Posole Pronto!

If you are lucky enough to be able to get your hands on some of this incredible salsa made in Austin, TX you have the ability to make a seriously quick posole.  It is sold at all Texas Costco locations, and the ingredient list is all real food.  I was able to come home from work and have this on the table in about 30 minutes.  Sophie was initally dubious--"what are those white things?" "hominy, it tastes like corn" "what kind of cheese is that?" "goat, you like it".  She finished her bowl without further complaint.  This made enough for a picky 12 year old, a hungry man who didn't get his pre-dinner snack because I forbade it, and me.

2 boneless/skinless chicken breasts, cubed

2 cups chicken stock

1 cup tomatillo salsa

1/2 poblano pepper cut into 1/4" dice

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 can (14-15oz.) white hominy

olive oil

salt and pepper

1 cup chopped cilantro

1/2 cup crumbled goat cheese

sliced radish

Heat 2-3 TBS olive oil in heavy skillet over medium heat.  Saute chicken til browned lightly, then add poblano and garlic and additional oil if necessary to prevent sticking.  Saute until fragrant.  Add chicken stock, hominy and bring to a simmer, continue to simmer until chicken is cooked completely ~15 minutes.  Add tomatillo salsa and heat through.

Garnish with cilantro, radish and goat cheese crumbles.

Coconut Lime Cupcakes

Modified from the above outstanding cookbook because I am not vegan--I used butter in the buttercream.  These cupcakes have been crowd pleasers every time, vegans or not.  I decided to bake them in little condiment cups....my husband hates washing cupcake pans, and after 2 weeks of overeating I thought it would be nice to have a truly bite-sized sweet.  I bought the cups at a local restaurant supply.  Pictured below, make sure you do not buy the wax coated cups.

Make sure you use this kind of coconut oil...

 Not this kind....

Coconut Lime Cupcakes

1/3 cup coconut oil

3/4 cup sugar

1 1/4 cup coconut milk

1 tsp. vanilla

1 TBS. finely grated lime zest

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp. kosher salt

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Place cups on baking pan that will not warp.  Melt coconut oil over low heat, turn heat off once melted--it should stay warm enough to avoid resolidfying.  In a medium bowl mix together the sugar, coconut oil.  Add coconut milk, vanilla extract and lime zest mixing to combine.  Mix together dry ingredients and then add to wet mixture. 

 Fill an 18" pastry bag with batter and fill cups ~1/2 full--you can use a spoon but the pastry bag really speeds things up.

Bake 15-20 minutes or until top springs back when touched lightly.  Allow to cool completely while you prepare the icing.

Lime Buttercream Icing

1 stick unsalted butter, slightly softened

3 cups powdered sugar

Juice of 3-4 key limes

1 tsp finely grated lime zest

Beat butter till fluffy, adding powdered sugar and lime juice alternatively until desired consistency, lastly add lime zest.

Pipe a generous "star" of icing atop each cupcake.  I found that chilling them dramatically eased their exodus from the cups.  I did not grease the cups prior to baking.  I think next time I would fill the cups a tad more--I remembered after they came out of the oven that they tend not to rise as much as non-vegan cupcakes.  They are still delicious and the space gave me more room for icing anyway. 

If Lily Pulitzer Was a Pasta Dish

Pink and green.  Lily Pulitzer and The Preppy Handbook.  Shades of my youth.  These gorgeous French breakfast radishes from Springfield Farm were an inspiration.  Combined with their greens and some arugula from my garden that has miraculously survived the heat and drought they made me think of madras and penny loafers.

 Modified from Rozanne Gold's recipe in Radically Simple because I didn't have perciatelli or a lot of radish greens.

Penne with French Breakfast Radishes, Arugula, Bacon and Parmesan

1 bunch French breakfast radishes with greens

Enough arugula to make ~2 cups chopped greens with radish greens

8 oz dried penne

4 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled

Extra virgin olive oil

1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan plus more for topping if desired

Remove greens from radishes and combine with arugula.  Rinse and dry well, chop coarsely.  Slice radishes in 1/8" rounds until you have about one cup of sliced radishes.  I saved the remainder to slice and eat on buttered bread with salt.

Bring salted water to boil in heavy pot.  Cook penne for ~11 minutes. Drain, saving ~1 cup pasta cooking water.  Using the same pot you cooked the pasta in heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium-hi.  Add radishes and greens and saute for approximately 5 minutes until the greens are wilted and the radishes tender.

Add pasta and reserved cooking water and cook for additional 1-2 minutes.  Add parmesan and bacon. Stir and serve with more parmesan if desired.

The cooking mellows the heat of the radishes and arugula. They are still peppery but less so.  The bacon and cheese add a nice salty touch.  I didn't need to add any additional seasoning.

Pretty In Pink

In keeping with a John Hughes theme--see Breakfast Club post--I give you this recipe for a chopped salad that the red beets took over with their aggressive coloring.  Actually I thought it was really kind of pretty, and the varying shades of pink to red made it difficult for Sophie to pick out the offensive veggies (beets).  I rarely use bottled dressing, but John the Greek is a huge exception.  It is bottled locally, and the BEST Greek salad dressing I have ever had.  You can buy it on Amazon if you don't live in the area--12 bottles for ~$72.00--you could always go in with a few friends..you won't regret it.

Pretty in Pink Salad

2 roasted beets, cooled and cubed into 1/4"dice--if you use golden beets you will not be able to call this pretty in pink salad--I used one of each

1 medium cucumber--peeled and seeded, cut into 1/4" dice

1 cup diced watermelon

3 ounces ricotta salata cheese, diced (you could also use feta)

1/4 cup John the Greek salad dressing

Combine fruits and vegetables. Toss gently with dressing.  Chill and serve.

Basil Fest!

 

We saw the sign for Basil Fest at the Pearl Farmer's Market last week and knew we had to go!  With visions of naked pesto wrestling we headed there today before we had to drop Maddy off at the airport.  To be completely honest, they had us a basil ice cream!         

  If you brought a younger child you could even get a free basil plant!

Don't worry, we didn't make her eat basil ice cream, she had orange vanilla.  The key to Pearl Farmer's Market is getting there early while there is still parking and not too hot.  I bought some French breakfast radishes, peaches, and a watermelon.  Don't buy a watermelon first thing at the farmer's market unless you want a workout.  Luckily we found a nice seat for it at the Twig bookstore.

Found a great book for Maddy to read on her trip, "Best Food Writing of 2010" and looked at the Uchi cookbook and decided it is totally worth the trip and money to have someone else make sushi for us. Keep it green!