Panzanella

It's summer time!!!! Woo too!!! Can you tell this is my favourite time of year? Hence my lack of postings. Sorry. I'm out and about. Lots to see! Lots to do! And lots to eat! Everything just tastes so much better, don't you think? I'm still cooking and baking but I just haven't had a chance to sit down and write. I'm still trying to balance this all out. I'm trying not to be so hard on myself for not keeping up with things. I guess I have to cut myself some slack. But I had to share this great summertime salad!

If things do get a little hectic and you want to throw something together quickly, I urge you to make this! Panzanella! Because you let the tomatoes sit in the vinaigrette for a few minutes, the ingredients just come together to make a flavourful tasting salad. You basically throw in your tomatoes, cucumbers and a simple vinaigrette of red wine vinegar and olive oil. Add some day old, crusty bread that you have hanging around and serve. The lack of dairy makes it a great dish to bring to a picnic.

Panzanella

2 pounds of tomatoes, cut into wedges
1 English cucumbers, cut up
1 cup of artichokes (in water or oil), halved or quartered
1 red onion, sliced
1/2 cup kalamata olives
1 cup basil leaves
Bread, baguette or ciabatta

For vinaigrette:
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 teaspoon dried oregano

Preheat to 400F. Place bread on a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown. Cool, tear into pieces if bread is in bigger pieces and set aside.
In a large bowl, combine tomatoes, cucumbers, artichokes, red onions, kalamata olives and torn up basil.
To make the vinaigrette, in a mason jar, combine olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper and dried oregano. Shake and pour over salad. Let mixture sit for at least 10 minutes. The longer it sits, the juicier the tomatoes will be. Add the bread and serve.

m xo

Not Really a Recipe #2…Good Friday Lunch

As I'm sure you all know, Good Friday, one of the holiest day of the year, we are not supposed to have any meat products. Growing up, we usually had linguine with vongole or mussels. Nothing too fancy but I always looked forward to it. Things have changed a bit because my husband AND brother-in-law both don't like fish. Except tuna fish…in a can. Not fresh tuna. Go figure. Anyway I needed a quick lunch today so I decided to make tuna melts.

Now growing up, we NEVER mixed seafood and dairy. It just wasn't done. Things have changed a lot since. You see more and more people, especially Italians, mixing the two.

I think I made my first tuna melt last year after seeing them everywhere and knowing John loved them. I have to say, they are delicious! I make mine open faced because I like the bread to tuna ratio. I also love these made on crostini as an appetizer. Yummy!

So if you, like me, have never mixed seafood and dairy, You MUST try this! And who knows?  You might experiment with other seafood/dairy recipes.

Preheat oven to broil.
Toast a nice piece of wholegrain bread until nicely browned.
Using tuna in olive oil, drain and add a little mayo. You don't want to drench it, just enough to bind it together.
Spread the tuna mixture on top and top with your choice of cheese. I used cheddar cheese this time, but you can use whatever melty cheese you prefer.
Put under the broiled until the cheese bubbles.

Enjoy!

Have a Happy Easter!

m xo

Life Changing Loaf of Bread

I really like this bread. I especially like it toasted for breakfast topped it with an egg, whether it's boiled, scrambled or poached. Or with some sliced avocado, sprinkled with salt. But I have to say my favourite is just a shmear of butter and a drizzle of honey, then dipping it my latte. I know weird. But I'm a dipper.

Everything about this recipe screams healthy! Just look at the list of some of the ingredients and a few of their benefits.
Sunflower seeds. Great source of vitamin E, B complex vitamins, folic acid and many essential minerals.
Flax seeds. Great source of fibre.
Hazelnuts and almonds. Rich in dietary fiber, folate, vitamin E and a complete source of energy.
Chia seeds. Rich in fiber, omega fatty acids, calcium and protein.
Psyllium husks. A great source of dietary fibre.

I found this recipe on Pinterest over a year ago and I have been making it ever since. It's from a website called My New Roots by Sarah Britton. She calls it life changing for a few reasons:
1- Easy clean up. She mixes everything in the loaf pan. (I use a bowl to mix the ingredients. I don't mind washing one bowl)
2- No kneading. Just dump everything, stir, wait a couple of hours and bake.
3- You can substitute ingredients with what you have or like.
4- No rising agent.
5- And this really IS a healthy bread!

When I make a loaf of this bread, I slice the whole thing and freeze half of it. Slicing it before freezing it just makes it easier to remove from the freezer one slice at a time if you want.

The recipe calls for a flexible silicon loaf pan but I have read that others used a regular loaf pan, and it turned out fine. But if you want one,(they're pretty cool) I found mine at Fortino's, my local grocery store.

Life Changing Loaf of Bread

1 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup flax seeds (I used ground)
1/2 cup hazelnuts or almonds
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
2 tablespoons chia seeds
3 tablespoons psyllium husk powder
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 tablespoon maple syrup
3 tablespoons melted coconut oil
1 1/2 cups water

Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Whisk maple syrup, oil and water together and add to dry ingredients. Mix very well until everything is soaked and becomes thick. Put it into a flexible silicon loaf pan and smooth out the top with the back of a spoon. Let it sit out on the counter for at least 2 hours, or all day or overnight. You know the dough is ready to bake if you pull it away from the sides of the pan and it retains its shape
Preheat the oven to 350F. Put the pan in the middle of the oven for 20 minutes. Remove the bread from the pan and place directly on the rack for another 30-40 minutes. The bread is done when you tap it and it sounds hollow.
Store bread in a sealed container for up to 5 days. Freezes well but slice before freezing.

m xo

Irish Soda Bread

I could tell you that I wanted to make this Irish soda bread for St. Patrick's day and that wouldn't be a total lie. But the real reason I wanted to make this is because I wanted to show off my pretty measuring that I found in NYC this weekend at Anthropologie.
When I saw it, I had to have it. How could I not want to make something that needed a liquid measuring cup?

This is a traditional soda bread that I adapted a little by adding raw sunflower seeds and rosemary. I used dry rosemary because I didn't have fresh on hand but I wouldn't recommend it. The dry had no flavour what-so ever. I would have been better off with maybe anise seeds. They definitely have a lot of flavour. Next time for sure.

If you don't have buttermilk, just make your own as I did by adding a tablespoon of white vinegar to 1 1/2 cups of milk and letting it sit for 30 minutes. Voila! Buttermilk. 

This is a really great recipe to have on hand if you want to serve fresh, warm bread but don't have the time that usual bread recipes require because of the yeast. You will literally have this made in an hour. 

This bread is baked in a cast iron skillet to form a nice, crunchy crust.

Irish Soda Bread

3 cups flour

1 cup cake flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

2 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds

1 tablespoon rosemary, chopped (preferably fresh)

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

Preheat oven to 400F.

Place the flours, baking soda, cream of tartar, salt, sugar, sunflower seeds and rosemary in a large mixing bowl. Add the butter and work it in with a fork until completely incorporated. Make a well in the centre and add the buttermilk and mix until combined with a fork. Place the dough on a floured surface and knead until it comes together. Form into a round disk and place in a cast iron skillet. Score a deep cross on top and place in the oven. Bake for 45 minutes. Let it cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

m xo

Zucchini Butter

When I see recipes that have less than 5 ingredients, I'm intrigued! I don't why. Maybe I'm lazy, hahaha! No seriously, I figure it has to be really good because there aren't a lot of ingredients to mask the taste.
This comes from food52, a site that has some amazing recipes that people share and contribute to. It's a wonderful site that I would definitely recommend.
It suggested to make this in the summer, when there is an abundance of zucchini, but I couldn't resist. I used baby zucchini. I feel they have more flavour when not in season. I also added ground coriander seed to brighten it up a bit.
Really nice on crunchy, toasted bread. It makes a nice appetizer or snack.

Jennie Cook's Zucchini Butter
(adapted from food52.com)

2 lbs zucchini, about 5-6 baby zucchini
1/4 olive oil or butter, I used a combination of both
2 shallots, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon ground coriander seed
salt and pepper

Grate the zucchini and place in a colander for a few minutes. Saute the shallots and garlic in the oil/butter until soft. Wring out as much liquid as you can from the zucchini and add to the pan. Continue cooking over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally. You want to caramelize the zucchini until soft. The original recipe says 15 minutes but I cooked it for 30 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste.
Serve on toast.

m xo