Lemon-Thyme Croutons

Unable to finish up the entire loaf of Wave Hill bread we got at the farmers' market on Sunday, we decided to make homemade croutons. We cubed the leftover bread and tossed it in a bowl with Tastefully Simple's Meyer Lemon Infused Oil and about two tablespoons of chopped fresh thyme. We spread the cubes on a baking sheet and baked for an hour at 300, leaving them in the turned-off-oven for an additional hour to cool. Crunchy, zesty, lemony -- they were a great addition to our fresh-from-the-garden salad. It's so satisfying to eat food that is home-grown!!!

Sage and White Pepper Pork Chops

After picking up some beautiful fingerling potatoes and a pound of fresh green beans at the Coventry Farmers' Market, we decided to dish these sides up with well-seasoned grilled pork chops. We sprinkled the chops with salt and white pepper, then drizzled a bit of olive oil on them. Then we proceeded to rub them with fresh sage from our garden. We grilled them to medium and plated them up with a sage leaf garnish and our side dishes. The result? Exactly what we hoped for - seasonal, herby, delicious. The white pepper was a nice change from our usualy black pepper and the sage rub went very well with the pork.

Fried Stuffed Zucchini Blossoms

Within the past decade at this time of year, I have been fortunate enough to have been in Rome three times. And each time, I was blessed with enjoying an abundance of my favorite Roman snack, fried zucchini blossoms. My first time was with Chris, on the vacation to Tuscany during which we got engaged. He convinced me that these treats were nothing like their ultimate product, knowing I'm no fan of any type of squash. I tried them and was forever in love with Chris and his crispy fried stuffed flowers.

Our neighbor planted zucchini this year and, lucky for us, he has more than he can handle. He permitted us to take some blossoms, and we made them here at home, making sure to bring him a couple to taste. He loved them too, and we now have permission to pick whenever we like, as long as we share. Here's our recipe which makes eight blossoms:

Ingredients:

8 squash blossoms, rinsed well

1 large ball of fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced into thin strips about as long as the flowers

1 egg

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon hot paprika

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

dash cayenne pepper

oil for frying

Fill a frying pan up to about 1/2 inch with oil. Heat the oil over medium-high heat. While the oil is heating, stuff the blossoms with the strips of mozzarella. Make an egg wash by beating the egg and water together. Then mix together the flour, salt, paprika, black and red pepper in a shallow dish. When the oil is hot enough for frying, dip each blossom first in the egg wash, then in the flour mixture, and gently place it in the oil. Avoid crowding the blossoms - if the pan isn't large enough, do this is two batches of four. Cook each blossom approximately two minutes on each side, then let rest on a paper towel. Eat the entire thing while it's hot!

Two-Night Lobster Feast

It was Saturday night. We just returned from a peaceful, relaxing week at the beach in Maine with two four-pound lobsters in a cardboard box marked "perishable" and big appetites from a long afternoon's drive. After quickly bringing in all of our luggage, Chris put salted water in the turkey fryer/seafood boiler to boil and I got to work prepping dishes, lobster crackers, paper towels, and butter. We steamed the ginormous crustaceans for about 20 minutes, let them cool, and went to work releasing the succulent meat from its hard red shell. When we were sated, we realized we had plenty of lobster leftover so we wrapped it carefully, put it in the fridge, and started to think about what to do with it before falling into a food coma on the couch.

Then it was Monday night. Earlier that afternoon we received in the mail Jessica Strand's cookbook Cooking for Two and while flipping through it, saw a recipe for "Split Broiled Lobster with Lime Butter and Celery Root Remoulade." We hadn't yet been food shopping, but we did have lots of leftover lobster, a garden full of fresh herbs, some butter and a lone lime in the fruit drawer. We decided to make what we're calling "Lazy Lobster Leftovers" with the two tails, two claws, and bits of knuckle meat we have. This is our recipe, adapted from Strand's. It was an easy, decadent meal with a summery citrus zing, and it put our leftovers to great use.

Ingredients:

leftover lobster (approximate equivalent to the meat of two one-pounders)
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 cloves garlic, sliced
1 cup panko
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
salt and pepper
juice of one lime

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut the lobster meat into bite-sized chunks and place in a casserole dish. Set aside. In a small saucepan, melt 3 tablespoons of butter with the sliced garlic. Remove the garlic as it starts to become fragrant and before it begins to brown. To the melted butter add the panko and stirring, cook over medium heat until the panko begins to look toasty. Add the parsley, salt and pepper, give another stir and turn off the heat. Spread the butter and breadcrumb mixture over the lobster meat and bake for 15 minutes. Melt the remaining butter with the lime juice and drizzle it over the top of the breadcrumbs. Broil for three to four minutes and then serve with a fresh garden salad.

Baked Feta Appetizer

While waitressing in New Orleans, I jotted down many a recipe from a kind chef or two. This one, called "Baked Feta" is an easy, tasty appetizer from Semolina's, a small pasta chain in the South. Chris and I love to have this as an appetizer with good Italian bread from our favorite local bakery, Iuliano's, or as an accompaniment to a side salad for lunch. It's the simplest thing ever, and it amazes me sometimes that I hadn't thought of it myself. You put some crumbled feta cheese in a small baking dish and top it with marinara sauce. Then you bake it (we put it under the salamander at the restaurant; a broiler would work as well) for about 15 minutes, until the cheese gets all melty and incorporated into the sauce. Top it off with some chiffonaded basil, for a fancier presentation and dip your bread into it. Please stay tuned, for I'll be catching up on our recent culinary adventures asap.

Update

In case you haven't figured it out, I (Amy) am the half of "A Couple" who usually does the writing, which I clearly haven't done in a while. The end of the school year, and thus, the second half of June, went by in a blur of papers, exams, coffee and take-out for both of us, who are high school teachers in "real" life. Since then, I have devoted my time to two separate week-long professional development/personal enrichment activities. While one was on the West Coast, and one on the East, I've essentially been living the last fortnight in college dorm rooms, relegated to eating in campus dining halls. Which is to say, as far as food goes, I don't have much to say. There were a couple of shiny happy meals, however - and, while one was on the West Coast and one was on the East, I haven't had much time to write. As soon as I can, I'll catch up on those. Until then, cheers!

Foodie Book Friday: Kabobs

It was on our local public radio show The Food Schmooze* that first I heard about Sally Sampson's "Recipe of the Week" cookbook titled Kabobs. I thought the idea was fantastic - a series of cookbooks with 52 themed recipes - one for every week. It seemed like a great way to mix things up a bit. I also thought that Kabobs, the first book in this unique series, was a great way to introduce the series. I mean, who doesn't love food on a stick?!?!?

I ordered the book as soon as I got home. After listening to the radio host and the author talk about the recipes, I was practially drooling, and couldn't wait for it to arrive. When it arrived, Chris and I flipped through it together and realized what an excellent addition to our cookbook collection it is. The recipes are original and innovative, and have definitely inspired us to come up with our own kabob ideas. There are kabobs with flavor profiles that seem pretty familiar to most home cooks (e.g. Beef with Herb Butter) as well as ones inspired by international cuisines (West Indian Chicken with Honey Butter). Importantly, the author goes well beyond beef, including recipes for lamb, pork, vegetable, fish, shellfish and fruit kabobs.

The recipes are clearly-written and easy to follow, with excellent photographs, organized notes, and helpful serving suggestions. They seem especially good for entertaining as most can be prepped ahead of time, and great for easy summer grilling. We look forward to adding these recipes into our repertoire and to taking a look at other books in the "Recipe of the Week" series.

*The Food Schmooze is broadcast live on Wednesdays at 3:00 p.m. on CT public radio and is repeated on Saturdays at noon. It is also available for listening online or via podcast. The host is CT's own famous foodie Faith Middleton.

Coventry Farmers' Market

June 7th was finally here, and with it, the opening day of the Coventry Farmers' Market in Coventry, CT. The weather was in full summer swing as were all the visitors, wearing sun-hats and carrying reusable totes and baskets. At the entrance a small cage with two goats being pet by toddlers was placed near a tent selling hand-spun, hand-dyed yarn. Kettle Korn was popping loudly next door to the coffee roaster (Bean and Leaf) who had already sold out of coffee but had beans that he had roasted the day before. We turned the corner and spotted The Farmer's Cow display, complete with a five-day-old calf and samples of their fresh organic milk (our favorite milk right now) and new lemonade and iced tea. Handcrafted soaps were being sold next to jewelry made from seaglass and beads, pottery, and hoodies made from hemp. All the farmers had their spring yields - mostly leafy vegetables, picked-that-morning strawberries, and perfect looking green onions. Most were selling plants as well, and we chose a few herbs and some heirloom tomato plants to round out our garden. Wave Hill Breads was there, as were a couple of other bakeries including the authentically French La Petit France, where I purchased a deliciously light pinwell pastry with a cream cheese center. We sample Italian basket cheese and picked up some chevre from Beltane Farm and tasted a variety of salsas, infused oils and vinegars from a variety of vendors. The "egg-man" was sold out of eggs but had some lovely fresh bacon we just had to purchase. We also browsed the product list at New Boston Beef's display; we'll get some next time. Coventry's Farmers' Market is open every Sunday from now through October, 11-2. We'll be back!

Greek Shrimp Meets the Best Bread on the East Coast

Tonight's dinner was fantastic, thanks to Closet Cooking's excellent recipe for Greek shrimp, our burgeoning herb garden, and a fabulous loaf of bread. The bread, voted "Best Bread on the East Coast" by authors and foodies extraordinaire Jane and Michael Stern, makes my top five breads of all time. It barely made it home and I was reluctant to share with Chris! It was a three-grain country loaf from Wave Hill Breads in Wilton, CT, with a nice brown, chewy crust and super-soft inside. We got it at the Coventry Farmers' Market (upcoming post on that) and will certainly be looking for it again. With it, we sopped up all the delicious sauce from the shrimp dish. Kudos to Kevin for the recipe, to Chris for being a terrific gardener, and to the geniuses behind Wave Hill breads!!! This dinner is one to be replicated.

Cockles and Mussels

Chris came home today with cockles and mussels and corn on the cob. Somewhere in my mind I thought of an Irish song about "cockles and mussels" but the thought left me as my stomach grumbled and we began to plan dinner. The plan was to cook everything outside on the grill since it was gorgeous out. So, first we soaked the corn in a sinkful of water for about a half-hour then put it, husk and all, on the preheated grill. About 15 minutes later, we threw the bivalves into the stainless steel basket insert of our crawfish boiler/turkey fryer with white wine, water, and all of the various other ingredients (see recipe) and put the pot, covered, on the gas burner on high for about 15 minutes, until all the shells were open. We even grabbed the herbs out of our growing herb garden which made us feel like we had accomplished something. What a simple and delicious dinner! We ate outside, enjoying the sunshine, the garden, our meal and each other's company. It was a nice taste of summer which is right around the corner!

Ingredients:
2 lbs. mussels
1 lb. cockles
4 lemons, halved
1 bunch green onions, chopped into 2-inch pieces
1 handful fresh parsley

2-3 stems of fresh tarragon
1/2 stick butter
1/2 bottle white wine (we used Trader Joe's Pinot Grigio)
2 cups water

salt

Put all the ingredients in a large stockpot, cover the pot, set it over high heat and cook for 15-20 minutes, until all shells are open.