Next week we start harvesting apples. How the year zips right along, from planting to harvest to seed again. We haven’t quite finished dealing with the pears yet, but we are getting there. Many more jars of chutney, and maybe some cordial to warm us in the winter months. I wanted to try the pear chutney in my favorite hot ham and cheese sandwich, so I made up some bread dough, slathered in some of our homemade mustard and a good dollop of the pear chutney, baked it until the cheese was oozing out the sides and it was quite good! Served with a nice bowl of butternut squash soup, who could ask for more on these nippy fall days?
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Hot Ham and Cheese Pockets with Mustard and Chutney
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Ingredients
Instructions
Bread dough:
- Dissolve yeast in warm water, add sugar, and let sit until bubbly.
- Add salt, olive oil and enough flour to make a just-sticky bread dough that springs back to the touch after kneading for about 5 to 10 minutes.
- Keep adding flour until not sticky.
- Put back in bowl, and cover.
- Let rise about 1 hour or until doubled in size.
Filling:
- Divide dough into 6 lumps.
- Roll out into 7 inch circles.
- Spread center of each circle with mustard, then grated cheese, chutney, and finally ham bunched on top.
- Pull up edges of circle, and press edges together to form a ball.
- Place with seam side down on a pan lined with parchment.
- Let sit about 15 minutes.
- Brush tops with olive oil, and bake in a 350 degree oven for about 20 to 25 minutes, or until bubbly and golden.
I do love potato salad. My earlier version started with a vinaigrette marinade on the potatoes, and finished with mayonnaise — a little lighter than the norm. This past Labor Day weekend, I wanted to do something even simpler and lighter. I remembered a salad using red potatoes, balsamic vinegar, olive oil and basil. So simple (you don’t even have to peel the potatoes), but so tasty. Add that to our nice crop of red potatoes straight from the garden, and you have the beginnings of a great picnic! From the clean platter that came back, I could tell everyone liked it!
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Red Potato Salad with Balsamic Vinegar and Basil
SERVINGS6servings
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Ingredients
Instructions
- Cook sliced red potatoes until tender, but not falling apart.
- Allow to cool slightly.
- Combine vinegar and olive oil, and add to potatoes.
- Chiffonade the basil, and add that and the red onion to the potato mixture.
- Season to taste with salt.
- Can be served at room temperature, or chilled and enjoyed later.
Vegetable Stack Sandwich on Homemade Focaccia with Pesto and Ricotta
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Vegetable Stack Sandwich on Homemade Focaccia with Pesto and Ricotta
SERVINGS
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COOK TIME35-40mins. |
PREP TIME |
READY IN155mins. |
Ingredients
Instructions
Focaccia:
- Pour the warm water in a small bowl.
- Sprinkle the yeast, sugar and 2 Tablespoons of the flour over the the water.
- Stir until dissolved, and then let sit until foamy, about 15 minutes.
- In a large bowl, place the 4 Tablespoons olive oil, salt, 1 cup of the flour and the yeast mixture.
- Whisk hard until smooth, about 3 minutes.
- Add the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring until a soft, sticky dough is formed.
- Turn onto a floured surface and knead to form a springy ball, dusting with flour to prevent sticking, about 3 minutes.
- Place the dough in a greased deep container, and let rise until triple in bulk, about 1 1/2 hours.
- Grease a 17 x 11 inch baking sheet and sprinkle with cornmeal.
- Place the dough ball on a lightly floured surface.
- Press and flatten the dough.
- Lift and pull gently, stretching to fit the baking sheet.
- Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until doubled in bulk.
- Meanwhile combine herbs and 1/3 cup olive oil, let sit for 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- Using fingertips or knuckles, gently poke indentations all over the surface of the dough about 1/4 inch deep.
- Drizzle the oil/herb mixture over the surface of the dough, letting it pool in indentations. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until nicely browned.
- Sprinkle with salt if desired.
Stack Sandwich:
- Lay the eggplant out onto trays lined with paper towel, sprinkle with salt, and let sit for about 10 minutes.
- Blot with more paper towel.
- Place eggplant, zucchini, red pepper and onion on baking sheets greased with olive oil.
- Brush all vegetables generously with olive oil, sprinkle with kosher salt. Bake in a 400 degree F oven until tender.
- Cut Focaccia into squares, and then cut into 2 layers. Spread each layer with pesto, and the bottom with 2 teaspoons ricotta.
- Place baby spinach next, then a slice of eggplant, onion, tomato, a couple of slices of zucchini and finally some strips of red pepper.
- Place top layer of focaccia on this and you have a great sandwich!
It is so amazing to me how the humble little garbanzo bean has grown in popularity over recent years and so firmly established itself in our American diet. Because it is so rich in protein and fat free it is a healthy source of nourishment. Recent tests have now verified that adding garbanzos to one’s diet reduces, in many people, craving for other less wholesome foods. These little chickpeas, as some people prefer to call them, are a fantastic snack roasted in a little olive oil and sprinkled with onion salt or other favorite seasonings.
But our favorite way of having them at the convent is in the form of homemade hummus with pita pockets – when sisters see this on the lunch menu a cheer sounds throughout. Everyone goes away from the meal happy- including the kitchen crew because it is such an easy meal to prepare to eat and to clean up.
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Basic Plain Homemade Hummusv
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Ingredients
Instructions
- Puree in food processor to desired taste and consistency.
It is a bright sunshine-y day — somewhat rare for March on Cape Cod. I can see the signs of spring — the few brave crocuses in a sunny corner, some stalks of green daffodils, and tulip leaves in another protected spot. We are near some wetlands, and the first peeper piped up just the other night — a little early. So with all of this spring awareness, one would think that I am in the kitchen making up all sorts of goodies with lemon and asparagus, some lamb…but no, I am actually still looking back over my shoulder at winter — my favorite time of year to cook. Comfort food: stews, soups, bread, roasted chickens and vegetables. So today, since I am preparing lunch for a group on a Lenten Quiet Day, I thought it would be a good time to post my favorite “Italian” bread recipe. (I’ve actually made it into bread bowls as well!) This is not a crispy crusted bread, but it’s a nice dense moist bread — perfect for pairing with soups, stews, spaghetti, or toasting up on a morning with your favorite homemade jam. It also can be frozen, and pulled out for later use, and works well as french toast or in bread pudding. My indulgence is to warm it slightly, spread on some butter and our Cran-Strawberry Jam. Add a cup of coffee and you have a great breakfast!
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Italian Bread
SERVINGS
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COOK TIME30-35mins. |
PREP TIME |
READY IN10mins. |
Ingredients
- 2 cups water very warm (almost hot) from the tap
- 2 tbsp. yeast dry
- 1/2 tsp. sugar
- 2 tbsp. olive oil (plus more for brushing)
- 1 tbsp. salt Kosher
- 4 cups flour (plus more for kneading)
Instructions
Italian Bread
- Put water, yeast and sugar in the bowl of a mixer, and let sit for about 10 minutes.
- With a dough hook and at low speed, add olive oil, salt, and flour.
- Mix until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl, and is just tacky, not sticky. (You may need to add a bit more flour, you want a firm but not dry dough.)
- Let rise in the same bowl until doubled in bulk, about 1 to 1 and a half hours.
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
- Turn out onto floured surface.
- Divide in half and form into 2 long thin loaves. (punch down into oval, fold the sides into the middle, and then roll tightly into a thin loaf, using your fingers to pull the dough into the middle.)
- Let rise until almost doubled. Brush with olive oil.
- With a sharp knife, make about 8 diagonal slashes along the top of the loaf.
- Bake for about 30 to 35 minutes, until golden and hollow sounding when tapped.
For Bread Bowls:
- Divide dough into 5 equal pieces.
- Form these into balls, brush with olive oil, slash 3 times on top, and bake for about 20 to 25 minutes, until golden and hollow sounding when tapped.
- To serve, cut off the top, scoop out the inside to within about 1/2 inch of outside crust, and ladle in your favorite soup or stew.
For almost ten years, a group of us met every Monday at 6:00 am to research, study, discuss, and plan the art work for our church. To make the early morning work more palatable, I prepared breakfast for the group. I loved doing it, they loved eating it, and showered me with compliments for the food. All around it was a most pleasant experience which we still refer to from time to time. I was particularly proud of my individual omelets which I felt I’d mastered the art of making. They were perfectly golden browned on the outside, while light and moist on the inside. Everyone raved about them including Tom, our widely traveled food connoisseur.
However, twice after serving them he asked me “Do you ever make frittatas”? Well no I hadn’t, nor had I ever had any desire to. For some reason I pictured them as a heavy baked egg dish which held no appeal to me, and I am ashamed to say that I let years go by before ever trying them. However, once I did, I immediately understood the reason for Tom’s question. Now I am an avid frittata fan, and I ask you, “Do you ever make frittatas”? If not, don’t wait as long as I did to try one. Start now. You’ll be glad you did. One secret: Don’t over bake!
Greek Frittata
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Greek Frittata
SERVINGS4servings
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COOK TIME30 – 35mins. |
PREP TIME |
READY IN |
Ingredients
Instructions
- Heat toaster oven to 350 degrees F.
- Add the oil to a 2-quart casserole and transfer to oven for 5 minutes.
- Meanwhile, in a bowl, whisk together the eggs, salt and pepper.
- Add the spinach, tomatoes, bacon, scallions and combine.
- Gently stir in the Feta.
- Remove the casserole from the oven.
- Pour the egg mixture into the casserole.
- Bake until the frittata is browned around the edges and slightly puffed and a knife comes out clean, 25 – 30 minutes.
