White Bean Bruschetta

This is one of the quickest, easiest hors d'oeuvres to make for company...or for yourself. It's pretty much the same flavors as regular tomato bruschetta, but with the replacement of white beans it obviously gives it a different taste, and cuts down on preparation time since there's no pile of tomatoes to chop.



1 15-oz. can cannellini beans
6 fresh basil leaves, cut into thin strips
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. crushed red pepper
1 1/2 Tbl. extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp. balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper
baguette, cut into slices

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brush bread slices with olive oil, and toast in the oven for about 10 minutes.



While the bread bakes, Pour the beans into a colander and rinse, and let air dry or pat dry with a paper towel. They don't have to be completely dry, but just not soaking wet.

Combine the beans with all other ingredients in a bowl, and mix to thoroughly combine.



Easy, right? If you are really having company over, it's kind of fun to make two or three different bruschettas and a bunch of toasts - like asparagus bruschetta, tomato bruschetta, and white bean.

Hummus Part II, and Caprese Salad

I love the hummus recipe from Food & Wine so much, I've made it a few times in the past month. But the last couple times I've made it, I've used chipotle chili powder. I eliminated the paprika, and added 1 1/2 teaspoons of chipotle chili powder.



I have to warn you, it's pretty hot. I like it that way, but if you don't want it so spicy, just use 1 teaspoon of chipotle chili powder, and you can always add more.



And, caprese salad. I feel a little silly writing about caprese salad because it requires no skill, and almost no time to create. But it's so pretty I had to share. I made it a couple nights ago with burrata instead of mozzarella di bufala. I don't know if Whole Foods always carries burrata and I gloss over it because it's $13 or $14, but it was on sale the other day so I bought it.



Burrata is mozzarella, stretched and then stuffed with more mozzarella and cream. It's so creamy that just from touching it while slicing it up, my fingers looked like I dipped them in melted ice cream. It made my regular caprese salad extra good. After slicing up tomatoes and cheese, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar, sprinkle salt and freshly ground pepper, and add some sliced basil. Yum!

Cheese Plate

There's nothing I love more than a cheese plate. In our household, when Saturday 4pm or 5pm rolls around, that means time for some wine and a cheese plate...perfection.

I thought I should share what my mom put together last Saturday before we went to dinner. I don't think the words "cheese plate" are enough to describe all the wonderful goodies in this spread.



Let's see, for cheese we have: d'Affinois, Petit Basque, and a Canadian cheddar. D'Affinois is my absolute favorite...it's similar to brie because it's a double-cream cow's milk cheese, but it's creamier and has a little bit smoother taste. Behind the cheese is a salami. I didn't even realize, but yesterday Peter said, "you know, I like how your mom does the salami...she peels the casing off." Interesting...I hadn't even noticed, but I guess that's the secret.

Cashews are in the little bowl on the right. Then in the bowl there's flax seed flatbread crackers, and some other little kind of salty cracker, not sure what they are. Lastly, a dish of cornichons. And of course the red and white wine. Ahh, happiness on a plate.

That's my last post about my weekend in Columbus. Time to get back to writing about cooking!

Dinner party!

So our little dinner party of 3 last night turned into 6! I don't think I've ever cooked for that many people, but it was a success. The menu: cheese & salami plate, asparagus & truffle oil bruschetta, scallops, peperonata rustica, roasted cauliflower, and spinach/goat cheese/cranberry/pecan salad.

The asparagus bruschetta comes from one of my favorite restaurants in New York, ino. Actually Peter gets credit for this, he's the one who first tried to replicate it at home. It's very easy to make. This picture is kind of lame because I just served it as a do-it-yourself last night rather than make all the individual toasts.

You'll need:

1 bunch of asparagus (very skinny asparagus makes for better bruschetta than big fat asparagus)

truffle oil

salt & pepper

parmigiano reggiano cheese

1 baguette or loaf of italian bread, cut into small slices and toasted

Cut the asparagus (raw, not cooked) into small pieces, about 1 cm. I used the whole bunch for 6 people. Toss with enough truffle oil to coat. Just keep adding a little and a little more until it tastes right, you don't want to add too much right away because it has a strong taste. Add salt and freshly ground pepper to taste, and finish with freshly grated parmigiano reggiano cheese. If you're putting the bruschetta on toasts, instead of do-it-yourself like I did, I prefer to wait to add the cheese until I've already made all the toasts.

I'll just post the recipe for the peppers right now. I make scallops and cauliflower a lot so I'll write about those another time. This was the first time I made these peppers. The recipe is from Thomas Keller's newest book ad hoc at home. It's my dream to go to his restaurant French Laundry some day. Anyway...

Peperonata Rustica

6 yellow bell peppers

6 red bell peppers

canola oil

kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

8 ounces piquillo peppers, drained, peeled, and seeded

about 1/2 cup of Soffritto

1 1/3 cups chicken stock or vegetable stock

3/4 teaspoon piment d'Espelette

1 tablespoon minced chives

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Cut the bell peppers lengthwise in half and remove the stems and seeds. Toss the peppers with oil to coat and salt and pepper to taste. Arrange the peppers cut side down on the baking sheets, red peppers on one, the yellow peppers on the other.

Roast the peppers until the skin is blistering. About 30 to 35 minutes for the red and 35 to 40 minutes for the yellow; do not allow the edges to blacken. Transfer the peppers to a bowl and cover with plastic wrap, or put in an airtight container with a lid.

When the peppers are cool enough to handle, peel them. Tear them lengthwise into strips about 3/4 inchwide. Tear the piquillos into strips the same way.

Combine all of the peppers, soffritto, stock, and Espelette in a medium saucepan over medium heat, season with salt and pepper, and bring to a simmer. Cook for 30 minutes, to soften peppers completely and meld the flavors.

Transfer to a bowl or platter, sprinkle with chives, and serve.

A couple notes - I had a little trouble finding piquillos, but did end up finding them at Trader Joe's. I could not find the Espelette (I didn't think I would be able to), so I used paprika instead. Upon writing this, I realized I used olive oil instead of canola. Oops. It was fine though. And I could not find sofrito anywhere, it was in every grocery in New York and in none here. So I made it - blend in a food processor until smooth: 1 green bell pepper, 1 sweet red pepper (or bell pepper), 1 white onion, 1 large tomato, 5 or 6 cloves garlic, handful parsley leaves, handful cilantro leaves, salt and pepper. Lastly, as Thomas Keller mentions in the book, the leftovers are great with scrambled eggs and Peter is eating them for breakfast as I write this.