Caprese Plus

We are in the dog days of summer and everything is ripe and ready to eat.  It is far too hot to cook indoors and as the evenings are getting cool it is a reminder to spend as much time outdoors as possible because the famous Oregon rain will be here soon.

This meal came out of a long day followed by bad news.  I found myself standing with the fridge door open wondering what was inside.  I have always loved caprese salad when the tomatoes are ripe and since I can’t leave well enough alone, I riffed on the theme.  Feel free to add whatever you have on hand.

Traditional Ingredients:

• 1-2 perfectly ripe beefsteak type tomato (heirloom have the best flavor)
• 1/2 lb of fresh mozzarella (I usually have equal parts tomato to mozzarella)
• handful of basil leaves
• olive oil (if you have a fancy bottle, this would be the time to break it out)
• salt & pepper (use your fancy salt & fresh cracked pepper)

What we added:

• 2 ears of corn, roasted on the bbq, kernals cut off
• 2 sweet peppers, cut & seeded
• 4 slices of crusty bread, toasted and rubbed down with a raw garlic clove

Preparation:

Traditionally the tomatoes are cut into slices like you’d put on a sandwich.  We elected to cut them into ‘segments’ (not sure what to call them – see photos).  The mozzarella that we had was the large buffalo type – the 2 balls in the container were the size of a decent sized tomato (although any size would do). The cheese was cut the same way as the tomato.  These were arranged around the side of the platter leaving a hole in the middle.

In the hole we piled the roasted corn.  Then the handful of basil was thrown on.  We had some extra mozzarella that didn’t fit with the display below – it was added on top.  The sweet pepper was sprinkled around.

Add anything you’ve got ripe in the garden or attracting fruit flies on your counter.  Maybe peas, or grilled zucchini, cherry tomatoes, new potatoes, olives, artichoke hearts, green beans?  This starts heading toward a salad nicoise but that is my favorite meal on this earth – so I can’t fault you there.

A healthy amount of olive oil was poured over.  Sprinkle salt and crack pepper over the top.

The bread was toasted & rubbed down with a raw garlic clove on one side.  Drizzle a little olive oil on the bread.  The bread is great to soaking up the olive oil and tomato juice collecting on the bottom of the serving plate.

Open the bottle of white wine.  If its cheap like ours add a few ice cubes and enjoy!

Lunch for Cooper – Black Bean Salad

This recipe is very loose and changes with what I have on hand and what is in season or is cheap.

• 2 cups dried black beans (or two 15 oz cans)
• 1/4-1/2 red onion, diced (depending on how much you like raw onion)
• 2-4 ears of corn, raw or roasted on the BBQ (or small bag of frozen corn)
• 1-2 bell peppers (orange and red for color)
• 4 stalks of celery, diced
• 1/2 of a jicama, diced (or any other crunchy vegetable that you enjoy)
• cherry tomatoes, cut in half (optional)
• basil or cilantro (depending on where you want to go with the dressing)
• juice of 2-3 limes/lemons
• olive oil
• salt and pepper
• smoked paprika or some other interesting spice
• sherry or apple cider vinegar

Soak the black beans in water over night, changing water 2-3 times.  If you don’t have over night, use hot tap water to speed up the process.  Rinse beans, cover in water and bring to a boil.  Lower temperature to simmer, cover and check at 30 minutes.  You want the beans to be tender but holding together.  Depending on how long you soaked them and other factors (your stove, your beans, the position of the moon) they will take 35-45 minutes to cook.

While the beans are cooking, cut up all your veg and put in a bowl.  I am not a huge fan of raw onion, so I soak my diced onion in water for a bit before straining and adding to veggies.

Juice your lemons and add to small jar, add olive oil until you have the standard vinaigrette ratio (two parts acid to 1 part fat, right?).  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Make sure this is ready when the beans are done cooking.

When beans are done cooking, pour them into a strainer.  Then pour beans over veggies in large bowl.  Pour vinaigrette over beans – by doing this when they are hot they soak up lots of the flavor.  You will notice that even though you poured almost a cup of liquid over that there is nothing in the bottom of the bowl.  Add whatever herbs/spices you want, some splashes of vinegar and more salt and pepper to taste (but don’t get to anal at this point).  Cover the bowl and let it sit for an hour or more.  The beans continue to soak up the flavor and you’ll find that what was salted and dressed perfectly has changed within an hour.  This salad keeps for a week in the fridge – we eat a bit everyday and each day it is different.  By the end of the week we are eating it with hot sauce by the chipful.  It is good alongside other stuff, eaten cold or at room temperature.

Have fun & enjoy.

Pollo Pibil

adapted from Saveur, August 2012

My husband and I visited the Yucatan this last Winter and we were recommended to have this dish and we never found it.  I saw it in Saveur and had to try it.  I hadn’t ever worked with achiote but am now excited to experiment with it.  Just biting a corner off of it, it tastes a bit like a pepper mashed up with lime pulp.

INGREDIENTS

1 cup fresh orange juice
⅓ cup fresh lime juice (~3 limes)
¼ cup fresh grapefruit juice (~1 grapefruit)
4 oz. achiote paste (the package I bought was only 3.5 oz)
Kosher salt, to taste
3 (28″-long) frozen, thawed banana leaves (optional)
1 (3–4-lb.) whole chicken, cut into 8 pieces (I probably would take the skin off as the skin isn’t very appetizing to me when eating.  The husband likes it fine. Whatever you prefer.)
pickled onion, for serving (optional)
Warm tortillas, for serving (optional)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Combine juices, achiote paste, and salt in a blender, and purée until smooth, at least 2 minutes. Pour through a fine strainer into a medium bowl; set sauce aside. (I did not strain and don’t know what purpose it would serve other than to make more dishes.)

2. Line the bottom of a 6-qt. Dutch oven with 2 crisscrossed banana leaves, if using, letting the excess hang over the side of the pot. Add chicken pieces to pot, and pour over sauce. Tear remaining banana leaf into small pieces, and scatter over top of chicken. Fold excess of banana leaves over top of chicken, and place lid on pot. Place pot over medium-high heat, and bring sauce inside to a boil; reduce heat to medium-low, and cook, covered, until chicken is cooked through, about 45 minutes. (We couldn’t find banana leaves and would like to try this recipe again without them.  I don’t know if there was a huge taste missing without them but I was pretty darn happy with how it came out.  Also, we bought two additional chicken legs (drum and thigh) and I just added more fruit juice to cover.)

3. To serve, uncover pot and peel back banana leaves. Divide chicken among serving bowls, discarding pieces of banana leaves, and serve with plenty of sauce from the pot, along with pickled onions and tortillas, if you like.  (When serving cold the liquid will solidify but it ‘melts’ quickly and you can heat the meat up with the juice.  The juice is delicious and a happy part of the end product.)

Alternately…I made a pot of red beans and served them together without the tortillas.  To make the beans, I soak 2 cups of red beans in water overnight changing the water as much as possible (3-4 times).  If I can’t soak them overnight, I soak them in hot tap water for a few hours.  I then dice an onion and saute it in a little olive oil, slice up a few (3-8) garlic cloves and toss in some dried hot peppers.  I saute until they are translucent or the pan starts to brown.  I then rinse the beans, add them to the pan, cover with water, bring to a boil, turn to low and simmer until the beans are tender but not falling apart (40-60 minutes).  I then add salt to taste.  These live on the stove for days and I keep heating them up and serving from them.  If it is hot or you leave them out for too long they will spoil.  We usually go through them in a few days and it is of no worry.

Here is the original recipehttp://www.saveur.com/article/Recipe/Mexico-Chicken-Achiote