The other day I got an email from one of the nice people at Freida’s Produce. They’ve contacted me a few times over the last couple of years, offering to send me some new or interesting produce to try, and hoping I’ll mention it here on my blog. I’ve always said yes, because I do like their products. Generally they offer me some unusual things, which I enjoy trying. This time it was potatoes. Really? Yup. I knew they were small potatoes, but that was about it.

They sent me two packages (1 1/2 pounds each) with the above being one of them. Called the “Terrific Trio,” because (pictured below) it had white, red skinned and purple potatoes in it. They come from a small producer in Canada, actually. A company called The Little Potato Company. Run by a WOMAN! Good for her!

What I liked about the first package I tried was the potatoes were already washed and ready to cook. All I had to do was clip open the bag and I was ready to go. This particular package I liked because of the variety of potatoes all in that one package contained – the yellow, white and the purple. There’s something fun about eating a purple potato, don’t you think? And I liked the small package size – just enough for a meal for 4. There are other packages from the same company – single potato types, not the mixture. They’re available at Ralphs during this potato season.

Down to brass tacks . . . did they taste different? No. But they’re uniformly small, and I liked the fact that I didn’t have to wash or scrub them. I ended up cutting them in half to make the below roasted potato mixture, because I like those cut edges with the crispy browning on them. I will seek these out – mostly because of the 3-potato variety all in one bag AND the fact that it’s a small package. I won’t have to buy 3 or 5 pounds of potatoes. According to their website, they also offer a product called Zingers – a small, microwaveable package with a seasoning packet inside – pop the package in the oven with the seasoning and you have potatoes in a matter of minutes.

So what did I make with them? Roasted potatoes, but with a little twist to them. What could be different about roasting potatoes, you ask? Well, just a little technique of roughening-up the potatoes a bit so they crisp up more in the oven. A great idea. One I’ll use again.

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A couple of weeks ago my good friend Darci (who happens to be our decorator too, pictured below) told me about a grilled pork chop dish she’d made with a lemon shallot relish on top. She liked it so much, a week later she made it again and served it to 18 people. I asked more questions and since we have a lemon tree, I knew I wanted to try it. The recipe comes from the Food Network, from Aaron McCargo, the guy who won last summer’s Food Network star. His show appears on the online Food Network site, but it’s not showing at all on the West Coast. At any rate this was his creation, and it’s inspired, for sure.

At first, I didn’t think the topping was actually a chutney. But, after reading all about chutneys at wikipedia, I’ve had to change my thinking. What we, as Americans or Western Europeans, know as chutneys comes from the type of fruit-based concoctions that originated in India (like Major Grey’s jarred chutney). These are generally fruit, vinegar, and sugar cooked down to a reduction. That’s certainly my thought about the contents of a chutney. Wrong. Well, maybe not wrong, but partly. Really, a chutney can be vegetables too, and they don’t have to be cooked. They can be savory or sweet, spicy or not. And they can be dry also.

So, back to this recipe, now that we’ve verified that yes, the lemon shallot mixture is a chutney. But, you can call it a relish. Or even a salsa. Whatever, just make it, okay? It takes but a few minutes to mix up, providing you have fresh shallots, lemons, some fresh tarragon, fresh chives (both herbs I had in my garden) and a little glug of olive oil. The recipe calls for Meyer lemons (they’re sweeter than regular lemons, remember) but am sure you could use regular ones – you’d just need to add more sugar or sweetener.

First you need to make the lemon supremes – that means cutting off the peel and gently slicing toward the center on either side of each membrane to release the little wedge of luscious fruit. I used just one Meyer lemon for our 2-person serving, but my Meyer lemons are very big (meaning I halved the recipe).

Then add the thin slices of shallot (yes, leave it raw), chop up some chives and fresh tarragon, sugar, salt and pepper. I tasted it at that point and added a bit more sugar because I thought it needed it (actually I used Splenda, but you could use any kind of sweetener like agave too). Then I added the olive oil, salt and pepper. That’s it. Easy, right?

According to Aaron’s recipe, this can be served on top of pork, fish or chicken. So I veered off a bit and used it on top of a nice thick slice of leftover pork roast. I cut it thick so it would sort-of replicate a pork chop. By the way, if you want to make the pork chop part of Aaron’s recipe, just click to the website for that part. I heated the leftover pork in the microwave for about 40 seconds (I didn’t want to cook the pork any further), then spooned the relish on top.

How was it? Absolutely delicious. And once I spooned the relish on top of the pork there was a bit left over, so I drizzled that over some fresh tomato slices I was serving with dinner. That was fantastic! With the juicy lemon supremes in the mixture, and the added olive oil, this was a vinaigrette. Delish. MAKE THIS!

What I liked: everything about it – piquant, sweet, savory all at the same time. The fact that the juice leftover made a delicious vinaigrette to drizzle on fresh tomato slices. Or any kind of veggie for that matter.

What I didn’t like: not much of anything, really. Adjust the sweetness to suit your lemon-tartness. And I think I’d cut up the supremes into maybe halves or thirds – just because eating a whole supreme of lemon could be puckery!

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So the story goes, there’s a market (grocery store) in Houston called the Central Market. I’ve never been to Houston (except at the airport), so have no personal experience at this mega-market. But apparently they make something there call “Love Dip.” It’s a big favorite of a lot of Houstonians, and the market will not release a single thing about how they make it. So someone in the Food department at the Houston Chronicle decided to try to replicate it; hence, their version (no longer online) tastes quite similar. They called it “Mock Love Dip.” Lisa, from the Homesick Texan blog adapted it from their recipe, to remind her of her hometown (she lives in NYC now), and she wrote it up on her blog in 2007.

I made it back then – this was before I’d started my own blog – so I didn’t photograph it. Just fixed it, served it, and enjoyed it. A friend of ours (who spent a lot of years in Houston) asked me recently if I’d heard of Love Dip. Well, indeed I had. And I thought it probably was on my blog. But no, it wasn’t. We’re fixing that right now!

As so often happens, as I go about the prep for a recipe, I find I don’t have something in the ingredient list. In this case, I didn’t have any salsa. BUT, I had all the ingredients to make salsa, so I just added those in kind of willy-nilly to the food processor bowl, and I decided to use up a half of an avocado I had in the fridge. Now the avocado isn’t an original ingredient in this dip, so if you want to make Love Dip true to it’s Houston Chronicle version, eliminate that. And as luck would have it, I didn’t have 8 ounces of cream cheese either, but I did have 4 ounces, and a 5-ounce little log of soft goat cheese. So I used them both.  I also added lime juice, not lemon, but that’s a fairly easy exchange. I hope Lisa will forgive me for tinkering with her recipe!

Most likely I also added more of the salsa ingredients than she did too – here’s a picture of what I put in it. I didn’t exactly measure it, just tossed those things in the workbowl. I love cilantro anyway, so wanted more of that in any case. From the top: both yellow and red cherry tomatoes, red bell pepper, a part of an Anaheim chile, green onions and cilantro.

First, though, I whizzed up the two cheeses to get those blended before I added veggies. Then I added in everything else (except the lemon and lime juice). Lastly you add the citrus. I tasted it several times to add in a bit more salt and pepper, and another little squeeze of lime juice. I used more than Lisa indicated, but you use your own taste buds to determine what’s right for your palate.

What I like: how EASY this dip is to make. Well, especially if you have some salsa right on your refrigerator shelf. There’s nothing to it, really. I like the fact that there are a good amount of veggies in this – so you’re getting some fiber along with the cheese! It also keeps for a few days too, and it’s versatile – not only can it be a dip, but you can use it as a sauce for chicken or fish. I like it with fresh veggies, but you can also use chips, pita bread, baguette (toasted) slices, or crackers.

What I didn’t like: nothing at all. It’s delish. Is it healthy? Well, probably not very, with all the cheese in it, but you could use low-fat cream cheese. I’d bet you couldn’t taste the difference. I just didn’t have any.

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Am sure I’ve mentioned before that I Tivo all of Ina Garten’s new episodes. And even though it’s summertime and the weather is warm and muggy, when I watched Ina make this easy-easy Bolognese sauce, I was hooked. I went online to download the recipe and noted a few comments from others who had made it (suggesting cooking a little longer than the 10+ minutes and reducing the salt). So I added a quarter of an onion to the sauce (sautéing it first), greatly reduced the salt in the sauce, and I also added a little dollop of beef soup base (my Penzey’s favorite flavor enhancer) to the sauce also.

Using orecchiette pasta was different – usually I opt for linguine – but I’m very glad I used the orecchiette because it did exactly what Ina said – it provided little “cups” to hold sauce. The only other unusual thing in this is 1/4 cup of heavy cream. What a great idea – and wow, did it ever add a delicious richness to the sauce. She also has you add 1/4 cup of the red wine toward the end – it does simmer off the alcohol in the 10 minute cooking then – but she said it added lots of good flavor. Some sliced basil was added in at the end also. Oregano and a pinch of red chile flakes are all the herbs that flavor the dish.

My DH loved it. I mean, he nearly licked the bowl. He raved about it. And raved about it. I thought it was delicious. And I mentioned above how EASY it is. If you don’t want to, or can’t add wine, use good, flavorful beef stock instead. I’m looking forward to the leftovers, for sure.

What I liked: how easy it was to make, beginning to end about 45 minutes; liked the added flavor from the heavy cream – it’s just 4 T. of it; really liked the orecchiette pasta too – would definitely do that again. It should freeze well, too. Next time I’ll make a double batch and freeze half.

What I didn’t like: nothing at all. Would and will make it again, sooner rather than later.

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Two years ago: Red Pepper and Walnut Spread, with pita bread
Four years ago: Chicken Bamako (very easy baked chicken breast and bacon dish)

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Oh, how I love this stuff. I swear, I could eat it 3 times a week and never tire of it. In case you haven’t read my other posts about calabacitas (cal-ah-ba-SEE-tus), it’s a southwestern veggie dish that ideally you’d make in the spring and summer when corn and summer squash are at their peak. But you can make this year ‘round if you use frozen corn. We’re able to buy summer squash twelve months a year here. Use any variety of squash – this one above happened to be a mixture of zucchini and yellow pattypan. I prefer the yellow crookneck, but couldn’t find any the other day when I needed to make this for dinner.

Making true calabacitas requires you to roast a poblano chile, peel it, chop it up, etc. Well, I just decided to detour there and use chopped raw poblanos instead – no roasting or peeling. Just chopped up (seeded, of course). Once cooked, the poblano becomes very mild with no heat at all. Then, of course, we had locally grown white corn. I’m going to write up a separate post just about the newest gadget I bought that makes instant-quick work of removing corn from the cob. I love this new thing. Check in tomorrow . . . about that.

So here’s what I did – I chopped up an onion, all the squash, garlic, piled up the fresh corn off the cob, minced the poblano. First I sautéed the onion, then the garlic, then the squash, the poblano, cooked that for awhile (not long, maybe 5-6 minutes) then added the corn, salt, pepper and a dash of heavy cream. And some dried thyme. Thyme isn’t native to this dish in southwestern cooking, but I just decided it should be in there. Every single time I serve this, I get raves. I guarantee you will too. Try it before corn is out of season.

What I like about it: how easy it is to make – works well for a weeknight dinner or for guests – they’ll be impressed – and the taste. Oh gosh. So very good.

What I don’t like: nothing, nada. Could eat it often. Could even be happy with this as a main dish.

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A year ago: Cauliflower Gratin with Tomatoes and Feta
Two years ago: Blueberry and Ginger Salsa (for grilled meat – wonderful!)
Four years ago: Peppered Pecans (an all-time favorite – great in salads or nibbling)

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Most everybody’s heard of The Moosewood Cookbook. This recipe comes from that book. I don’t own it, but found numerous references online about it. But then, my friend Sue, who fixed it for us when we were visiting, has changed the recipe a little bit – or maybe somebody else did. In either case, it’s not any longer the Moosewood recipe – it really has become her recipe. But we won’t quibble over this. Suffice to say this is one very great recipe. Delicious. Easy. Even a bit on the healthy side (feta, of course, does have fat in it and so do walnuts, but that latter is healthy fat).

You need to make this dip. Just toasted walnuts, some feta cheese, a bit of water (to help lubricate the blender so it will puree), some cayenne, paprika, parsley and a little bit of olive oil. Whiz it up and you’re DONE. See, I said it was easy. If you read the notes below, you’ll find the original list of ingredients, and I’m suggesting that you can use all or some of the variations. If you like garlic, add it. Or oregano. Use cilantro instead of parsley, maybe. Try low-fat feta cheese. Whatever combination is up to you, but just make it. Thanks again, Sue. She is such a good cook (she’s blushing as she reads this)!

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A year ago: Pineapple Aachar Relish
Two years ago: Peach Cobbler
Three years ago: Barbecued Beans

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Oh, do I love rhubarb. As I was growing up, my mother used to have a rhubarb patch in our back yard. She’d never let me go cut any of it, though, since the leaves are poisonous. My mom and dad liked stewed rhubarb. Period. Although once in awhile my mother would make a rhubarb pie, perhaps for guests. I rarely make anything with rhubarb because my DH knows that rhubarb requires a lot of sugar to make it palatable. Therefore, he avoids it most of the time and I never make it because of that.

But when were visiting our friends Sue and Lynn, and I asked to help with dinner, she handed me the printout for this one afternoon and I made it according to her recipe. Dave said yes, he’d have some. He loved it. I loved it. Sue and Lynn loved it, of course.

This recipe is quite simple – it comes from cooks.com. One of dozens of such recipes, but this one’s a winner, I think.

You mix up a crumble of oatmeal, flour, sugar, and some melted butter, etc. and half of it goes in the bottom of a glass baking dish. Then the fresh chunked rhubarb goes in on top of it. That’s what you can see in the top photo at left with the cornstarch-based clear sauce that’s poured over the top. The remaining crumbs are sprinkled on top.

Into the oven it goes for about an hour. Or longer if the top doesn’t quite brown sufficiently. You do want it to be a golden brown when it comes out of the oven. The baked version is in the lower photo.

During the baking the sauce and the rhubarb marry and create a lovely loose fruit mixture and the crumbs on top add a delicious crunch.

Serve it with vanilla ice cream or pour over some half and half. Whichever suits you! Thanks, Sue, for a great recipe.

What I liked about it: the flavor, the texture of the topping. Not too sweet. Not too sour. Just right, as the saying goes. Also easy!

What I didn’t like: absolutely nothing.

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A year ago: Caribbean Rice
Two years ago: Corn – everything you ever wanted to know about it
Three years ago: Peaches and Nectarines – everything you ever wanted to know about them
Four years ago: The BEST Bean Salad (a Paul Prudhomme recipe, very low calorie and VERY good)

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These fish fillets were just wonderful! I’ll be preparing these again. And again, I’m certain. It wasn’t difficult or time consuming and looked so attractive. The sauce is a yogurt-based one. Plain Greek yogurt is mixed with tiny, tiny dice of fennel bulb, a few fennel fronds, and mint, along with a splash of white balsamic vinegar – and I added some fresh lemon juice too – and some pepper. The fish was lightly seasoned with salt, pepper and some crushed fennel seeds. Then they were dipped in frothy egg white, then in bread crumbs (either panko or fresh bread crumbs) and delicately sautéed in some olive oil. That took about 3 minutes, maybe 4 at the most. Meanwhile I made a big green salad, tossed it with my favorite Caesar Caper-Parmesan Dressing and that was dinner.

The recipe came from Bon Appetit a few months ago. I read the reviews from others and lemon juice was added to the sauce. I tasted it without and definitely agreed it needed it, so I added some. Next time I think I’d sprinkle a little bit of lemon zest on top when I serve it, as well as the mint.

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A year ago: Chocolate Upside Down Baked Nut Pudding Cake

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Last weekend we were invited to a Kentucky Derby party. It was great fun, with lots of good food to eat, and a big-screen TV to watch the horses and jockeys getting ready for the big race. The host passed a hat around the room with a pile of $2.00 tickets (bets) on all of the horses, so everyone at the party had one, and we knew there would be for sure one winner. Under 20 horses ran the race and there were over 20 of us at the party, so a few guests had chits for the same horse. I don’t know a darned thing about race horses (other than immensely enjoying reading the book Seabiscuit: An American Legend a few years ago). I don’t own a big floppy hat (only one woman wore a hat – and it was one of those “fascinators” like we saw recently at the Royal Wedding). Hers was very cute, small and chic. Anyway, I grabbed one of the bet tickets and passed the hat on. My DH grabbed one and I paid no attention to what horse he drew. We sat with anticipation and watched the race, sipping delicious Mint Juleps. I do love those things! I knew my horse was #16 and I watched as they led the horse up into the gate and noted the jockey’s green silks with a red V on his back. As we all watched, riveted to the big screen, what happened but that green silk eased up, and up and up. And won! I hooped with excitement. And discovered that my DH had drawn the same horse. SO, all that said, it means that we each won $43.80, since Animal Kingdom (the horse) had odds of 20-1. What fun!

Everyone at the party brings something, so I made a feta dip/spread. A VERY easy dish to make – took about 10 minutes total to put it together. I had the recipe in my to-try file and had all the ingredients on-hand. The combo of feta cheese, olive oil, garlic, oregano, lemon juice and some herbs is whizzed up in the food processor, allowed to chill for awhile, then when it’s served you drizzle some olive oil on top and sprinkle it with some red chili flakes. Serve them with baked pita chips or pita crackers. It was a good dip or spread – salty for sure since the Israeli feta I had was relatively high in sodium. My advice is to choose a feta that’s lower in sodium since you also add some capers to it, and they’re salty too. The recipe started from a Cat Cora one I found in Southern Living last year, but I added to it (a bit of sour cream to try to tame the salt, the capers, the EVOO garnish) so it’s not any longer an authentic Greek spread. You can use this as a sauce if you thin it some with milk – I think it would be good on grilled (plain) chicken or particularly good on grilled fish like swordfish. The leftovers could be tossed with pasta too.

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Two years ago: Ham and Egg Cups with Pesto, Tomatoes and Mozzarella
Three years ago: Molten Chocolate Cake with Caramel Sauce
Four years ago: Baked Onions with Thyme

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If you like broccoli, you’re going to l-o-v-e this recipe. I could have eaten an entire plate of it and forgotten about the rest of the meal. For several years I’ve been making crumbled asparagus, a recipe from Marie, over at A year from Oak Cottage. It’s one of my favorites. This time I didn’t have asparagus, but broccoli, and I decided to try the same technique, merely changing the baking temp just a bit and the amount of baking time. It took no effort to put together. First you use your hands and slather just a bit of mayonnaise on the broccoli. It’s kind of a messy job, but it really doesn’t take much – I used about 3 T. for a large head of broccoli. You can’t cover all the surfaces of the broccoli spears because of the nubby surface of the heads and the nooks and crannies of the stems, but really all the mayo does is provide something for the breading (panko crumbs and grated fresh Parmesan) to stick to. I haven’t tried this with fat-free mayo, but it might be fine. Surely low-fat mayo would work. I happened to be using the real thing.

There you can see them before roasting. Just the raw broccoli with the little bit of mayo then sprinkled with the crumbly topping. They’re sitting on a silpat on a large, rimmed baking sheet. Into the oven they went for about 20-25 minutes. I might have taken them out a few minutes early, so the stems were still just a slight bit crunchy, but we prefer them that way. I use a very thin bladed knife to test the stem. These are just delicious. Very easy to prepare. Worth making.

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A year ago: Chicken Breasts with Spinach and Gorgonzola
Two years ago: Bittersweet Chocolate Chip Cookies
Three years ago: Photos I took on our trip to Northern Arizona

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