Marinated Cauliflower Antipasto Salad

Here I sit, in the afterglow of my first bowl of this antipasto.  This stuff is REALLY good.  Far better and a LOT cheaper than any I've purchased from the Italian Deli!!


I always thought cauliflower was awful.  Nasty texture - no taste..  UNTIL I found out how versatile it is.  I've seen pizza crusts and mashed faux-tatoes, fried rice and even ice cream made with it.  This may be the place it shines.  There's nothing like a good pickled cauliflower.

This one is a MUST for your summer dinners (or snacks!)

Ingredients:

1 medium head cauliflower, cut into bite sized pieces (4 cups cauliflower pieces)
1 cup marinated mushrooms, sliced
2 oz. salami, cut into short strips
2 oz. Provolone cheese, cut into short strips
6 oz. olives - whatever you like, drained and cut in half
1 jar (12 oz.) roasted red peppers, drained and cut into strips
3 T capers, drained (more or less to taste)


Dressing Ingredients:

1/4 cup vinaigrette dressing
1 T extra virgin olive oil
2 T fresh-squeezed lemon juice
1 T caper juice (from the jar of capers)
1/2 tsp. dried Greek oregano

Instructions:

Cut out the core of the cauliflower and discard

Cut the raw cauliflower into bite sized pieces in a covered bowl 
Add 4 Tbsp water and microwave for 4 minutes on high (may vary - cook to tender-crisp)
Put in a colander and allow to cool.

While the cauliflower drains, whisk together vinaigrette dressing, olive oil, lemon juice, caper juice, and dried oregano to make the dressing. When cauliflower has drained well, put a double layer of paper towels on the counter, spread cauliflower out on the towels and pat dry with more towels. 

Be sure to get the cauliflower as dry as you can get it, or the salad will be watery.

Put the cauliflower in a large bowl and toss with the salami strips, 

Provolone strips, red pepper strips, sliced mushrooms, olives, and capers. 
Dump everything into a large Ziploc bag with the dressing and let it all marinate in the fridge, preferably for 4-6 hours or as long as all day. (Minimum marinating time is 2-3 hours if you don't plan far enough ahead.)   Add more dressing until the salad is as moist as you prefer. (You may not want all the dressing.) 

Season to taste with salt and fresh-ground black pepper and serve.

This salad can be made several hours ahead and will also keep in the fridge for a couple weeks.  It just gets better!

Cook's Notes:

• Instant marinated mushrooms by cutting button mushrooms into bite size pieces, drizzle well with vinaigrette and microwave, covered, on high for 3 minutes 
• Add on's:  Boconcini (little mozzerella balls), Yellow pepper rings, pickled jalapenos, steamed (microwaved) onion petals, <insert imagination here>

DO THIS!!!

Summer Berry Coleslaw

SPLENDA-RIFFIC SUMMER COLESLAW
by: KRYPTANA84

Ingredients:
-one bag slaw mix
-2 cups fat free mayo (adjust amt. to your taste)
-2 teaspoons lemon juice
-2 teaspoons olive oil
-2/3 cup Splenda (or to taste)
-1/3 cup chopped glazed walnuts (pecans)
-1 cup blueberries
-1/2 cup sliced strawberries

toss all ingredients together
serve & enjoy

servings 6-8 (calculations for 8 servings)

NUTRITIONAL STATS: for 1 serving
Calories: 94
Calories from Fat: 51
Total Fat: 6g.
Net Carbs: 9g.
Protein: 1g.


Dave's Notes:
You can substitute 1 cup good mayo and 1 cup Greek yogurt for the 2 cups low/no fat mayo above.

Summer Tomato Pie

This should be my biggest problem in life. Too many tomatoes.

I wait all year for the damn things, then they all come at once. Even with what the squirrels steal, we still have too many.

What to do with them keeps me up at night (not the squirrels, the tomatoes). This week it's gazpacho, Caprese salad and even tomato MIAMs.

Last night I thought up a new concoction for this delicious treat.

You can use any herbs you like and make any pie crust recipe you like. I recommend the savory version of my Almond Flour Pie Crust. [www.schronce.net]

I took a tip from and old chef friend and laid paper towels on baking sheets, layering the tomato slices on them so they drained most of the moisture out.

You can switch up the herbs and cheese to use whatever you have. Mozzarella, cheddar or Gruyere would be a great choice. And for herbs you can use scallions, chives, basil, parsley, thyme, dill or a combination of all, like I did.




Summer Tomato Pie

Serves 8
Nutritional Data per serving:
Calories 180
Total Fat 14.2g
Saturated Fat 7.6g
Trans Fat 0.0g
Cholesterol 35mg
Sodium 483mg
Total Carbohydrates 7.7g
Sugars 1.0g
Protein 5.8g


1 pie crust to fit a 9" pie dish [www.schronce.net]
1 tbsp cornmeal for sprinkling on the bottom of the pie shell

2 lbs. heirloom tomatoes, sliced
kosher salt
1 cup of grated sharp cheddar, mozzarella, or Gruyere cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup good quality mayonnaise (the cheap stuff has sugar in it)
handful of chopped scallions
handful of chopped basil leaves
handful of chopped chives
handful of chopped parsley
1 tsp Splenda
1 tbsp cider vinegar
1/2 cup of fresh breadcrumbs mixed w/ some of the parmesan cheese (optional) for the top

Slice the tomatoes and lay them on paper towel lined baking sheets. Sprinkle them with kosher salt and cover with another layer of paper towels. Let sit 30 minutes, so most of the moisture drains out of them.

Fit the dough into a 9" pie tin and sprinkle with some cornmeal.

Mix the cheese, herbs, mayo, vinegar and Splenda together and season w/ salt & pepper.
This mixture will be divided in half.

Spread some of the mayo & cheese mixture on the bottom of the crust.
Next layer some of the drained tomatoes, overlapping each other.

Now spread the rest of the mayo & cheese mixture and a second layer of tomato slices.

Place the 1/2 cup of fresh breadcrumbs on top of the tomatoes and drizzle with a small amount of olive oil. I sprinkled some fresh thyme on top too.

If you have overlapping edges of dough, fold them over the tomatoes, to create a secure package.

Place in the oven for 40 minutes at 400F. Let rest at least 30 minutes so tomatoes have time to firm up and cool.

Now I can sleep at night and stop worrying about what to do with the damn tomatoes.

Ratatouille’s Roasted Ratatouille

Tell me I’m not alone in this: You saw the movie Ratatouille, fell in love with Remy the rat and found yourself with a pressing craving, not for the heavy and too-often soggy traditional Provençal ratatouille, but that kaleidoscope of spiraled colors they served to the haughty and soon-humbled restaurant critic.

I can’t believe how well this worked out. I also can’t believe I cooked a cartoon dish created by an imaginary rat. But I can believe I’ll be making this again soon, because it’s delicious, seasonal, and an incredible cinch to make.

We’re just getting to the point in the summer where all of the vegetables are readying themselves for their farmers’ market close-up, so the timing couldn’t be better. And aside from some fine-slicing of vegetables, you need a minimum of dishes and time to get this together. Not bad for something showy enough for a dinner party ta-da, right?

There are a lot of things not traditional about this version of ratatouille–the lack of herbes de province, that it’s baked and that we ate it with both quinoa and a dollop of soft goat cheese–but if you’re like me, and the chunkier authentic stuff has never done it for you, it’s time for this re-creation.





Ratatouille’s Ratatouille

Nutritional Data per serving:
Serves 4
Calories 141
Total Fat 7.3g
Saturated Fat 1.0g
Cholesterol 0mg
Sodium 28mg
Total Carbohydrates 18.4g
Dietary Fiber 6.8g
Sugars 9.1g
Protein 3.6g


1/2 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, very thinly sliced
1 cup tomato puree
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 small eggplant (Italian or Japanese Eggplant is you can find it)
1 small zucchini
1 small yellow squash
1 large red bell pepper
Few sprigs fresh thyme
Salt and pepper
Few tablespoons soft goat cheese, for serving

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Pour tomato puree into bottom of an oval baking dish, approximately 10 inches across the long way.
Drop the sliced garlic cloves and chopped onion into the sauce, stir in one tablespoon of the olive oil and season the sauce generously with salt and pepper.

Trim the ends off the eggplant, zucchini and yellow squash. As carefully as you can, trim the ends off the red pepper and remove the core, leaving the edges intact, like a tube.

On a mandoline, adjustable-blade slicer or with a very sharp knife, cut the eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash and red pepper into very thin slices, approximately 1/16-inch thick.

On the tomato sauce, arrange slices of prepared vegetables concentrically from the outer edge to the inside of the baking dish, overlapping so just a smidgen of each flat surface is visible, alternating vegetables. You may have a handful leftover that do not fit.

Drizzle the remaining tablespoon olive oil over the vegetables and season them generously with salt and pepper. Remove the leaves from the thyme sprigs with your fingertips, running them down the stem. Sprinkle the fresh thyme over the dish.

Cover dish with a piece of parchment paper (or foil) cut to fit loosely inside. (Tricky, I know, but the hardest thing about this.)

Bake for approximately 45 to 55 minutes, until vegetables have released their liquid and are clearly cooked, but with some structure left so they are not totally limp. They should not be brown at the edges, and you should see that the tomato sauce is bubbling up around them.

Serve with a dab of soft goat cheese on top, alone, atop quinoa - or for your guests - some crusty French bread, polenta, couscous, or your choice of grains.

Ricotta and Tomato Souffle

I used to eat pounds of tomatoes at this time of year, usually sliced thick between white bread slathered with mayonnaise. Not so much now, so when I saw a tomato withering away on the counter i was struck with an idea. Only I would be able to see the beauty in this wrinkly tomato, imagining it with puffed up cheese and herbs surrounding it. Ok, a souffle it shall be. Enough for 2. Add a salad, lunch is served.



Ricotta & Tomato Soufflé

Nutritional Data per serving:
Calories 266
Total Fat 15.7g
Saturated Fat 9.0g
Cholesterol 143mg
Sodium 379mg
Total Carbohydrates 9.1g
Dietary Fiber 0.9g
Sugars 1.5g
Protein 22.1g


1 cup ricotta
1 egg
1/4 cup grated Pecorino or Parmesan cheese
1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
salt & pepper
1 tomato, sliced

Oil an oval 6" gratin dish or individual ramekins.

Mix the ricotta w/ the rest of the ingredients and spread into the greased baking dish.
Lay the tomato slices on top and season w/ salt & pepper.
Bake on a baking sheet at 350F for about 25 minutes.
Let rest a few minutes before serving.

Cook's Notes: 

• You can invert this easily onto a serving plate and serve in the middle of mixed greens, it makes for a pretty presentation, or just eat it out of the baking dish.
• You can use basil if you like, or parsley, whatever... 
• This is "whatever you have" day today.
• I am so lazy, I mixed everything in the ricotta container, no cleanup!

Summer Table Pickles

These remind me of my new self. They are Light, Sweet/Tart and Fast 

Summer Table Pickles

Peel, seed and thinly slice a fresh cucumber
Thinly slice a small onion in 1/2 rounds
3 tbs white or cider vinegar
6 packets Splenda
1 Tbs kosher salt
3 tbs water

Toss together, refrigerate at least 15 minutes before serving

Cook's Note: Add some thinly sliced asparagus, or thinly sliced, flash steamed carrot and celery sticks. The longer they sit in the fridge the better they get!

Chop finely and mix with a little greek yogurt for a delicious salad dressing.