It’s been some time since I’ve added anything to these pages but I’m back. After all, you didn’t think you’d be lucky enough to get through the entire summer without my virtual smiling face on your computer screens, did you?

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer so far. It’s been a busy one on this side of the internet with lots of things happening all at once. (On that note, thank you for the emails checking in during my absence. It was great to hear from everyone and I sincerely appreciate the sentiments and concern. Thank you.)

Not only has it been a busy summer but it’s been a very hot one too! So, I can’t wait to tell you about the salad in today’s post – it’s cool and refreshing, the perfect foil to steamy summer days – but first a little detour…

As I mentioned, there is a lot going on. Chief among them is that I am now a gypsy. A number of months ago, I moved out of my home and started the process of purchasing a new home. Sounds great? Well, hold off on any congratulations, cause there’s a wrinkle (why are there always wrinkles?).

Although I went into contract on the seemingly complete place in December of last year, it is still not ready to be occupied. Evidently, we’re waiting on final approval from the NYC Building Department. It’s been a long, grueling process. Frankly, the whole things makes me long for the days when a strategically placed envelope stuffed with cash could magically open the doors to passing a city inspection. Evidently, New York City government and inspectors are now corruption-free (just my luck).

So, now I’m a nomad – roaming from one short-term place to another, waiting for the day that I can move into my new home (and get back to keeping these pages regularly updated). So, if you are walking around NYC and you see a visibly lost man wandering around with suitcases, a white Kitchen Aide mixer and a cooler filled with homemade smoked meats, don’t be afraid stop and say hi.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot the Green Bean-Citrus Salad with Dill Pesto. This dish was kind of an accidental discovery. It was Sunday. It was a hot hot New York summer day. No one wanted to leave the comfort (and AC) of home. So, Robert (my talented, best BF in the world, BF) cobbled together this dish from remnants that were in the kitchen.

There was dill and parsley in the fridge and cashews in the pantry…the idea of a pesto was born. There were green beans from the previous night’s dinner. There was ricotta salata for creaminess and salt. There were oranges– which is all we needed to add a little brightness and acid to the dish.

And shock beyond shock, we absolutely loved it! It’s a great balance of flavors. And especially delish when served ice cold. Refreshing, light and bright.

NOTE: Since first making this dish, we’ve tested out a variation using diced roasted beets. It was even better. The beets added a layer of yummy sweetness that helped to round out the sharpness of the oranges. And it was pretty!

GREEN BEAN-CITRUS SALAD & DILL PESTO

1 TSP salt

½ pound fresh green beans, washed with stem ends removed

½ cup fresh dill, roughly chopped

¼ cup flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped

2 TBL fresh chives, roughly chopped

¼ cup grated parmesan cheese

¼ cup walnut halves

1 clove garlic

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 large oranges

½ cup (or more) ricotta salata, crumbled with your fingers

Cook beans in large pot of boiling salted water until tender, 7-8 minutes. Drain well; cool immediately in iced water to stop the cooking process. Once, beans are chilled drain well, pat dry with a paper towel and set aside in a large bowl.

In the bowl of a food processor, add dill, parsley, chives, cheese, walnut halves and garlic and process until all ingredients are finely chopped. With motor running, add oil and blend until incorporated. Set aside.

Cut peel and white pith from oranges. Carefully, remove individual orange segments with a knife. Cut each segment in half. Before discarding the orange membranes, squeeze them over the bowl of green beans to extract their juice.

In large bowl containing green beans, add half of the dill pesto, orange segments and ricotta salata. Toss to incorporate. To suit your taste, add more dill pesto and/or crumbled ricotta salata.

Chill salad to allow the flavors to meld together.

Serves 4 (as a side).

Curled up in the fetal position, I was in my own personal nightmare.

If you’ve been to the CeramicCanvas.com in the past two weeks you may have noticed something….there was no CeramicCanvas.com. It seems that we were experiencing some technical difficulties or as our web hosting support tech calls it, “a fatal programming loop.”

I confess, I’m way too IT-challenged to even begin to understand what that means. But luckily for me, all is well again with our little slice of the internets…and I’ve managed to pick myself up off of the floor.  There’s just one little problem. Because of our blackout, most of you never got the chance to see last week’s Blackberry Custard Tart recipe – which is a real shame, cause it is one of my favorite desserts of all time.

I found it back in 2000 while perusing a copy of Saveur magazine – and have loved it ever since. Packed with a one-two punch of berry flavor, it’s one of those fail safe recipes that you make when really need to wow a crowd. If you get a chance, check it out.

And speaking of desserts that I’ve had a long term affair with, the Rosemary-Olive Oil Cake featured in this post is nothing to sneeze at.

When I first came across this recipe in 2002, I was a bit scandalized. At the time I had never heard of using olive oil and rosemary in a dessert before. I was immediately skeptical and thought to myself, “Olive Oil and rosemary in a dessert? This is just crazy talk!”

But it was a Mario Batali recipe (from The Babbo Cookbook) so, I knew I had to try it. I figured it would expand my culinary horizons. With a small amount of trepidation I nervously got down to baking and about an hour later dove my fork into my first slice of Rosemary-Olive Oil Cake.

It’s been eight years now and I have to say I love this cake as much today as I did that first day. It’s super moist and delicate. It’s sweet but not overly sweet.

The rosemary adds a subtle smoky- woodsy twist to what looks to be a very ordinary pound cake. And the olive oil lends it’s unmistakable richness to this classic Italian treat.

It’s a perfect cake to serve with coffee and/or tea.

Cheers!

ROSEMARY & OLIVE OIL CAKE

As printed in The Babbo Cookbook by Mario Batali

4 large eggs

¾ cup sugar

2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

2 TBL fresh rosemary, finely chopped

1 ½ cup all-purpose flour

1 TBL baking powder

½ TSP Kosher salt

Preheat oven to 325⁰F. Spray a 10-inch loaf pan (or an 8-inch round cake pan) with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.

In a bowl of an electric mixer, use the paddle attachment to beat the eggs for 30 seconds. Add sugar and continue to beat until the mixture is very foamy and pale in color. With the mixer running, slowly drizzle in the olive oil. Using a spatula, gently stir the rosemary into the batter.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. With the mixer on low speed, gradually add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.

Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through for even color. The cake is done when it is golden brown, springs back when touched, and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.

Allow the cake to cool briefly in the pan, then tip out onto a cake rack to continue cooling.

I doubt that I will survive the experience.

Since as far back as I can remember, I’ve never really been the tough guy. I have pre-school memories of a 5 year old me being mocked by the ‘mean girls’ cause they wouldn’t let me cook with them in the kindergarten’s play kitchen. “Go outside and play with the boys,” they’d taunt.

Considering this, I very seriously doubt that I would survive prison today. I shudder thinking of my first day behind bars and how it would bring back awkward pre and high school memories.

Would I fit into any of the cliques? Which cafeteria table would I sit at (would anybody even let me sit at their table)? Would I be as bad at making a shank as I was in high school wood shop? Ugh!

I think about how when everyone shares their tales of what landed them in prison (i.e. bank robbery, racketeering, money laundering), the awkward silence that will follow as I share my story of what landed me in The Rock…recipe plagiarism.

Normally, at the CeramicCanvas.com, when I come across a recipe that inspires me, I tweak it, cook it and share it. But this time is different. This time I am copying someone else’s recipe word for word…with absolutely no shame.

I’ve made and enjoyed this Blackberry Custard Tart for over a decade and I have never veered off the original recipe as it was printed in the October 2000 issue of Saveur Magazine.

I mean, why mess with a good thing.

It’s an explosion of berry flavors. The blackberries are incorporated in the tart in two ways. First, the berries are pureed and mixed into the egg custard – providing a sweet, creamy but distinctive summer-like berry flavor.

The second berry burst is more intense and comes from the blackberries that are left whole and allowed to ‘stew’ in the cooking tart. As they cook they release their juices and you’re left with berries that are full of tarty goodness.

Vibrant in color, this tart has a delicious one, two berry punch!

Considering the plagiaristic mess I’ve now gotten myself into, I can only hope that one day someone bakes and sends this tart to me in my jail cell (and please don’t forget to bake it with a file hidden inside) 

Cheers!

NOTE: The pastry recipe that was printed with the tart used vegetable shortening (which produces a flaky crust) but a good all-butter crust works just as well. The butter pastry recipe below is from How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman.

BLACKBERRY CUSTARD TART

Originally published in Saveur Magazine

FOR THE PASTRY (Pastry Recipe Adapted from How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman):

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

2 TSP sugar

¾ TSP Kosher salt

10 TBL cold unsalted butter, cut into to ½ cubes

4 TBL ice water, plus more if necessary

FOR THE FILLING (Originally published in Saveur magazine):

6 eggs

1 1⁄4 cups superfine sugar

2 1⁄2 cups blackberries (or raspberries)

1 lemon

6 tbsp. heavy cream

For the pastry: Sift together flour, sugar, and salt into a large mixing bowl. Use a pastry cutter (or two knives) to work butter into flour until it resembles coarse meal. Drizzle in up to 4 tablespoons of ice water, stirring dough with a wooden spoon until it begins to hold together. Press dough into a rough ball, transfer to a lightly floured surface, then flatten slightly with your hand to make a round. Wrap dough in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 400°. Roll dough out on a lightly floured surface into a 14″ round, fit into a 12″ fluted false-bottom tart pan, and run rolling pin over rim to remove overhanging dough. Prick bottom with a fork. Line dough with parchment, add pie weights or dried beans, and bake until crust is set and edge begins to color, about 25 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350°, remove parchment and weights, brush bottom and sides with egg, and continue baking until crust is golden, 15–20 minutes longer.

For the filling: Whisk together eggs and sugar in a medium mixing bowl until pale yellow. Purée 1 1/2 cups of the blackberries in a blender, and stir into egg mixture. Remove the zest from half the lemon, then squeeze juice from lemon and add both to egg mixture. Add cream; mix well. Arrange remaining 1 cup blackberries evenly on crust, pour in filling, and bake until filling is set, about 40 minutes. Set aside to cool before serving.

If it wasn’t for that fact that I will have my own personal chauffer and someone to dress me up, I’d be late to my own funeral.

Whether it’s meeting friends for a movie or a movie, I am almost always running a tad bit behind scheduled plans. This “Tardy for the Party” mentality (if you get that joke, you, like me, watch way too much reality TV) extends to all reaches of my life. For instance, take asparagus season.

Asparagus season has been in full swing for quite some time now and somehow I am just now getting around to making a dish with what is my favorite veggie. I am not sure what took me so long to get around to it but let me tell you, this recipe for Ribbon Asparagus Tart is a great place to begin.

The other day I was watching the Martha Stewart Show (I actually watch that show more than I care to admit.) and I was knocked off of my seat and spurred into asparagus action. They were promoting the recently released book, Dinner at Home by Martha Stewart, by demonstrating a recipe for an asparagus tart.

It was a simple recipe pretty much only using puff pastry, asparagus and cheese. It was super simple. But what made the tart stand out to me was the presentation. The asparagus was made using a vegetable peeler to form a layer of asparagus ribbons. It gave the effect of a nest of interlocking green ribbons.

I was intrigued but guarded by the recipe. Last year I had attempted to use asparagus shavings for a salad. It was not very photogenic. To be honest it looked like a big mess.

With last year’s disaster still haunting me, I tried putting Martha’s asparagus tart on the back burner. But as much as I tried it just would not go away. I started thinking of how I would adapt it for my taste. I could pump up the creamy factor by adding a layer of ricotta cheese as the base. Then I thought torn pieces of prosciutto could add a bit of smokiness.

Then I thought about adding a bit of truffle oil (I mean everything tastes better with a little truffle oil, right?). And instead of shaving the entire asparagus, I would shave the stalks into ribbons but leave the tips whole for a visual pop.

As you can see, I couldn’t get this tart off of my mind. So I dove in and gave it a try. And I am so glad that I did. If you love asparagus, I think this tart will be an instant hit.

It’s a nice balance of flavor. The asparagus is not overcooked so they retain their true flavor. And the ricotta, truffle oil, prosciutto give the tart dimension and layers of flavor without over power the true star of this dish…the asparagus.

I hope you enjoy.

Cheers!

RIBBON ASPARAGUS TART

Adapted from Dinner at Home by Martha Stewart

12 medium asparagus spears

1 sheet (14 ounces) frozen puff pastry, thawed

All-purpose flour, for dusting

1 large egg, well beaten

2 TSP truffle oil (I use truffle flavored extra-virgin olive oil)

1 cup ricotta cheese, room temperature and light whipped with a fork

Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

3 slices of prosciutto

1/3 cup finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Cut off and discard tough ends off of the bottom of asparagus. Cut off asparagus tips and reserve. Shave the remaining asparagus stalks into thin strips using a vegetable peeler.

In a medium saucepan, bring about 2 cups of water to a boil. Blanch asparagus tips in boiling water for two to three minutes. Remove asparagus tips and immediately submerge them in ice cold water to stop the cooking process.

Meanwhile, roll out dough on a lightly floured work surface, just until creases are smooth. Trim dough to a 10-inch square. Lightly score a 1/2-inch border around dough (be careful not to cut through the dough). Brush off excess flour and transfer dough to a parchment-lined baking sheet (or a baking sheet lightly coated with cooking oil spray). Freeze 15 minutes.

Brush border of dough with the beaten egg. Bake until puffed and starting to brown, 8 to 10 minutes. In a medium bowl, toss asparagus shavings and drained tips with the oil, and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Remove tart shell from oven and press down on the center with a spatula.

Spread an even layer of ricotta cheese on the tart shell. Than arrange asparagus on top.

Bake until asparagus is crisp-tender, about 8 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle cheese and prosciutto evenly on top. Bake until cheese is melted, about 4 minutes more. Let cool on a wire rack 5 minutes before slicing into squares.

Changing your name and moving to an undisclosed location can be a massive disruption in your life but sometimes it’s so worth it. By the time you read this I will have already gone underground, totally untraceable and been made to ‘disappear’ like a KGB ‘person of interest.’ I’ve been enrolled in the Culinary Secret Witness Protection Program.

It’s a program for those who have committed the most egregious culinary gaffes… gaffes that have earned them shame and the scorn of their fellow foodies. I knew the second that I decided to make this easy ‘caramel’ sauce that my name would be mud. I mean, technically it’s not even a caramel (no brunt sugar) but man oh man, it is so delicious and best of all, it’s so so so easy to make.

Here’s the rub. It’s basically warmed, flavored condensed milk. I know what you’re thinking, “Warmed condensed milk? Not even Semi-Homemade’s Sandra Lee would stoop such lows.” And you’re probably right.

But you gotta cut me a little slack here. Making caramel can be a hassle. You have to burn the sugar just so, without scorching it. You have to deal with sugar crystal forming on the sides of your pan. You have to be on the ready as the whole thing bubbles up and splatters as you incorporate the heavy cream.

So, I was more than a little intrigued when I came across this easy, no fuss version in Dana Hay’s cookbook, Off the Shelf: Cooking from the Pantry.

Would it taste anything like caramel? (The answer is, Yes) Would it have the same deep, burnt flavor has the traditional version? (The answer is, pretty much, Yes).

I should also mention that I loved the cookie too. It’s kind of a cross between a sandie/shortbread and a traditional cookie. It has the density of a traditional cookie (not crumbly and dry like a good shortbread) and it has that beautiful light flavor that you expect to have in a shortbread cookie.

It’s a great companion for a good cup of tea or coffee: not to sweet and saturated – just light and buttery.

NOTE: I’ve made several ‘real’ caramel recipes during my time in the kitchen. If you want to go the more traditional way, try the caramel recipe used in these Pecan Sandies & Caramel Filling. It is BAR NONE the best caramel recipe that I have ever come across).

NOTE 2: While it truly is delicious, this caramel does have its weakness. If you need a caramel that hardens when it cools this may not be the best recipe (I wouldn’t recommend it as a cookie filling. Note how the caramel oozes out the side of these cookies. It’s very fluid.) But if you are looking for more of a caramel sauce (to pour over ice cream, to mix in a cake batter) this no-fuss baby will really shine.

Cheers!

TEA COOKIES WITH CARAMEL FILLING

Adapted from Off the shelf: Cooking from the Pantry by Donna Hay.

I divided the recipe in half when I made it. Which was relatively easy to do and the results were great. To use half an egg, light whisk the egg and pour about half of it in the recipe.

The original caramel recipe called for golden syrup – an ingredient not readily available in American markets. This recipe uses honey as a substitution.

2 stick butter, chopped

1 cup confectioner’s sugar

1 ½ all purpose flour

1 cup cornstarch

1 egg

Caramel filling

14oz can sweetened condense milk

½ stock butter

2 TBL honey

Preheat oven to 350⁰

Place the butter, icing sugar, flour, corn starch and egg in a food processor and process until smooth dough forms. Roll dough one tablespoon at a time into balls and place on a lined baking tray.

Flatten the dough slightly and place the trays in the refrigerator for 10 minutes or until firm. Bake the cookies in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes until lightly golden. Cool on racks.

To make the caramel filling, combine the condense milk, butter and honey in a heatproof bowl. Place bowl over a saucepan of boiling water and stir occasionally for 10-15 minutes or until the caramel is thick.

Cool the caramel for 10-15, then spoon onto the flat side of the cookie halves. Top with the remaining cookies and allow to firm.

It’s the first day of Spring 2010 and it was the night before Christmas!

Let me explain. It was life imitating art. As penned in the famous poem, Twas the Night Before Christmas, “The children were nestled all snug in their beds, while visions of sugar-plums danced in their head,” last Saturday, I was lying in bed half asleep, half awake when I was startled to consciousness by a vision that could only be described as a gift from the heavens… Mini Chocolate Pound cakes soaked in ginger syrup and topped with a white chocolate ganache (Wow! Was that a run-on sentence or what?).

The more I thought about this flavor combo, the more excited I got. And as luck would have it, I remembered that I already had little 3 ½” loaf/cake pans that I had bought over a year ago but never got around to using.

This was coming together. I was wound up. I could barely go back to sleep. I tried counting sheep but they would start turning into chocolate pound cakes jumping over a country wood fence in front of a stream of white chocolate ganache. Ahhh, they were so cute.

The next morning I sprung out of bed, dashed over to the market, grab a knob of fresh ginger and sprinted back home to start my mad science experiment.

I was reasonably confident that I could develop the ginger syrup recipe on my own, but I knew I needed a jumping off point to for the cakes and ganache. I found what I was looking for in my often used cookbook, Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook. I needed to make adjustments to the recipe.

The original recipe was for a classic standard sized pound cake (I cut the ingredients by half), I would need to add cocoa powder (so I reduced the amount of flour so that the final cake wouldn’t be too dry) and I needed to reduce the cooking time.

I am very happy with these cakes. The flavor profile came together almost exactly how I had imagined. The cakes themselves have a beautiful moist texture with a deep flavor from the cocoa powder. The ginger syrup, with its spicy, almost peppery flavor adds a spike of unexpectedness that really works well with the earthiness of the cocoa.

And then there’s the white chocolate ganache. It’s white chocolate…what else can I say.

One last thing. To give the cakes an added layer of flavor (and visual texture), I topped the cakes with a sprinkle of chopped crystallized ginger. This was my good friend Robert’s idea. And it was a stroke of genius on his part.

NOTE: You’ll have little more of the ginger syrup than you’ll need for the cakes. No worries. Mix a little of the syrup with a glass of club soda and you’ll have a fabulous homemade ginger root soda.

NOTE 2: I first tried spooning ginger syrup over the cakes (see photo). That didn’t work so well. The syrup didn’t absorb into the cakes – it just ran down the side. So, I decided to instead submerge the warm cakes upside down into syrup. That worked like a charm (photo above).

Cheers!

MINI CHOCOLATE POUND CAKE WITH GINGER SYRUP

GINGER SYRUP

Original Ceramic Canvas Recipe

4” piece of ginger

1 ½ cups of water

1 cup granulated sugar

Using the back of a spoon, gently rub the skin off of the ginger piece. Cut the ginger into medium sized dice. Add ginger pieces and 1 ½ cups of water into a small saucepan, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to the water barely simmers. Continue simmering until water has reduced to about 1 cup in volume, about 15 minutes.

Remove from heat. Pass liquid through a fine-mesh strainer to remove ginger pieces. Stir in sugar until it dissolves. Set aside.

MINI-CHOCOLATE POUND CAKE

Adapted from Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook

¾ cup all-purpose flour

1 TSP kosher salt

4 TBL cocoa powder

1 ½ sticks of unsalted butter, room temperature

¾ cup of granulate sugar

1 TSP pure vanilla extract

3 large eggs

Special equipment: 3 ½” nonstick loaf pans

Preheat a convection oven to 325⁰ (or 350⁰ on a traditional oven). Line nonstick mini-loaf pans with parchment paper and set aside (alternatively, you can butter the loaf pans instead of using parchment paper). In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and cocoa powder, set aside.

In a bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter, granulated sugar and vanilla on medium-low speed until the light and fluffy, 3-5 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until combined. With mixture on low speed, add flour mixture, beat until just combined.

Spoon the batter into a prepared pan and smooth out with a spatula. Bake until cakes rise, turn rich brown and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 30-35 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool just until they are able to be handled.

Makes 6 mini-loaf cakes

WHITE CHOCOLATE GANACHE CHOPPED GINGER GARNISH

Adapted from Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook

3 TBL crystallized ginger

½ cup heavy cream

4 oz white chocolate, chips or finely chopped

Finely chop crystallized ginger and set aside.

In a small saucepan over medium-high heat bring cream to a full boil. Turn off heat. Add the white chocolate and swirl pan to completely cover it with the cream. Let stand about 5 minutes. Slowly whisk mixture until it is smooth. Transfer to a clean bowl, Let cool, stirring frequently.

Ganache will thicken as it sits. To cover cake, it should be pourable but still thick enough to coat. If not, place bowl of ganache over a pan of simmering water and stir until it reaches the right consistency.

Set ganache aside.

ASSEMBLING THE CAKES

Pour warm ginger syrup into a medium sized bowl. One by one, place upside-down cakes into the ginger syrup and allow them to absorb a good deal of the liquid, about 3-5 minutes each. Repeat process with all cakes.

Spoon white chocolate ganache over the ginger syrup-soaked cakes. Garnish with finely chopped crystallized ginger. Serve.

BREAKING NEWS…BREAKING NEWS…BREAKING NEWS!

University of California, Davis researchers have found that drinking beer can help prevent weak bones.

You hear that Sally Fields? You can give it a rest now. My drinking buddies and I aren’t taking your Boniva…anymore.

To celebrate this life changing medical discovery, I decided to make a companion snack to my new beer diet regiment. The usual suspects came to mind…pretzels (which I will make some day but not this time), potato chips and/or maybe a ‘gourmet’ popcorn.

None of these options really struck my fancy. I wanted something different. Around the same time, I came across a recipe in Food & Wine magazine for an interesting way of turning pasta into a snack food.

Fettuccine & Wasabi ‘Breadsticks.’ This recipe called for frying cooked pasta until it takes on a crispy texture. They are unique, ridiculously easy to make and make a great party conversation piece. I was drawn to this recipe. It should be noted that as a person who grew up in Alabama, any recipe that starts by frying an ingredient that really doesn’t need to be deep fried is tops in my book.

Actually, the original Food & Wine magazine recipe called for Udon noodles and ground Nori. I liked the concept but it was a little too fancy smancy as a beer snack. And plus, I was way too lazy to go the market and hunt down Udon noodles. I also decided to add in a little heat with a dash of wasabi powder (oddly enough while I don’t have Udon noodles, I have lots of wasabi powder in the pantry).

I really like these babies. I think they are the ultimate party snack: crunchy, salty, with heat from the wasabi and best of all…fried.

As easy as they are, I have to admit, I had to cook a few of them before getting them just right. Here are a few things I solved through trial and error.

Don’t tie the knots too tight (they won’t cook). Don’t fry them extremely hard (you’ll get something with the texture of a brick). If you need to salt them again, do so right after they are fried (the salt adheres better). I would suggest making a few extra and cooking them one at a time until you get the technique just right. Enjoy.

Cheers!

FETTUCCINE & WASABI “BREADSTICK” KNOTS

Adapted from Food & Wine Magazine

30 strains of fettuccine

Vegetable oil, for tossing and frying

1 TSP wasabi powder (alternatively, you can use fine ground black pepper)

Kosher salt, to taste

In a medium saucepan of boiling water, cook the fettuccine noodles until they are cooked through and pliable, about 8-10 minutes. Drain thoroughly and transfer the pasta to a medium bowl. Gently toss the pasta with a teaspoon or so vegetable oil to keep them from sticking together. Lightly toss pasta with wasabi and Kosher salt to taste. (Add the wasabi powder a little at a time – tasting it as you go – to make sure that you season the pasta to your taste).

Take 3 fettuccine strands and carefully tie them in a loose knot near the end. Repeat with the remaining pasta. In a large skillet, heat 1/4 inch of vegetable oil until shimmering. Fry 2 of the fettuccine bundles at a time over moderately high heat, spreading the ends of the fettuccine out in a fan, until golden and crisp, about 1 minute per side. Transfer the bundles to paper towels to drain.

Makes 10

Ok guys, you gotta be honest with me. Does this bright orange make my backside look big?

Notice anything different? The Ceramic Canvas is trying on a new outfit, a new look, a complete redesign of the website. Although it keeps the old sharp orange color scheme (what can I say, me likes bright shiny colors), the new site is more user friendly with a stronger emphasis on the food and photos.

I’ll be honest – reprogramming the site was often painful. I mean, I’m no html, css.layout data pro. At one point I thought I had lost all of my old content. I responded the only way I knew how – I curled up on the floor in the fetal position. And nothing good can come from a grown man on the floor in the fetal position. Well, except that I realized that I really need to dust my floors more often.

But here we are – a new look. I hope you like it. What do you think? What better way to kick off this new bright and shiny web design then with a bright and shiny dish.

I love pomegranates. In particular, I like that as I bite into the pomegranate seeds they release this tart burst of juice that wakes up my taste buds. It reminds me of summers growing up in Alabama (by the way, I’ve always thought of pomegranates as summertime fruits but evidently, they’re not. Who knew?).

So, I was raring to go when I came across this recipe for Pomegranate & Walnut Salad thumbing through one of my favorite cookbooks, Turquoise: A Chef’s Travels in Turkey by Greg & Lucy Malouf. It’s a beautiful book filled with amazing recipes and photographs of food and the Turkish land/cityscape that make you long to hop on a plane and eat your way through this amazing country.

I bought the book after my good friend (and soon to be neighbor) Rasha gave me a copy of its companion book, Saha: A Chef’s Journey through Lebanon and Syria, for my birthday. I highly recommend both books.

Back to the salad. While the tartness of the pomegranate is the undisputed star of the show, what makes this salad standout is the way the other flavors and textures, lingering around in the background, round out the dish: the crunch and slightness of the pistachios, the smokiness of the toasted walnuts, the sharp brininess of the green olives, the occasional heat from the Serrano chile.

While on their own none of these ingredients are shirking violets, the flavors really play well together.

I’ve made this salad a few times – tweaking it along the way. I’ve always envisioned this salad being fresh and bright. So, I have significantly increased the amount of pomegranate to amp up the flavor. I’ve also decreased the amount of nuts and green olives – they tend to overwhelm the other elements of the dish.

Lastly, the original recipe calls for pomegranate molasses. That’s way too complicated and specialized for me (translation, I’m too lazy to go out and find it). I’ve modified the recipe by using honey and fresh pomegranate juice instead.

The great thing about composed salads is the ease in which you can adjust the ingredients to suit your taste. So, give it a try and increase and/or decrease the ingredients as the mood strikes you.

Cheers!

POMEGRANATE & WEALNUT SALAD

Adapted from Turquoise: A Chef’s Travels in Turkey by Greg & Lucy Malouf

½ cup walnuts

¼ cup pitted green olives, coarsely chopped

¼ cup unsalted shelled pistachios, coarsely chopped

1 cup pomegranate seeds, finely chopped

2 small shallots, peeled and finely diced

1 red Serrano chile, seeded and finely diced

2 TBL shredded flat-leaf parsley

1 TBL extra virgin olive oil

1 TBL walnut oil

2 TBL of pomegranate juice

1 TSP of honey (feel free to add more to suit your taste)

Juice of ½ lemon

Sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 350⁰F. Scatter the walnuts onto a cookie sheet pan and roast for 5-10 minutes, until deep golden brown. Pour the nuts into a dish towel and rub well to remove as much skin as possible. Chop the walnuts coarsely and toss in a fine-mesh strainer to remove any remaining skin or dust.

Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl and toss gently.

Leave to stand for 5 minutes or so before serving to allow flavors to meld.

Serves 4

Everyone has one. For some it’s a no fuss baked chicken. For others it may be a satisfying tray of hearty lasagna.

It’s their ‘go to’ recipe. A dish that you’ve made so many times that you can cook it on autopilot – an easy dish that always seems to hit the spot.

I have several ‘got to’ dishes (a few of them from McDonald’s). This recipe for Spaghetti all Carbonara is one of my favorites. It’s delicious, filling and very pantry friendly – between the fridge and the cupboards, I tend to always have the ingredients on hand.

It’s an awesome marriage of flavors: smoky bacon, spice of freshly cracked pepper, salty-sweetness of the Parmigiano-Reggiano/pecorino romano cheese blend, and richness of the egg yolk fat all finished off with a fresh lift from the sweet peas. You can’t go wrong.

As easy of a dish it is to make, there is a tiny bit of technique required. And that is in making the sauce. Working fast, you have to stir the eggs into the hot spaghetti until they are no longer liquid but have not yet formed curds (between me and you, even if you go a bit too long and ‘overcook’ the eggs it’s still an amazing dish…the sauce won’t be as creamy). Ideally, you’ll end up with a beautiful, velvety sauce.

A note about the cookbook, Essentials of Italian: Normally, I am not a fan of ‘corporate cookbooks’ – books that are not produce by a chef or individual but rather a corporate committee (some Martha Stewart Living books are the rare exceptions). These books tend to be impersonal and filled with generic recipes and uninspiring photography.

This book, produced by Williams-Sonoma, is an exception. The recipes and photos make me want to get in the kitchen and start cooking my way through the book. Several of the recipes have already become staples in my kitchen (including one for Braised Balsamic Chicken). All in all it’s an approachable, comprehensive and tasty guide through a modern take on Italian cooking.

Have a ‘go to’ recipe that makes your stomach sing? Share and tell us about it.

Cheers!

SPAGHETTI ALLA CARBONARA

Adapted from Essentials of Italian from Williams-Sonoma

6 oz precut bacon or slab bacon cut into ¼” thick batons

1 TBL extra virgin olive oil

Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

1 lb spaghetti

1 cup frozen peas

½ cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (or a mix of Parm-Reg or pecorino romano)

2 large whole eggs, plus

1 large egg yolk, at room temperature

In a large frying pan over medium-low heat, combine the pancetta and olive oil and slowly heat slowly until much of the fat is rendered and the meat has browned a little, 10-15 minutes depending on the type of bacon or pancetta that you are using. Leave the meat and fat in the pan and cover to keep warm.

Bring a large pot three-forths full of water to the rolling boil and add about 2 tablespoons salt. Add the spaghetti, stir well, and cook, stirring occasionally, until al dente, according to the package directions.

Meanwhile, in a bowl, mix together the cheeses. In another bowl, whisk together the whole eggs and egg yolk until well blended. Stir the cheese mixture and several grinds of pepper into the eggs.

From this point on, timing and temperature are crucial. Put a large serving bowl in the sink and set a fine-meshed strainer or colander in the serving bowl. Place frozen peas in the bottom of the strainer. When the spaghetti is done, pour it into the strainer, so that its hot cooking water thaws the frozen peas and warms the serving bowl.

Toss the drained spaghetti into the pan with the bacon/pancetta and stir a couple of times to coat the pasta with the fat. Being careful not to burn your fingers, empty the hot water from the serving bowl, reserving about 2 ladlefuls. Transfer the pasta to the warmed bowl, add the egg mixture and stir and toss vigorously with wooden spoon to coat the pasta evenly. Adjust the consistency of the sauce with some of the cooking water if needed. Divide among warmed plates and serve at once.

Serves 4-6.

No doubt that many of you reading this entry will be very disappointed with the content. It’s all about cocottes. Evidently, the French word cocotte has two meanings. There’s the culinary definition – an individual serving sized dish of baked eggs and cream. And then there’s the other meaning referring to – well, you know – ladies of the evening.

So, if you’ve landed here via a Google search with hopes of photos and info on the red light district cocottes, sorry, this post is all about eggs. But if you’re here for the edible cocotte (I’ll restrain myself and not make an off-color joke here) then boy-oh-boy, do I have a dish for you.

The nuts and bolts of this dish are simple (and delicious): eggs, heavy cream, bacon, sautéed potatoes and butter. How can you go wrong, right? You can’t.

The other unique element of this dish is the presentation. It has the beauty of a sunny side up egg (bright, intense yellow yolk center) but with the ease of making a frittata – just mix and pop it in the oven. Again, how can you go wrong?

I was indirectly inspired to make this dish. Walking through a local home store, I found these cool tiny 6-ounce ramekins that were designed to look like a full sized Le Creuset enameled Dutch ovens. I saw them. I was intrigued. Resistance was futile. I bought them. (Did I mention that they were only $2.50 each?)

It wasn’t until I got home that I thought, “Sure they were cheap but what can I use them for?” Individual Mac & Cheeses? That could work. Or maybe soup dishes? Too awkward and forced.

At some point I thought of cocottes. I also remembered this Gourmet magazine recipe that I bookmarked a while back. At this point I should mention that the original Gourmet recipe has almost no resemblance to the recipe that I ended up making. It has been tweaked (ingredients & technique) almost beyond recognition. Not because I possess any advanced skills at culinary improvisation. I just didn’t want to go to the market and buy the ingredients. I used what I had on hand. As I have mentioned before on this site, I can be quite lazy.

More important than the presentation is the flavor. It’s delicious, filling and satisfying. The sautéed potatoes and leeks. The bacon. The lightly cook egg with the rich runny yolk. The cream.

I think this would make a great brunch dish. Or better yet, make them, serve them on a tray with the Sunday paper, orange marmalade buttered toast, a glass of OJ and/or coffee and it becomes the perfect breakfast-in-bed treat for your main squeeze.

NOTE: If you’re making this dish for a group. I would suggest that you cook the bacon and potatoes-leek mixture ahead of time (even the day before). And a bit before you’re ready to serve, assemble the ramekin components and pop them in the oven.

NOTE 2: The eggs in this recipe will not be fully cooked, which may be of concern if salmonella is a problem in your area.

NOTE 3: I recommend that you use a nonstick pan for sautéing the potatoes. I didn’t. A good deal of my potatoes burned and stuck to the pan. Using a nonstick pan also allows you to use less of the rendered bacon fat when cooking the potatoes. Which is good since it’s a bacon, heavy cream and yolk dish.

Cheers!

EGGS EN COCOTTE BAKED WITH CREAM & BACON

¾ cup slab bacon cut into lardons (1/4” wide batons)

2/3 cup potato, ½” diced cubes

1/3 cup leeks, diced

dash of dried thyme

2 large eggs

3 TBL heavy cream

1 TBL butter

Salt and fresh cracked pepper, to taste

Chives, diced (for garnish)

Equipment: 2 (6-ounce) ramekins

Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle.

In a medium sized nonstick sauté pan, cook bacon lardons over moderate heat until it they are crisped and cooked through.

Let bacon drain on a paper towel.

Meanwhile pour off and discard all but 1 tablespoon of the rendered bacon fat. To the sauté pan, add potatoes, leeks and thyme and cook until the potatoes are cooked through, about 20 minutes.

Divide and layer the potato/leek mixture among the two ramekins. Add a layer of bacon lardons to each serving (reserving a few of the lardons to garnish the cooked dish). Spoon 1 tablespoon of heavy cream into each serving. Crack an egg into each ramekin and season lightly with salt and pepper. Spoon 1 teaspoon (2 teaspoons, if you dare) of cream over each egg. Cut the tablespoon of butter into 4-6 small pieces and dot the top of each ramekin with butter.

Put ramekins in a shallow baking pan and bake, rotating pan halfway through baking, until whites are just set but yolks are still runny, 15 to 20 minutes, removing from oven as cooked.

Serves 2