Veggie Challenge #2: Avocados

Okay, let's not kid ourselves.  I didn't actually want or need to learn to cook with avocados.  I really just wanted an excuse to try my hand at ceviche because it was entirely too hot to think about turning on the stove or the oven.  So, reverse engineer that and BAM! you get my entry for avocados (or tomatoes, red onions, and cilantro for that matter - take your pick).  

There are a few tools in my kitchen that I absolutely love using and find an excuse to do so frequently.  Just ask boy.  If I can squeeze citrus on it using my juicer or zest it using my microplane chances are I will really enjoy cooking it.  That being the case and the fact that "lime" is a food group in our house (yum), ceviche is something I have wanted to try making since the very first time I tried it.  We are pretty spoiled living where we do with unbelievably fresh seafood right at our fingertips, so for you flat-landers at home (or anyone for that matter) I extend this offer: come visit me and I will make you ceviche with the best seafood around.

When trying to decide what seafood I was going to use, I wanted to go with something I hadn't had myself at restaurants to avoid comparisons if mine sucked.  Enter: scallops.  


As much as I would like to tell you that ceviche is very difficult and try to make myself sound amazing for doing it successfully, the fact is that it couldn't be easier.  


Step 1. Buy seafood and limes.
Step 2. Smother said seafood in said lime juice and let sit in fridge for 2 hours.
Step 3. Mix seafood with favorite "guacamole vegetables" and enjoy!


I highly recommend trying it.  Especially as a no-cook summer meal for those "too-hot-to-even-think-about-cooking" evenings.

Enjoy!


P.S. More exciting things to come next week, I promise!

Fruit Challenge #2: Triple Berry Pie! (Cherries)

The whole 'making the pie' aspect of this one was was a lay-up.  (Translation? Easy.  Unless of course you are Rondo and it is game 6 of the NBA finals.  Too soon, too soon?) On the flip side of that coin - have you ever tried to pit a cherry?  With a paper clip!?  (Full disclosure: I had a guest chef with me on this one and I merely watched while said friend struggled to pit the cherries.  My biggest gripe at the end was that my wine glass was empty while hers involved something about her hands being stained red.)  So, from what I observed, pitting cherries is quite the nuisance.

The weapon:

 The carnage:

The absolute victory:

I have to say that if you have berries laying around there is no better way (aside from the 'healthy' method of just eating them plain) of using them up than to smother them in an amazing crumble and bake 'em!  Our pie included fresh cherries, strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries.  Just another reason I heart summer - who can say no to fruit like that?

*As an aside: I know I am moving slowly into the stranger fruits and veggies, but if you have any suggestions of things you would like me to get to quickly just leave a comment or drop me a note!

Pickles!

So, what's the verdict?  Can I support my pickle addiction?

The answer: A resounding woot woot! (Literal translation: Heck yeah!)

If you remember, I did three treatments on the different jars of pickles.

#1. Traditional Dill: A touch sweet for my taste, but delicious nonetheless.  There are certain folks out there in the crowd that have fed me (or tried to feed me, rather) countless sweet pickles on a certain cape cod beach.  Needless to say I have never developed a taste for them.  To you, it is your lucky day.  Be looking for a hand delivery of jar #1 this week.

#2. Traditional Dill w/Red Pepper Flakes: Let's just say these aren't going anywhere.  If you want a taste, you can come to my apartment and attempt to barter.  'Nuff said.

#3. Traditional Dill w/Franks Red Hot: This one gets the vote of a certain boy/roommate/guinea pig.  The Franks is just vinegary enough to balance out the sweet to make these unbelievable.  The over under on days this jar is around is currently at 2.2.

All in all a fantastic success.  Looking forward to perfecting my brine.  I have a feeling there will be LOTS of homemade pickles in this girl's future!

Freggie* Challenge #1: Rhubarb

[Freggie n. 1. Not a vegetable, but not quite a fruit.  2. Traditionally a vegetable, but ruled to be a fruit by a New York state court in 1947 3. The red-headed step child of the fruit family]

Rhubarb and I have a past.  Apparently my great grandmother, Mum-Mum, used to make the best rhubarb custard pie this side of the Mississippi.  That is all fine and great, but you can imagine how disguising 'sunburnt celery' in a desert didn't go over so well with a bunch of kids.  I want cookie dough ice cream and chocolate cake, not some sugared celery pie.  (No offense mom, I am sure your rhubarb custard pie was amazing.) That being said, this was my first time ever cooking with rhubarb so I decided to start it off right with a taste test.

The verdict?  There is a reason that rhubarb is always served sweet and doused in sugar.  Originally I was going to try to do rhubarb two ways - savory and sweet.  I ruled out the whole savory thing about 0.3647583 seconds after tasting it. Decided that the only thing that was coming out of this were Rhubarb-Raspberry Turnovers.

Basically I combined the rhubarb with raspberries and about a half cup of sugar.  Let it all sit and juicify and then spooned that into the puff pastry.  Pretty straightforward.  I then let the turnovers chill in my freezer.



I don't know about you, but few things put me in a good place like kicking back with some ice cream (Breyer's Lactose Free, obvi) and the fixins for a great Mojito in the heat of summer.  So I just let those two get acquainted for a bit.

Tossed these bad boys in the oven and 25 minutes later we are in business.

Boy ate one for dessert the night I made them and again for breakfast the next morning.  I mean I tried to stop him, but when there is such amazing, gourmet food just laying around can you blame him?

Looking for more guinea pigs to help eat delicious food.  Please inquire within.

Veggie Challenge #1: Cucumbers!

Alex, meet your competitor:

Cucumbers.

The boy and I have always joked that I am going to eat downright gross stuff if I am ever pregnant.  A normal day for me consists of a borderline disgusting amount of pickled things - pickled garlic, pickled brussel sprouts, hot pickled green beans, and Franks Red Hot pickles (consider that a shout out C.T.).  If you can pickle it chances are I will eat it.  Lots of it. 

I figured it was high time that I learned to pickle my own things - take responsibility for my habit if you will.

I started with some amazingly local pickling cucumbers from Hopkinton, MA which is about 45 minutes due west of my kitchen.  (Also the starting line of the Boston Marathon for you out-of-towners.) Loosely followed a recipe I found, but when it told me to let the 1/2 cup of sugar just sit in the vinegar-water mixture for 2 hours to let it dissolve, I decided to take charge.  I rebelled and stirred it.  Badass, I know.  Cut two hours down to about 10 minutes.  Who has time to watch paint dry?  Let's be serious here, people.

I had enough to make three jars of pickles so, naturally, I put a different spin on each one.  In a mere ten days boy and I will have a jar each of regular dill pickles, spicy dill pickles (red pepper flakes), and... dun dun dunnnnnn...

 Frank's Red Hot spicy pickles.  [Let me just give you the amazing recipe for those... 1 gallon jar of dill pickles.  1/2 bottle Franks Red Hot.  Mix together and enjoy 3-5 days later.]

I have to say that I am a girl driven by instant gratification.  (Probably the same reason I never got into online shopping...)  Waiting the ten days it is going take for these to be ready will be torture, but boy and I will report back and let you know which was best.

Happy pickling!

Fruit Challenge #1: Red Raspberries

Ok, so maybe this one wasn't such a 'challenge' after all.  Actually, more of a softball really, but I said I was going to use all produce that passed through my market ranging from super exotic to every day - so here goes.

Red raspberries are probably my favorite fruit of all time - there is nothing that beats a red raspberry fresh off the plant that tastes like the summer sun. Takes me back to the jam my mom would make each summer.  She would send us out to the raspberry patch with a bowl only to find that we always came back with red lips, full bellies, and an empty bowl.  We inevitably always ended up having to buy the berries. Oops.

I have wanted to try making scones for a long time.  They are just so amazing that you would think they are really difficult to do.  Turns out the most difficult step is remembering to leave the butter out to soften.  [Never been able to remember to do this, but a certain former roommate hammered the point home that when a recipe says to soften the butter you had better follow suit or your finished product (always cookies in this case) would not be perfect.  Good thing he had the patience to smash my oft-not softened butter with a potato masher - he saved dozens of cookies from mediocre existences.] Aside from the painful step that requires you to stand there and cut the butter into two cups of flour, scones are wonderfully easy to make.

The finished product was delish and even better served with ice cream (let's be serious, what isn't?).

Raspberries?

Conquered.