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Archives for August 2014

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BreACKfast Summer Breadpudding

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I couldn’t get on that (Cape Air) 8 seat Cessna  fast enough to make my pilgrimage to Nantucket for the Opera House Cup & a friend’s annual Birthday celebration. I’m fortunate to have another dear friend, an artist I collaborate with who opens his ‘Sconset home to me, The Seldom Inn when I’m lucky enough to get on the island. Everything about the island, the sun, the wind, the light, the scenery, the friends, the food, everything is inspiring to me here. Nantucket is the the place I go to empty the vessel, shift into neutral & take time to listen to silence & contemplate a dance of dappling sun on a weather shingled wall.

Because I would be helping sail a boat back to Newport following the Opera House Cup race I couldn’t bring myself to beg to get on a racing boat at the skippers meeting Sunday morning so instead I went to the in town Stop & Shop to get staples for the few days I’d be around. I picked up a half dozen eggs, a bottle of olive oil, an onion, a baguette, 2 ears of corn, 4 red bliss potatoes & an avocado.

On Sunday I made a Dlicious Spanish Tortilla and pimenton aioli which I have a blog entry & recipe for on the site here already but the dish I created Monday morning is what I’m going to share here now – A summer breACKfast bread pudding.

What I used:

1/3 a day old baguette w/the crust removed & cubed

Scrambled 3 eggs, 1 C of whole milk & 3 T of cold water

1 ear of corn from the cob

Sweat 1/2 a white onion

Preheat oven to 375°
Yield: serves 2 for breakfast or 4 as an appetizer.
I began by scrambling the (3) eggs with about 1 cup of whole milk & 3 T of cold water – 1 T for each of the eggs then tossed the cubed bread into the egg mixture. IMG_7249After soaking the cubed bread with the crust still on in the egg mixture for about 10 minutes I realized the bread would soak up the limited egg batter I had & the dish would taste & look better and be that much more delicate to eat if  the crust was removed so I went ahead and tediously sliced & scraped the crust off of the soaked cubes with a medium sized serrated knife. My advice: remove the crust in a few long slices from the gitgo. In the picture here you’ll see the crust still on the baguette.IMG_7250   Then I removed the corn from one ear, again w/a serrated knife into a bowl with the hope to aid in capturing the corn liquid.  Then I diced half a white onion and quickly sweat the corn & onions in what little liquid I had from the corn & a splash of olive oil & a good pinch of my RhODy,  August blend, Salt of D Earth blend. After about 5 minutes I poured this on top of the soaking bread in the egg mixture, stirring gently.
I lightly oiled and salted a Pyrex loaf dish with my RhODy,  August blend, Salt of D Earth blend, then poured the soaked bread, corn & onion mixture into the prepared Pyrex loaf dish.
Pop this IMG_7251 in the preheated 375° oven for at least 30 minutes.
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Its nice to serve two heaping serving spoon of the finished bread pudding on top of lightly salted, sliced summer ripe tomatoes & black hot coffee.
I’ve been listening to internet, Birdsong radio while writing .

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Majestic Coleslaw

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Purple & Gold, colors of majesty and the name of this recipe which came to me naturally  since the ingredients I use are all in the purple and gold color family, I boast Gold in my sur name and my school’s colors. I was a proud member of  the Wheeler School GOLD team pride, our mascot is a lion, our nemesis, the purple cows. I must also give myself a little toot of a horn – this recipe was my first published piece – in the ProJo, (That’s the Providence Journal for those not in the know) winning a place in a column for healthy, economical recipes.

Growing up in a diabetic home, square meals and nutrition was very important to my mother and a concern I took to heart.  In the late ‘90’s I conceived and developed, Recipe$ 4 $urvival, Utilitarian Cooking and Much More, the highly acclaimed Manhattan Neighborhood Network cult classic cooking show.  A graduate of the Natural Gourmet, the Institute for Food & Healing, I consider myself an authority on cost effective, resourceful, efficient and mindful cooking.

One of my favorite recipes to share is my purple & gold COLE SLAW!  Feeds many, lasts a long time, it’s D*licious,  healthful and it doesn’t break the bank to make.

For the slaw

1 head of purple cabbage – thinly sliced

Kosher or fine sea salt  – for softening & to pull water out of the ingredients

1 red/purple onion – thinly sliced

1 Jana Gold apple – diced

golden raisins  – re-hydrated

For the dressing:

1 C – fine quality, preferably organic olive oil – mayonnaise

1/4 C – Mirin, rice or apple cider vinegar

Splash – 1/4 C orange, apple or pineapple juice

2T honey or maple syrup

Salt & Pepper

WHAT 2 DO:

I start by CUTTING THE SLAW:
Tear off and discard the tough outer layer leaves of the cabbage.

With a sharp knife cut the bottom of the cabbage off to give you a stable surface from which to work & slice, then cut the head in half.  Lay one half of the cabbage head flat on the cutting board and cut in half which will give you two quarters.

Starting from the top of a quartered section, not the root/stem end, THINLY SLICE – methodically across the cabbage section. If you don’t like slicing with a knife a simple mandolin works beautifully and the slaw can be made in a matter of minutes. Image

Cut as close to the stem keeping in mind the cabbage
is tougher and quite spicy the closer you get to the stem. Each time you cut a section of the cabbage add it to the bowl and sprinkle with a few good pinches of salt.  I found that 1/2 a cabbage had was certainly enough for a few days. Once you’ve shaved, sliced or grated the amount of cabbage you want and salted let this stand in the refrigerator for at least a 1/2 hour then drain the liquid out. You may want to dry hand fulls with paper towel at this point

The slaw will now hold the dressing better and help to avoid liquid building up as the slaw marries its flavors.

For DRESSING

Put the mayonnaise in a mixing bowl.

Thin the mayo out with the orange juice, the mirin or the vinegar of your choice honey or maple syrup.

SIDENOTE: If you’re ever in a pinch to make this dressing adding a 1/4C of bread & butter pickle vinegar is fantastic for this dressing.

Mix until the mayo is not lumpy and becomes perfectly creamy.

I added three grinds of a black, green & pink peppercorn medley to this and a pinch of sea salt and mixed well again.

If you feel you don’t have enough dressing mixture, repeat as above but in another bowl and add to the preparing bowl. I like my slaw light on the dressing.

It’s best to add these type ingredients: diced apple, hydrated golden raisins, chopped dates or apricots, and toasted sunflower seeds after the dressing has gone on & the cabbage & onion have released their water & the cell membranes have softened.

Refrigerate. Best served very cold after some time of marinating.

 

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The video is in the works and will be on youtube – soon