Recipe: Balsamic Glazed Pecans

Balsamic Glazed Pecans

Old standbys with new twists in the recipe world intrigue me. The problem I run into is that the changes people try frequently make the recipes pretentious, usually by unnecessarily complicating them or completely destroying their original character (for the record, the idea of a “deconstructed” dish still deeply offends me and I’m happy to say it to any professionally trained chef).

What I was aiming for with this recipe was a tasty coating on a nut that would keep from softening up in waldorf salad if it had to sit for a while on the Thanksgiving buffet table. This recipe worked admirably well for that purpose and, in fact, I had to make extra because Mr. Man loved them so much he snacked on them while I was putting the salad together. Simple, different, tasty real food.

Recipe: Savory Summer Vegetable Cobbler for Melanie

Savory Summer Vegetable Cobbler

If you really want to dress this up for your guests, consider baking each serving individually. My favorite part? When the gravy bubbles up and leaks a little bit down the sides of the dishes, giving them a lovely rustic look. If you’re trying to plan ahead like I did and make lunch portions at the same time as dinner, however, skip the rustic look and fill your oven-safe bowls a little under level to avoid the mess.

Purists will likely argue that this isn’t a cobbler because it doesn’t contain fruit. That’s fine. Call it vegetable pot pie if you wish. Call it a casserole. Call it a vegetable stew. I don’t care. Call it whatever you want. We called it Yummy. What was most important was that it used up a ton of vegetables admirably well. Hey, Melanie, this one’s for you.

Recipe: Cucumber Gazpacho

The Big Guy and I are prepping for vacation and at the same time struggling with the idea that this oppressive heat we’ve had for the past couple of weeks will only get worse as we while away the time in a canvas tent in the foothills of Pennsylvania. Our usual modus operandi is to eat down the contents of the fridge to its bare bones the two weeks before we leave. With the recent overabundance of cucumbers, that has proved quite the challenge, but I think I’ve found a good solution to both the heat and the “what do you mean there’s another cucumber; I just checked” phenomenon: cucumber gazpacho.

Cucumber Gazpacho

Most people think tomatoes when they think of gazpacho, and that is indeed the history of this dish. Our tomatoes are still ripening a bit and we may get a few more before we head out on vacation, but for now I’m still struggling with what to do with the surfit exploding of our home vines. I have some ideas for martinis courtesy of a friend who owns a bar, but we cannot survive on booze alone (despite our best efforts). Thus, this lovely chilled soup.

Recipe: Mushroom Paté Pocket Pies

The mushroom paté we had with our friends for dinner one weekend was spectacular, but the recipe I have makes a huge batch. To be honest, the making of the paté originally wasn’t so much because our friend, Duchess Boo, loves mushrooms but because I wanted to use the new toy The Big Guy bought for me: my Cuisinart food processor. I think I was a little overzealous and simply kept dumping ingredients into the bowl just for the thrill of hitting that pulse button a few more times on its maiden voyage. Despite our best efforts at dinner that night and then further nights with the remainder of a box full of Triscuits, we knew we couldn’t finish it all (so sue me; I was in a hurry and didn’t make my own crackers).

But, what to do with the excess filling? I toyed a bit with stuffed pork chops (and I still might try that some day) and even baked, whole apples, but The Big Guy got all pouty and I knew I needed to pull out my secret weapon: pastry. Little mushroom pocket pies seemed the perfect way to use up the excess and put a smile back on his face. Considering that I got the happy dance out of him, I’d say they were a success.

Recipe: Japanese Cucumber Quick Pickle (Tsukemono)

Maple Creek Farm cucumbers, sliced paper-thin for tsukemono

Despite the fact that we regularly get some of the most gorgeous cucumbers in our CSA shipment from Maple Creek Farm, this year my husband somehow decided that it was absolutely vital to buy four cucumber plants that are at this very moment growing while my back is turned in our teeny little raised garden beds in our somewhat Japanese garden. Do we really need four cucumber plants? No, most definitely not. Will we be able to use up the cucumbers on all those plants? Short of coming up with completely new ways of using the blasted things, I suspect we’ll be overrun and secretly leaving our excess via midnight forays onto our neighbors porches. Still, I’m willing to give it the old college try. In preparation, I’m testing out new quick pickle recipes, a favorite of my husband’s and his love for anything Japanese. In Japan, these little gems are called “tsukemono.”