Summer Recipes

Love being back home in my own kitchen after almost a 2 month hiatus. Now I can get back to my cookbook and also get back to trying some new recipes. Prior to leaving for the east coast, I was on a jackfruit kick. I made Jackfruit “Carnitas” Tacos and Taco Bowl. I had been wanting to do something else with it that would require BBQ sauce because who doesn’t love BBQ sauce? After researching some ideas, I was inspired by The Veg Life blog to create a Hawaiian Jackfruit & Pineapple Kabob.

This was exactly the type of jackfruit recipe that I was looking for because it includes one of my favorite things to eat: pineapples! It’s so simple to make. Just cut up red and green bell peppers, red onions, and pineapples into thick slices. Marinate the jackfruit chunks (unripe from a can) in your favorite bbq sauce. Then stack them all up on a skewer and grill. I don’t have a grill, so I sauteed everything on a frying pan and then placed them all on a skewer afterwards for presentation. I cooked my jackfruit separately so that I could give them a nice char. I also made fire-roasted tomato rice to serve with it and smothered additional bbq sauce over my cooked skewers. I highly suggest the fire-roasted tomato rice. I used canned fire-roasted diced tomatoes and cooked the rice in that with chicken broth (you can use water if you want to keep the entire recipe vegan). I also sauteed fried garlic and onions separately to mix into the cooked rice and topped it with chopped cilantro.

While I was in NYC this summer, I also made Tomato & Roasted Corn salad and Yucca Pizza Crust. The Tomato & Roasted Corn salad is a pretty basic recipe but it’s delicious and so refreshing. Mix tomatoes, roasted corn, red onions, and shredded basil, sprinkle salt and pepper, and then top with EVOO and balsamic vinegar. I love both tomatoes and corn so I can easily devour this salad. The Yucca Pizza Crust I have made before and have included the recipe in a previous post. This time I made a BBQ Cauliflower Yucca Crust Pizza (pictured above in the back), which is a great alternative to BBQ Chicken Pizza, and a Margherita Pizza (pictured above in the front) with pineapple and mushrooms. I got carried away and added too much cheese though so the pizza slices were harder to pick up. It’s just sometimes challenging to hold back on the cheese, ya know? Mmmm…

An old favorite recipe of mine, which I think can be made all year round, is tomato confit. You can find my recipe in a previous post. It’s really easy to make and you can do so much with it. I personally like to mix it with pasta (noodle-y pasta is my preference) or smother it over my fried eggs in the morning for breakfast. But you can also serve it on a crostini as an appetizer, use it in a sandwich or on toast as a spread, and drizzle over grilled meats or fish. The aroma after you take the tomato confit out of the oven is amazing. Try it!

Which summer recipes would you recommend? I could always use some more ideas!

Tomato Confit

Tomato Confit has been my recent obsession. I’ve made it at least 4 times in the last month. It’s such an easy and versatile recipe. You can mix it with pasta, spread it on top of a crostini or in a sandwich, use as a dip, or drizzle over meat or fish. I made it for my family over the holidays with spaghetti and a side of garlic shrimp. This week, I mixed it with zucchini noodles for a lighter, carb-free meal and it was still so yummy! Try it!

Tomato Confit

Ingredients:

·      1 lb mixed cherry tomatoes

·      ½ cup of extra virgin olive oil

·      5-6 cloves of garlic, 2 smashed and 3 thinly sliced

·      6 sprigs of fresh thyme

·      ½ tsp salt

·      ½ tsp pepper

·      ½ tsp red pepper flakes (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a baking dish, spread out your tomatoes and smother with olive oil.  Throw in garlic and thyme.  Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and chili flakes.  Bake for 60 minutes.  In about 45 minutes, check to see if the tomatoes have blistered and popped open. If not, puncture them slightly with a fork so that the juices ooze into the olive oil. And that’s it!

If you want to try this recipe with zoodles, spiralize 3 zucchinis. 3 zucchinis should be enough for the entire above-mentioned amount of tomato confit and should serve about 3 people. However, you don’t have to use all of the tomato confit for zoodles. You may want to make 1 serving of zoodles (1 zucchini) and then save the rest of the confit for other uses. Simply store the rest of the tomato confit in a glass jar and refrigerate. To make the zoodles, lightly sautee the zucchini noodles in a pan over medium heat with extra virgin olive oil. Sprinkle with black pepper and salt. Drizzle a tablespoon of lemon juice. Stir thoroughly. This will only take a minute or two. Be careful not to overcook the zucchini noodles because it can get mushy. Mix the tomato confit into the zoodles.

I prefer to top these zoodles with roasted corn. Since I don’t have a grill, I char 1 corn on the cob in a frying pan with olive oil and then bake it in the oven at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Allow corn to cool and then shave off the kernels and mix into your tomato confit zoodles.

'Tis the Season for DIY Holiday Gift Baskets

This past weekend, I attended a friend’s outdoor winter wedding cocktail party. For a gift, I wanted to do something that was more personal than a purchase from her registry. Since the bride loves food and cooking, I thought of making her a few homemade specialty sauces and toppings. I included a jar of fried garlic because it’s an essential Cambodian ingredient that would give the gift an extra personal touch. Then I made harissa for the first time ever. I had introduced my friend to this Moroccan chili paste over a year ago and I remembered she really liked it. I had a little leftover for myself and loved my creation! I will definitely be making more of this for myself in the future. It’s a great topping on meats, fish, shrimp, veggies, eggs—basically everything! I also tried making tomato confit after being inspired by a random Instagram post. This was probably my favorite new recipe to make! You can serve it over pasta or on top of a crostini (maybe paired with herbed goat cheese), as well as over meats and veggies. I felt like the basket needed one more homemade specialty item, so I decided to make olive tapenade at the last minute after watching a character on Black Mirror make it during an episode. It’s amazing where you can randomly find inspiration!

For the finishing touch to my gift basket, I included a bottle of bubbles and a scented candle, and then sprinkled in pieces of chocolate. I got the basket from World Market. The gift basket kit included raffia stuffing, clear plastic wrap, and a gift tag. I lined the basket with additional colored tissue paper and then added crumbled up packaging paper underneath the raffia stuffing to add more cushion to prop up the gifts.

This was such a fun gift to make! All the toppings/sauces were also very simple to create. I had my own labels printed at Vistaprint and bought jars from The Container Store. You can make your basket as fancy or as simple as you want. Here are some more ideas for homemade specialty items: hummus, eggplant or roasted red pepper dip, pesto, chimichurri sauce, pickles, jam, freshly ground chili powder, fig spread, or salsa. I tend to prefer savory over sweet but I really like the idea of a fig spread with goat cheese and honey on a cracker. In addition to your homemade specialty items, you can include wine, candles, a fancy giant matchbox, chocolate, crackers, truffle salt, truffle oil, or salami. I hope my post has inspired you. Happy Gift Basket Making!