Tomato Salad with Herb-infused Croutons and Goat Cheese

Tomato Salad with Herb Infused Croutons and Goat Cheese

Why would anyone make homemade croutons when there are so many packaged varieties to buy?

For me it’s because the store-bought ones I’ve tried are oversalted, over garlicked, overgreased and hard as rocks.

And I trust my own instincts about whether my leftover bread is stale but still fresh enough to be useful rather than some commercial firm’s where they’re looking to get every penny’s worth.

Besides, croutons are incredibly easy to cook and they are so versatile and tasty you can feel like a genius after you make a batch and use them for some recipe or other. And also because you can use almost any kind of bread, any kind of cooking fat, any kind of seasoning, depending on which recipe you will be adding them to.

For example — I make basil-infused croutons for fresh tomato soup, chipotle seasoned croutons for pea soup. I prefer traditional garlic and herb croutons for Caesar Salad.

I’ve also made buttery cheese-croutons, which are wonderful as toppers for vegetable casseroles and have even stuffed some into an omelet when I was at a loss for some other ingredient. I’ve made a variety of croutons with fresh herbs to use as a bed for stirfried vegetables.

There’s no end to the possibilities.

Croutons are supposed to be the crispy, luxurious, contrasting crunch and flavor your tongue savors as it tosses around soft lettuce leaves or buttery avocado or tangy salad dressing. The hard-as-rocks kind from the package are always too distracting. 

Tomato Salad with Herb-infused Croutons and Goat Cheese

• 4 slices 3/4-inch thick Italian bread

• 1-1/2 tablespoons butter

• 1-1/2 tablespoons olive oil

• 1 large clove garlic, sliced

• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil

• 2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves

• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

• 1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes, halved

• 1 ripe avocado, peeled and cut into bite size pieces

• 1/2 cup crumbled goat or feta cheese

• 1/4 cup chopped red onion

• 3-4 tablespoons olive oil

• 2-3 tablespoons red wine vinegar

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Trim the crusts from the bread and cut the pieces into small cubes. Heat the butter and olive oil in a sauté pan over medium heat. When the butter has melted and looks foamy, add the garlic slices and cook for 1-2 minutes or until the garlic slices turn lightly brown. Remove and discard the garlic. Add the bread cubes, basil and thyme, sprinkle with salt and pepper and toss to coat all the pieces. Place the cubes on a cookie sheet. Bake for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until the cubes are crispy and golden. Set aside. Place the tomatoes, avocado, goat cheese, red onion and croutons and toss ingredients. In a small bowl, whisk 3 tablespoons olive oil and 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar and pour over the salad. Toss and taste, adding more olive oil or vinegar as needed. Let rest for at least 5 minutes before serving.

Makes 2-4 servings

Herb and Chorizo Gougeres

My mother always said “don’t try out new recipes on guests.” Because what if the recipe doesn’t work or we don’t like it and so on and so on and then there might be nothing to eat.

Well, first, there is never nothing to eat at my house. Because my mother’s other advice (shown by example) was to have a freezer full of food “just in case.”

Second, because I like to try new recipes and who else could I try them on if not for the people who dine at my table?

Usually what I do when I have a dinner party is to make one new dish. All my friends know there will be some experiment or other for them to taste and comment about.

But next Sunday I am having lots of people over to celebrate the birth of our granddaughter Carina (I am a little slow, she is now 7 months old) and several of the dishes I will be serving are experiments.

Only I took my mother’s advice. I tried them out first so I know they work.

One of the hors d’oeuvre I worked on was gougeres, the wonderful, crispy baked French cheese puffs. I’ve made them a zillion times, so no problem there. 

But I needed to make them dairy-free.

How do you make gougeres without butter and cheese?

I substituted Earth Balance buttery sticks for the butter. And instead of mixing in grated cheese I added finely chopped chorizo sausage (I used Jack’s Gourmet), which gave the puffs the characteristic tangy taste needed for a good gougere.

Voila! Followed my mom’s advice and have plenty in the freezer just in case.

Here’s the recipe:

Herb and Chorizo Gougeres 

1 cup water

1/4 pound (1/2 cup) Earth Balance Buttery Spread, cut into chunks

1 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon salt

4 large eggs

2 tablespoons chopped fresh mixed herbs

1/2 cup finely chopped chorizo (one Jack’s Gourmet chorizo)

pinch cayenne pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place the water and Earth Balance in a saucepan over medium heat. When the Earth Balance has melted, add the flour and salt all at once. Stir vigorously with a wooden spoon until the mixture is well blended and begins to come away from the sides of the pan. Remove the pan from the heat and let cool for 2-3 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, blending well after each addition. Add the herbs, chorizo and cayenne pepper and blend them in thoroughly. Lightly grease and flour a baking sheet. Drop 1-inch mounds of dough from a teaspoon onto the sheet. Leave space between the mounds for the puffs to rise. Bake for 20 minutes or until the puffs are lightly brown and crispy. Lower the heat to 300 degrees and bake for another 5-6 minutes. Turn off the heat but leave the puffs in the oven for 3-4 minutes. Serve hot or at room temperature. Makes about 60

Eli's Cheesecake

It’s cheesecake season. Whatever the reason: Shavuot, Mother’s Day, graduation, upcoming pool or patio party, Father’s Day and so on.

So last week I handed out my very special recipe for cheesecake. 

Which got a terrific response and one particularly nice one for me from Eli’s Cheesecake in Chicago, Illinois, which I became familiar with many years ago when I was at college at Northwestern University.

When the good folks at Eli’s read my blog and saw how I was bragging that my cheesecake recipe is unsurpassed, they offered to send me one of theirs to compare.

So here’s the deal.

My cheesecake is smooth, creamy, dense and tangy. I mix in freshly grated orange and lemon peel to infuse it with a refreshing citrus flavor.

Eli’s cheesecake is smooth, creamy, dense and tangy, pleasantly sweet and spiked with rich vanilla. 

It’s the old apples-oranges thing. They are too different to compare.

If you like baking your own, try my recipe. If you’re looking for scrumptious bakery-bought cheesecake, order one (or more) from Eli’s. In addition to plain vanilla there’s lots of other flavors including gluten-free versions as well as chocolate, salted caramel, turtle, cappuccino, blood orange, key lime and more (including sampler packs that include several flavors together).

Either way, you can’t go wrong, especially now. Cheesecake season. Whatever the reason.

Shakshuka

I like breakfast but don’t usually get the opportunity to eat the kind I would like (unless I am on vacation). I mean not only delicious food that takes more than 40 seconds to put together but also more time to sit and enjoy the meal, the surroundings and hopefully good company. Or maybe read a newspaper, enjoy the scenery.

Stuff like that.

So what I do is make breakfast for dinner, when there’s more time to relax and actually enjoy what I’m eating. When I can sit down at the table and use real dishes, not stand at the sink scooping yogurt from a plastic container.

And when I say breakfast for dinner I don’t mean cheerios and milk or a doughnut and coffee or frozen waffles.

I mean something like shakshuka. Peppers and eggs. An Israeli specialty made with sauteed tomatoes, onions and lots of red hot chili pepper. After this “salsa” cooks and softens you break eggs on top, cover the pan a little longer until the eggs are steamed done. I like this dish sprinkled with salt and zatar (a Middle Eastern spice blend). I love when the egg yolks are still runny and the rich, dark yellow liquid oozes into those hot vegetables.

Perfection. Rich and hot. Feisty. Filling.

Perfection. For breakfast, lunch, brunch or dinner.

Shakshuka

1/4 cup olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

1 red bell pepper, deseeded and chopped

2 small habanero or other chili peppers, deseeded and minced

1 large garlic clove, minced

6–8 plum tomatoes, coarsely chopped

1 tablespoon minced fresh basil

1 tablespoon lemon juice

8 large eggs

3/4 teaspoon zatar

Heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the onion, bell pepper, and habanero peppers. Cook for 4–5 minutes or until softened slightly. Add the garlic and cook briefly. Add the tomatoes, basil, and lemon juice, stir, cover the pan, turn the heat to low and cook for 8–10 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until vegetables are very soft and saucelike. Crack the eggs into a small bowl one at a time then transfer each one next to the other over the vegetables. Cover the pan and cook for 4–5 minutes or until the eggs are set but yolks are still slightly runny. Sprinkle with zatar. Serve each person 2 eggs and some of the vegetables.

Makes 4 servings.

Angel Food Cake

My mother used to say that eating Angel Food Cake was like eating a sponge. A dry sponge at that.

She had this way of sneering by raising her upper lip up almost into her nose that, to this day, years since she passed away, when I think of it and picture her, still makes me howl with laughter.

Anyway, she made that face when she mentioned Angel Food Cake. Which she refused to eat. My mother was a baker and insisted there were better baked goodies to feast upon.

At some point I was asked to write about Angel Food Cake for a newspaper column. This was a dilemma, because I had never tasted it homemade, so I didn’t actually know what the goal was. I had tasted Angel Food Cake in my college dorm cafeteria and had to agree with my mother on this one. It was like a sponge.

The packaged Angel Food Cakes at the supermarket didn’t look any better, so I never bought one. And I didn’t want to spend any money on an expensive bakery version because what if it was as awful as I expected? 

So, I tested several recipes and experimented.

I was pleasantly surprised by the result. Very pleasantly surprised. 

Angel Food Cake is not rich or dense like, say, a chocolate cake or a marshmallow-frosted coconut cake. 

Nope. It is the opposite. It is light, soft, ethereal. The kind of confection that’s perfect on a summer day or after a big meal when you want a bit of sweet but not something that will make you weighed down like you swallowed a boulder.

And this is the bonus: Angel Food Cake is dairy free and fat free. No butter, margarine, oil, egg yolks, milk, cream, yogurt or sour cream in this cake. 

Best of all, it tastes good. I make it with vanilla and almond extracts and sometimes with orange extract and freshly grated orange peel. I’ve made it chocolate flavored too. 

There are special pans for Angel Food Cake, but you don’t actually need one. I don’t have one — I make mine in a bundt pan. The reason for the special pan is that the cake must cool upside down (because you do not grease the pan and the cake would stick otherwise) and has “feet” for this purpose. I place the baked cake upside down on the neck of a glass (do NOT use plastic or it will melt) bottle. It works just fine as you can see in the photos.

Here is my recipe with variations. I think even my mother would like it.

Angel Food Cake

1 cup cake flour

1-1/2 cups sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1-1/2 cups egg whites at room temperature (about 10-12 eggs)

1-1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Sift the cake flour, half the sugar and the salt together three times. Set aside. Whip the egg whites until they are foamy in an electric mixer set on medium-high. Gradually add the cream of tartar and whip until the mixture stands in soft peaks. Gradually add the remaining sugar and whip until the mixture stands in stiff, glossy peaks. Stir in the vanilla and almond extracts. Fold in the flour mixture in thirds, carefully incorporating the dry ingredients. Pour the batter into an ungreased 10” tube pan or angel cake pan. Bake for about 40 minutes or until the cake is puffy, golden brown and a cake tester, inserted into the center, comes out clean. Remove from the oven and place the cake upside down, either with the cake pan legs or by inverting the cake over a tall glass bottle. When the cake is cool, loosen the edges with the tip of a sharp knife, then invert and gently shake the pan over a cake plate. Makes one cake

Variations:

Chocolate: substitute 3/4 cup cake flour plus 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

Orange: add 1 teaspoon orange extract and 2 tablespoons grated fresh orange peel to the batter with the extracts

Mother's Day Baked Apples

I know Moms are supposed to love when their kids make stuff like Nutella-marshmallow-banana sandwiches for them on Mother’s Day.

But I’m not one of them.

Food this sweet might appeal to kids but honestly, I don’t think I could get through two bites of it, even for pretend that I thought it was the best breakfast anyone ever made me.

Ok. Call me grumpy.

But my kids must have known because I never got a Nutella-marshmallow-banana sandwich for breakfast on Mother’s Day.

I really really really prefer much simpler foods that won’t send me into a sugar frenzy.

Like Baked Apples.

If someone made these for me I would be very grateful. On Mother’s Day or any other time.

Mother's Day Baked Apples

4 large baking apples

half a lemon

1/2 cup raisins or dried cranberries

2 tablespoons finely chopped almonds or hazelnuts

4 tablespoons honey or maple syrup

1 cup orange juice, apple juice or cider

cinnamon

1 tablespoon butter or solid coconut oil, cut into 4 pieces

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Wash the apples, remove the cores and seeds, leaving about 1/2-inch on the bottom. Peel the apples halfway down from the stem end on top. Rub the cut surfaces with the cut side of the lemon. Put the apples in a baking dish. In a small bowl, mix the raisins, nuts, one tablespoon of the honey or maple syrup and 3-4 tablespoons of the juice. Stuff this mixture into the apple hollows. Pour the remaining honey and the remaining juice over the apples. Sprinkle the apples lightly with cinnamon. Dot the tops with butter. Bake the apples for about 45 minutes, basting occasionally with the pan juices, or until the apples are tender. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Makes 4

New York Cheesecake

This is my no-better-than-this-one cheesecake.

Honest.

I have tasted all sorts. Plain, chocolate, gloppy-cherry-topped, graham cracker crusted, pumpkin-infused, brandy-spiked, caramel swirled. Sara Lee’s, Lindy’s, Eli’s, Junior’s.

Not that I spend my life eating cheesecake. In fact, cheesecake is a rare item at our house because, let’s face it, there are enough calories in one slice for an entire meal.

Nope. Cheesecake is reserved for special occasions, like Shavuot (which begins at sundown May 14 this year). It’s tradition to eat dairy on this holiday, and cheesecake has always been the most popular holiday dessert.

As far as I’m concerned, because cheesecake is such a rarity in my life, it has to be worthy. Worthy of a celebration. Worth adding all those calories to my day.

This one is.

Honest.

New York Cheesecake

• 1-1/2 teaspoons butter or margarine
• 1/3 cup graham cracker crumbs (approximately)
• 1-1/2 pounds cream cheese (3-8 ounce packages)
• freshly grated peel of one small orange
• 2 tablespoons freshly grated lemon peel
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup whipping cream
• 1 cup sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 1/3 cup dairy sour cream or unflavored yogurt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spread the butter on the bottom and sides of a 9” springform pan. Sprinkle the inside of the pan with the graham cracker crumbs. Shake the pan to coat the bottom and sides of the pan completely. Beat the cream cheese, orange peel and lemon peel together in the bowl of an electric mixer set at medium speed for 1-2 minutes or until the cheese has softened and is smooth. Gradually add the vanilla, cream and sugar and beat for 2-3 minutes or until the mixture is smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl occasionally with a rubber spatula. Add the eggs one at a time, beating them in after each addition. Stir in the sour cream. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Prepare a bain-marie, that is, place the springform pan inside a larger pan. Fill the larger pan with enough hot water to come at least 1-inch up the sides of the baking dish. Bake for 70-75 minutes or until the top of the cake is lightly browned. Remove the springform pan from the larger pan and let the cake cool in the springform pan. When the cake has reached room temperature, refrigerate it for at least 4 hours or until it is thoroughly chilled. Remove the sides of the pan to serve the cake. Slices best using a knife that has been inserted into very hot water. Makes one

Dukkah Crusted Chicken

Dukkah is the new goat cheese. Or maybe the new kale chips or sun-dried tomatoes.

What I mean is, dukkah is the “new” culinary discovery, the rage. It’s hot!

I’ve been reading about dukkah in lots of places recently, like the Huffington Post and New York Times. I’ve even written about it myself — for the Connecticut Post and as a guest blogger for my Kosher Connection colleague Yosef Silver’s blog, This American Bite.

I’m always amused and amazed at trends, culinary or otherwise. Like the 1980’s cabbage patch doll craze. And I mean craze. When the dolls were in short supply, parents and grandparents scrambled in a frenzy to buy them and paid all sorts of scalper prices for them. 

My Dad waited on line outside Macy’s for over four hours so he could get these dolls for my daughters.

Four hours.

But he got them.

Today would have been his birthday, so, good for you Dad, such a good father and grandfather, and Happy Birthday.

But back to trends …

Culinary trends can be just as energizing and quick to catch on. Suddenly everyone wants a taste of whatever it is that’s “new.” Like goat cheese, first imported from France in the 1980s. It caught on like a California wildfire. The French had always eaten goat cheese, so it really wasn’t new. But it was for us Americans, who take it for granted now.

Same with sun-dried tomatoes, another biggie from the late 1970s, long known in Italy, but a “new” trend here.

And now there’s dukkah. It isn’t “new” either. It’s a traditional, well-loved spice blend popular in Egypt and in other parts of the Middle East. But it’s fairly new for us. 

Dukkah is a blend of nuts, seeds and spices. The recipe is incredibly flexible, like any spice blend. It’s typically used as a dipping mixture for pita bread (or other flatbread that you dip in olive oil first). But I use dukkah to season fish, meat, poultry and vegetables.

Because dukkah is so flavorful, you need just a small amount for seasoning, (I sprinkle about one tablespoon’s worth over a cut up chicken). It’s much too bold for use as a coating (like for fried fish or boneless chicken breasts). But you can mix in a couple of tablespoons to perk up plain bread crumbs.

I don’t know if dukkah is one of those hot food trends that’s here to stay (like hoisin sauce) or not (think blackened fish).

Whether or not, it is good, interesting and worth a taste. Here’s my recipe. Store unused portions in a tightly covered container in the refrigerator. Nuts get rancid quickly, especially in the warm weather.

Dukkah Crusted Chicken

Dukkah

1/4 cup shelled pistachios

1/4 cup whole hazelnuts

2 tablespoons sesame seeds

1 tablespoon ground coriander

1-1/2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon paprika

Place the pistachios and hazelnuts in an unoiled pan and cook over medium heat, shaking the pan occasionally, for 2-3 minutes. Add the sesame seeds and cook for another 2-3 minutes or until the ingredients are lightly toasted. Remove the pan from the heat and place the pas aside to cool. Place the mixture in a food processor or spice grinder and process until finely chopped. Mix in the coriander, cumin, salt, pepper and paprika. Makes just under one cup

Seared Cod with Cauliflower, Pine Nuts, Capers and Raisins

I’ve been cooking a lot of cauliflower dishes recently. The heads in my local stores have been so firm and fresh looking that I keep buying them and then of course have to cook and eat them while they are still so perfect. 

This Seared Cod and Cauliflower dish was our dinner recently. A sort of all-in-one-pan meal. So easy!

The creamy color was a lovely monochromatic sort of thing, but I added fresh parsley to give it a highlight of green.

Cod can be mild and tasteless. Cauliflower can be robust — I didn’t want it to overwhelm the fish. The toasty-tasting pine nuts (pignolis) and sweet raisins gave the dish a good balance and mix of flavors. 

Seared Cod with Cauliflower, Pine Nuts, Capers and Raisins

1/2 small head of cauliflower, cut into small florets

2 tablespoons olive oil

1-1/2 to 2 pounds cod, cut into 4 pieces 

salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

2 tablespoons unsalted butter 

1/4 cup pine nuts 

2 tablespoons drained small capers

2 tablespoons golden raisins

2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

1 tablespoon chopped parsley

Cook the cauliflower in simmering water over high heat for about 4 minutes or until just tender. Drain and set aside. Heat the olive oil in a sauté pan large enough to hold the cod pieces and vegetables. Add the fish, sprinkle with salt and pepper and cook over medium heat for 4-5 minutes, or until golden brown on the bottom. Turn the fish over. Add the butter and let it melt. After it has melted, place the cauliflower, pine nuts, capers and raisins in the pan and cook for another 4-5 minutes, until the nuts are toasted, the fish is golden brown on the second side and the cauliflower has crisped. Pour the wine vinegar over the fish. Spoon equal amounts of fish, cauliflower and the other ingredients onto dinner plates, sprinkle with parsley and serve. Makes 4 servings

Frisee aux Lardons

Kosher Frisee aux Lardons? Sounds like an oxymoron. Because this dish is based on lardons! which are crusty little fried pieces of pork fat.

Definitely not kosher.

However. Frisee aux Lardons using Facon (a new product from Jack’s Gourmet) definitely is.

No one sent me any free Facon. No one asked me to use it.

I just tasted it and knew it was meant for big things.

Like this Frisee aux Lardons, which essentially is this lovely, light, springlike salad comprised of cooked bacon, poached egg and a light dressing that uses the rendered meat fat instead of salad oil.

Do try it.

Frisee aux Lardons

2 heads frisee

6-8 ounces Facon, cut up

4 poached eggs

5 tablespoons white wine vinegar or lemon juice

2 teaspoons light brown sugar

salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Wash and dry the lettuce leaves and divide the greens among 4 plates. Cut the Facon into dice and cook in a saute pan over low-medium heat for 8-10 minutes, stirring frequently, or until the pieces are crispy and golden brown. Scatter the pieces over the frisee. Set the pan aside. Place a poached egg on top of each salad. Add the wine vinegar and brown sugar to the pan. Cook over high heat briefly while whisking the pan drippings, vinegar and brown sugar together. Immediately pour over the frisee. Makes 4 servings