Shakshuka

It's been a while since I've cooked, let alone blogged. I've been too busy giving my time away to others to take the time for myself. But my kiddos are on Spring break this week and I've finally had some time to "Chillax" as my 8-year old Jackson says. And I'm thankful for the time off.

Basically, I've done next to nothing..I've read 4 books since last Saturday. It's been heaven being able to sink so deeply into these fictional worlds, an escape from reality. But I'll admit, I've felt a wee bit guilty because I've allowed my kids to play video games all day with the occasional break to play catch or take a bike ride...I'm sure the mom-critics (including my husband a few times these last few days) would say, that I'm being a bad mother by allowing it. But to be honest, I've needed the break. 

Allowing endless video games and my submersion into fictional worlds aside, I realized I really need the break away from the kiddos. 
I need to be just me, not a mom with a thousand responsibilities. I broke down to my husband and cried,..."I need a vacation!"

In fact...We both do. The last time we had any time off together was probably 2 or 3 years ago for our anniversary...sigh* 

Back when we both worked full-time, vacations were easy to take because we had money to do it, whether it was a weekend trip or just a quick date night with a sitter. Back when we both worked, we had money to pay for someone to clean our house each week and we were able to go out to dinner if I got home late or if I hadn't made it to the grocery store. 
These were convenience luxuries that made up for the time I was at work because, I couldn't do it all myself. 
So on the days when the kids are on vacation from school, I want to be on vacation too and that's when I most miss those luxuries. I don't want to clean my house. I don't want to cook. I want to go out to dinner, sleep in, and let my kids play video games all day. A vacation at home.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. I love being home with the kids and I am so thankful for my husband working so hard to allow me to be home with them, I just need a small break to remember who I am and reconnect with my husband, who works so hard for us. I'm thankful for my husband being my biggest supporter when I feel lost, upset, conflicted or just plain tired. Especially lately... he has been my rock and my biggest supporter when I probably didn't deserve his constant support. He supported me when my priorities shifted away from us and then witnessed the toll it took with unhappiness. 

I'm ashamed to say, I take him for granted too often.

He's always there to support and challenge me when I need it; he fights the good fight for me and against me when I need a wake up call.

I'm so thankful for this man whose had the misfortune to marry this head-strong, stubborn woman who seems impossible to please. I'm thankful for his ability to break through the toughness I throw up to protect my insecurities and how he selflessly works to make things all right. 

In line with his generous and loving way to make everything all right...my husband heard my cry for a vacation and booked a two day trip for us! No kids. We leave today. I love you baby! :)

....So somewhere in the last few days between video games, reading, crying and vacation planning I made this amazing Shakshuka. If you are not familiar with the dish, like me, Shakshuka is a Tunisian dish of eggs poached in a spicy tomato sauce. I saw it on Pinterest and I was inspired to make it. I'd say it's most similar to the Latin dish, Huevos Rancheros, but if you remove the poached eggs, it's also reminiscent to Ratatouille. It's amazingly delicious! Enjoy!

Shakshuka (recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen)
Serves 4-6

3 large Anaheim chilies, seeded and chopped
1 small onion, chopped
2 T olive oil.
5 cloves garlic, minced
3 cloves, roughly chopped
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 Tbsp paprika, (I used smoked paprika)
1/2 tsp coriander
cayenne pepper (to taste)
Kosher salt (to taste)
1- 28oz can of whole tomatoes, crushed
1 cup of fresh tomato puree
4-6 eggs
pita bread
feta cheese
fresh spinach, thinly sliced (garnish)

In a large skillet, cook onions and chilies over medium high heat, in oil until soft and golden brown. About 6-8 minutes. Add garlic and spices and cook an additional 2 minutes. In a large bowl, add tomatoes and crush by hand. Add crushed tomatoes with sauce and tomato puree to the skillet. Cover and cook over medium high heat for a minimum of 1 hour. (The original recipe calls for a lot less cooking time but the tomatoes were too acidic for my taste so I cooked the sauce, covered for an hour in order to sweeten the tomatoes and blend the chilies and the sauce turned out fantastic!)  

Add eggs, cover and heat an additional 8-10 minutes until the eggs are set but the yolks are still soft. 

Top with feta and spinach and serve with pita bread. Enjoy!

Caprese Salad with Pesto Vinaigrette

Red and Brown Tomatoes

This salad came about after I bought some brown tomatoes. I'd never had brown tomatoes before and thought it would be a fun new ingredient to play around with in the kitchen. I was amazed at how sweet they were when I tasted them. Their firm texture was similar to Roma tomatoes but a lot sweeter in flavor. They were perfect just by themselves, so the decision to make a Caprese Salad was an easy one. However, I wasn't going to make the appetizer, instead I made an actual salad with them.

My first run through with this salad sadly was not so pretty presentation-wise. Last Saturday, my husband and I had worked in the yard all day. We're putting in a paver patio and we're at the digging, dirt moving stage. Messy, back-breaking work. My hands are still killing me. We had been at it most of the day and it was almost 5PM and we had dinner plans at one of our friends house for 7PM. I had offered to bring some appetizers and a salad. Running out of time, I showered, got dressed and set out to the kitchen. I made a white bean hummus,(I substituted white beans for the chickpeas) a carrot dip and then I was left to make the Caprese Salad. My goal for the salad was to just get the flavor down with the Pesto Vinaigrette. The brown tomatoes would speak for themselves, it was the dressing that had to be good. 
I have a huge lemon basil plant in my yard so I picked a ton of beautiful leaves and used them in my salad dressing as well as the whole leaves on the salad itself. The dressing was was light, Basil-y and gave the salad the taste I wanted, similar to a Caprese appetizer but definitely a vinaigrette.
  

Unfortunately, I was out of time and since I offered to bring appetizers, I didn't want to be late. So I brought all the salad ingredients with me to assemble there. My presentation wasn't so pretty on Saturday.*sigh* But, I decided to make it again on Sunday where I tweaked the dressing just a bit and it turned out amazing! I feel bad that my dressing and presentation weren't fully developed for the Saturday dinner party but I'm grateful for the dress rehearsal because now it's just right. Give it a whirl and let me know how you like it. 

Other tomato recipes to try: 
Heirloom Tomato Salad with Grilled Maui Onion and Zucchini, 
Nana's Salsa
Garden Fresh Gazpacho Soup

Caprese Salad with Pesto Vinaigrette
Serves 4

6 cups of mixed baby greens
3 brown tomatoes, sliced
3 red tomatoes, sliced
5-6 small balls of fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced
1/4 cup fresh basil leaves
Pine nuts

Pesto Vinaigrette
2 cups fresh basil leaves
1 garlic clove
1 T pine nuts
1/2 t salt
1/4 t pepper
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 T balsamic vinegar
1/2 T agave sweetener, or honey
1/3 cup olive oil

Blend basil leaves, garlic, pine nuts salt and pepper in a mini food processor until finely minced. Add both vinegars and agave sweetener and blend until incorporated. Lastly, add olive oil to emulsify. Refrigerate until ready to use. 


Layer lettuce, tomatoes, cheese on a serving platter. Sprinkle with pine nuts and basil leaves. Just before serving, toss with Pesto Vinaigrette.  Enjoy!

Garden-Fresh Gazpacho

When I think of Gazpacho soup, I think of salsa. That's basically what it is, or at least a variation of it made with cucumbers. Funny thing for me, it's the middle of summer and it's hard for me to say something is a soup that is served cold. In my mind, soup conjures thoughts of cold nights curled up with a steaming bowl of soup to ease away the day and settle into the long nights of fall and winter. I imagine throwing together leftovers and root vegetables into a big pot to create a piping hot bowl of comforting soup. Oh, how I miss the cooler weather and all the satisfying soups to make...I'm daydreaming for seasons yet to come...probably because I'm already planning my fall recipes and activities. Or maybe it's that I'm going through soup withdrawal since I haven't made or posted a soup since winter. Yeah, it's probably a little of both. 
So to cure my soup withdrawal, I'd searched for a summer style soup to post and I found this classic summery Gazpacho soup from my 'go to' magazine, "Cuisine at Home". Until I came across this recipe, I admit, I'd never made Gazpacho or tasted it before. Surprise! It's delicious and refreshing and didn't heat up the house.  I served this soup along with some Italian meatball sub-sandwiches. My husband actually dipped his sub sandwich into it and ate the sandwich and soup like it was chips and salsa. It was super delicious and a great way to use up all those summer tomatoes from your garden and you can enjoy it the next day with a bag of tortilla chips too. Enjoy! 

Garden-Fresh Gazpacho (recipe from Cuisine At Home, May/June 2013)
Serves 4 (1 cup)

2 cups grape tomatoes. (I used red and yellow grape tomatoes, but you can substitute grape tomatoes with any variety of tomato.)
1 cup seeded and coarsely chopped cucumber
1/2 cup coarsely chopped red bell pepper
1/4 cup diced red onion
2 T extra-virgin olive oil
5 tsp. sherry vinegar
2 cloves garlic
1 slice white sandwich bread, crust removed, torn into pieces
Salt and pepper to taste

Pulse tomatoes. cucumber, bell pepper, red onion, oil, vinegar, garlic and bread in a food processor until pureed; season with salt and pepper.
Transfer soup to a bowl and chill at least one hour. Serve. 
If desired, garnish with additional cucumber, bell pepper and onion. 

Heirloom Tomato Salad with Grilled Maui Onion and Zucchini

This recipe comes from Grace-Marie's Kitchen, an independently owned cooking school at the Manhattan Beach, Bristol Farms. Grace-Marie is the owner and chef of the cooking school. She holds fun themed demonstration classes and some hands-on cooking classes as well. I've gone to a handful of the demonstration classes where she cooks a 3-4 course meal for the class. It's great fun to do with girlfriends. In fact, this recipe was from the Maui Garden Luncheon theme, I took my best friend for a belated birthday lunch. :)

This was Grace-Marie's salad course and if you don't know from reading my salad blogs, salad's are my thing! I love salads! This salad was so delicious, but I must warn you, it does have one ingredient that is kind of obscure or exotic, especially if you don't have an Asian market close by to purchase it. The ginger preserves or pickled ginger shreds definitely add the perfect depth of flavor to the dressing, but I did not have this ingredient on hand when I made this for the 4th of July. Instead, I used regular ginger plus 2 teaspoons of sugar and it worked just as well. So don't be intimidated by the strange ingredient called out in the dressing. Wait, I just had a random side thought... a few days too late obviously...I should have made the ginger shreds myself with my quick pickle recipe. Next time I'll give it a go. Or if you try this Salad recipe, you can follow the link above and try pickling your own ginger. :)
Also, If you don't have heirloom tomatoes, just substitute with your favorite tomatoes. Heirloom tomatoes are usually pretty pricey and I would've used Beefsteak tomatoes for this to save the dollars. But, I found 2 pounds of heirloom tomatoes for only $2. Only a dollar a pound, what a total steal and they were delicious. Enjoy! 

Heirloom Tomato Salad with Grilled Maui Onion and Zucchini 
(recipe slightly adapted from Grace-Marie's Kitchen)
Serves 8

Cilantro-Ginger Vinaigrette

• 1 cup canola oil
• 1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
• 1/3 cup Ginger Preserves or sweet pickled ginger shreds (substitute with 1/4 cup ginger, peeled and sliced plus 2 teaspoon sugar)
• 1/4 cup cilantro, loosely packed
• 2 T shallots, roughly chopped
• 2 T Asian chili garlic sauce
• 1 T soy sauce

Using a blender, combine and puree the oil, vinegar, preserves, cilantro, shallots, chili sauce and soy sauce. Pour through a strainer, discard solids and chill until ready to use. If necessary, whisk again just before using. (Note: This marinade gets better overnight, so you may want to make this a day ahead of time, but is not necessary.)

Salad

• 4 small zucchini, trimmed and halved lengthwise
• 1 large Maui Onion (or any sweet onion), cut into 1" thick round slices
• 1-2 pounds Heirloom Tomatoes, diced
• 1/2 cup cilantro leaves, chopped
• Sea salt and pepper to taste
• Goat or feta cheese, crumbled 

Prepare and preheat an outdoor or stove-top grill. Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper. 
Brush the zucchini and onions (I only used about half of a Maui Onion, since it was so large) with some of the vinaigrette and allow to marinate for 30 minutes or longer. 
Grill zucchini until just charred and not cooked completely so it doesn't get mushy (that's a technical term.:)). Allow the onions to grill completely until they are translucent or even browned a bit to enhance their sweetness. The original recipe called for under-cooking the onions, but I prefer them a little more cooked, but you can grill them to your taste. 
Transfer to the baking sheet and allow to cool to room temperature. Chop zucchini and onions. Combine the grilled vegetables with the tomatoes and the cilantro. Drizzle with additional vinaigrette over the mixture and very gently toss. Serve with crumbled goat cheese or feta cheese. 

Nana's Salsa

For this blog, I wanted to highlight our friend's family Salsa recipe, affectionately called Nana's Salsa. We've known the Ponce family for about twelve years. They are a warm and welcoming family who always make you feel like a part of their family. They are generous and kind and just plain fun! When I first met the Ponce's, I was astonished to find out that their family would host two big family events each year; their summer picnic and a formal winter dance held at a local hotel. 
The picnic was no 'bring a basket of food to the beach' kind of thing and the winter dance...well 'formal' says it all. You can imagine how much planning it would take to pull off a 'formal' anything. Both of these were organized events, which I came to understand, took a year of planning, every year. The duty of planning these events rotated through different family members each year. Incredible, because these were no small events. The family picnics were huge, with easily 300 people in attendance. Family, friends and neighbors all brought something potluck style. There were raffles, a mariachi band, beer trucks, food, games for the kids, water balloons, egg toss, the whole enchilada.  It was an amazing event, one which I was honored to attend a few years and always looked forward to attending. In fact, I remember, the first time I brought my husband (before we were married) to one of the Ponce's picnics. Afterward, he commented how awesome the Ponce Family was and how they made him feel like a part of their family.  I couldn't have agreed more.
So in honor of the Ponce Family, I thought it would be great to have my friend and writer, Paul Ponce, write up the story on how his Nana's Salsa recipe came to be and how he resurrected it when he thought the recipe was lost. The salsa is incredibly delicious and super fresh with lots of cilantro. I practically ate an entire bag of chips while I polished off the whole bowl of salsa. So here's Paul's family story and recipe. Enjoy! 

Thank you Paul and the Ponce Family for letting me share your story and recipe. 

Nana’s Salsa

by Paul Ponce

Back in the sixties, my grandparents opened up a Mexican food restaurant in Garden Grove, CA. They featured a full service menu consisting of what you might be accustomed to these days. Dishes such as tacos, enchiladas, and chile rellenos were some popular entrées, but before any of that came to the table, the first thing served was always a basket of chips and a bowl of fresh salsa.

Looking at grocery store shelves today, you might notice most jars and bottles of salsa have a red tomato base. A variety of chilies differentiate one product from the next but basically they are all about the same. Back in the day though, sometimes the price of tomatoes would be so high, the salsa needed to be stretched out a little. That is where Nana came in.

My great-grandmother a.k.a. “Nana” had her own salsa recipe that she brought to my grandparents new restaurant and it quickly became a local favorite. A couple years back, after not having tasted that salsa in over twenty years, I asked my Nino for the recipe. When he gave it to me he said there were no exact measurements, only ingredients and suggestions on “about” how much to use.

I remember the look and consistency of the salsa like it was yesterday but it wasn’t until I started blending it all together that the smell brought back a flood of memories. Then, when I took that first taste with a tortilla chip, I knew I had nailed that recipe right on the money. The process is fairly simple and the ingredients are few. The only culinary tool you really need is an emulsion blender and before long you can enjoy this recipe yourself!

Nana's Salsa

3 Roma tomatoes, chopped

1 14 oz. can diced tomatoes

1 bunch cilantro, chopped (about 2-3 cups)

1 bunch green onion, chopped (about 1 1/2 cups)

1 yellow chile (chile guerito), seeded and chopped 

2 Serrano chilies, seeded and chopped

1-2 cloves garlic, chopped (or 1 tsp. garlic powder)

salt, to taste

Clean and coarsely chop the three Roma tomatoes and place them in a deep bowl along with half of the canned tomatoes with juice. Clean and chop the cilantro. Don’t worry about taking each leaf off the stem, just throw it all in. Clean and chop the green onion, make sure to add some of the green part of the stem as well. Remove seeds and veins from the chilies.  Coarsely chop and add chilies to the bowl. Add the remaining half of canned tomatoes. Using an emulsion blender, slowly blend the ingredients together. Add salt to taste.

Refrigerate and serve. 

Note: Letting the salsa, refrigerate overnight will give you the best flavor allowing the ingredients to meld together, but it is not required. Enjoy!