prosciutto wrapped figs

It's kinda funny to think I had sworn that I would never eat figs again!...hahahaha

I am the youngest of three, and as such my duty growing up was to climb on top of barns and chicken coops with the help of old wiggly ladders, and of course the loud direction of my fathers trombone-like voice, to pick just the right (as you probably guessed) figs, and apricots too.

The hard work wasn't what scared me, it was, well, the combination of my acute fear of heights and the fact that I am allergic to bees, bees tend to hover around fruit trees. And if this wasn't bad enough there was my mother's compulsive need to make jams, not for our family, but for an entire army even though we were a simple family of 5!

I remember the restaurant size steel pot, steaming up the kitchen during the already hot summer days, the sound of the simple sugar bubbling and popping, the smell of the fruit slowly taking over the humid air...quite a beautiful painted memory indeed!

I also remember asking my mom for strawberry jam, which happens to be my favorite, and I recall her answering " yes, just after we finish the apricot (or fig) jams I made". That usually didn't seem to bad, until I opened the cabinet and saw what to a child seemed like a million jars of the same homemade jam.  Though excessive they were nothing, I meam NOTHING, like Smucker's!!!! NOTHING LIKE IT AT ALL!

But now, 30 years have passed and what I wouldn't give to re-live those moments, what I wouldn't pay for my senses to experience  once again all of those overbaring sensations.  

And the figs, my grandfather's figs....my shaky knees climbing up rung by rung with my eyes shut tight worried I was going to fall....all of these memories come back every single time I cook with figs. They hold such a dear place in my heart....on pizzas, in salad or wrapped in prosciutto and grilled for a few minutes as in this appetizer. Such a nice balance of sweet and savory in each bite, an amazing combination of textures  that add such intrigue to a dish so simple... the mysteries, so to speak, behind every simple family.

red white and...greek

So I'm sure you guessed I made this for the 4th...the red white and blue all American theme should have given it away, but I do make this though out the summer. Mostly because I have a 5 year old daughter who loves to help me cook and well, while she's not old enough to turn on a burner she can most certainly mix a few ingredients.

It is a win- win situation, she has a blast putting on her play pretend chef 's outfit and i get to do less work and enjoy a great fruit salad.

All I had to do was cut the jicama in small pieces and halve the strawberries. she washed them ans mixed in the blueberries. Her favorite part was to scoop out 3 tbs of jogurt,( I chose my favourite Greek jogurt, rich and creamy ) 1 tbs of honey and 1 tbs of sugar and mix them well together...:( with her hands...

She wanted pretty cups to make it "seem like a party" and what's prettier than a martini cup?

Lighten up your day with the perfect summer salads

TERYAKY CHICKEN SALAD

It's summer, the temperatures are rising and the yearning to fire up the grill is ever so powerful.

This is when we leave behind the hot cozy soups, the over - filling steamed rice for the refreshing taste of salad...but not just any salad. One whose taste will leave you wanting more, a salad that will make you forget about those old teryaki bowls, at least until next winter.

I chose to grill chicken thigh filets,those pieces already come cleaned off the bone which allos the meat to cook faster and skin free, well which just cuts a whole lot of calories I don't want to have during bikini season. To shave off even more calories chose thinly sliced breast pieces, I went with dark meat because it usually stays more moist.
I placed my chicken pieces in a mixin bowl and poured enough teriaky sauce to cover each piece nicely and I added about an inch of freshly grated ginger then  I let them marinate in the refrigerator for about an hour. I fired up the grill a little bit before putting the meat to allow the temperatures to reach a medium.
I placed the chicken on the grill and cooked it for about 30 minutes turning each piece often in order to not burn the teryaki sauce and giving it a bitter taste. Once done I allowed the meat to cool down in order to not wilt the greens of the salad. While that was happening, I prepared my greens, some thinly sliced napa cabbage, some green onions and some ginger/soy snap peas. Those were easy as well, i mixed up some fresly grated ginger, one minced garlic clove and 2 tbs of soy sauce and I coated a couple of hanfulls of snap peas. After mixing well i put all the mixture in a grilling basket and cook for about 6 to 7 minutes, just until they were softer but still nice and crispy. I then put themin an ice bath to stop the cooking process.
I cudes a nice avocado and added that to my salad bowl with the sliced chicken filets once cool to touch. For dressing I smimply mixed, salt and pepper to taste, 2 tbs of red wine vinegar, 1 tbs of extravergin olive oil and about atsp of teryaky sauce to make the dressing a little sweater but still very light and refreshing.
to this day this is one of my favourite salads!

watermelon cocktail

Nothing screams "summer" as much as a nice, cold and juicy watermelon!
I bought one of those small sedless watermelons and put it in the refrigerator for a couple of hours as soon as I got home. Once chilled I cut it in a half and balled it and put it in a mixing bowl with about 2 shots of vodka, a little lemon juice, some of the watermelon juice and about 10 leaves of basil from my garden......Seved in a nice glass it makes the pefect summer cocktail!

What does your childhood smell like?

On my morning drive to work I heard this news caster talk about the importance of smell. He was explaining how "smell" is the strongest of our senses and the most commonly used  in reference to memories. He was trying to show how some of our culinary preferences are not solely based on our sense of "taste"but somehow triggered by "smell" awakening certain dear memories....and YES! I can see that!

I was at work, walking toward the back room as I passed the mushroom display and there they were, these huge perfect meaty Porcini mushrooms. I suddenly had the urge to run my hands through the basket and the smell they left on my hands just instantly brought me back to those rainy days in Italy. The smell of the rain evaporating from the browning reddish leaves on the floor, the mud accumulated from the fertile rainy season....a wide eyed 6 year old following her dad...exploring the woods, listening to wild stories. And the earthy steam coming up from my mom's stove every Sunday morning before church when she would start slow cooking her Rabbit stew and the porcini risotto which are to this day my favourite dishes ever.....And even as strong is the recollection of the warmth that would built up in the kitchen after a few hours.

So here it is, my mom's risotto....

The most complicated part of this dish is the cleaning of the porcini, which is quite time consuming, but definitely rewarding. Just like those saturday evening after a long day in the woods, I sat at the table with a bowl of cold water and soaked the halved porcini for a bit. Once all slippery, I took a spoon and cleaned out the porous part underneath the cap. here i rinsed them under cold water and sliced them into pieces of the desired sized for cooking. This is the tricky part....at times once the mushrooms are sliced you can find little dark spots or holes. If so, break the part where the hole is to see if a worm is still inside.......and rinse it out if so. I guess the meatiness of porcini is quite mouth watering to them as well! :). I cook the mushroom separately in dry white wine for about an hour with the lid on before I start the rice.



Take a sauce pan and glissen 1/2 a yellow onion,diced, 3 cloves of garlic, minced, and about 2 handfulls of Arborio rice per person. This takes about 2 minutes, do not allow the garlic or the onions to brown because that will add a bitter taste to the risotto. add about 1 cup of chicken stock and 1 1/2 cups of dry white wine and the cooked porcini mushrooms.

 Trn the heat down a bit and cover the pan with a lid. Cook down, stirring every 4 minutes or so, do not allow all the fluids to evaporate. Taste the rice to make sure it's ready before turning the burner off. You might have to add another cup of stock, always make sure that when the rise is cooked it is still moist. Add a little bit of saffron and parmigiano reggiano to taste.

Fusilli with rainbow chard, leeks and portabella mushrooms

This is one of those dishes that usually surprises everyone. It is Vegan, full of Healthy Greens....and yet it is one of the most flavorful pasta  dishes I have ever had....and trust me, I've had my share!It is really easy to prepare as well and won't take you longer than 15 Minutes...which will leave you with plenty more time to enjoy it.

Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil, add a pinch of salt to it and cook the pasta of your choice following the cooking times given on the box.( I'd chose fusilli or penne rigate, pastas with twists or ridges hold the sauce better making each bite more flavorful.)

In the meantime melt 2 TBS of Vegan Butter spread. Add the white and light green part of a leek stem, minced,1 portabella cap, cut in small dices and the stem pieces of 3 rainbow chard leaves.Cover with the lid and cook for 5 minutes. Then add 3 minced garlic cloves, 1/3 cup of veggie broth, 1/4 TSP of red pepper flakes and cook for 5 more minutes occasionally stirring.Add 1/2 TBS of Walnut oil and 2/3 cup of vegan cooking cream and the sliced chard leaves. Cook uncovered until the sauce get thicker, but not longer than 5 minutes not to over cook the greens. Once ready serve over the hot pasta and garnish with fresh sage and a few halved walnut pieces.

rasberry/penut butter and chipotle pepper duck served with oyster musrooms and white truffle oil risotto

I was at work and Max from Max's chilli sauces came in and gave me a bottle of this sauce he had been working on. He explained how this was his first trial, so the sauce was a little thicker than he had originally wanted. I  was obviously very curious, I mean, once you hear rasberry, penut butter and chipotle peppers...wouldn't your curiosity be tickled as well?
So i tried the sauce and immediately loved the combination of the sweetness of the rasberry with the nuttiness of the penut butter and the smoky heat of the chipotle peppers.....
At first i though of using it as a glazed over a nice steak, mostly because of its thickness...but then i decided to go with duck. i felt the sweetness and smoky flavors of the sauce would compliment its  gamy richness of flavors....
I decided to order a whole duck and I asked the butcher to cut it into 4 pieces just so that I wouldn't have to do any extra work at home. while in the store i also purchased some nice oyster mushroom and a box of carnaroli rice. I though a truffle oil and oyster mushroom would compliment the sweetness of the sause without over - powering it.
Once i got home i spread the duck p[ieces on a plate and i seasoned them with salt and pepper. I minced 3 garlic cloves and sliced a brown onion and put them in a duch oven pot with a table spoon of extra vergin olive oil and cook them until shiny, about 4 minutes. In the meantime I browned the duck pieces in an oiled pan and then transferred them in the duch oven pot with a cup of chicken stock and a cup of chardonnay.I placed the lid on the pot and turned the heat on medium.....and cooked the meat for about 2 hours untill it started to separate from the bones.Then I removed the meat from the pot, and continued to cook the liquid down till reduced to half and then added 3 TBS of the rasperry penut and chipotle sauce to the liquids and i cooked it for about 5 minuted untill its consiatency was creamy. Then i placed the meat back in the pot and cooked it a couple of minutes with the sauce to add both heath and flavor....then i placed the pieces of duck on a baking sheet and placed them in the oven with a little bit of sauce over them to glazed them, this took about another 5 minutes with the oven pre heated to 500.....
I have to say this dish turned out great....it's probably one of my favourite dishes to this day!