbler with chopped basil before serving. 

Juicy, roasted, summer tomatoes with fresh, mild goat cheese and buttery biscuits make a lovely, leisurely meal for a weekend morning. The biscuits rise and turn golden on top while soaking up tomato juices from below for a great crisp and tender texture contrast. Looking at how many other dishes I want to try in this book, some breakfast-for-dinner nights will come in handy. 

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Red and Golden Beet and Cheese Tart

I’ve always liked beets, but there was a time when I got to the point of dreading one more beet at the end of the season. My thinking seems to have changed since these days I look forward to having some roasted beets in the refrigerator. I like cutting roasted beets into wedges and adding them to salads with crumbled goat cheese, and I really like adding roasted and pickled, sliced beets to sandwiches. But, with our latest CSA beets, I wanted to try something different. I remembered a recipe from the files that had been waiting its turn for almost nine years. Every time I flipped by it in the files, I noticed those colorful red and golden beet slices in neat, layered rows. This is from a 2004 issue of Living magazine, and the recipe is available online. The original version was made with red, golden, and Chioggia beets, but I went with just red and golden for mine. Being a beet tart, it sounds virtuous, but the buttery crust, the mix of fresh cheeses under the beets, and the shredded fontina cheese on top make it delightfully rich. It’s the kind of dish that involves a few steps to get things prepped, but then it all comes together simply in the end. To make a meal of it, an arugula salad on the side is a good match. 

I started the prep a day in advance by roasting the beets and making the pate brisee. The next day, the pastry was rolled into a big rectangle and fit into a nine-by-thirteen inch baking sheet. The pastry was chilled before being blind-baked with pie weights. Meanwhile, the roasted beets were sliced on a Benriner. If you slice the golden beets first and stack them away from where the red beets will be, you won’t have to worry about red stains on the golden slices. The bottom layer of the tart was a mix of goat cheese, fresh ricotta, and chopped herbs. Thyme is suggested in the recipe, but I used what my garden had available which was garlic chives, oregano, and parsley. After spreading the fresh cheese mixture, the beet slices were layered on top, alternating colors, in each row. Shredded fontina was sprinkled on top, it was drizzled with olive oil, and salt and pepper were added. The tart then baked for about 25 minutes. 

Now, I have one more reason to look forward to having beets on hand. I might even have to start stocking the freezer with them. How do you feel about beets, and if you have a favorite way of using them, what is it? 

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Fig Muffins with Goat Cheese Filling

There was a time when I could eat the same thing for breakfast every morning, or every weekday morning anyway, for an entire year if not longer. I’d pour the same cold cereal into a bowl every Monday through Friday without any interest in mixing it up. Something happened to change my thinking on that lately. Now, I can only go for about a week with the same thing for breakfast each morning, and then I have to have something different. I never go all out and cook eggs or anything like that on a weekday morning, but I’ve been switching around my breakfast with homemade granola and yogurt, whole grain toast, bagels, and most recently these muffins. Whatever I’m choosing for breakfast, I like for it to include some whole grains and fruit, and these muffins fit that demand perfectly. They’re from Ancient Grains for Modern Meals by Maria Speck, and they’re made with white whole wheat flour, dried figs, and olive oil, with a goat cheese and lemon zest filling. If you’re not familiar with white whole wheat flour, it’s not a refined flour but is made from a white wheat rather than hard red wheat berries. It looks the same as all-purpose flour but has the nutritional profile of regular whole wheat flour. 

To start the muffins, the filling was made and set aside. Room temperature goat cheese was mixed with lemon zest, some honey, and vanilla extract. The muffin batter was made by sifting white whole wheat flour with baking powder, baking soda, and salt. A well was made in the middle of the flour mixture. In a separate bowl, eggs were whisked, and brown sugar, vanilla extract, olive oil, and buttermilk were added. The wet ingredients were poured into the well in the flour mixture, and the batter was stirred together with a rubber spatula. Chopped dried figs were folded into the mix. The batter was spooned into a buttered muffin tin, and each cup was filled to about half. The goat cheese filling was then spooned into the center of each muffin cup, and the remaining batter covered the filling. Just before going into the oven, each muffin was sprinkled with turbinado sugar. 

This was a great way to start the day. The chewy, sweet figs were delicious with the tangy goat cheese filling. Just because I’m switching up my breakfast choices more frequently now, that doesn’t mean I can’t circle back to repeat one now and then. These muffins will undoubtedly make repeat appearances. 

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Roasted Ratatouille Tart

When it’s late summer or early fall and eggplant, sweet peppers, and zucchini are still everywhere you look, ratatouille is an obvious choice. Obvious or not, on its own, ratatouille isn’t always very exciting. However, when the vegetables are chopped and oven-roasted and then nestled into the middle of buttery, flaky pastry, it becomes something very worth talking about. This is from The Fresh & Green Table which continues to deliver one great dish after another as I cook through it. When I first saw this in the book, I knew I’d be making it before eggplant season ended. As the vegetables are roasting, you can decide how far you want to take them depending on whether you want a completely tender ratatouille or one with some texture. But, I have to say, once they’re in the tart along with the goat cheese and parmesan, they’ll be delicious no matter how they’re cooked.

After chopping eggplant, zucchini, sweet peppers, and red onion and halving some cherry tomatoes, everything was tossed with olive oil, seasoned, and roasted for about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, the pastry was made and left to chill, and it could be made in advance and refrigerated for a couple of days. The dough was rolled into big circle, but it doesn’t need to be precise. Some shredded parmigiano reggiano was strewn about in the center and topped with some of the roasted vegetables. Chopped mint was suggested, but I used basil intead, and some was layered on top of the vegetables. Next, crumbled goat cheese and more parmesan were added followed by another layer of vegetables and more basil. The dough was folded up and over the edges and brushed with egg wash. The top of the tart was sprinkled with more parmesan, and I added a pinch or two of flaked sea salt before popping it in the oven.

This was one of those crusts that shatters in the loveliest way as a knife slices into it. It was rich and crisp and golden and made an excellent vehicle for the ratatouille. So, if you’re like me and feel ratatouille lacks pizzazz all by itself, you should definitely consider using it as a filling for a savory tart.

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Lemon and Goat's Cheese Ravioli

I remember the day Wednesday June 2, 2010 like it was yesterday. Ok, that might be stretching the truth, but I do remember the day the video of Yotam Ottolenghi making this ravioli was posted on the The Guardian site. I just looked it up, and that day was June 2, 2010. I remember watching that video and thinking that I couldn't wait to make this. It was a few months later when I acquired a copy of the book Plenty, where the recipe also appears, and then I couldn't wait to make everything else in the book too. In the video, Ottolenghi calls the ravioli "little sunshines on the plate." And, they are. The lemony pasta with zest mixed into the dough, the fresh and tangy goat cheese filling, and the pop of pink and mildly spicy flavor from the peppercorns make the ravioli bright and springy. As I always say, making fresh pasta is one of my favorite kitchen tasks, and this time was no different.

Since making pasta is one of my favorite things, of course, I have my preferred way of doing it. I never used a food processor, and I never make a well out of a pile of flour on a work surface. I put the flour in a bowl, make a hole in the center, add the eggs, and mix with a fork. That way, I don't have egg running all over my counter, but I can feel the dough and decide if it needs more flour or not. For this pasta, the dry ingredients included flour, a little turmeric for added yellow in the dough, and lemon zest. Three whole eggs were added with three tablespoons of olive oil. The dough came together nicely, and it was divided into four pieces, each piece was flattened into a disk, wrapped in plastic wrap, and chilled for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, the filling was made by mixing together soft goat cheese, some sea salt, crushed red chile flakes, and black pepper. After the pasta dough had rested, one piece at a time was passed through a pasta machine several times while setting the rollers closer together after each pass. To streamline the process of filling and cutting the ravioli, I left half of each long piece of pasta dough intact. That half was brushed with egg wash and topped with dollops of goat cheese filling. The other half of each sheet was cut into circles about three inches wide. The circles were set over each dollop of filling, and then the cutter was used to separate each piece. Once cut, the edges of each were pinched to seal. You can cook the ravioli right away or cover and refrigerate them overnight. After boiling for a brief couple of minutes and draining, the ravioli were topped with crushed pink peppercorns, chopped parsley rather than tarragon in my case, more lemon zest and lemon juice, and some olive oil.

Each part of this dish is simple but just right. Pasta is plain by nature, but here it gets a boost from lemon zest. The filling was just a few ingredients added to goat cheese, and the toppings couldn't have been easier to add to each plate. But, all those simple parts resulted in something as fabulous as I knew it would be when I first saw the video.

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Goat Cheesecakes with Citrus and Candied Beets

Anita Lo believes “there are no true borders in food.” Cuisines are constantly changing and being influenced by different cultures. And, her food is pushing that evolution another step forward. Her new book is Cooking Without Borders, and I received a review copy. In it, she describes her approach to building dishes with multiple points of reference. With a multicultural upbringing and world travels from a young age, she draws on various influences for her cooking style. After first learning classic French cooking technique, she then gained expertise in Korean and Vietnamese cooking. Often, her dishes combine European concepts with Asian ingredients. Despite the array of ideas contributing to each dish, the result is always refined and well-articulated. The recipes in the book include some of Lo’s home-cooking favorites as well as restaurant dishes, and some of them are definitely chef’s recipes. She does make good suggestions for modifications for the home cook whenever the process is lengthy or the ingredients are out of the ordinary. For her fried oysters with buckwheat and caviar, although it sounds like blini might be involved, the buckwheat is actually naengmyum which is a Korean noodle similar to soba. The dish was inspired by a mix of soba noodles and garnishes that Lo experienced in Japan. A fried oyster and caviar add briny flavor in different textures, and there’s a ponzu-style sauce balanced with dashi broth. She recommends more affordable American caviar for this and offers tips for a quick version of the dish made with store-bought ponzu. Like all the recipe descriptions in the book, this one clearly shows her thought process and her vision for the mix of flavors and textures in a unique dish.

Some of the dishes I want to try soon are the slow-cooked salmon with smoked paprika and savoy cabbage, the roasted kabocha and maitake with bitter chocolate, and breast of duck with hoisin and figs. First, though, I was fascinated by a recipe in the Desserts and Drink chapter. The goat cheesecakes with citrus and candied beets is an interpretation of a salad turned into a dessert. Rather than fresh chevre served with roasted beets and a citrus vinaigrette, the cheese became a rich, sweet cheesecake, the beets were candied with vanilla, and the citrus was used both as a fruit salad in syrup and as candied zest. It was a lot easier to prepare than I expected after seeing the photo of the pretty, plated dessert in the book. The individual cheesecakes were baked in ramekins with no waterbath required. Thin slices of beets were candied in a sugar syrup with both vanilla seeds scraped from a pod and vanilla extract. That syrup took on the dark pink color of the beets and reduced as the beet slices became tender. It was then dribbled on the plate as a sauce. Grapefruit, orange, and lime zests were candied in a separate sugar syrup, and then those fruits’ segments were macerated in that syrup. When the cheesecakes baked, they puffed and then settled in the center making a perfect space for the candied beets and zest. The only difficulty I had with this dessert was removing the cheesecakes from the ramekins. The two I unmolded as soon as they were cool enough to handle came out fine, but the ones that were chilled in the ramekins were difficult to remove. My suggestion would be to unmold them all as soon as possible and store them in a roomy, covered container to chill.

Regarding this dessert, Lo suggests that some people may think of it as a mix of a cheese course and dessert. For me, this was entirely dessert. The beets took on sweet, vanilla flavor and complemented the cheesecakes very well. Meanwhile, the citrus was bright and fruity and delicious with the sauce on the plate. This is thought-provoking food which is interesting to prepare and delightful to eat, and I know I’ll learn something new about flavors every time I cook from this book.

See my review of Cooking Without Borders and get this goat cheesecakes with citrus and candied beets recipe at Project Foodie.

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Beet and Quinoa Salad with Pecan-Crusted Goat Cheese

A couple of days ago, I talked about the beginning of wild salmon season, and today, I'm talking about the end of beet season. I think I've received the last beets I'll see from my CSA until fall, and I realize I do mention beets frequently here, but I really enjoy the flavor, the colors, and how nutritious they are. We're lucky to have a nice, long, growing season for beets since they only disappear during our extreme summer heat but grow well for the rest of the year. And, with locally grown beets, the green tops are always fresh and ready to be used along with the roots. When I saw this quinoa and beet dish on the NY Times site a couple of weeks ago, I knew it would be a great way to use my last spring beets. It was called a pilaf, but I served it more like a salad. Either way, it's very easy to prepare, and I added one little, extra step to gussy up the goat cheese. I rolled it in chopped pecans before slicing it into rounds and was happy to have the added flavor from the nuts. This was great served at room temperature as well as chilled from the refrigerator.

The beets were first roasted, and the roasting time depends on the size of the beets. Mine were kind of large, so after drizzling on olive oil and seasoning the cleaned beets with salt and pepper, I wrapped them in parchment and then foil and let them roast for about an hour and fifteen minutes at 400 degrees F. Once they're cool enough to handle, the skins slip off easily, and you can use a paper towel to remove them. Then, the beets are ready to be chopped, and they can be refrigerated until you're ready to complete the dish. The recipe suggested blanching the beet greens and draining them before sauteeing, but I skipped the blanching step. They cook quickly, so I just added them to the saute pan after garlic had been briefly cooked in olive oil. Crushed caraway seeds were supposed to have been added as well, but I skipped them. Meanwhile, white quinoa was cooked in a saucepan. Once the beet greens were wilted, the quinoa and chopped beets were added. I served the quinoa mixture with rounds of pecan-crusted goat cheese on top.

The white quinoa took on the pink color of the beets as they were stirred together in the saute pan, and the mild, nutty flavor went well with the earthy beets and greens. It was great to get to use both the tops and the roots of the beets in one dish. I'll be making this again as soon as our local beets reappear.

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Stuffed Poblanos in Chipotle Sauce

Stuffed peppers have a reputation for being a little on the heavy side as food goes. There are meat and rice filled options. Sometimes polanos are stuffed and then breaded and fried. Other times, they're stuffed and covered with cheese and then broiled until gooey. Those options have their desirable qualities, but you rarely hear about a light and healthy kind of stuffed pepper. I've found one, though, that's definitely worth mentioning. It was a couple of weeks ago when I couldn't decide whether to make these stuffed poblanos or a spring barley risotto, and happily, I eventually made them both. This is also from the book Power Foods, and I've been enjoying everything I've tried from it. I'm finding that all the dishes I've tried from that book have a light and healthy feel to them but are still very satisfying. The filling for these poblanos is a mix of quinoa, sauteed mushrooms, black beans, and corn. They're topped with a little goat cheese and set into a smoky sauce of pureed chipotles, garlic, and cilantro. That sauce with some spiciness and the flavor of the roasted poblanos themselves brought some spunk to the quinoa filling, and there was just enough rich tanginess from the goat cheese on top.

I went my own way with the roasting of the poblanos. In the book, you are instructed to roast them on a baking sheet in the oven, but I always roast them right over the gas flame on top of the stove unless I roast them on the grill. I use tongs to turn them as they roast and char. Then, let them cool until you can touch them, then peel off the char, and cut down one side so you can remove the seeds. The poblanos can be roasted in advance if you'd like to get a head start. Next, the quick sauce was made by pureeing canned chipotles chiles, garlic, some salt, and water in a blender. To start the filling, quinoa was simmered while mushrooms were sauteed. Once cooked through, black beans and thawed, frozen corn were added to the mushrooms. Some of the goat cheese was stirred into the mushroom mixture with the cooked quinoa. That was spooned into the four roasted poblanos. The sauce was poured into a baking dish, the poblanos were set on the sauce, the remaining goat cheese was sprinkled on top of the poblanos, and the dish baked for about 20 minutes.

A heavy filling, crispy, fried coating, and thick, gooey, melted cheese layer were not needed here. Instead, flavors of chiles mingled with the quinoa, mushrooms, beans, and corn. There was added interest from the bits of goat cheese on top that browned as the poblanos baked. The lightness of the dish was nothing like what a stuffed pepper usually is, and that made it even better.

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Stuffed Hatch Chile Omelet

At last, hatch season is here again. It’s a great day when I arrive at the grocery store to find piles and piles of these seasonal green chiles from New Mexico. There’s a stack of hot chiles and a separate one of mild ones, and all the products made with the chiles are tucked into every corner of the store. Our local stores also roast the chiles, and you can buy them roasted whole or already chopped. I kind of enjoy watching them blister on the grill, so I tend to buy the fresh, raw chiles and roast them at home. During their short season, I’m perfectly content to just toss chopped, roasted hatch chiles into pretty much everything I cook, but this year I wanted to stuff some whole chiles too. I pondered what to use for stuffing and what to serve with the chiles for a few days, and then I stumbled upon this omelet recipe which answered both questions. This is from Deborah Madison’s Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. The roasted, whole chiles are stuffed with goat cheese, and then they’re surrounded by eggs and cooked into a big omelet. Of course, the same concept could be achieved with stuffed poblanos or anaheim chiles, but it was particularly fun to use some beloved late summer hatch chiles in this.

I had already roasted some hatch chiles on the grill the night before I planned to make this omelet. So, all I had to do was peel the charred layer off the chiles, split each down one side, and remove the seeds. The cheese stuffing was a quick mix of crumbled goat cheese, chopped cilantro leaves, and sliced green onions. I doubled the original recipe and stuffed four chiles with the cheese mixture. The remaining cheese that didn’t fit in the chiles was whisked into six eggs. The stuffed chiles were placed in a saute pan with some melted butter and were warmed over medium heat. Then the whisked eggs were poured into the pan and all around the chiles. I thought ahead and realized the chiles might be a challenge to cut through when serving. So, I arranged the chiles with their tips pointing to the center so they would fit into four pieces of omelet without being cut. The eggs started cooking on the stovetop, and as soon as the omelet began to set, the saute pan was placed under the broiler until the omelet was golden and puffed.

I soon realized that this is not a particularly photogenic dish, but it was such a good idea I had to share it anyway. The stuffed chiles could have served as an hors d’oeuvre with some bread or tortillas, but they were divine in the omelet. The mild goat cheese with the fresh green onion and cilantro flavors mingling with the earthy, smoky chiles all embedded in a puffy omelet was genius. It was so simple but so delicious, and I never would have thought to do this myself.

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Tomato and Watermelon “Tartare” with Goat Cheese-Pistachio Vinaigrette

I was invited to attend a class taught by Chef David Bull at the Central Market cooking school, and the topic of the class was vegetarian dishes and wine pairings. David Bull doesn’t usually focus on vegetarian cooking as you can see in his dinner menu at Bolla at the Stoneleigh Hotel in Dallas, but he’s always happy to prepare vegetarian tasting menus upon request and there is always a vegetarian option or two on his menus. During the class, Bull spoke about textural contrast in food and recognizing ingredients for inherent flavors and balancing them. He also demonstrated some interesting knife techniques like holding the handle up and the point down when slicing avocados to prevent the slices from sticking to the blade. He created seven dishes for the class: avocado mousse with sprouts jicama jalapeno and grapefruit, cucumber summer rolls with yellow curry and coconut, white gazpacho with red grapes soy milk and toasted almonds, tomato and watermelon “tartare,” watercress salad with Texas peaches and buttered brioche, daikon noodles with green beans, and potato gnocchi with oven roasted tomatoes and black olive oil. (gazpacho, peaches, summer roll, and gnocchi are shown below)

This fall, Bull will be opening two new restaurants in Austin. Congress will be a fine dining, dinner-only restaurant, and Second at Congress will be a more casual spot with patio and terrace seating serving brunch, lunch, and dinner. Connecting the two will be Bar Congress serving appetizers and cocktails. Bull mentioned he’s working with farmers to determine how much of the menus can be sourced locally. You can also find Bull’s cuisine in an interactive format. His online cookbook is called Bull’s Eye on Food, and you can search recipes by title, type, or ingredient. Once you choose a dish to prepare, you can enter the number of people you’ll be serving, and the quantities in the ingredient list will be re-calculated for that number. It will also generate shopping lists and even send the list to a smart phone. The other nice interactive feature of this book is that new recipes are added all the time. The vegetarian dishes prepared for the class were added just after being presented.

I sampled and enjoyed all of the dishes from the class, although the wine pairings didn’t uncover any new favorites for me. The white gazpacho was surprisingly good because of how well-balanced it was. I expected something a bit on the sweet side, but instead it was crisp, cool, a little tangy, only slightly sweet, and was delightful with the almonds on top. The cucumber rolls were fresh, crunchy, and light. I considered making those with some added stick-like pieces of tofu. And, the watercress salad with peaches and buttered brioche with a peach puree and red wine vinegar sauce was outstanding. That would be a beautiful brunch dish. Last, I was thrilled to watch the gnocchi being prepared as I’ve lived in fear of attempting to make it myself for so long. I think I’m almost ready to try it now. But, the dish I had to try right away to make at home was the tomato and watermelon "tartare." It was summery and brightly-flavored with hints of savoriness from shallots and red onion. The goat cheese dressing was delicious as was the pistachio vinaigrette, and when the two were swirled together with a bite of the tartare, it was excellent.

While demonstrating this recipe, Bull explained that he was including chef’s techniques and that a home version could be simplified. I chose to make a simplification or two; I admit it. I didn’t bother preparing the tomato concasse. I left it unpeeled and just seeded it. I did make the watermelon rind pickles, but my julienne on them and on the celery pieces could have been thinner. I was happy with the ring-molded shape of the salad, and pressing excess liquid from the contents of the mold, as instructed, is necessary for it to hold together well. Then, it’s very pretty on the plate with a sprinkling of chopped pistachios and the dressings drizzled here and there. The complete, chef-version of the recipe is below.

recipe re-printed with Chef's permission
Tomato and Watermelon "Tartare" with Goat Cheese-Pistachio Vinaigrette

tartare:
3 heirloom tomatoes
1 1/2 c seedless watermellon, small diced, rind reserved for celery salad
1 tablespoon shallots, brunoise
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
2 teaspoons parsley, finely chopped
1 teaspoon sea salt

-prepare the tomatoes concasse by blanching them, shocking them in cold water, peeling the skins, seeding them, and then dicing them.
-in a small mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients and season with salt

pickled watermelon rind:
1/2 cup watermelon rind, peeled and all red fruit removed, julienned
1/4 cup champagne vinegar
1/4 cup sugar

-combine the vinegar and sugar in a sauce pan and bring to a boil. reduce mixture by half and chill completely.
-pour the chilled mixture over the watermelon rind in a bowl and allow to sit for 20-30 minutes.
-remove the rind and drain the liquid. reserve the rind for the celery salad.

celery salad:
1 cup celery hearts, loosely packed
1/2 cup celery, finely julienned
1/2 cup pickled watermelon rind
1/8 cup red onion, fine julienne
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon sea salt

-in a small mixing bowl, combine all of the ingredients.

goat cheese dressing:
1/2 cup goat cheese, crumbled
1/3 cup water
1 teaspoon sea salt

-mix all ingredients together in a small mixing bowl until completely. should be the consistency of yogurt.

pistachio vinaigrette:
1/4 cup pistachios, toasted, salted, and ground
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon sea salt
lemon juice, to taste

-toast pistachios in a 350 degree F oven for about six minutes. remove from oven, season with salt, and grind them in a food processor until finely crumbled. reserve some ground pistachios for garnish.
-mix the remaining pistachios with the rest of the ingredients in a small mixing bowl until completely combined.

assembly:
-place the tartare into ring molds and press with a clean kitchen towel (or paper towel) to release some of the juice. unmold the tartare onto plates.
-top tartare with celery salad and toasted, ground pistachios.
-drizzle the goat cheese dressing and pistachio vinaigrette around the plate and serve.

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Beet and Goat Cheese Terrine

Last Saturday, we enjoyed another delicious Austin food bloggers’ potluck, and this time it was a picnic in a park. There are several great photos from the event at Aimee Wenske Photography and Foodie is the New Forty. I wanted to bake one of my favorite cookie recipes for the potluck, and those cookies were shown in one of my earliest-ever blog posts. I shot a few new photos and updated the post after Saturday’s event. So, the cookies were easy enough, but I also wanted to experiment with a new dish. I had recently read the LA issue of Saveur which is full of beautiful photography, including the cover photo, by Austin’s own Penny De Los Santos. In the magazine, there’s a story about Wolfgang Puck and how he defined California cuisine, and there’s a photo of Beet and Goat Cheese Napoleons that caught my eye to say the least. I had some beets from my CSA, and I thought this dish would be something that could be served at room temperature and had a chance of holding its shape while being transported to a park. I did make some changes though. In the original Puck recipe, individual roasted beets were sliced, cut into equal-sized pieces with a round cutter, stacked with a goat cheese and herb mixture, and then cut into pretty wedges. That resulted in some trimmed pieces going to waste, and I thought it might somehow be simpler to layer everything into a terrine and then cut squares from it. Also, in the original, all red beets were used, but I decided to make it a little colorful and used red, Chioggia, and golden beets.

First, I roasted all the beets and then removed the skins when they were cool enough to handle. Slicing them evenly was quick work with a benriner. For the goat cheese, I softened two nine ounce pieces and added chopped oregano, parsley, and basil from my garden. I used a loaf pan lined with plastic wrap and layered golden beets first, topped with a layer of herbed goat cheese, then another layer of golden beets since they were the biggest beets I had they were used twice, more goat cheese, Chioggia beets, goat cheese, and last were the red beets. I covered the top with plastic wrap and set another loaf pan on top. That top pan was weighted down with a few jars, and this all spent the night in the refrigerator. The next day, I turned the terrine out onto a board and cut it into squares. For the orange vinaigrette, I simplified the process from the original recipe and just combined shallots, orange juice, rice wine vinegar, and olive oil. I tossed some red kale micro greens in the vinaigrette and topped each stacked square with a few of them. Rather than the suggested hazelnuts, I used some walnuts that I had on hand and scattered them about the stacks.

One of the great things about terrines is that you have to make them in advance. Because of that, I was actually on time for a party for once. And, after being pressed overnight, the layers stuck together well, and the cut pieces held their shape. However, because the beet slices were overlapped, my version didn’t have the perfectly straight lines of the layers seen in the Saveur photo, but I was still happy with it. The intended flavors were there, and beets, goat cheese, herbs, and orange make a classically good combination.

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Composed Salad of Roasted Broccoli, Romaine, Chickpeas, and Walnuts

A composed salad is like a mini, refined salad bar of your own. The refined part is evident in the obvious lack of a sneeze guard. The ingredients are prepped, possibly tossed with dressing, and arranged on a platter for each person to serve him/herself. You can choose how much of each item to include on your own plate, and arrange things as you choose. This particular composed salad was in the July issue of Living magazine. Reading the title alone made me sure this was a salad I wanted to eat, but then when I read the recipe, I found out there’s also a goat cheese puree and sherry vinaigrette that made it sound even better. The walnuts were supposed to have been candied with honey and some savory ingredients too, but I decided to omit the sweetness and keep them firmly in the savory category.

There are several little parts of preparation for this salad, but they’re all very simple and very worth doing. First, the broccoli was roasted with extra virgin olive oil and salt and pepper. Meanwhile, canned chickpeas were rinsed and drained and then added to a saucepan in which some chopped shallots had been sauteed. At the end of cooking the chickpeas, a teaspoon of sherry vinegar was added. Next, the goat cheese puree was made by pulsing fresh goat cheese, water, olive oil, and sherry vinegar in a food processor. Also, walnuts were roasted with garlic, lemon, olive oil, and salt and pepper. And last on the list was the vinaigrette made with dijon mustard, sherry vinegar, a tiny bit of honey, and olive oil. The only other item was the romaine which I chopped rather than leaving the leaves whole. I made the goat cheese puree, vinaigrette, and roasted walnuts in advance, so the actual dinner-time prep was very quick. The romaine and roasted broccoli were each, separately, tossed with some vinaigrette and placed on the platter. The warm chickpeas and roasted walnuts found places on the platter too. The goat cheese puree was spooned onto an open spot on the platter so items could be dipped through it, and extra puree was served in a small dish.

This salad had no chance of not being a winner. I was already a big fan of roasted broccoli, chickpeas, and goat cheese, and this brought them all together in a particularly enjoyable way. It’s a casual composition that can sit comfortably at room temperature. The leftovers made an excellent lunch as well, but be sure to pull them out of the refrigerator 20 minutes or so in advance so the vinaigrette can loosen up after being chilled. I’m already thinking about using the parts of this salad on their own. The goat cheese puree was a delicious dip with broccoli, and the lemony roasted walnuts with a hint of garlic flavor would make a great snack with cocktails.

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Eggplant, Tomato, Basil, and Cheese Timbales

Thanks to Heather at Flour Girl, there’s a new group that’s all about cooking with CSA goods. Since I’m always going on about my CSA, I had to join. My most recent pick-up from Hands of the Earth Farm included eggplant, cherry tomatoes, regular tomatoes, zucchini, pattypan squash, and yellow squash along with some chiles, onions, and edamame on the stem. There were two baby-sized Japanese eggplants and one small one of the Mediterranean variety. I had an idea of how I wanted to use them, but I wasn’t sure how well it would work given their diminutive size. This dish is found in Vegetable Harvest by Particia Wells. It’s a compacted mini-terrine of sorts with eggplant, roasted cherry tomatoes, goat cheese, fresh basil leaves, and basil oil, and it screams summer from the plate.

This recipe requires that a couple of items be prepared in advance. That adds to the overall time of an otherwise very simple dish, but these steps are well worth the additional effort. One of those items is basil oil, and this is the same basil oil I posted about last October. It’s a great use of abundant homegrown basil, and the oil can be kept refrigerated and used for 10 days. The other extra step is roasting cherry tomatoes, but if you know how delicious those are then you know this step is not only justified but necessary. So, once you have the basil oil and roasted cherry tomatoes, all you have to do is broil long, thin slices of eggplant and begin layering. The cooked eggplant pieces were used to line ramekins while partially overhanging the top edges. A few roasted cherry tomatoes were set on top of the eggplant in the ramekins, then a couple of basil leaves were placed on the tomatoes, then some goat cheese was pressed on the basil, more basil went on the cheese, and then the overhanging eggplant was folded in and pressed into place. The timbales could be prepared up to this point in advance. The ramekins were then placed under the broiler for a few minutes to heat through.

Thankfully, the timbales popped right out of the ramekins without any problems and were served with basil oil and some chopped basil leaves. It’s a simple combination that could be put together a thousand other ways, but the compacted timbales had a nice, presentable look about them for the most part. Mine were somewhat short and squat and lacked complete eggplant coverage in some spots due to the size of eggplant I used. I’d like to make this again with full-sized specimens now that I know how simple it is. There are only a few ingredients used here, but they combine perfectly into tasty, little savory packages with the added boosts of flavor from the roasted tomatoes and basil oil. I always try to make good use of everything from our CSA, and I was happy with this result. Next, I’ll be searching high and low through books and files for zucchini recipes for what’s sure to be a deluge.

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