Rainy Memorial Day.....

So it rained practically all day yesterday on Memorial Day in Nashville. I had illusions of grandeur in completing my garden: planting my beans and making the bean tee-pees for them to grow on, creating the stepping stone walkway through my garden and firing up the grill and making SOMETHING charred and delicious! God seemed to have other plans and so I shifted gears and completed a lot of indoor tasks.

I was also forced to look through my fridge and pantry to NOT grill something. I had just gone to the Farmer's Market so I had some fresh veggies (I have a lot of green things coming up in the garden but nothing I could pick yet other than greens) and figured I'd try something fresh and substantial.

I sifted through some ideas online and adapted and created something delicious! It's super simple, tremendously tasty and lowfat and full of fiber! Now that the healthy chat is out of the way, here's what I made:

Tuna and Green Bean Salad

• 1 1/2 pounds slender green beans, trimmed, halved crosswise
  
• 3 teaspoons salt, plus more to taste
• 1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves
• 9 ounces canned Italian tuna packed
  in oil, drained
  
• 2 large red potatoes, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 8 ounces cherry tomatoes, halved

Cook the green beans in a large pot of boiling water until crisp-tender, stirring occasionally, about 4 minutes. Using a mesh strainer, transfer the green beans to a large bowl of ice water to cool completely. Drain the green beans and pat dry with a towel. Add 2 teaspoons of salt to the same cooking liquid and bring the liquid to a simmer. Add the potatoes to the simmering liquid and cook until they are just tender but still hold their shape, about 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer the potatoes to the ice water to cool completely. Drain the potatoes and pat dry with a towel.

In a small bowl, whisk the lemon juice, garlic, oil, oregano, 1 teaspoon salt and 3/4 teaspoon pepper. Place the tomatoes, basil and parsley in a large serving bowl. Add the tuna and toss gently to combine. Add the green beans and potatoes and gently combine. Pour the dressing over the salad and toss to coat.

As always, this is a VERY adaptable recipe and could be manipulated in many ways. No lemons? Try limes or red wine vinegar..... Have lots of fresh lima beans? Use them instead of green beans..... Substitute roasted cubed sweet potatoes instead of the red potatoes..... Like more potatoes? Use more than called for in the recipe..... Have canned salmon? Use that instead of tuna.....

You can make this your own. It's a method of creating a salad with these basic ingredients and then stretching from there. And this salad, with some crusty bread and a nice glass of pinot grigio created a beautiful main course for me. You could use this as a starter, a salad course, a light lunch, an accompaniment to grilled meats or vegetables or for whatever you need. It seems to me that eating outdoors on the picnic table, this would be great with a tall pilsner glass of beer that contains a shot of Rose's Sweetened Lime Juice (what the British call a lager and lime) and both would be citrusy and refreshing!

Until next time, ciao!

Time for Tapas!

OK, I wish I had a picture of this, but I don't! We ate it so fast that there was no time for photographs to document the evidence!

This week, a couple of my best friends, Charlynn and Scott, left for Europe and are going to Tuscany for three weeks. It should be beautiful at this time of year! So last weekend, Catherine, Keith and I (the other part of our "Supper Club") decided to host a small cocktail party for them as a "bon voyage" with tapas. For those of you not familiar, tapas are an amazing way of life in Spain. You can go from club to club and have several drinks and at each stop, there are selections of amazing finger foods to match your cocktails. Actually, I don't need many cocktails ... but the tapas are amazing! One of my favorites is the traditional "tortilla" of Spain; an omelette or fritatta that contains potatoes and onions but cooked in a round skillet so it appears like a pie or in the shape of a round "tortilla". This is a recipe I plan to give in the near future. It makes an excellent lunch or dinner with a crisp, green salad.

But I have to say that the HITS of the evening were the oven fresh pizzas with amazing ingredients! This is so easy to do at home for snacks or meals. And this can be an amazingly healthy choice as you control the cheese and the toppings and the amount of fat and sodium you eat. It all starts with an amazing crust and this is the one that I use that is "tried and tested" and turns out perfect every time!

Perfect Pizza Crust

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 package of quick rise yeast (1/4 oz)
• 1 teaspoon of sugar (or honey)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 cup water
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• PLUS
• Additional flour for kneading
• Additional olive oil for coating dough

In the cup of water, dissolve sugar (or honey) and add the packet of yeast and stir to let it proof. In about 5 minutes, it will be very foamy and smell very “yeasty”. In the meantime, in a large bowl add the flour and make a well in the center. Add the salt and olive oil to the well. After the yeast is proofed, pour into the well and gently incorporate the liquid into the flour until a dough consistency is achieved. Once the dough holds together in a stucky ball, sprinkle additional flour on a counter and knead dough for 10 minutes until elastic and smooth. If you're unfamiliar with the kneeding process, google it and you can probably find out with pictures and everything! (I promise, it's easy!)

Cut dough into 2 equal parts and shape into balls. Coat with additional olive oil and place in a bowl loosely covered with a towel until they are double in size. (Because of the quick rise yeast, this process should be pretty quick! I usually let mine raise for an hour for flavor alone, but most of the time, with quick rise yeast a 30 minute rise SHOULD be sufficient unless the kitchen is cold.) Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Stretch or roll each circle into a 12” disc and place on a pizza pan coated lightly with olive oil. Coat the top of the dough with additional olive oil. Add your favorite toppings and bake for approximately 20-25 minutes on 425 degrees or until golden brown and puffy.

(I put the pizzas directly on parchment paper and bake so I don't use the additional oil. Because they don't have a pan underneath, they tend to cook a bit faster and get a bit more crispy. Be careful to watch them as some ovens will cook them in as little as 12 to 15 minutes in this manner ... but use your eyes and note when the tops become browned and puffy.)

Now, you can get crazy with the topping! The two pizzas I constructed for the cocktail party were simple but effective. On one of them, I shredded a generous portion of manchego cheese (a sheep's milk cheese that has a firm texture and grates like parmesean) and then scattered about a handful of pine nuts all over the dough and pressed them in to secure them. Then I added fresh spinach leaves and I cut about a cup of grape tomatoes in half and scattered those on the pizza. Topped with salt and pepper, this was an incredible taste treat, not to mention healthy and low fat! On the other pizza, I simply grated the manchego cheese and sauteed two Spanish chorizo sausages (about half a pound) removed from their casings and scattered that on the top of the pizza. I drizzled additional olive oil and baked it until crispy. Though this one wasn't as lowfat, it was an awesome taste combination and people LOVED it ... even though there were really no traces of a traditional "pizza" as we know it. You could really add anything to your pizza and bake, as simple as opening a prepared jar of pasta sauce and mozzerella, but I urge you to be adventurous, try some creative taste combinations, and leave the recipe book behind! Here are a few suggestions to get you started:

• Fresh tomato slices with black olives, artichokes, minced garlic, basil leaves and mozzerella & parmesean cheeses
  
• Goat cheese and walnuts and add fresh arugula after removing pizza from the oven
• Marscarpone cheese with sauteed eggplant and onion and dried oregano
• Crushed pitted olives with minced garlic, rosemary, olive oil and salt & pepper

Let me know if you come up with any other great taste combinations to share! As always, until next time, ciao!

Imprompteau Dinner!

I was landscaping the better part of today for my buddy Scott. Mind you, I'm not complaining ... it was 75 degrees and sunny with very little humidity. And I got to spend a day in God's very green creation with my iPod and lots of good alone time. But once I arrived home, the ache of not knowing what to make for dinner was hitting. Something fast..... something healthy..... something with veggies.....

So I started rummaging through my pantry to try and "create". I always explain to my friends that cooking for me is like painting, but not only with color ... you get to use smells, taste and texture as well! How lucky am I? Hmm, a box of whole wheat pasta ... that's healthy; and some boneless skinless chicken ... that's definitely healthy; some veg ... there's my fiber and vitamins! OK, let's start! In any case, if you wanna "create" something like this, here's what happened in my kitchen on a Saturday evening:

Sauteed Chicken over Whole Wheat Spaghetti and Veg

• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1 13.5 oz box of whole wheat pasta
• 2 ribs celery
• 2 carrots
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 crown broccoli
• 6 tblsp olive oil (seems like a lot, but it's not!)
• 1/2 medium onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• salt
• pepper
• crushed red pepper

While I boiled a large pot of water for the spaghetti, I chopped the celery, carrots, pepper and broccoli. I steamed the veggies for 5 minutes. (You can do this traditionally on the stove top but sometimes, when I'm in a hurry, I put them covered in the microwave with a few tablespoons of water ... they taste virtually the same! If you're really tricky, place the veg in a colander and let them steam over your pot of boiling water ... kill two birds with one stone! People will think you're sooooo cool!) Cook your spaghetti according to box directions.

While heating a skillet to medium hot, chop the onions and garlic. Put 2 tblsp olive oil (don't measure ... 2 turns of the pan is great!) in the skillet and add the onions and garlic and a pinch of salt. Sweat them until they're soft. (Sweating means to cook them slowly so they don't turn brown.) Then add the steamed veggies and stir to heat through. Add salt, pepper and crushed red pepper to taste. If I had to guess ... 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp black pepper and 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper. Put this mixture in a bowl and reserve until the spaghetti is finished.

Liberally salt and pepper both sides of the chicken. In the same skillet, sautee the 2 chicken breasts in 2 additional tblsp of olive oil (guess what ... that's right, 2 turns of the pan!) until they're done. Once finished, place them on a cutting board to rest for 5 minutes covered with a piece of aluminum foil to keep them warm. This helps the chicken's natural juice to redistribute through the piece of meat.

Without cleaning the pan (and getting to use all those yummy chicken juices), add the final 2 tblsp of olive oil (2 turns). Add the drained spaghetti and veggie mix and stir thoroughly to distribute the olive oil and veg evenly. You can adjust your salt, pepper and crushed red pepper at this point if you didn't add enough to the veggies. At this point, I added some chopped fresh parsley from my herb garden just because I had some!

Plate your pasta and slice the chicken breasts on a bias an place on top of the pasta. And voila ... instant dinner with minimal fuss and cleanup!

Now, the deal is, this is a "method" of cooking. It's simply a concept. Don't like broccoli? Replace with sugar snap peas! Don't like onion? Leave it out! Don't like whole wheat pasta? Use the regular stuff! No crushed red pepper because you have ulcers? That's cool ... forego the hot stuff! As I keep writing these recipes, you'll see that If there's something you like, don't like, or don't have, it's easy to replace it or leave it out without too much stress. If your grill is fired up, by all means, use grilled chicken ... or even a nice, juicy steak! It's about getting creative and being free to use what you have and not have to run to the store to buy specific ingredients for traditional "recipes". Bon appetit!

OK, I was wanting more.....

After a day in the sun, sometimes nothing beats a nice cocktail! OK, here's the deal ... last summer, I became so smitten with the MOJITO that I decided to put in 4 pots of spearmint on my deck garden so that I could pick fresh mint leaves whenever I wanted one! This baby doesn't seem TOO unhealthy. After all, there's fresh lime juice and mint with minimal amounts of sugar (OK, there's sugar ... I got over that a LOONNNGGG time ago!) And it's another excuse to tie my "garden" to my "recipes" on this blog ... so here it goes!

Kevin's Mojito

• 1 lime (extra for garnish)
  
• Fresh mint leaves (this is a must!)
  
• Sugar
• Simple syrup (sugar dissolved in water for easy mixing; 2 parts sugar to 1 part water)
  
• Rum (your favorite; I happen to like Capt. Morgan's Spiced Rum!)
• Rose's Sweetened Lime Juice (the secret ingredient)
  
• Club Soda
  
• Crushed ice
  

In a 12 oz glass (Or mojito glasses if you have them), place about about 8 fresh mint leaves and a tsp of sugar. Cut the lime into 8 pieces (in half and the each of those into quarters) and place 4 chunks in each glass. "Muddle" the lime, mint and sugar to get a good "juice" at the bottom of the glass. If you don't have a muddler, be creative with a kitchen utensil. You need something that will squish the lime and juice it while the sugar granules bruise the mint leaves to release their flavor. To each glass, add about a tsp of Rose's Sweetened Lime Juice ... this adds a special zing! Add a jigger (1.5 oz) of your favorite rum. Add crushed ice to each glass to bring it to about 3/4 of the glass and top off with club soda. Stir in the simple syrup to sweeten to your liking. You can garnish with more fresh mint leaves and lime slices if you like. But I promise, one sip and you'll be sitting on a Caribbean beach with the sand between your toes!

As always, if you have any questions or comments, feel free to email me at KFRaymond@gmail.com and ask away! Also, if you have some excellent recipes you'd like to contribute, let me know. If I can fit them in, I'll gladly give you credit! Until next time, ciao!

Creating A Quick Culinary Herb "Garden"

Herbs are the essence of life ... well, at least food!

One of the best parts of the year for me is to be able to open the sliding glass door on my patio and reach out to grab a handful of whatever herb I might need for cooking. I call it my herb "garden" even though it's container gardening. Herbs are really forgiving plants ... mine have been underwatered, overwatered, abused and generally thrive from year to year. Even when I don't reach for a handful of things to cook with, I often brush their leaves to release their essential oils as I walk out the door and smell the freshness of inspiration as I'm deciding what to cook that day. Here are some of the things I have handy in pots right outside my kitchen door:

• Parsley
• Basil
• Oregano
• Onion Chives
• Garlic Chives
• Sage
• Rosemary
• Lavender
• Marjoram
• French Sorrel
• Thyme
• Chili Peppers

These things do really well for me as I'm lucky that my patio door is south-facing. They get the best sunlight of the day and about 4PM when the sun is directly overhead, the giant trees in my backyard shade them from the most harmful rays. If you're careful, all except for the basil ... and potentially the rosemary ... which will die at the first frost (unless it comes inside and lives in a sunny spot in a south or west facing window), your plants should pop up again for you next spring!

Making your herb "garden".....

To start your herb "garden", choose a good sunny spot. Herbs need 6 hours of full sunlight daily. A south or west facing location is optimum, but in the dead of summer, most locations receive full sunlight. (Mine happen to get morning sun which is great ... it avoids the heavy heat of the day.) Next, decide what you like ... for most people, I think that parsley, basil and a rosemary plant might be sufficient. But if you're a little more adventurous, branch out. You're only limited to space and the amount of pots you want to buy!

My suggestion is that you use at least 12" pots for most of these things; any smaller and in the dead of summer, you'll be watering at least twice a day (and no one wants to do that!). Purchase some topsoil and potting soil and in a large container, mix them about evenly ... I find this mix is best for pots. The topsoil feeds the plant and the potting soil has a lightness that loosens and conditions the soil. In choosing pots, I have a mix of things but I generally like clay pots as they have a Mediterranean feel. But plastic pots tend to conserve water a bit better and if you're a bit lax in watering, plastic is best (and usually cheaper)!

Put some of your soil mix in the pots, plant your herbs in them taking care to plant them at the same soil level as they were before you transplanted them into the pot. As an added measure, I also put a bit of mulch at the top of the pot around the plant which keeps the from dehydrating as quickly in the summer as well. Water them well and in no time, you'll be using fresh herbs out of your own "garden". As well as nutritional benefits of using fresh, for anyone that has purchased the small plastic packages of herbs in the grocery store knows that $3 gets you about 10 basil leaves. If you plant your own, ONE basil plant for $2.50 will, in a month, give you enough leaves to make pesto! You do the math......

Arugula, my FAVORITE!
In the past couple of years, I've discovered the joy of greens.... spinach, mustard greens, turnip greens and arugula. I like it in my salads as it adds a sharp, peppery zip. It's great on a sandwich in place of lettuce. Quickly saute it with some cubed potato chunks and white beans and you have an Italian "manesta". I find that's it's just as easy to grow these things in pots (or in my case, TUBS!) on my deck as it is my herbs. I use the same method and you COULD find bedding plants of arugula at a nursery, but it grows so quickly like any leafy lettuce type green that I simply sow the seeds directly on the soil, water and wait for it to grow. Usually in a month to 6 weeks, it goes from sprouts to beautiful leaves like this picture. If you have this much, it makes a great stand alone salad.... dress it with a splash of red wine vinegar, olive oil and salt & pepper and presto, you're ready to top it with a grilled chicken breast, fresh tomato slices, or a homemade garlic crouton!

Tomatoes are easy!
This is no different than herbs, and if you eat as many tomatoes as we do all summer (I plant about 36 plants in my real garden as well as these on my deck), they're sure handy to have near the door when you need a fresh tomato for salads or a sandwich. I keep these in black plastic containers which help on water conservation (these babies drink a LOT of water) and mulch around the top of the pots as well. In August, you may have to water them in the morning and after the sun starts to head down, but I promise, they're worth it! I have 6 early girl tomato plants (tart & sweet and just the right size for salad) as well as a red cherry tomato plant and a yellow pear cherry tomato plant for salads or just popping into your mouth warmed from the afternoon sun whenever you head out the door!

Looking to the future.....
As it stands, my garden is in all except for my green beans and lima beans and it'll be another month before I see anything more than peas, swiss chard, lettuce and spinach. But dreaming of the zucchini and squashes, eggplants, peppers, broccoli, tomatoes, okra, cataloupes, cucumbers and beans makes me look to pictures of last year's garden. So a look at last year gives me hope for what's about to come! Until next time...... ciao!

My New Food Blog!

OK, friends!

For years I've wanted to do this ... and sparked by a curiosity in other people's food blogs by my roommate, Keith, I've decided to take the plunge and start my own blog!

The deal is, this food blog will be part insight, part recipes, part garden stories ... a little like me: lots of parts to make up one idea. As most of you know, every summer I grow a rather large vegetable and herb garden and utilize a lot of that in my cooking. I create loads of fresh veg recipes to use what I'm able to immediately from that day's harvest and do a lot of canning, drying and freezing to put up what I can't use immediately ... and nothing beats a jar of tomatoes opened on a cold January day when you get to taste the sensation of August!

I think that cooking as a creative process is a must. One musn't be confined to a recipe book! Think of all of the colors and flavors and textures we like just WAITING to become a new recipe. It's not difficult at all. Once you've mastered a few techniques for cooking (which I'll discuss as well) and learn some basic "concepts", it's easy to create things without following a recipe!

OK ... here's our first go at it! Since it's early spring and there's not too much large activity in my garden except for greens ... my peas, spinach and swiss chard, I thought I'd give that a shot. Let's create a quick, easy, lowfat and healthy side dish from the garden (or the grocery store, as the case may be!).

Sauteed Swiss Chard

Ingredients:

• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tblsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup white or red wine (whatever's open!)
• 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper
• 1 pound (approx) swiss chard leaves, center stems separated from the leaves
• (*cut the stems into 1" chunks, leaves cut into desired size)

Wash and dry the swiss chard leaves. Separate the thicker center stems from the leaves. Chop those into 1" pieces. Rolling large bunches of the remaining leaf parts, slice 1/2" slices to create strips of the leaves. (This is like a chiffonade for you fancy cooks out there!).

Preheat your skillet and to the hot pan, add the olive oil (and you DON'T really need to measure 2 tblsp of oil, just do 2 turns around the pan!) and the minced garlic. Once the garlic is sizzling (maybe 20 seconds) add the stems from the leaves. As these are thicker, they need to cook longer. Turn the heat to a medium and saute until the stems are softened. Add the rest of the chard leaves and season with the salt, pepper and crushed red pepper. Once the leaves start to wilt, add the wine and cook to your desired tenderness. I generally heat through for maybe 2 minutes as I like mine a bit more firm.

OK, now that we've done this ... you've learned a technique for cooking greens! You can use this same recipe with spinach, kale, mustard, turnip, even collard greens! Go the extra mile and do the same thing with fresh green beans ... the only difference is, they need blanched (boiled for 2 minutes to preserve color, shocked in ice water after draining and then dried on a tea towel) before you add them to the pan. If you want to turn your greens into something special, add a handful of chopped walnuts and a handful of dried cranberries. The possibilities are limitless. It's like painting ... but not only do you get color, you have texture, smell and taste! Be brave ... now go at it!