Mojo de Ajo

Mojo de Ajo is a Mexcican slow-roasted garlic sauce that I watched Chef Rick Bayless make on an episode of his show ‘Mexico one Plate at a Time’. He titled the episode ‘Liquid Gold’ and trust me, this stuff is a culinary goldmine! It keeps in the fridge for up to 3 months so long as the garlic stays submerged in the oil, though I can’t imagine you wouldn’t use it up within a week or two. Stuff like this is so much fun because it really allows your culinary creativity to shine through, as you come up with various ways to use it up. Here are just a few ideas I plan to try with mine:

  • Use as a marinade for grilled chicken (DONE and delish)
  • Use for sauteing vegetables
  • Toss with hot cooked pasta. Top with avocado and chopped fresh tomatoes.
  • Drizzle over pizza
  • Use for sauteing mushrooms. Add to risotto or rice.
  • Drizzle over poached fish
  • Use in place of oil for salad dressing
  • Serve as a starter for dunking bread

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Ratatouille Soup with Melted Gruyere Croutons

Planning the menu with a hurricane in the forecast is a tricky task. Do you stock the fridge with loads of fresh fruits and veggies to see you through the stormy weekend, or do you go the canned-goods route in the event you should lose power?  For the first time in a long time I felt completely dazed and confused as I wandered the usually familiar aisles of my local grocery store.

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Romesco Sauce

This toasted almond and roasted red pepper sauce may look like the Harissa Sauce posted earlier this spring, but the similarities end with the color and roasted red peppers. This Spanish sauce is deeply flavorful, bright and punchy (in an acidic kind of way), and absolutely delicious. It comes together quickly in the food processor and now is the perfect time of year to give this a whirl while both tomatoes and peppers are at their peak.

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Cherry Tomato Gratin

Looking to make the most of those gorgeous red and yellow jewels that have all but taken over your farmer’s market? Look no further than this simple but intensely flavorful cherry tomato gratin!

The tomatoes are tossed with a hit of fresh orange juice and balsamic vinegar for some nice acidity to wake up the flavor, then slow-roasted under a blanket of seasoned breadcrumbs and become slightly reduced, bubbly and utterly delish.

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Greek Gazpacho

One of the things I love most in life is stumbling upon a new group of friends. But what I love even more is when this happens completely by surprise. When David and I moved from NYC to Westchester and then from Westchester to Connecticut, we had enough people in our lives between families and existing friends who live in that close-enough radius so we didn’t feel isolated. But we didn’t exactly know people here either. That is changing for me after joining a new gym.

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Blueberry BBQ Salmon

Who says us Northerners can’t get our Bar-Be-Que on? (Even if I had to google for the correct spelling.) OK I’ll admit, traditional Southern/Texan BBQ sauce feels more foreign to me than Indian Curry, French Beurre Blanc or Mexican Molé. But this blueberry BBQ sauce is easy, fresh tasting and just wonderful over a healthy protein like salmon, bringing wonderful BBQ flavor to a Yankee table.

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Raspberry-Balsamic Glazed Grilled Chicken

Yes I’m still blogging and no I have not been on some dramatic starvation diet or ridiculous juice ‘cleanse’. Sometimes the necessary perfect trifecta of blog-worthy food + decent-enough photo + remembering to take said photo before devouring otherwise spectacular blog-worthy food goes on holiday. Added to which, this week we had 2 additional factors at play: hubby in London (sadly not on holiday) and dead digital camera battery. Hubby in London means I’m either making creative use of leftovers (read: not blog-worthy) or getting my Chinese takeout fix. As for the dead digital camera battery – well it made for a quintessential Homer Simpson ‘Doh’ moment!

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Classic Penne Genovese

Basil is at it’s summer peak right now! Fellow foodies, I know you recognize the necessity of that exclamation point, and the significance of this joyous equation: Basil = Pesto! Now that is the kind of math I can comprehend.

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Cool Avocado Soup with Spicy Shrimp and Chili-Lime Pepitas

Need a new way to beat the heat, other than cranking up the AC, jumping in your neighbors kiddie pool or sticking your head in the freezer? I’m telling you, you’ll cool right off with this refreshing, stunning, deeply flavored avocado soup. With a slice of grilled bread, or a cob of corn and a salad, this makes a wonderfully filling yet light summer meal or impressive first course. Though, there is always the garden hose …

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Margarita Flank Steak with Black Bean Enchiladas

David was in London on business most of last week, so upon his homecoming I wanted to make a really fun, somewhat over-the-top welcome back dinner. Especially since every time I asked him how the food was over there, he’d say, rather less than enthusiastically, ‘eh.’ I guess beans on toast wasn’t cutting it. Can’t say I blame him.  I went Mexican with the dinner theme, since we’ve been so much enjoying those flavors this summer, and did a tequila-citrus marinated flank steak over creamy black bean enchiladas. The combo is so spot-on.

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