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Fried Red Okra
At my kids’ soccer practice this morning, a good friend was relating to me how she picked and roasted okra, and I had to stop her mid-story to inform her that fried okra is the only way to do okra. She will likely live a longer, more mobile, more healthily radiant life than myself. I know other people have their own okra preferences, but the only way I eat okra is fried. Beyond only eating it fried, it has to be crispy throughout. I don’t like fried okra with thick breading and a slimy interior. If you like that, go to K&W or Morrison’s Cafeteria or Piccadilly (are those places…
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Chocolate Raspberry Scones
Truth: I can’t get enough raspberries and chocolate. After some tinkering, here’s my chocolate raspberry scones recipe. 2 cups all-purpose flour 1/3 cup sugar 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon vanilla 8 tablespoons salted or unsalted butter, chilled 1/2 cup chocolate chips 1/2 cup frozen raspberries 1/2 cup half and half 1 large egg 1 tablespoon sugar Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F, and move the rack to the middle. In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients together and either chop up the butter into small bits or grate the chilled butter into the bowl using the large end of a cheese grater. The…
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Spicy Swiss Chard and Fried Egg
This morning as I was misting the new lettuce and carrot sprouts in the garden, I looked over at the Swiss Chard and was overcome with a pang of guilt for not using it. I love growing things, but eating them is another story. So I gathered about 5 – 7 leaves from the center (forgoing the older, larger ones), and found a quick saute recipe online (here), which I tweaked to my own tastes. The trick to this recipe being so good and fresh, is the greens went straight from my back yard to the kitchen. My plants have overwintered, so I’m assuming the cold weather and newer leaves…
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Sweet Potato and Arugula Salad
I just pulled up the first sweet potato from my garden and knew that it deserved a massive celebration … in my mouth. With the arugula propagating like a weed in the garden, it now serves as the base for salads around here. There are three kinds currently growing. One is rather spindly, but the other two are tender with broader leaves, one which is pleasantly spicy. The other lettuces we planted either never took off or are just too bitter from the earlier heat. This salad invented itself last week from the ingredients I had on hand. The lack of dressing makes up for the bacon, so don’t fret.…
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Sun dried tomato sourdough bread
There’s a new favorite bread in our house, and it was born out of a desire to use up the cherry tomatoes. I’m going to skip the narrative and get straight to the recipe. Ingredients 3 cups bread flour 2 – 3 tbs sugar, depends on if you want the bread slightly sweet or not 1 tsp salt 2 tbs olive oil 1 cup sourdough starter 1 cup caramelized cherry tomatoes in olive oil or your choice of sun dried tomatoes in olive oil. Directions Starter I’ve been making a quickie sourdough starter where I combine 2 tsp bread machine yeast, 1 cup warm water, 1 tbs sugar, and 1…
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Pesto! A simple recipe for the weekend.
I read on a friend’s post that her basil wasn’t quite big enough to make pesto yet. The secret to big basil plants is frequently prune the top leaves, just above the joints where new branches are forming. This opens up those baby leaves to more sunlight, and the plant will bush out before you know it. I used to prune the bottom leaves, which only leads to the plants growing tall and skinny and flowering before a good harvest is ready. How could fresh basil not make me smile? The following is my basic pesto recipe. I even made a batch just now so I could use exact measurements.…
