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Monday, March 9, 2009

Recipe Review from 3/3/09

Aahhgh! Things have been just nutty! Between work meetings that take me to Bemidji and Isanti, snow storms, my yoga classes, and getting ready for a trip to Charleston, SC, I feel like I've done nothing but run hither and tither. Subsequently, I've been forced to keep my recipe selection simple and with leftovers.

I just realized, I've been distracted enough that I didn't take any pictures. Darn.


Tomato-Poached Eggs (Ckng Lght, Mar 09, pg 82)
I'm a bit of an odd duck, I like eggs poached in tomatoes. Martha Stewart has a similar recipe that I've made several times and you serve the concoction over bread. Yum! The thing that drew me to this recipe was I could easily halve it. The "music bread" is like a dal or a lavosh - I substituted toasted English muffins. I also subbed diced tomatoes to skip the whole "chop whole tomatoes in a can bit". If I'm going to be chopping them up anyway, why not start with them in little bits?



You'll find variations of this dish throughout Sardinia, but four ingredients all cooks keep on hand are pane carasau, tomatoes, pecorino Sardo (a sheep's-milk cheese), and eggs. Thin, crispy pane carasau is a staple in Sardinia, but you can substitute crisp lavosh for a similar crunch. Chop whole peeled tomatoes in the can with kitchen shears for easy cleanup.

Yield
4 servings

Ingredients
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/3 cup sliced green onions
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided
2 (14.5-ounce) cans whole plum tomatoes, undrained and coarsely chopped (such as San Marzano)
4 large eggs
4 sheets pane carasau (Sardinian music bread), each broken into 4 wedges
1/2 cup (2 ounces) finely grated aged pecorino Sardo
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
Preparation
1. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onions and garlic to pan; cook 3 minutes or until fragrant, stirring often. Stir in 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and tomatoes; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

2. Reduce heat to low. Working with one egg at a time, crack eggs over tomato mixture, about 1 inch apart in pan. Sprinkle eggs with remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Cover and cook 5 minutes or until desired degree of doneness. Remove from heat.

3. Arrange 4 wedges pane carasau on each of 4 plates; spoon 3/4 cup sauce over each serving. Top each serving with 1 egg, and sprinkle with 2 tablespoons grated cheese. Top each serving with 1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh basil.


Banana and Black Bean Empanadas (Vegetarian Times, Mar 09)
Be still my beating heart! Talk about combining two of my favorite foods - black beans and bananas. Oh how I LOVE baked bananas! When the Husband and I went to Cozumel several years ago I couldn't get enough of baked bananas (that and shrimp). I'm too lazy to type out the whole recipe and it's not posted on the VT website yet so I can't link to it either. If you really, really want the recipe, leave your e-mail in a note and I'll send it to you..

A whole wheat crust is assembled and formed into small rounds. The filling is onions, black beans, garlic, bananas, cumin, red pepper, coriander and cilantro. What I especially like about these is they are similar to their Indian counterparts - the Samosa; or the Northern/Eastern European pasty. LOVE IT! The Husband thought they were a bit weird. I cooked them all and froze the leftovers.


Cumin and Bean Sprout Quesadilla (Vegetarian Times, Mar 09)
Quick, healthy meals really don't get easier than this and I needed that this week. And the variations are really endless. In the summer time I love to do these on the grill for a extra flavor kick and less clean up in the kitchen. I added a thinly sliced tomato because I had one that was starting to turn.

The whole article revolves around growing your own sprouts - which sounds really cool but now is not the time for me trying this - so I just bought some basic bean sprouts. Recipe calls for Monteray Jack cheese, but I have some leftover cheddar and mozzarella in the fridge so I'm subbing those. I'm also using some of my homemade salsa for the prepared Chipolte salsa the recipe calls for.

Assemble, heat up a frying pan, cook until cheese is melted. Serve.

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