Weekly Dish

Aaahh, pesto. That lovely oily amalgamation that I nearly kill my basil plants over every single summer. When I was a waitress at the Brick-Oven, I often worked the long lunch shift, which usually left me and the kitchen staff alone in the restaurant for at least a couple of hours. Steve, a vegetarian chef extraordinaire, taught me how to make pesto one afternoon in late summer, and I’ve made it every summer since. I usually stick to his basic version, with basil leaves, pine nuts, fresh Parmesan, garlic, and olive oil, but I’ve also made it with walnuts (my friend Angela is allergic to pine nuts, so when I lived in Jackson, I usually substituted the walnuts on her account). One of my favorite food blogs, Cooking with Amy, recently posted a whole host of variations on the traditional pesto; if you’re interested in mixing it up, you should check out her suggestions. I make mine as a paste with only a little oil at first, and then add oil as needed as I use the pesto in different ways. One of the tricks I’ve found that really enriches the flavor is toasting the pine nuts first; they become more buttery and flavorful when they brown. This week, pesto’s in chicken salad and dolloped on pasta, next week on pizza! It’s so versatile, and a little goes a long way. For this recipe, I made the pesto and then mixed about 2 tablespoons of it with 1/2 cup of the homemade mayonnaise left from the sandwiches on Monday. These proportions can be adjusted, depending on how much pesto flavor you like, and how “wet” you like your chicken salad. Add some small-diced chicken (also leftover from Monday) and toasted pine nuts. It’s wonderful on foccacia bread, if you have any left. I served the sandwiches with a simple green salad. Here’s how I made the pesto:

1 cup basil leaves, washed and thoroughly dried

1/4 cup toasted pine nuts

4 cloves of garlic

1/4 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 t. Kosher salt

1/2 t. cracked black pepper

Toast the pine nuts in a 350 oven until brown and fragrant, about 15-20 minutes. In a food processor or blender, mince the garlic as finely as you can. Then add the basil leaves and pulse until they are also chopped finely. Add the nuts, cheese, olive oil, salt and pepper, and process until a paste forms. Will keep in the fridge in a tightly covered container for about 2 weeks.

One of the things that I really like about Sara Foster’s new cookbook, Fresh Everyday, is that she gives a lot of what I call template recipes, basic ways to cook, and then lots of ways to vary that basic dish. If you don’t have her cookbooks, I highly recommend them both; I have learned a lot of techniques from them. One particular section demonstrates different ways to make risotto, flavored with seasonal vegetables.

Risotto is one of my favorite things to make with leftovers anyway, and this one with tomatoes and corn suited perfectly what I had in my kitchen this week. If you’ve never made risotto before, don’t be intimidated by all the stirring and adding, stirring and adding. It does take time, but it’s definitely not an exact science, and once you’ve made it a few times, you’ll find yourself getting into the rhythm of how long it takes and how much time you have to do other things while it’s cooking. I use Fontina cheese instead of Parmesan; it makes the risotto even creamier. I also used cooked corn from our grilling night on Monday, in place of the raw kernels.

Risotto with Tomatoes and Corn

3-4 cups vegetable broth (hint: simmer water with stripped corn cobs, onion trimmings, and a lemon)
Olive oil
Butter
1 small yellow onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 ¼ cups Arborio rice
Salt and pepper
½ cup dry white wine
2 large fresh tomatoes, cored and chopped
Kernels from 3 fresh corn cobs (I used the leftover corn from the grilled corn I made on Monday)
A handful of basil leaves OR a tablespoon of basil pesto

In a small saucepan, bring the broth to a boil. Sauté the onion and garlic in about 1 tablespoon each of butter and olive oil until soft in a very large sauté pan. Add the rice to the pan and stir constantly for a few minutes until the rice grains begin to glisten and they are all coated with the oil and butter.

Stir in the white wine until the rice absorbs it, and then begin adding broth ½ cup at a time, until the rice absorbs it too. Stir frequently; when the rice begins to sizzle and there is little liquid in the bottom of the pan, it’s time to add more. Add a little salt and pepper with each batch of liquid. The tricky part is knowing when to stop; you want the rice to be tender, but not too mushy. It usually takes me about 25 minutes of adding liquid and stirring until it’s done, but you should taste the rice to make sure before you add the vegetables. Stir in the chopped tomatoes, corn kernels, and half of the basil or the pesto (or both!). Then, stir in the Fontina until it melts. Serve topped with the extra basil. Season with Kosher salt and pepper. Serves 4 as a main dish.

–Adapted from Sara Foster’s Fresh Every Day: More Great Recipes from Foster’s Market.

One of my favorite things to make for dinner after a trip to the Farmer’s Market is a vegetable plate with lots of different colors, textures, and flavors. Fortunately, my husband is not one of those meat-and-potatoes guys, but to add some extra protein, I usually try to make one dish with eggs in it. For today’s menu, I chose corn pudding, which allows me to use the sweet, sweet corn that is so delicious right now and the monstrous basil in my backyard. I use The Barefoot Contessa’s recipe for Sagoponack Corn Pudding (Barefoot Contessa Family Style), halved, and I bake it without fooling with a water bath. With fresh corn right off the cob, really sharp Cheddar cheese, and fresh basil, it melts in your mouth with a perfect blend of sweet and savory. Tonight, I served it with Roasted Asparagus, which I like with a splash of lemon juice, olive oil, and lots of salt and pepper roasted at 400 degrees just until it turns bright green, and Spinach-Stuffed Cherry Tomatoes. The bread crumbs in the tomatoes also go a long way to make this meal filling. It is, in our estimation, straight-from-the-garden-delicious. So delicious, in fact, that we were in such a hurry to eat it, we forgot to snap a picture! Sorry…we’ll try to do better.

Sagoponack Corn Pudding

½ stick butter

Fresh corn kernels from about 4 corn cobs

1 small yellow onion, chopped (about ½ cup)

2 large eggs

½ cup milk

½ cup half-and-half

¼ cup yellow cornmeal

½ cup ricotta cheese

2 T chopped fresh basil leaves (more if you have it)

½ T. sugar

½ T. kosher salt

½ t. freshly ground black pepper

6 ounces of shredded extra-sharp Cheddar cheese (reserve some for the top)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Melt the butter in a large skillet (I use a heat-resistant one that can go right in the oven). Sauté the corn and onion over medium-high heat until the onion is tender, about 5 minutes.

Whisk together the eggs, milk, and half-and-half. Slowly add the cornmeal and ricotta cheese. When well-combined, mix in the basil, sugar, salt, and pepper. Add to the corn mixture and mix in the Cheddar cheese. Sprinkle the top with more cheese. Bake for about 40 minutes, or until the top is brown and the center is set.

–Adapted from Barefoot Contessa Family Style, Ina Garten, 2002.

Because the corn pudding has to cook the longest, I assemble it first and place it in the oven. Then, when I have the tomatoes ready to go in, I turn the heat up to 400 degrees and watch the corn pudding carefully. When it’s brown and done, I take it out and cover it tightly with aluminum foil to keep it warm. Next, I place the asparagus spears in the oven, to cook while the tomatoes are finishing. As soon as the asparagus goes in the oven, I get the bread ready: arrange slices of a baguette on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and top with thin slices of Parmesan cheese (I use a vegetable peeler).

Spinach-Stuffed Cherry Tomatoes

Filling (for 8 large cherry tomatoes):

½ cup fresh white bread crumbs

1 cup feta cheese, crumbled

½ cup spinach leaves, washed and chopped

1 tsp. fresh basil leaves

¼ cup ricotta

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 green onions, chopped

Mix together filling and set aside. Cut the tops off of the cherry tomatoes and remove the seeds and juice (I do it with my fingers). Stuff each tomato liberally with filling. Drizzle with olive oil and salt and pepper. Bake at 400 for about 20 minutes, until tomatoes are almost collapsing. The spinach filling is excellent in omelets or stuffed in a loaf of French bread, if you have some leftover. I saved about 2 tablespoons for the frittata I’m planning to make next week.

Grilling is one of those summertime pleasures that, when summer’s over, I always feel I haven’t indulged in enough. My husband is excellent on the grill, and it’s so quick—plus I usually wind up with much less mess in the kitchen. If I remember to marinate the meat, we can usually throw dinner together in about half an hour (after the grill’s been fired up, of course). We have heard great things about gas grills, but we are traditional (and poor), so we use the old-fashioned charcoal method. I love the smoky flavor the coals give to whatever I cook.

This chicken recipe derives from leftover tequila in the house and a margarita sauce I once watched a chef at the Brick Oven (a restaurant where I worked in college—sadly, it no longer exists) fix for tilapia. If you have margarita mix on hand, I know it would be good in place of some of the orange juice; we just didn’t have any when I got ready to mix up the marinade.

Grilled Margarita Chicken

For the marinade:

½ c. tequila (I use whatever is cheapest; we only use the good stuff for real margaritas)

3 lbs. chicken breasts

2-4 cloves garlic, depending on the size of your garlic (the stuff I bought at the farmer’s market last week is tremendous, so I only used 2)

Juice of one orange and three limes (if you roll them on the counter a few times, putting a good bit of pressure on them, they will yield more juice. Cutting them into wedges instead of halves helps too.)

1 T. chili paste (I used the Sambal chili paste I bought at an Asian market, but any hot chili sauce would do)

2 t. Kosher salt

Ground pepper

2 t. honey plus extra for drizzling

1 t. cumin

Olive oil and orange juice (or margarita mix) to cover

Mix together everything but the olive oil and orange juice (I do it right in the baking dish, or whatever I’m putting the chicken in); then place the chicken in the dish and turn several times until it’s good and coated. Drizzle with more honey and pour over equal parts olive oil and orange juice/margarita mix until the breasts are just covered. Marinate at least a few hours, preferably overnight. Grill over a medium fire for about 20 minutes, turning frequently to prevent it from getting too black on one side.

I served the chicken with a version of Sara Foster’s Apple and Avocado Salad from Fresh Everyday and grilled corn. I assemble the salad right on the plate, as the chicken and corn are cooking. I use spinach instead of watercress, and place one layer of torn leaves on the plate. Top with sliced avocado, chopped mint leaves, green onions, and chopped green apple. Instead of mixing up a separate dressing, I drizzle equal parts lime juice and olive oil on each salad and top with a good dose of salt and pepper. Finish with a good handful of crumbled feta cheese. The lime in the chicken and in the salad dressing is a nice pairing.

For the Grilled Corn, I like it simple. Wrap cobs in aluminum foil, dotted with pats of butter, and cook for about 10 minutes. I like sweet summer corn very plain, seasoned only with salt and pepper (and of course the butter); I also like it crunchy, so if you prefer yours cooked more thoroughly, just leave it on the grill a little longer.

Set aside the leftover chicken breasts; you will need 2 for the Taboulleh chicken salad, and then you should still have 3 or 4 left. I will probably use them for quesadillas next week, so I wrap them really well in plastic wrap and place them in a large Ziploc bag. That way, they won’t dry out in the fridge.