My View of Life on the Dock
Ingredients:
10 cups cold water
3 ½ cups sugar
5 mint leaves (optional)
36 tea bags
10 cups ice
Juice of 1 lemon (optional)
Yields 6 quarts
Perfect for these hot summer days and nights. This Ice Tea is a delicious refreshing beverage, sure to compliment any summer time meal.
July 12, 2011
Food for ThoughtHeather Atwood
In staying true to New England waters, Steve Johnson of Rendezvous Restaurant in Central Square, Cambridge, courageously puts fish on his menu that — oh no! — has bones.
Mackerel. Grilled to a charry crispness, dripping with olive oil, delicate filets lifting off of 8 inches of spiny vertebrae, mackerel.
In Italy, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Denmark, just about anywhere but here, a serving of fish means a pile of bones on the plate. Residents of these countries make beloved meals with sardines, anchovies, pike, mackerel and herring.
After the jump you get the rest of the story and a recipe as reward
and when you’re done with that, check out Heather’s Fantastic Blog-
Heather invited Giovanna Tognetti of the ancient Lombardian city of Brescia to her house for a winter time cooking session. There she learned from her Aunt Bruna this unique beef stew, thickened with melding chestnuts and sweetened with red wine. It is just as delicious made with the jarred variety of chestnuts.
click the picture to view the video and recipe at the Taste of The Times
If you grew up in a Sicilian or Italian household or ever went to one at this time of year you may remember having Pinulata.
This is an Italian holiday treat that you can make ahead and leave in serving dishes around your house. Felicia (Ciaramitaro) Mohan of Gloucester makes them, based on her grandmother Felicia’s recipe, as little bites of fried dough slathered in a honey-corn syrup mixture topped with bits of chocolate, toasted nuts and fresh cinnamon.
Click Here For The Downloadable Recipe and Entire Story
Have y’all voted yet?-
Ken explains that he does not just cook, he composes a meal based on contrasting flavors in order to fully engage your taste buds. Whenever possible he also uses ingredients that are from local waters and farms. In this recipe he utilizes a line caught cod from a Gloucester fisherman and makes a celery root puree similar to mashed potatoes.”]<a href=”http://food.gloucestertimes.com/?
This cookie recipe melts in your mouth and is easy to do. Laurel Tarantino entered her cookies called Snowballs in the first annual cookie contest that was organized by Laurie Lufkin. The contest was designed to find the best cookies around and support the Open Door Food Pantry this holiday season. The video features Laurie showing you with step-by-step instructions how you can make these yourself. These prize winners impressed the judges in all categories – including taste, appeal, appearance and overall appeal – so they are worth checking out.
Here are the recipes for Springtime Brunch, episode #1
(As submitted by Laura Lufkin for Epicurious.com’s Favorite Mother’s Day Recipe Contest.) Yes, this recipe is a contest runner up!
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting
5 tablespoons butter, cold and cut into small pieces
2 to 3 tablespoons cold water
1 tablespoon plus one teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons shallots, chopped
1 bunch asparagus spears, cut into fourths to yield 2 to 3 cups
1/2 cup raisins, dried figs or dates, chopped
3 slices bacon, cooked well, drained and crumbled
8 ounces goat cheese, crumbled
2 cups whole milk
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Preparation
Sift flour into a bowl and cut in the butter with knives, fingers or pastry blender until the mixture resembles fine crumbs. Slowly work in water to form a soft dough. On a lightly floured surface, knead the dough until smooth and cover with plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes.
On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough big enough for a 9-inch pie pan and place in pan. Prick the crust with a fork and chill for 30 minutes. Cover the dough with foil and fill the shell with baking beans or pie weights. Cook for 10 minutes. Remove pie weights and foil and bake for another 10 to 12 minutes until pastry is golden brown.
Heat the olive oil in a skillet and add shallots, asparagus and raisins and sauté gently for 5 to 6 minutes until lightly golden brown. Scatter over base of the pastry shell and top with bacon.
Beat together goat cheese, milk, eggs, herbs and salt and pepper and pour over the asparagus. Sprinkle parmesan cheese over tart. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until golden brown and set in the center. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes before serving.
Easy Chive Drop Biscuits
1 cup sifted flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
2 eggs beaten
¾ cup heavy cream
3 tablespoons snipped chives
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease or cover with parchment a large baking sheet.
Whisk together dry ingredients. Stir in eggs, cream and chives. Dough will be soft and lumpy. Drop by large spoonfuls onto prepared pan.
Bake 15-20 minutes until edges are golden brown. Makes 12 biscuits
And here are the famous Lemon Squares:
*here’s a tip–you can substitute any zest, juice or extract for the lemon and that is what I did on the show. Use this as a base recipe and experiment away!
Laurie’s Luscious Lemon Squares
For the crust:
2 cups flour
1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar
2 sticks (1 cup) cold butter, cut into cubes
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the filling:
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
3 tablespoons cornstarch
5 large eggs
1 3/4 cup granulated sugar
2-3 tablespoons lemon zest
1 tablespoon lemon extract
2 teaspoon butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons confectioner’s sugar
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly spray pan a glass 9” x 13” baking dish. Set aside.
In the bowl of a food processor, combine flour, confectioner’s sugar, butter and vanilla extract. Pulse until thoroughly combined and butter is the size of small peas.
Press mixture into prepared pan and bake for 18-20 minutes until edges are golden brown.
In the meantime, zest and juice the lemons. Set zest aside. In a small bowl stir together the lemon juice and cornstarch until cornstarch is dissolved.
In the processor (don’t bother cleaning the bowl), combine eggs, sugar, extracts and reserved lemon zest. Pulse mixture until just combined. Set aside until crust is ready. Before pouring mixture onto the crust, pulse one more time to recombine filling as it may have separated.
When crust is lightly browned on the edges, remove from oven and pour lemon mixture directly on hot crust and return pan to oven for 15-18 minutes or until center is set. Remove pan to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
Dust squares with powdered sugar and cut into desired size. Enjoy!
Welcome to Inspired Cooking with Laurie Lufkin. These are the recipes that go with this weeks episode shown on Cape Ann TV Tuesday at 8:30, Friday at 4:30 and Sunday morning at 11:30. Thanks for watching!
Enjoy these rich crackers with a glass of chilled crisp Sauvignon Blanc.
Peppered Parmesan Pecan Crackers
4 oz parmesan cheese, finely grated
½ cup butter, softened
2 oz sharp cheddar cheese, finely grated
½ cup all purpose flour
½ cup yellow cornmeal
1 ½ teaspoon finely ground black pepper
1 teaspoon thyme (or other herb)
1 cup toasted pecans, finely chopped
In the food processor, combine cheeses, butter, flour, cornmeal, pepper and herbs. Pulse until dough forms a ball. Turn out onto floured surface and sprinkle with pecans and work in. Divide dough in half, roll into a 12” log and wrap in wax paper or plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 2 hours or until firm.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Cover two baking sheets with parchment paper. Slice dough into 1/8” rounds and reshape if necessary.
Bake for 10 minutes, turning sheets at 5 minutes. Remove from oven and transfer to a cooling rack. Crackers keep well in an airtight container for up to a week
Enjoy!
Grilled Salmon Salad with Purple Pomegranate Vinaigrette
For the vinaigrette:
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
½ cup unsweetened pomegranate juice
1 teaspoon finely chopped shallot
½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
1-2 tablespoons honey, to taste
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
½ cup canola or light olive oil
¼ tsp kosher salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Whisk all together in large bowl. Refrigerate until ready to serve
For the Salad:
As you might have guessed, I used some of my favorite salad ingredients, grilled the salmon (which I seasoned simply with salt and pepper), tossed the salad ingredients with the vinaigrette, topped it with the salmon and called it an entree.
I used Romaine lettuce, radicchio, sliced grape tomatoes, goat cheese, fresh corn kernels (from leftover corn from dinner the night before) and chopped cooked bacon and English cucumbers that I sliced into sticks. Because the dressing is tangy and tart, I wanted some sweetness and creaminess in the body of the salad and the goat cheese, tomatoes and corn fit that bill. The bacon added a little smoky saltiness and the sliced cucumbers sticks added a fresh contrast in both taste and shape.
For your protein, you could grill chicken, pork tenderloin and slice it or pretty much anything you like. For a special indulgence, some grilled lobster tail or scallops would be amazing!
I hope you enjoy making up your own porch supper pairings.
For the dessert:
Orange Spiked Caramelized Banana Parfait
¼ cups salted butter
1/3 cup brown sugar
4 cups bananas, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon grated ginger
5-6 slices pound cake
Vanilla ice cream
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt together butter and brown sugar. Stir until smooth and sugar is dissolved, about 5 minutes. Add in bananas and toss to coat, stirring frequently. Lower heat and add vanilla extract and grated ginger. Cook until bananas are slightly translucent and beginning to brown, about 5 more minutes. Remove pan from heat and set aside.
Cut pound cake into 1” slices and layer with bananas into serving dishes or glasses. Top with vanilla ice cream. Makes 4 servings but can easily be increased to serve more people. Enjoy!
Laurie Lufkin contacted me last week and asked about getting involved with GMG. She has a cooking show on Cape Ann TV and has won numerous awards for her shows and cooking even though she’s never been formally trained and is very upfront about that fact. I sorta get the impression she takes pride that she has been so recognized for her cooking even though she has never gone to culinary school.
I spoke with her at legnth about what it is she would like to do on GMG. We came to the conclusion that it would be great for her cooking program on Cape Ann Television if folks could come here the day before and get the recipes and ingredients for the dishes that she would be preparing the following day on Cape Ann TV. She could give the GMG readers a heads up on the times when her shows would be airing, go get the ingredients to cook along with her and publish her recipes here. Hopefully we can upload her shows here too so they can be archived for your reference instead of played once or twice on TV and then shelved forever.
So please give Laurie a warm welcome as the newest member of the GMG team. 🙂
The best part of this colorful, tasty, broth-based dish? Everyone at the table can customize their serving with add-ins of their choice. And it’s simple to pull together, especially if you use precooked chicken. Here’s the recipe!
After at least five desperate pleas The Mrs came through-
The Mrs’ Gorgonzola Stuffed Pears, originally uploaded by captjoe06.
From The Mrs-
Joe,
Pear recipe attached, please give credit to my friend the Barefoot Contessa.
3 ripe Anjou pears
Freshly squeezed lemon
3 ozs coarsely crumbled blue cheese
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup walnut halves toasted and chopped
1/2 cup apple cider
3 tbsps port
1/3 cup light brown sugar lightly packed
Preheat oven to 375
Peel and slice pears lengthwise into halves. With a small sharp pearing knife, remove the core and seeds and make a round well in the center for the filling
Trim a small slice from the back of the pear so they will sit in the baking dish without tipping over. Toss the pears with lemon juice to prevent them from browning.
Gently toss the blue cheese, cranberries, and walnuts in a small bowl. Divide the mixture among the pears mounding it on top of the indentation.
In the same small bowl, combine the apple cider, port and brown sugar stirring to dissolve the sugar. Pour the mixture over and around the pears, basting occasionally with the cider mixture for 30 minutes or until the pears are tender.
Before any of you that have asked for the recipe get upset thinking that I’m ignoring your pleas for the Mrs’ recipes, I’m not. I’ve asked her ad naseum for them and she hasn’t come through. If she gets a few moments to forward them to me I’ll let y’all know.
The Mrs’ Gorgonzola Stuffed Pears, originally uploaded by captjoe06.
Here is the recipe for the Corn Salad that I’ve been getting requests for. It comes from the Barefoot Contessa-
Fresh Corn Salad
5 ears of corn, shucked
1/2 cup small-diced red onion (1 small onion)
3 tablespoons cider vinegar
3 tablespoons good olive oil
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup julienned fresh basil leaves
In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the corn for 3 minutes until the starchiness is just gone. Drain and immerse it in ice water to stop the cooking and to set the color. When the corn is cool, cut the kernels off the cob, cutting close to the cob.
Toss the kernels in a large bowl with the red onions, vinegar, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Just before serving, toss in the fresh basil. Taste for seasonings and serve cold or at room temperature.
Good Morning Gloucester 