Nibs! 100 Days of Recipes, Day 50

Or rather, Return of the Nibs! And let me take a moment to acknowledge that I finally reached the half way point of what didn't seem to be such a grand undertaking at the beginning. I also remind you, gentle reader, that it's not necessarily a daily undertaking, and that some days will just be on the Instagram feed. But I digress...

I ran out of cacao nibs a little while ago, and didn't think much of it, until I went to make a smoothy. Out of nibs, oh well. Hmm.... not quite as wonderful as it usually is. Went to make a salad. Out of nibs, oh well. hmm... it's just missing ... something. Thought about making cookies for someone. Out of nibs - that's a deal breaker now for my chocolate chip cookies, so it finally dawned on me that I needed more nibs. I was a nibs needer. 

Cacao Nibs, from The French Broad Chocolate Lounge

I know that nibs have become one of the new foodie darling trends, so they are much easier to find than in the days of yore, when after explaining to someone what they were, you had to then explain to them WHY you wanted them. And if you didn't know, cacao nibs are cacao beans that have been roasted, separated from their husks, and broken into smaller pieces. There have been all kinds of nutritional benefits that actually date back thousands of years, both for the nibs and the dark chocolate products that are made with the cacao bean. That's all very attractive, but my own experience with nibs started with a visit to The Happiest Place On Earth, which of course is the French Broad Chocolate Lounge. It was there I first tasted the 'Nibby Brownie' - dark chocolate goodness that would be a fine brownie just by itself, but the added texture and flavor boost from the nibs just puts it over the top. I tried nibs myself for the first time in a chocolate chip and dried cherry cookie, and I was hooked. When I read about the nib's 'super food' qualities, I looked for other ways to add it to things, like my smoothies and salads. When the Chocolate Lounge started selling nibs, it was an even happier day as I knew they would be sourced with as much love and care as all the products (including my mugs!) that they sell.

I toodled on down to the Chocolate Lounge yesterday, determined to end my nib drought, but when I went inside Chocolate + Milk, my heart skipped a beat - No Nibs!!! Lucky for me, the Manager, Melissa, was there and somehow she sensed my distress (not sure how, I'm sure I was so subtle!), and she called over to the Chocolate Factory and learned that they had some precious nibs. Double win - I would get my nibs AND I would get to visit the Chocolate Factory. I'm sure you can add years to your life just by walking in the door of the French Broad Chocolate Factory and inhaling deeply. Two bags of nibs in hand (along with a bar, and a bag or two of the truffle packs by the register - such chocolate pushers they are!) later, I was on my way home to revel in a nib-filled world.

All that (and it did go on!) to say, I have nibs, and the next several entires in my 100 Day Project may indeed feature ... wait for it ... nibs.

Today's entry, and one of my favorite dishes:

Fruity, nibby salad

One grapefruit, sectioned and sitting in its own juices, plus a handful of walnuts, some frozen blueberries, a handful of nibs, a drizzle of pomegranate vinegar, and a light sprinkle of large-flake salt. 

Happy Hump Day to all, and may you always have nibs.

Progressive Toast: 100 Days of Recipes, Day 49

You know that thing where you've made a new dish, it's really tasty yet while you're eating it you're thinking about what you want to do to it the next time you make it? Well that happened.

Last night's Market Veggie sandwich gave me some ideas, and that turned into today's lunch:

I love how food pops on this tenmoku-glazed small plate. And I love how the
plate pops on this tea-cup towel!

Toasted levain, with Roots' Mango Sriracha Hummus, some cucumbers, radish sprouts, and a drizzle of pomegranate vinegar. Crusty, spicy, cool, fresh, sweet, crunchy, and just a bit of a twang. Every bite a delight.

More Market Delights: 100 Days of Recipes, Day 48

It seems like it was JUST Day 47, and suddenly it's a week later, pots have been made, bisque fired, glazed, and as of earlier this evening, fired. Back to our regularly scheduled programming.

My beautiful Birthday Cake, made by my friend Lindsey - it's
got a bottom layer of dates and nuts, a layer of cashew creme,
and a top layer of strawberry cashew creme, with fruit and other edibles.

Birthday celebrations last week provided fun and delicious meals through the week, and hitting the Tailgate Market on my way to the studio for glazing on Saturday kept me stocked with goodies, even if I was too tired to do much with them.

Birthday dinner with friends at the newly opened Jargon,
someplace I will return to often!

Tonight after the firing, I had plans to cook up a nice piece of fish, but three 12-hour days in a row cast a strong vote for no cooking. Luckily, my bounty from the Market gave me a perfect and satisfying meal of lightly toasted levain, a schmear of mayo, beautiful cucumbers, radishes, and radish sprouts. 

Perfect light meal that tastes of late Spring.

A lovely taste of the season.

Luscious Stack o' Leftovers: 100 Days of Recipes, Day 47

Or, fun with a canape cutter.

From the Sweet Potato Polenta, and a flattened version of Mom's Meatballs comes this lovely way of playing with my food:

So much fun playing with leftovers - I also had fun playing with my plates.

I took my trusty little canape cutter, and cut rounds of the leftover polenta. For each serving, a round of polenta and a round of meatball were heated on my Foreman Grill. Meanwhile, I cooked down some onions in herbed butter, then some spinach, also with light seasoning. While a sunny-side up egg slowly cooked, I started playing with the elements. A bed of spinach, then the polenta, some of the onions... When the egg was just right, I hit it with the cutter, and placed the cut parts of the whites on top of the polenta and onions. Next was the flat meatball, more onions, the egg, and a garnish of garlic chives (that had been in the onion saute). 

It's still rainy, but I'm ready to move back into the fresh foods of the season. This has been some comfort food fun, though!

Sweet Potato Polenta: 100 Days of Recipes, Day 46

Thanks to a rainy, cooler turn in the unusually warm weather we've been having, and to a prompt from Instagrammer @glennbenglish and inspiration from my current book companion (and kitchen bff), I veered off the salad road and onto Comfort Food Lane last night. In Glenn's post, he described making Sweet Potato Grits, which I've done a version of in the past (not as refined as his description, which I will most definitely try!). Sunday was the second day of Studio Stroll, and it was rainy and cool all day, and after slogging around the studio grounds taking down pennants in the rain, I was ready for something warming and comforting, so I headed home with visions of Sweet Potato Grits in my head.

My ingredients: delicious cornmeal from East Fork Farm,
a sweet potato, veggie broth (I love making my own stock,
but always keep some on hand for those long days), and
inspiration from my bff cookbook.

As with so many of my brilliant recipe ideas, I got home and discovered I didn't have all the proper ingredients. I was out of grits, but had some cornmeal. What's the diff, you say? For me, it's in the texture, and a more finely ground cornmeal is for Polenta, not Grits. Not sad, because I had just read a chapter in "The Pleasures of Cooking for One" by my kitchen bff Judith Jones, and she included a recipe for a baked Polenta that is how I love making it most, so Sweet Potato Polenta (because I'm almost never without sweet potatoes)!

Baking in handmade is easy, just heat it with the oven!
Place the sweet potatoes, cornmeal, and seasonings in the pot.

Pour heated broth on top of sweet potatoes and corn meal.

Stir it all together, making sure the cornmeal is well mixed with
the sweet potatoes and the broth.

I had also been wanting to make up a batch of my Mom's Meatballs, but to avoid the stove top spatter of cooking meatballs, and because I was tired and didn't want to stand in the kitchen while things cooked when I could be on the floor with my legs against the wall, I spread the paté out thinly on a baking sheet and baked it 'a la' my meatloaf, with a schmear of sriracha tomato paste on top. I used a canape cutter when it came out of the oven, and had cute, little flat meatballs to go with my polenta!

Comfort dinner on a rainy night accomplished.

Easy prep and great comfort food meal in a warm, stoneware bowl on a rainy night. 

Sweet Potato Polenta
(inspired by the aforementioned InstaPost, and Judith Jones' recipe for "Baked Polenta with Vegetables", 
in The Pleasures of Cooking for One, Alfred A. Knopf, 2009)

2 small sweet potatoes, peeled, steamed or boiled, and mashed with a bit of butter
2 cups vegetable broth
2/3 cup fine ground cornmeal
1/2 tsp salt
several grinds of pepper

I cooked this in one of my ceramic bakers, so I did not pre-heat the oven. If you're using pyrex or other baking dishes, you can pre-heat to 350 degrees.

Bring the vegetable broth to a light simmer, then turn off the heat.

Place the mashed sweet potatoes in the baker. Sprinkle the polenta on top, and add the salt and pepper. Pour the heated veggie broth on top, and stir carefully to fully blend.

Place the baker in a cold oven, then set the temp to 350. Bake for about 30 minutes, and check to see that the liquid has been absorbed. Let cool just slightly before spooning into a bowl. Grate a little pecorino on top if you like.

Also like many of my favorite recipes, I'm already thinking of what I can do with the leftovers...

French Toast: 100 Days of Recipes, Day 43

Actually, this might better be named the syrup that you might put on French Toast, but I'll include both recipes.

How this came about: I was gifted the most beautiful levain loaf by my friend and wicked-talented baker Beth, of Sweet Daisy Bakeshop fame, and when I got home with it, I realized that I hadn't had any beautifully made local bread in far too long, so French Toast for dinner was the only logical solution!

I always have eggs on hand from Mudluscious Gardens, so I knew the toast part would be great, but horror of horror, I'm out of Vermont Maple Syrup (yes, it has to be). Not to worry, there are plenty of odd jars of this and that around, and I'm pretty pleased with what resulted.

This is a scavenge-type recipe, so amounts are .... 'to taste'. As for the French Toast, that also changes from time to time - this time, it was as follows. 

A side note to say that this bread is a round loaf, so to get a good slice for the French Toast, I had to lop off a piece, cutting about 3" into the loaf. That means the slices that followed would be nice sized ovals that would make for great servings. It also means I had a lovely 3" piece of bread "end" that was just sitting there, daring me to wait until the French Toast was done to taste its goodness. I lost that dare. Worth it.

French Toast on one of my favorite plate designs. The copper
blue/green glaze creates a beautiful frame.

French Toast with Strawberry-Jalapeno-Fig Syrup and Caramelized Bananas

For two generous slices of levain (will feed two normal servings or one "I don't care how this looks I'm eating it all" serving).

1 egg
1/3 cup cashew milk (or milk of your choice)
pinch of salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
2 large slices from the loaf of levain, or 4 slices of your favorite bread for the occasion

Beat the egg, and mix in the next four ingredients. Dredge the bread in the egg mix. Heat a skillet or griddle to med/high heat, and place the dipped bread in the skillet. Turn after it's golden brown (time will vary depending on how thick you slice it!), and serve with fresh or prepared fruit and syrup of your choice.

The Bananas: 

1 banana, sliced into 1/2" discs
Pomegranate Molasses
1 small nob of butter

When you finish the last of the toast slices, drop the nob of butter in the skillet, then toss in the banana slices. Stir to coat, then drizzle some molasses on top - maybe about a TBSP total, but more or less depending on the size of your banana. Stir lightly to coat, being careful not to mush up the bananas as they get warm and soft. Carefully flip them over after about a minute, then let them cook on that side only about another 30 seconds. Put them on top of the cooked French Toast Slices.

Strawberry-Jalapeno-Fig Syrup

If you happen to have the same jars of jam in your fridge as I do, then you can make this. Or, you can use other jars of jam, and instead of the popsicle you can use a bit of juice or even water.

Strawberry-Jalapeno Jam*
Fig Preserves*
All-fruit popsicle (this was a mixed-berry pop)

Put a generous dollop (amount dependent on how much French Toast you want to cover!) of the jam and preserve in a small sauce pan over med-low heat. Take the popsicle off the stick, and add that to the pan. Let it all melt, stirring to mix thoroughly. Pour this over the bananas and the French Toast.

Optional: Zest a lemon and cut it up into thin strips and sprinkle on top.

*the jam was gifted to me by the maker, so if you don't make your own jam, get someone to make it, it's great! Same suggestion for the figs, but if you're in the Asheville area you can find great Fig Preserves at the Gypsy Queen Market & Deli.

Salad with Seared Salmon - 100 Days of Recipes: Day 42

More salad! I'm just now getting to the end of the veggies I got at the tailgate market over a week ago. $50 spent at the market seems a bit steep, but when I can get meals for over a week, it's money very well spent. Even the salmon came from that trip, initially going into the freezer, and coming out for a thaw and a quick sear to make this meal.

Simple Salad of greens, roasted sweet potato, turnips & carrots,
pickled onions, walnuts, and a quickly seared salmon fillet.

For the salmon, after rinsing it and patting it dry with a paper towel, I gave it a very light coating of olive oil, and some salt and pepper on each side. I heated a heavy-bottomed skillet on med/high (our studio stove top cooks pretty hot, but you do want a hot pan!), and I started the salmon skin-side down. It stayed that way for about 6 minutes - I could see the pink turning lighter on the skin side, and after about 6 minutes I could move the fillet around the pan. I flipped it over for another minute, and then removed it to the cutting board. What you don't see in the picture is the crispy skin - kinda ate that while I was cutting up the salmon and plating. The salad was lightly dressed in the last of my balsamic vinaigrette, and then topped with the salmon.

I don't usually eat salad with chopsticks, but I love these bowls and the way they frame the food they hold, and one thing I love about eating with chopsticks is that you slow down. At least I slow down - it's kind of fun to pick up the individual parts of the salad and enjoy all the flavors. Of course you don't HAVE to use chopsticks with my chopsticks bowls, but it turned a quick studio lunch into a lovely dining experience all around. I'm just glad I used walnuts instead of sunflower seeds.