Olives & Fish

I love olives and T. loves fish (well I love fish too). I've exposed T. to so many different varieties of olives over the years, he actually is starting to like them now. Persistence pays off!! 

Castelvetrano are a buttery vibrant green olive grown in Sicily. Not briny at all...which will make anyone an olive lover. Pairing the Castelvetrano olives with the flavor packed Nicoise olive for this dish is a brilliant match, use any of your favorite olives, my only request is this is not the time for the infamous Lindsay Olive that you'll find on most conventional grocery shelves. Branch out and go for the bulk olives. Taste and see what you like!

Summertime meals at our home often include fish, particularly Halibut. We are lucky as Halibut season runs from May-September here in the Pacific Northwest. This dish is equally as good with grilled Halibut or Seared Scallops.

Serves 4

Pounded Olive & Orange Sauce
1 small red onion, frenched
¼ cup olive oil
½ cup, Castelvetrano Olives
½ cup, mixture of your favorite olives (both with and without pits)
3 oranges, divided, 1 for juicing (ie. Valencia) and 2 for segmenting (ie. Cara Cara/Navel)
⅓ cup extra-virgin olive oil
small handful of fresh basil, coarsely chopped
small handful of Italian flat-leaf parsley, coarsely chopped
freshly ground black pepper & sea salt to taste

Cut the pitted olives in half or in quarters if particularly big.
With the blunt side of your knife press the olives with pits until they split, or using a heavy bottomed pan pound the olives until split.

In a saute pan warm ¼ cup olive oil over medium-heat.  Add the onions and cook until soft and translucent, approximately 8 minutes.

Add freshly squeezed orange juice and olives and cook for 1-2 minutes.  Add the orange segments and shut off the heat. Toss in fresh basil and parsley.  Drizzle in ⅓ cup fruity olive oil.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Pan Seared Halibut
4 halibut fillets (6-8 ounces each)
⅛ cup safflower oil, or your favorite high-heat oil
a few healthy pinches of sea salt



Blot fillets dry and season the halibut fillets with  pinch of sea salt per side.

Warm a skillet over medium-high heat, add the safflower oil and let warm. Add the halibut fillets and sear until just cooked through, about 2 to 3 minutes per side (depending on the thickness of fillets).



Serve with Pounded Olive & Orange Sauce

Buon Appetito!

Recipe Developing: Chocolate Chip Cookies, Take 1

I'm experimenting with creating both gluten-free & dairy-free cookies.  This was my first take on the classic chocolate chip cookie.  I have yet to find the perfect blend of flour for cookies; as the texture of non-wheat flours tends to be a bit gritty so far in my testing. What I love about the classic chocolate chip cookie traditionally made with wheat flour and butter is that it melts in your mouth.  There is never any residual grain sticking around.  My first take of this classic was okay, let's just say I have lots of room for improvement!

Next time around I'll need to add more coconut butter and more sugar.  These cookies were a bit too thick for my liking and didn't brown without over-baking.  What did come from this first recipe is a good base for Chocolate Chunk Biscotti.

I only want the best for you and your bellies, therefore once I perfect this recipe I will plan on sharing it with all of you lovely food blog readers!

Babycakes Snickerdoodles

Erin McKenna has done it again. Created an adorable vegan and gluten-free cookbook.  These snickerdoodles are delicate & light.  A little persnickety in the way that they are gorgeous and crispy when they come out of the oven. However, give them an hour or so and they adopt soft bellies.  Still delicious, they just aren't that crisp.

Being that we aren't vegan, I do love using eggs in baked goods.  So I left out the flaxmeal and added one large egg.  Perhaps if I hadn't done just that they would have stayed crisp?  If you like Snickerdoodles or even if you don't (as I've never been a Snickerdoodle lover) you'll surely like these.

Thanks Erin for another lovely book!

Snickerdoodles

adapted from Babycakes Covers the Classics by Erin McKenna

Makes 36

1 1/2 cups plus 1/2 cup sugar

3 tablespoons ground cinnamon

2 cups rice flour

1/4 cup ground flax meal (I used 1 Large egg)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon xanthan gum

1 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons melted refined coconut oil or canola oil

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

2 tablespoons vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.  Line 2 rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

In a shallow bowl, whisk together the 1/2 cup sugar and 2 tablespoons of the cinnamon until evenly incorporated.  Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the 1 1/3 cups sugar, the flour, flax meal (or substitute the egg), baking soda, xanthan gum, salt, and the remaining 1 tablespoon of cinnamon.  Add the coconut oil, applesauce, and vanilla and mix with a rubber spatula until a thick dough that resembles wet sand forms.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Working in batches, drop the dough by the teaspoonful into the cinnamon-sugar mixture and roll around to coat the dough all over.  Place on the prepared baking sheets, about 1 inch apart.  Gently press each cookie with  fork to help them spread.  Bake for 7 minutes, rotate the baking sheets, and continue baking for 7 minutes more, or until the cookies are crispy around the edges.  Let stand on the baking sheets for 15 minutes before serving.

Milk Chocolate Gelato

Creamy Milk Chocolate Gelato

Coconut Crepes

Yesterday I had a hankering for crepes, but T. and I got a little side-tracked along the way with Sushi, Cider & Gelato!  I made up for it today with my first of many gluten-free & dairy-free crepe creations.

A crepe that my gluten-free belly can enjoy too!

Coconut Crepe & Mango Slices

Dollop of Coconut Bliss, Drizzle of Tupelo Honey
&
Sprinkle of Coconut Sugar

Gluten-Free Cracker Bread

Super sticky dough yields a crunchy well-liked cracker in my house!

I felt like baking and T. and I had a wine & chocolate pairing planned. Therefore, I made a gluten-free cracker reminiscent of Lavash as a palette cleanser for my gluten-free belly.  

I think I'll work on the flour mixture as the dough was absurdly sticky and difficult to work with, I actually couldn't get much of it off of the top layer of parchment paper when I rolled it out....I think too starchy.  However, these are the gluten-free flours I had in my cupboard at the time and T. loved the result! So here it is the first run through, I plan on testing it a few more times and each time I'll post my findings.

Gluten-Free Cracker Bread 

Makes 15-20 rustic crackers

Take 1

1/2 cup millet flour

1/2 cup tapioca starch

scant 1/2 cup sweet rice flour

1/3 cup potato starch

2 t xanthan gum

3/4 t sea salt

scant cup of warm water, about 110 degrees F

2 t active dry yeast

1/8 cup evoo

garnish: fresh rosemary, sea salt & olive oil 

In the bowl of an electric mixer whisk together all of the flours, starches, xanthan gum and sea salt.  Set aside.

In a small bowl combine the warm water with the yeast and set aside for a minute.

Fit the electric mixer with the paddle attachment and pour the yeasty water and evoo into the dry ingredients and mix on medium for a few minutes until the dough comes together and feels soft.  

Coat the inside of a medium size bowl with olive oil and place the dough into the bowl.  Cover with a flour sack towel and let rest in a warm place for about an hour until slightly risen (will only increase a touch in size).

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

This is where the recipe gets a little tricky.  Next time I go about this I plan on oiling a bit of parchment paper, however waxed paper might work well.  So grab a piece of parchment paper and lightly oil, place the dough on the parchment and flatten the dough with your hands.  Place a second piece of oiled parchment paper on top of the dough and roll out until 1/8"-1/4" thick with a rolling pin.  Peel the top piece of parchment paper off of the dough (most likely you'll have a thin layer of dough on this piece of parchment paper, scrape off as much as you can with a pastry scraper and add to the thinly rolled out dough). 

Drizzle the top of the dough with a bit of olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt, rosemary or both.  Keeping the bottom piece of parchment attached to the dough, place on a baking sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes at 450 degrees F or until the edges have lightly browned and the dough has crisped.

Transfer the cracker bread to a cooling rack and allow to cool to room temperature.

Break the cracker bread apart into rustic crackers.  Enjoy with red wine and cheese.

Eat Your Greens!

This time of year I love kale, chard and spinach lightly wilted or softened with a vinaigrette and eaten raw.  For my current gluten-free class I create this salad as the first nibble for my students.

Raw Red & Green Salad with Sherry Vinaigrette
Serves 6-8
1 small head of broccoli, cut into florets & lightly steamed
1 bunch green curly kale, ribs removed & leaves torn into bite-size pieces
1 bunch red chard, ribs removed & leaves chopped into bite-size pieces
3/4 cup walnut pieces, toasted
3/4 cup dried cranberries

Toss together all of the ingredients in a large bowl and set aside.

Sherry Vinaigrette
1 small shallot, minced
1/3 cup Sherry vinegar
2 T honey
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 t sea salt
1/4 t freshly ground black pepper

In a medium bowl, mix the minced shallot with the sherry vinegar and let macerate for 10-15 minutes (up to 1 hour).  Whisk in the honey.  Slowly whisk in the olive oil until well mixed.  Season with salt & pepper.  Drizzle  about half of the vinaigrette over the raw salad mixture and toss. Add more if needed to coat every leaf.

Depending on how big your bunches of kale and chard are you may have an excess of vinaigrette.  Place the extra vinaigrette in an airtight container and keep in the fridge until about 1 hour before use, then bring to room temperature.  Will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to one week.

I enjoy eating this salad at room temperature however it is equally delicious chilled.