Mango & Tomato

8/7/13

Super Duper Easy Entertainment Idea: Antipasto Platter or Salad

This past Sunday I invited two friends for brunch at my condo: I needed something that would force me to clean my place. Not even kidding! But of course the main reason was to catch up, eat good food, and drink something boozy and bubbly. My friends were bringing drinks and fruit, and I was in charge of the main course.

I decided on the menu of vegetable frittata with pesto toasts and chocolate and red currant muffins. But I felt like I needed one more item on my menu. I wanted something light and easy and fun. That's how I decided on the Super Duper Easy Entertainment Idea: Antipasto Platter or Salad.

But first, a few photos of the flowers, the table setting, and the muffins. And don't worry: I'll be sharing the recipes from frittata and the chocolate and red currant muffins in the next few weeks.

Super Duper Easy Entertainment Idea: Antipasto Platter or Salad

Ingredients
quartered artichoke hearts (I used canned)
variety of cherry and grape tomatoes (use different colors if you can find them)
small fresh mozzarella balls
pepperoncini
pitted kalamata olives
chopped basil
olive oil

Directions
1. Arrange ingredients in a pattern in a dish: I lined them up in rows.
2. Drizzle with olive oil.
3. Have your guests choose whichever combination they want.

Doesn't this look like a delicious rainbow?

Alternately, you can mix all the ingredients together in a bowl and serve as a salad.

See? Told you it'll be super duper easy ;)

What are YOUR Super Duper Easy Entertainment ideas?

8/5/13

Mezzetta's Make That Sandwich Contest: Not Your Boring Egg Salad Sandwich

Growing up in Russia, sandwiches were usually open faced. We had bread, butter, and cheese sandwiches; salami sandwiches, and sometimes fish sandwiches. But then we moved to the USA and discovered the big fat sandwiches with two slices of bread and a zillion types of fillings.

I became a fan! What can I say? I like stuff :)

Although a slice of toasted bread smeared with mayonnaise and topped with thinly sliced ripe tomatoes and sprinkled with salt is heaven, most of the time I prefer a marriage of multiple flavors and textures.

Last month I was contacted by Mezzetta and informed about their Make That Sandwich contest. Although I'm sort of over recipe competitions, I was happy to tell YOU about it and create something with a few of the products the company sent me. I had a hard time deciding on what kind of sandwich to make: should I do something complicated? Or should I just do something simple and delicious? In the end, I went with the middle ground: Not Your Boring Egg Salad Sandwich.

Not Your Boring Egg Salad Sandwich
Makes 2
Ingredients
2 hardboiled eggs, chopped
6 chopped calamata olives
2 tablespoons chopped roasted bell peppers
1 tablespoon fresh chopped cilantro
1 tablespoon chopped red onion
2 teaspoons mayonnaise
2-4 tablespoons sun ripened dried tomato pesto
baguette, halved, sliced in half, some of the middle scooped out, and the rest toasted

Directions

1. Combine the eggs, olives, pepers, cilantro, red onion and mayonnaise in a bowl.

2. Smear both sides of the baguette with the sun ripened dried tomato pesto.

3. Divide the egg salad between the two baguette bottoms, top with the upper part of the baguette.

4. Eat immediately.

Ta da! Doesn't this look great? It was really good. The crunch of the onions and the toasted baguette balanced the creaminess of the pesto and the eggs and the mayonnaise. And I liked the saltiness of the olives: no need for additional salt.

What sandwich is your favorite? Go ahead and enter your creation into the
Make That Sandwich contest!

Disclaimer: Mezzetta sent me 4 of their products, but I was not compensated for this post. All opinions are my own.

8/1/13

Dinner in 20 Minutes: Summer Spaghetti with Garlic, Roasted Peppers, Tomatoes & Olives

This past weekend I took a break from blogging. I had no recipes I wanted to create to share with you. I took some photos at brunch with my friend Cecile, but had no plans to write about those, even though the food at Belga was great.

There were no food events, no book reviews, and only two sets of previously taken photographs to edit.

And you know what? It was so relaxing and freeing and just lovely! I need to take these breaks more often. {Of course part of the reason I took a break was because I had several posts waiting to be published :)}

And then, when I was making dinner on Sunday night, I had this urge to photograph my plate of food with my actual camera so I could share my dinner idea with you. See, I missed you guys!

Dinner in 20 Minutes: Summer Spaghetti with Garlic, Roasted Peppers, Tomatoes & Olives

Dinner in 20 Minutes: Summer Spaghetti with Garlic, Roasted Peppers, Tomatoes & Olives

This has no specific amounts, just my thought process.

1. Bring a pot of water to a boil. {I used my oval Le Creuset.} Add salt to the water. Add wholewheat spaghetti. Cook for 8-10 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a skillet. Add sliced garlic, and saute until the garlic becomes fragrant.

3. Add sliced roasted pepper, kalamata olives, and chopped tomatoes. Season with a bit of salt and a few pinches of red pepper flakes. Cook everything for just a few minutes.

4. By this point, your pasta should be just about ready. Drain it and add to the skillet. Combine all ingredients and add crumbled feta and cilantro leaves. Done.

This was such a fast, easy and filling dinner! And it keeps great as leftovers. When I suggested my friend makes this dish for dinner with her boyfriend, she asked "what about the meat?" Ok, fine! If you want, you can add chicken, or steak, or even meatballs. You can also add shrimp or scallops. This is just the beginning ;)

Go ahead, twirl some pasta on your fork this weekend!

What are some of your favorite quick dinner ideas that don't require a recipe?

7/30/13

Easy Plum Dessert with KIND Healthy Grains

I have a confession to make: sometimes it's hard to be kind. Sometimes it's much easier to be mean, snarky, snooty and maybe even a little nasty. But I remind myself that my parents taught me better and try to be and do better.

What on Earth does this have to do with a food blog, you may think? Well, earlier this month I received a lovely package in the mail from KIND Snacks filled with several varieties of their bars and two varieties of their healthy grains. Although I've had KIND bars before (I love the ones with dark chocolate!), I've never tried KIND healthy grains.

I decided to do something fun, sweet and easy with the Oats & Honey Clusters with Toasted Coconut, one of the healthy grains I received.

Oats & Honey Clusters with Toasted Coconut combine full flakes of toasted coconut, a touch of honey and whole grains amaranth, quinoa, oats, millet, and buckwheat for a naturally sweet snack. These hand-crafted clusters are a good source of fiber and provide 17g of whole grains per serving.

This Easy Plum Dessert with KIND Healthy Grains can be served as a dessert, as the name implies, or as a weekend breakfast!!

Easy Plum Dessert with KIND Healthy Grains
Serves 1-2

Ingredients
1/4 tablespoon butter
2 plums halved, pit removed, and each half quartered into segments
1/2 cup Oats & Honey Clusters with Toasted Coconut KIND healthy grain
1 scoop coconut ice cream {I used the one from Magnolia}

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 375F.
2. In a 6" cast iron skillet, melt the butter on medium heat. Arrange the plums in a skillet and bake in the oven for 5 minutes.

3. Remove the skillet with the plums from the oven, top with the Oats & Honey Clusters with Toasted Coconut and put back into the oven for 5 minutes.

4. Remove the cast iron skillet from the oven, top with a scoop of coconut ice cream and eat immediately!

Dessert in under 15 minutes!? Yes, please! This was such an easy and successful dish. The healthy grains stayed crunchy, and I loved how the coconut flavor in the healthy grains was intensified by the coconut ice cream.

If you've tried KIND Snacks, what's your favorite flavor?

Disclaimer: I received several KIND Snacks products free of charge, but was not paid for this post. All opinions are my own.

7/28/13

Childhood Breakfast Recipe All Grown Up: Polenta with Feta. Russian Recipes Revisited

July is almost over, which means one thing: it's time for another Russian Recipes Revisited post!

When I was growing up in Moscow, weekend breakfasts were always a big thing. They usually were savory, one pot/pan meals that could be shared by the entire family. One of the simplest of those breakfasts was polenta with feta that my mom made often. Yes, that's it: just a big pot of golden polenta divided into bowls and topped with chunks of feta. The feta would slightly melt and add the great salty flavor to the polenta. It was a filling and uncomplicated dish.

I've been thinking about blogging this "recipe" for a while but one thing stopped me: it would not photograph well. I'm SUCH a food blogger ;) So I decided to slightly change up my childhood favorite and make a grown up version, which would not only have stronger flavors, but also be more photogenic.

Childhood Breakfast Recipe All Grown Up: Polenta with Feta. Russian Recipes Revisited

Childhood Breakfast Recipe All Grown Up: Polenta with Feta

Ingredients
cooked polenta {I used the white Italian polenta}
crumbled feta
sun ripened dried tomato pesto
cilantro

Directions
1. Ladle the cooked hot polenta into a bowl. Top with feta, pesto and cilantro.
2. Eat.

What are some of your favorite childhood breakfast dishes that you've altered to make grown up?

7/26/13

Mango Rice Pudding Recipe: Comfort Food at Home

When visiting friends or family, I always like to cook at least one meal for them. It shows love and care and takes the pressure off eating out all the time.

When I visited my friends Jenn and Luis in Richmond for 4th of July weekend, some of the things I packed with me were a vanilla bean, a pretty metal bowl, and carnaroli rice because I was planning on making a version of Robyn Webb's COCONUT CARNAROLI RICE PUDDING. That was one of my favorite recipes I made and photographed during the two years of freelancing for Robyn, and I was sure Jenn would like it as well.

But of course I made a few changes to make that recipe my own: Mango Rice Pudding Recipe: Comfort Food at Home.

Mango Rice Pudding Recipe: Comfort Food at Home
Adapted from Robyn Webb

Ingredients

3/4 cup Belaria Superfine Carnaroli Rice
2 cups almond milk
2 cup coconut milk
1/4 cup sugar
1 vanilla bean, split
1 mango, peeled, sliced

Directions

1. In a heavy bottomed pan combine rice, two types of milk, sugar and vanilla bean. Bring to a gentle boil, then lower the heat and continue to cook for 30 to 40 minutes, making sure to stir the rice every 10 minutes.
2. Once the rice is cooked through, remove the vanilla bean and serve topped with mango slices.

This is such a great and easy dessert. I love the specks of vanilla bean in the rice pudding and the contrast of sticky hot rice with cold mango.

By the way, I used one of my blouses as the fabric for the photo: creative, yes? :)

Have a great weekend!

7/24/13

Spicy Eggplant Tofu from Banh Mi Cookbook by Jacqueline Pham

Earlier this month I received a preview copy of Jacquelin Pham's Banh Mi cookbook. The book has a lot to offer: everything from breakfast to dessert and seafood, meat and vegetarian selections. There is even a glossary of Vietnamese cooking terms.

Although I love Vietnamese food, I've never attempted to cook it. This was my first attempt, and it worked out great. I decided to take quite a few shortcuts instead of following Jacqueline's recipe because I was short on time and patience and most of the recipes in the book do require you to have time and follow through.

Regardless of the shortcuts I took, I loved how the Spicy Eggplant Tofu turned out.

Spicy Eggplant Tofu
Adapted from Banh Mi cookbook

Ingredients
vegetable oil
12 ounce extra firm diced tofu
1 medium sized eggplant,diced
1 2" piece ginger, peeled, chopped
2 shallots, sliced
1 tablespoon black bean paste
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
1-2 pinches red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 teaspoon black pepper

to serve
baguette, sliced, some of the flesh removed, and toasted
cilantro
pickled carrots, radishes and onions
vegetable dipping sauce: 1/2 cup water, 6 tablespoons sugar, pinch of red pepper flakes, juice of 3 limes, 1 finely minced garlic clove, 1/4 cup soy sauce {shake all the ingredients in a tightly closed jar}

Directions
1. Heat a bit of oil in a wok, add tofu and saute until the tofu turns golden. Remove from the wok.
2. Add a bit more oil in the wok. Add diced eggplant, ginger and shallots and saute for 5-8 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, mix together 1 tablespoon black bean paste, 1/4 cup soy sauce, 1 tablespoon sugar, salt and pepper, and red pepper flakes.
4. Add the tofu back into the wok, pour the black bean, soy and sugar sauce and toss well.
5. Cover the wok and let the mixture cook for 5-8 more minutes. Then drizzle with sesame oil.

To serve, add the eggplant/tofu mixture to a baguette, top with pickled vegetables and fresh cilantro and drizzle with some of the vegetable dipping sauce.

I loved the flavors in this sandwich. It's a great option for vegetarians or for meat lovers who are trying to eat a bit better. If you are a family of 1 or 2, you will have some of the eggplant/tofu mixture left: use it on top of rice the next day.

Have you made a banh mi before? What was your experience?

7/22/13

Mayonnaise Free Potato Salad: Cast Iron Potato Salad with Vegetables & Tahini Dressing

I love potato salads, don't you? I usually make my potato salad with mayonnaise, but this time I decided to make a mayonnaise free potato salad: variety is good, yes?

In the Summer I love using small red potatoes in my salads because they cook quickly and don't need to be peeled. For something different, I decided to crisp up the potatoes in an iron skillet after partially cooking them. This not only gave a great color to the potatoes, but also helped them to retain their shape and texture and not get soggy in the dressing.

Mayonnaise Free Potato Salad: Cast Iron Potato Salad with Vegetables & Tahini Dressing
Serves 2

Ingredients
8 baby red potatoes, halved, parboiled
olive oil
4 radishes, diced
1/2 cucumber, peeled, seeded, diced
1 large tomato, quartered, seeded, diced
1 tablespoon chopped white onion
2 tablespoons chopped basil

dressing
1 tablespoon tahini
1 tablespoon lemon juice
drizzle of olive oil
1 garlic cloves, minced
salt & pepper to taste

Directions
1. Heat a bit of olive oil in a hot cast iron skillet. Add parboiled potatoes and cook until potatoes form a golden crust.

2. Combine slightly cooled potatoes with the rest of the salad ingredients.
3. In a small bowl whisk together dressing ingredients and lightly dress the salad. You don't need to use the entire amount of the dressing.

I loved this colorful salad with plenty of texture and flavor. This was a great way to get your vegetables in!

What's your favorite way to make a potato salad?

7/19/13

What to do with Patty Pan Squash? Patty Pan Squash Quesadillas Recipe

Is it as sweltering hot where you live as it is in DC? It feels like it's 100 degrees here! I cannot wait till the fall cool air comes...but I'll be waiting for a while.

In the meantime, I'm cooking lighter meals that don't require a lot of time or heat or baking. This Patty Pan Squash Quesadillas recipe is one of my favorites.

It all started when I made Patty Pan Squash Succotash with a Poached Egg. I had half the succotash mixture left over and decided to make a quesadilla with it. But I'll retype the full recipe for you :) Do you feel the ♥?

Patty Pan Squash Quesadillas
Serves 2

Ingredients
olive oil
2 large patty pan squashes, diced
kernels from 1 corn on the cob
1 yellow pepper, diced
4 garlic cloves, chopped
salt & pepper
red pepper flakes to taste
2 large tortillas
1/3-1/2 cups shredded cheese {use whichever kind you like}
sour cream
smoked paprika
fresh herbs of your choice

Directions

1. Heat the olive oil in a skillet. Add the next four ingredients and saute seasoned with salt & pepper and red pepper flakes until golden brown.

2. Add a bit of cheese to your tortillas topping with half of the succotash mixture and more cheese.

3. Fold each tortilla in half and saute in a bit of olive oil 2-4 minutes on each side until golden brown.

4. Cut your quesadillas into triangles and serve with sour cream, smoked paprika and fresh herbs.

I really liked this: not heavy, but filling and so many vegetables!!! You can use regular zucchini if you can't find patty pan squash and play around with different spices.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

What are you cooking these hot summer days?

7/16/13

What to do with an Eggplant? Charred Eggplant Salad & Childhood Memories

The smell of charred eggplant makes me think of my grandparents. They would always cook a whole eggplant directly on the flame of the gas stove and then mix the flesh of the eggplant with marinated (at home!) tomatoes, chopped white onion and sunflower oil.

Sometime last week I did something similar with my own spin on it and decided to take a few photos not just with my phone, but also with my DSLR. Please make this recipe! You will love it. I ate it for dinner, but it can also be a quick side dish or a dip.

What to do with an Eggplant? Charred Eggplant Salad & Childhood Memories

Ingredients
1 eggplant
1-2 tomatoes, chopped
1/4 white onion, chopped
1-2 tablespoons chopped basil
drizzle of sunflower oil
salt & pepper to taste

Directions
1. Place the eggplant directly on the flame of your gas stove. Rotate every few minutes with tongues until all of the eggplant skin is completely black.
2. Place the eggplant in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap and allow to cool.
3. Once the eggplant has cooled, slice it in half and remove the flesh. Mash the flesh of the eggplant in a bowl.
4. Add the rest of the ingredients and refrigerate for at least an hour.
5. Serve with bread or pita chips.

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