My favorite simple fare is buttered toast with a variety of toppings. My most favorite topping is butter and jam with a little mild cheese on top. Yum! My next favorite topping is a sliced hard-boiled egg seasoned with salt, pepper and dill; adding mayo and tomato amps it up even further. This week I put leftover roasted cherry tomatoes, homemade pesto and goat cheese on a toasted ciabatta roll and thought I’d died and gone straight to heaven. Moving on to my favorite dairy and fruit combinations; I love ripe chilled melon with cottage cheese, fresh peaches on vanilla ice cream and cold purple grapes dipped in soft goat cheese. Any combo of bananas and peanut butter also hits the spot. “Eggplant, eggplant, we all scream for eggplant”…or maybe not. This week’s trial of my first large Chinese orb was frying quarter inch slices dipped in egg and coated with flour, bread crumbs and a spice mixture including homemade paprika, coriander and Chinese 5 spice. Once golden brown, I sprinkled them with parmesan cheese and served them with fresh tomatoes for breakfast. They were delicious!
Paul’s favorite simple fare is a thick slice of beefsteak tomato, a thin slice of onion along with a little mayo, salt and pepper on a piece of crusty bread. He also likes caprese salad which, again starts with thickly sliced tomatoes layered with fresh mozzarella drizzled with homemade pesto or homemade vinaigrette including olive oil, balsamic vinegar and fresh basil. It’s the season so he is a happy man.
As we are in farm country, I must include a few favorite animal proteins where roast chicken or cold sliced turkey top my list. Paul likes pork in all forms and we are both fond of the Midwestern delight “braunschweiger” served with beet pickles, sliced onions and rye bread. We don’t eat much beef but there is nothing like a good burger now and then.
It doesn’t get any simpler than perfecting the baked potato. First, use russets for their high starch content, scrub and place on a rack on a cookie sheet and bake at 450 degrees for 45-60 minutes or until the inner temperature reaches 205-212 degrees. A quick brush with olive oil during the last 10 minutes of baking will make for a crisp crust on your potatoes. To prevent gummy baked potatoes, cut them open immediately to release steam then pile them high with your favorite fixings and it’s a meal!
Did you know…?
-Adding a little baking soda to ground beef improves browning and helps retain moisture and a little plain gelatin makes for a great meat sauce thickener.
-Horizontally placed plastic magazine holders make additional freezer shelving which makes finding smaller freezer items easier.
-You can use a course grater to break down hardened brown sugar and for quicker use of cold butter use a vegetable peeler to create thin ribbons which will melt quickly.
-The best olive oil uses olives from a single source at peak ripeness exposed to minimal processing. Grown and processed close to the end user is ideal making California made olive oil the best choice in the US.