Monday, August 10, 2015

Delicious Fig, Prosciutto, Goat Cheese, Arugula & Spinach Salad

This delicious and easy salad is a variant of one posted on food.com at http://www.food.com/recipe/fig-prosciutto-and-arugula-salad-261149. Searching the Internet will find you others. Some use different cheese - like Parmesan or mozzarella. Others add ingredients like rosemary.

Below is my version of the one at food.com. It served three of us.

Ingredients

- 8 Black Mission figs slice vertically and with the stem cut off
- about 4 ounces of mixed arugula and spinach (The original recipe had only arugula.)
- 4 slices of prosciutto cut into small pieces
- several ounces of soft goat cheese (or whatever type cheese you might enjoy with the main ingredients, or no cheese at all)
- high quality Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)
- 2 tablespoons + 1 & 1/2 teaspoons of balsamic vinegar (I used raspberry.)
- 1 tablespoon honey
- sea salt
- freshly ground pepper

Directions

Put the balsamic vinegar in a small bowl.

Add a pinch of salt and a few grinds of pepper. Stir to dissolve them.

Stir in the honey.

Spread the arugula and spinach on a serving platter. Drizzle the greens with the EVOO, and season with salt and pepper.

Decoratively arrange the greens, figs and prosciutto on the platter.

Sprinkle the goat cheese over the items on the platter.

Drizzle everything with the balsamic-honey dressing.



Sunday, August 9, 2015

Katy Rose Oilery, Lakewood Ranch

I love special olive oils and balsamic vinegars for salads. The place where I normally purchase them is Katy Rose Olive Oils (http://www.katyroseoliveoils.com/) on Lakewood Ranch Main St. They have a wonderful variety of superb olive oils and balsamic vinegars, as well as a couple of other oils, some hard-to-find pastas, and some interesting wines.

I recently purchased a terrific Greek Mycenaean olive oil, a wonderful raspberry balsamic, and a fantastic 19-year aged balsamic from Modena, the home of great balsamics.

The folks at Katy Rose said that the Mycenaean olive oil comes from the Greek property of a Lakewood Ranch resident.

You can taste all of their balsamics and olive oils. 

While I initially balked at paying their prices, I discovered there's no comparison between the products they sell and the bottled versions I've purchased from other stores.

I do not use Katy Rose olive oils for cooking. Instead, I use the less expensive Pompeian Extra Virgin Olive Oils. (Despite their Italian name, the small print shows they come from mixed destinations - Tunisia, Morocco, Spain, and Chile.)

I recommend giving Katy Rose a try

For anyone interested in etymology, the origin of the word "vinegar" is Old French, and means "sour wine."

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Great Balsamic-Honey Sauce / Syrup for Pork Dishes

I've found a wonderful balsamic vinegar - honey sauce / syrup that is perfect for pork dishes. I discovered this sauce in a fig recipe at popsugar.com. It is super easy to make. I used it on pork chops made with a recipe that I frequently use to cook moist, tasty pork chops (http://viaggiviniecucine.blogspot.com/2013/08/terrific-pork-chop-recipe.html).

Ingredients

1 tablespoon unsalted butter
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar (I used raspberry balsamic)
3 tablespoons honey
Flaky sea salt, to taste

Directions

Melt the butter in a small saucepan, and add the balsamic vinegar, honey, and a hefty pinch of sea salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer, and cook about 5 minutes, or until slightly thickened.

Roasted Figs with Goat Cheese & Balsamic-Honey Sauce

Since fresh figs are currently in season, I looked for a delicious-sounding fig appetizer/side dish. I found this easy winner at popsugar.com (http://www.popsugar.com/food/Easy-Roasted-Fig-Goat-Cheese-Recipe-9205886). Not only was it easy and tasty, but I used the extra balsamic sauce on pork loin chops that I had prepared as the main course.

Since the recipe on the web serves 6-8 and there were only two of us, I used half the number of figs, but left the ingredients in the sauce recipe unchanged. The smaller number of figs was perfect for the two of us.

The reason I did not change the sauce recipe is that I thought the reduced amount of ingredients would not work well in even a very small saucepan. I then used the extra sauce on the pork loin chops. That sauce was so tasty, I will make the sauce just for the pork chops in the future.

As the recipe suggested, I used mission figs. I purchased them at Publix, which has a buy-one-get-one-free sale on several types of figs this week.

Below is the recipe with the reduced number of figs:

Ingredients

6 Black Mission figs, halved vertically
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar (I used raspberry balsamic)
3 tablespoons honey
2 - 3 ounces of soft goat cheese
Flaky sea salt, to taste

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400ºF

While the oven preheats, melt the butter in a small saucepan, and add the balsamic vinegar, honey, and a hefty pinch of sea salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer, and cook about 5 minutes, or until slightly thickened.

Place the figs cut-side up in a baking dish. Top each fig half with 1/2 teaspoon to a full teaspoon of goat cheese. Drizzle the balsamic vinegar syrup over the figs.

Roast the figs in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes, until they are very soft. (It took 15 minutes in our Breville toaster oven.)

Arrange on a platter and sprinkle with flaky salt.

Thank you popsugar.com!