Instant Love: Summer Panzanella

It's been a long time since I've written on this blog. It's been so long now I feel like what I write should be fantastic, so I've been avoiding it.  Kind of like when you meet someone interesting, and you're thinking about calling them, but then you don't for whatever reason and then too much time passes and the whole thing is just too darn stressful.  Too much time has passed! I feel the same way when I don't cook for a while - after a few weeks I don't want to make anything unless it's going to be fabulous, because now there's anticipation.  So I procrastinate (and eat a lot of quesadillas and frozen Kashi meals).

That's why I was excited when Roomie showed me her new idea for this "Instant Love" section of the blog.  It reminds me of the "Like" button on Facebook: non-committal yet effective.  Also, it's perfect for those mid-week meals that I love, but don't feel like writing out a recipe for.  The throw together meals of last-minute inspiration and cravings.

Panzanella's are one of my favorite go-to meals, especially when I just need to get myself back into the cooking vibe (say, after traveling in South America for a month). Panzanella is just a bread salad, with crusty country bed, tomatoes, onions, and whatever other veggies or greens you'd like.  You can also do sweet versions, tossed with berries and almonds and a little whipped cream/creme fraiche. Plus, it's a salad with bread.  I mean, seriously, how good is that?

All you need is some day-old bread (a half loaf usually works for me), cut or torn into chunks (you can also toast it in the oven for a few minutes to get the desired crunched).  I tossed this one with fresh tomatoes, onions, and cucumbers from the farmers market, and some chopped basil from the garden.  My tomatoes were super juicy, so I didn't need any extra vinegar for the dressing.  Toss it all together in a big bowl with some olive oil, salt, and pepper and let it sit at room temperature for few minutes before serving.  Voila!

Cannellini Bean Salad with Tomatoes and Dill

Summer's abundant piles of fresh produce and high temperatures often collude to lure us foodies away from the stove, oven, grill, and even our significant other, if he/she is radiating too much heat.  The temperature has hovered in the upper 90s around here lately, and inspired me to throw together some light and no-heat-necessary summery salads.  Of course, "no-heat" for this recipe suggests using canned cannellini beans, which are, of course, convenient and pre-cooked.  I've been trying to avoid using canned goods, however.   


So:  One strategy for minimizing your use of the stove top or oven during particularly heat-wave-like weeks is to prepare 1 or 2 large batches of plain beans or veggies that you can keep in the fridge and recycle in various ways throughout the week.  For example, last week I cooked a big batch (32 oz.) of dried cannellini beans early in the morning before the kitchen got too hot.  Once they were cooked, I drained them and tossed them with a touch of canola oil to keep them covered in the fridge.  They've been used as: a smashed cannellini-rosemary-lemon dip, a spicy garlic sandwich spread, a protein boost for some steamed broccoli, and now, in a light tomato and dill salad.  


A note about dill: if you don't happen to like it, simply substitute any herb you do like.  As much as I love fresh basil during the summer months, I often feel bad for the other delectable fresh herbs growing all around me (rosemary, dill, tarragon, mint, thyme) that tend to get ignored in favor of basil, and try to let them shine in their own dishes.  Tomatoes, which usually get thrown together in a caprese salad with basil and mozzarella, pair especially well with fresh fronds of dill.  This salad exemplifies a classic Greek combination of flavors. 

--K, absolutely loving the available fresh herbs these days

approx. 1/4 c. dill sprigs, roughly torn into little fronds
3 T. red wine vinegar
1/3 c. canola oil or olive oil
salt and fresh ground pepper

Whisk these together at the bottom of a large mixing bowl.  It's meant to be very tangy, but you can adjust the proportions if you like.  Add to this:

2 c. cooked cannellini beans
4 medium tomatoes, cut in half lengthwise, and then sliced into slim wedges
feta or goat cheese (optional)
1/4 c. red onion, finely sliced (optional)

Toss everything together gently so the tomato wedges stay mostly intact.  Cover bowl and allow to marinate at room temperature for about 30 minutes.  Stir and serve in cheery bowls for a light summer supper for 2.

Kamut Berry Salad with Tomatoes, Chickpeas and Feta

I am uninspired.  It's been raining for days in Pittsburgh, the summer harvests aren't at their peak yet, and my summer temp job is, let's say, less than stimulating.  In a fit of creativity I was able to pull together a lovely Italian-inspired grill menu for two of my friends the other day, and since then, I've been in a culinary funk.  Simply eating so not to pass out, which is not how I like to eat.

Learning to Love Foods I Hate

As a self-proclaimed foodie, I feel an obligation to like everything.  A foodie can't be picky, right?  But sadly, there are some foods I just can't stand.  Olive, pickles, and really strong blue cheeses top the lists of foods that I keep trying and keep hating.  And then there are those foods - mainly veggies - that I am convinced I don't like, even though I haven't tried them in years.  Hence this weeks project: learning to like (or at least tolerate) a food that has made me cringe since I was a kid: tomatoes.

Welcome spring with a Green Goddess

The internet surely yields overwhelming search results for "green goddess dressing," but this version is a serious winner: it's rich yet light and silky, flavorful but not overpowering, and comfortably at home as an accompaniment for crudité, spread thickly on a torn hunk of baguette, and drizzled on steamed vegetables or roasted fish.   My favorite use is to place a few spoonfuls of it on top of a simple green salad with poached chicken (as seen above) for a light and satisfying meal (the flax seed tortilla chips weren't a bad partner, either).  The story Molly Wizeberg wrote about this dressing and Chez Panisse appeared along with the recipe in the May 2009 Bon Appetit.  I was curious and made the dressing as soon as I read Wizenberg's story last year, and the Green Goddess has since entrenched itself in a many a salad at my house.  Don't let the long ingredient list deter you--it's a dressisng, so you basically whirl everything together in a processor.  I'm happy to welcome the Green Goddess again this year with spring's warmth and cheery tulips...

--K, feeling awfully thankful for wondrous avocados

Green Goddess Dressing

See how lovingly it slumps on your salad?  If you look closely, you can see flecks of the various herbs through the creamy light green base.

Quinoa-Black Bean Salad

This recipe started as an experiment for a potluck last spring.  Several of my friends had never heard of "quinoa" so I decided I needed to make something to show off its tastiness.

Now, for those of you who aren't familiar with this grain, you should be.  Actually, according to wikipedia (the best source for random knowledge) it's not a grain, but a seed, but that doesn't really matter. Quinoa (pronounced "keen-wah") is originally from the Andes and apparently used to be a core crop of the Inkan empire.  More recently, it has become popular among vegetarians for being a complete protein, meaning it has all nine amino acids.  Feel free to whip out that piece of trivia at your next dinner party.