What I've been eating lately

Some of the things I eat aren't worth an entire post, but definitely worthy to share. These are a few things I've come across recently.

This ridiculous looking package with indecipherable Russian contained one of the best things I've eaten all month. I went on an adventure to the Buford Highway Farmer's Market, mecca of international foods and weird looking fruits. This was in a freezer case on one end of an aisle, containing about 30 different types of FROZEN CHEESECAKE. There were all kinds of flavors- chocolate, regular, cherry, all sorts of fruits, including a few questionable translations. I chose this one, plain cheesecake with cherry filling and wrapped in chocolate. It was soft, creamy, not frozen hard, and beautiful. I'll be returning for a case later.

Atlanta Fresh Yogurt
The best Greek yogurt I've ever had- locally made, fabulously successful as they are cute. I get mine at the Peachtree Road Farmer's Market, they also sell at a variety of local stores. The plain 2% is my favorite, but the flavored ones actually have real fruit flavor not artificial tasting, cancer causing flavors. Peach Ginger? Mixed Berry? Black Cherry and Port Wine? Yes, please.

Olive & Sinclair chocolate
Aside from having a beautiful, interesting packaging that carries onto an intricately stamped chocolate bar, this is great stuff. Semi-local, from Nashville, with loads of interesting flavors- I picked Salt & Pepper, a dark chocolate bar with loads of coarsely ground salt and pepper pressed on the backside. Doesn't quite top Cacao for me, but that's less than 2 miles from me. Talk about local.


Westside Creamery

I'm on a local kick recently, and Westside Creamery absolutely fits the bill. Maggie Rentz and Greg Smith source all their ingredients locally and make their small batch artisanal ice creams and sorbets in town. And they are fabulous- I've tried their gingersnap and peach ice cream sandwich and the chocolate chip and banana sandwich. Oh my. They are wonderful. Greg was kind enough to give me samples of about every flavor they had, and not judge when I stalked the truck twice in one week. Maggie shares my love for Lil Wayne on twitter- they are obviously legit.


Food Events:
Urban Picnic as presented by the Atlanta Street Food Coalition

Atlanta's street food scene is growing stronger with every farmer's market, event, and especially these- a picnic at the Sweet Auburn Market today from 11AM to 2PM where just about every known street food vendor will be to share their food. I have been wanting to check one out for a while, I support the movement to make street food legal and more accessible in Atlanta wholeheartedly.

Downtown Restaurant Week

July 26th - August 8th, some downtown Atlanta restaurants are offering special 3-course menus for $25 or $35 per person. I love these- what a great way to try out a new restaurant. There are a variety of different types of restos to check out- French, Mediterranean, Mexican, a brewery, Thai, sushi and more.


This ought to be called the "What I've Been Eating- Dairy and Chocolate Edition," but do know that I receive no information from 3rd parties or any kind of promotional materials for this post- I genuinely love these products and events, and think they are share worthy to support local producers, events, and vendors.
Have a great weekend!

Antipasto Fridays: Basil Pesto

We started Antipasto Fridays as a low-cook, snacky way to herald the coming of the weekend. This series introduces small plate favorites during the week so it may grace your own weekend opening ceremonies.

This is one dip you have permission to make a meal of. There is nothing quicker than mashing up a pile of basil leaves into a brilliant green spread. 

I always grow a few potted basil plants, but they hate the really extreme heat. It's like they are trying to escape their pots, bolting out into flowers and turning to seed. Once this happens, the leaves turn sharp and bitter tasting. It's been so bad this year, I had to rip them all out and go back to buying it at the farmers market. My recommendation: always break and sniff a leaf before purchase, and avoid basil that smells strongly of cinnamon.

As with most of our recipes here on Whisk Away, you have the option to go with the fancy equipment (in this case, a food processor) or stick with the more everyday items (in this case, a mortar and pestle or bowl + blunt object combo of your choice). Either way, you will have fragrant dip for dinner in under five minutes.


Basil Pesto
Makes 1 cup

2 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
1/3 cup pine nuts or walnuts
2-3 garlic cloves
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1. Mash or pulse together the basil, pine nuts, and garlic. No need to pre-chop anything that is going into a food processor, but definitely mince the garlic and basil first if using a mortar and pestle.

2. Slowly add the olive oil, stopping to scrape down the sides of the food processor or bowl with a rubber spatula. Add the grated cheese and pulse or stir until just blended. Add a pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Serve with toasted baguette slices, cheeses, and white wine.

Garlic Soba Noodles

I'm learning that a big bowl of Asian noodles is my verison of comfort. Hard day at work? Pad Thai or sushi or these noodles are what I crave. Strong flavors, quick, easy, sometimes healthy.

I whipped these together when I had a friend come over for girl's night. I had just gotten back from one of the many business trips that have kept me from posting more regularly here, and had very few things left in my fridge. Some yellowing scallions, wilting chard and pantry staples came together in 15 minutes to feed us both before heading off to see Sex and the City 2. Guess which was the winner of the night.

When I'm looking for a fast, easy, clean out the fridge type of meal, I usually go the Asian route. Ingredients I always have on hand- soy sauce, sesame oil, limes, garlic, soba noodles make it easy. The techniques usually involve stir-frying, high heat and short cook time. Perfect.

Garlic Soba Noodles

Inspired by Heidi Swanson, of the blog 101 Cookbooks

Serves 3-4

1 bunch buckwheat soba noodles

1 bunch greens- I've used Swiss chard, rainbow chard, arugula, spinach

2 garlic cloves, minced

2-4 green onions, thinly sliced

1-2 tbl soy sauce

1 tbl sesame oil

juice of 1 lime

1. Cook soba noodles according to directions, rinse and set aside. Wash, dry and slice greens into 1/4 to 1/2 inch ribbons.

2. Heat a tablespoon or so of olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. When hot, add minced garlic and thinly sliced green onions. Sautee for about a minute, until fragrant.

3. Stir in greens, and sautee for 2-4 minutes, until mostly wilted and bright green. They will mound over the top of the pan, but will wilt down quite a bit.

4. Add in soba noodles and soy sauce to taste, drizzle with sesame oil and pull off heat. Add lime juice, stir and serve.

These are great both hot and cold, and work very well as lunch leftovers. 

Red and Blue Velvet Cake

The Fourth of July is my favorite holiday, right after my birthday. Everyone knows exactly what to expect- plenty of grilled foods, cold drinks, celebration of America, no stress, no presents and best of all, fireworks. Also integral to the celebration of America's independence is Flag Cake- the cake with a replica of the flag in berries on top. Its the Christmas tree, hand turkey, Easter Bunny of the 4th. This year, I wanted to take mine one step further into Americana. Enter Red and Blue Velvet cake.

Using four (FOUR) whole tubes of food coloring, Red and Blue Velvet cake says America on the outside and YOU THINK YOU'RE PATRIOTIC? CHECK ME OUT on the inside. 

I took a traditional Red Velvet cake recipe, and divded the batter in half, one for red and one for blue. Thick cream cheese frosting rounded out the cake to be the white layer, and  hold up the berries on top. Bow down to my American-ness. 

Red and Blue Velvet Cake

Adapted from Pinch My Salt

Serves 12-16

2 1/2 cups sifted cake flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

2 Tbl cocoa powder (unsweetened)

2 oz. red food coloring

2 oz. blue food coloring

1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs, at room temperature

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature

1 tsp white vinegar

1 tsp baking soda

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour two 9-inch round cake pans.

2. Sift together the cake flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl; set aside. 

3. In a large bowl, using a hand mixer or stand mixer, beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about three minutes.  Beat in eggs, one at a time, then beat in vanilla, scraping down the bowl with a spatula as you go.  Add one third of the flour mixture to the butter mixture, beat well, then beat in half of the buttermilk. Beat in another third of flour mixture, then second half of buttermilk. End with the last third of the flour mixture, beat until well combined, making sure to scrape down the bowl with a spatula. Divide batter in two pans, add blue food coloring to one and red to the other. Stir throughly. 

4. Make sure you have cake pans buttered, floured, and nearby.  In a small bowl, mix vinegar and baking soda.  Yes, it will fizz and yes you have to divide the quanities.  Add to each cake batter and stir well to combine.  Working quickly, pour batter into cake pans and place them in a preheated 350 degree oven. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Check early, cake is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

5. Cool the cakes in their pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes. To remove the cakes from the pan, place a wire rack on top of the cake pan and invert, then gently lift the pan.  Allow cakes to cool completely before frosting. Frost with buttercream or cream cheese icing (recipe below). 

Cream Cheese Frosting

16 oz. cream cheese (2 packages), softened

1/2 cup unsalted butter (one stick), softened

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted

pinch of salt

1. With an electric mixer, blend together cream cheese and butter until smooth.

  

2. Turn mixer to low speed and blend in powdered sugar, salt and vanilla extract.  Turn mixer on high and beat until light and fluffy. 

3. Use immediately or refrigerate, covered, until ready to use.  If refrigerated, the frosting will need to be brought to room temperature before using (after frosting softens up, beat with mixer until smooth).

Peach Spinach Salad

This salad is in a category of one. Call it a picky kid hangover, but I'm just not interested in any other composition of leafy greens.

An old friend and wedding-partner-in-crime served this brilliant salad one humid summer night, and life for me has never been the same. Not only is this the perfect salad, I haven't bought a bottle of dressing since. Why buy the jarred stuff, often loaded with questionable ingredients, when you can whisk up something ten times more tasty with five common ingredients?

Basic Peach Spinach Salad

Spinach
Peach
Pecan halves, toasted
Goat cheese

Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
Dijon mustard
Salt
Pepper

1. Mix the dressing: Whisk equal parts olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Add a dollop of dijon mustard, pinch of salt and several grinds of pepper. Whisk into an emulsion. The vinaigrette will keep for a day in the fridge, and then harden. It's fine to go on this way for a week, just allow it to return to room temperature and it will re-liquify.

2. Toast the pecans: heat a pan on medium-high heat for several minutes. Once hot, add the pecans and remove the pan from the heat. Allow nuts to toast for two minutes.

3. Assemble the salad: Pit and dice peach, and add to spinach. Sprinkle with pecans and crumbled goat cheese. Top with vinaigrette.

Variations:

• For the fruit component, use whatever is in season including peaches, strawberries, apples or pears
• To go fancier, dress it up with Candied Pecans instead of raw

Happy Bastille Day!

I've always considered myself more a lover of French culture (and historically accurate drag queens) than of cooking French food. So many fidgety sauces! There was NO WAY I was hopping aboard the Julie & Julia train.

But sacrebleu! French (or French inspired) foods have infiltrated this here blog. So, in honor of our brethren's liberation, let us try our hand at their fidgety food stuffs:

Lemony Brioche
French-ified Fried Rice
Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic

Or, feel free to help Marie Antoinette relieve the starving peasants with cake or the more class-appropriate bread.

Basics: Fresh Hummus

Another installment of our (very) occasional series on basics, staple recipes every cook should have in their arsenal.

Everyone who is anyone makes their own hummus. Sure, a tub of the prefab stuff might tide you over for lunch now and again, but once you have made your own, there's no going back.

Time to get acquainted with the wonders of dried beans: mysteriously hard litter kernels, transformed by a bath into chalky globes of goodness.

WARNING: using dried beans requires at least eight hours of lead time before you have a bowl of delicious spread in your hands. But it's so worth it. The canned will do in a pinch, but the quality of the ingredients will certainly shine through.

Fresh Hummus

1 cup of dried chickpeas (or 15 oz of canned chickpeas)
2-3 cloves of garlic
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 lemon
Pinch of salt
1 tablespoon tahini (optional)

1. Soak the chickpeas overnight or for at least eight hours.

2. In a food processor or mortar, combine garlic, olive oil, the juice from one lemon and tahini.

3. Rinse chickpeas and add to food processor. Pulse until desired level of smoothness. Add more olive oil if it seems dry.

There are a million ways to make it your own. What is your favorite variation or signature tweak?

Antipasto Fridays: Focaccia Bread

As Puddy famously pondered: why don't we have dip for dinner? And why does happy hour have to end on Friday afternoons when the sun doesn't set until 9 o'clock? In that spirit, we started Antipasto Fridays as a low-cook, snacky way to herald the coming of the weekend. This series will introduce small plate favorites during the week so it may grace your own weekend opening ceremonies.

I admit that making bread from scratch is probably outside the bounds of a no-cook Friday in the heat of summer. But the beauty of this recipe is that so many steps can be accomplished ahead of time. And the magic of pulling out a crispy round from the oven will surely impress your happy hour crew.

Lemon Focaccia
Adapted from The Kitchn

This amount of dough will yield 4 8-inch rounds. For a Friday afternoon, make a few rounds earlier in the week and save one or two in the freezer until game time.

1 envelope (2-1/4 teaspoons) active dry yeast
6 tablespoons really good extra virgin olive oil
4 cups bread flour, plus more for kneading
2 teaspoons salt
Really good extra virgin olive oil
Leaves of 2-4 branches fresh rosemary, chopped
2 lemons, washed and very thinly sliced into rounds
Coarse sea salt

Earlier in the week:
1. Dissolve the yeast in 1/2 cup warm water in a medium bowl. Stir in 1-1/4 cups water and 2 tablespoons of the olive oil.

2. Pulse the flour and salt together in the bowl of a food processor [or just use a bowl]. Add the yeast mixture and process until a rough ball of dough forms, 1 minute. Briefly knead dough on a floured surface until smooth. Shape dough into a ball. Put 2 tablespoons of the oil into a large bowl. Roll dough around in bowl until coated with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough rise in a warm spot until it has doubled in size, about 2 hours.

3. Quarter the dough and decide how many to make now and store the rest in the freezer protected by plastic wrap. Be sure to remove any stored in the freezer 18-24 hours prior to baking. Unwrap and allow to rise in a covered bowl.

To bake:
4. Preheat the oven to 450°. Pour a thin film of oil into each 8-inch round cake pans. Using your fingertips, spread one dough ball out in each pan. The dough is elastic and will resist stretching. Let it relax for 5 minutes or so after you've stretched it as far as it will go. Eventually, it will cooperate and fill the pan. Cover the pans with damp dishcloths and let the dough rest until it has swollen in the pans a bit, 30-60 minutes.

5. Uncover the pans. Sprinkle the dough with the rosemary. Using your fingertips, poke dimples into the dough in each pan, then liberally drizzle with oil so it pools in the hollows. Arrange just the thinnest rounds of lemon on top, drizzle with more oil, and sprinkle with sea salt.

6. Bake the focaccia until golden brown, 20-30 minutes. Drizzle with more oil when you pull the focaccia from the oven. Serve cut into wedges.

Peach Icebox Cake

I picked up that gorgeous magnolia bloom, along with a metric ton of rosy Georgia peaches, at the Piedmont Park farmer's market. A quintessentially Atlanta morning.

And as the Atlanta afternoon lazily dragged out, who could be bothered to turn on the oven? It just wouldn't do. Better to leave the work to our friend, the ice box.

Peach Icebox Cake

4-5 large peaches
1-2 tablespoons brown sugar [depending on sweetness and ripeness of peaches]
cinnamon
1 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon confectioners sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 package sugar-free instant vanilla pudding [or custard of your choice]
Graham crackers or wafers

1. Start by turning the peaches into a syrupy compote. Peel, pit and dice the peaches, then add to a small saucepan over medium heat. Toast the peaches and add brown sugar and cinnamon to taste. After several minutes and some reduction of the juices, remove the compote from heat and allow to cool.

2. Prepare instant pudding as directed and allow to set up in the fridge. Whip cream until peaks form. Add confectioners sugar and vanilla and mix briefly.

3. Grab a deep dish and begin layering: graham crackers, pudding, compote, whipped cream, repeat. Top with a sprinkle of cinnamon and some fresh peach slices.

4. Allow to set up in the refrigerator for a minimum of two hours, though optimal timing is really closer to eight hours. It will continue to get better each day until suddenly, it's all gone!