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.
Monday, August 10, 2015
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.
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!
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!
Friday, July 17, 2015
The Seafood Shack - A Pleasant Meal
Recently, my wife and I enjoyed a late lunch at the Seafood Shack (http://www.seafoodshack.com/) in Cortez (http://www.orlandosentinel.com/travel/destinations/florida/anna-maria-island/orl-t0201cortezbrfeb01-story.html), a historic fishing village at the north end of Sarasota Bay at the eastern foot of the bridge by which Cortez Rd. crosses over to Anna Maria Island.
Our meal was tasty, but not exceptional. Our entree servings were so large that we had enough left over for dinner.
We had an inside table with a nice view of the water. There are also outside tables.
We both had the same main dish - shrimp and grits, for $18 each. The ingredients were smoked gulf shrimp, white cheddar stone-ground grits, bacon, andouille sausage, peppers, onions, celery, thyme, and butter, topped with shaved parmesan. It was satisfying, but nothing to rave about.
I also had a cup of New England Clam Chowder for $5. It had clams, potatoes, carrots, onion, bacon, and thyme. Like the shrimp and grits, it was nice, but not terrific.
We both ordered the same specialty cocktail - the Hurricane, with light rum, Sugar Island Spiced Rum, orange juice, pineapple juice, cranberry juice, with a splash of grenadine, and a dark rum floater for $6. It was delicious, and the serving size was generous.
Our server, Denice, was terrific, and had a great sense of humor.
We were amused as we watched a couple of crows aggressively grabbing packets of sugar off a couple of the outside tables.
The bottom line is that we were happy with our meal, but would probably try another place the next time we're in the area.
Our meal was tasty, but not exceptional. Our entree servings were so large that we had enough left over for dinner.
We had an inside table with a nice view of the water. There are also outside tables.
We both had the same main dish - shrimp and grits, for $18 each. The ingredients were smoked gulf shrimp, white cheddar stone-ground grits, bacon, andouille sausage, peppers, onions, celery, thyme, and butter, topped with shaved parmesan. It was satisfying, but nothing to rave about.
I also had a cup of New England Clam Chowder for $5. It had clams, potatoes, carrots, onion, bacon, and thyme. Like the shrimp and grits, it was nice, but not terrific.
We both ordered the same specialty cocktail - the Hurricane, with light rum, Sugar Island Spiced Rum, orange juice, pineapple juice, cranberry juice, with a splash of grenadine, and a dark rum floater for $6. It was delicious, and the serving size was generous.
Our server, Denice, was terrific, and had a great sense of humor.
We were amused as we watched a couple of crows aggressively grabbing packets of sugar off a couple of the outside tables.
The bottom line is that we were happy with our meal, but would probably try another place the next time we're in the area.
Saturday, July 11, 2015
Database About Recipes Used
I find it very useful to maintain a database about the recipes I've used. It helps me to quickly identify recipes for a specific purpose and to keep track of which dishes I've served to guests at our house. I can sort the list of recipes in many ways.
An example of how I use the database would be to create a menu for a Tuscan dinner for guests. I can quickly identify Tuscan dishes for each course and determine if I have served those dishes to the guests who are coming.
The database has the following fields in the order listed below:
- English name of the dish - I normally write the name so the main ingredient is first; e.g., "salmon, grilled" instead of "grilled salmon." With that approach, like dishes are together when sorted.
- Foreign name of the dish, if it's a foreign dish
- Type of dish - appetizer, entree, side, soup, dessert
- Taste rating, abbreviated - Ex(excellent), VG (very good), OK, bad. I usually only remake excellent dishes
- Difficulty - very easy, easy, moderate, difficult
- Country (of Origin)
- Comment - For example, Lots of cutting; requires pan scrubbing. Most of the time there is no comment.
- Source (of recipe) - For example, allrecipes.com. Beautiful Tuscany, Silver Spoon
- Served to - names of people to whom I've served. If it's just my wife and me, I enter "us"
An example of a typical entry is:
Pan-Fried Sausage & Mushrooms, Tegamata di Salsiccia, Entree Ex, Easy, Italy , Beautiful Tuscany, Us
I normally keep the database sorted first by the type of dish, then by the English name of the dish.
Roasted Asparagus and Tomatoes - The easy sides continue
This evening, I searched for a recipe that combined tomatoes and asparagus. I found this simple, tasty one at food.com (http://www.food.com/recipe/garlic-roasted-asparagus-and-cherry-tomatoes-503313).
I made a couple of adjustments to accommodate our needs. I used a whole tomato diced instead of cherry tomatoes, and I reduced the servings to two by adjusting the amount of asparagus. I also reduced the cooking time because the asparagus were thin. I prepared it in our toaster oven.
Ingredients
1/2 lb of asparagus, trimmed
1 tomato, diced
1 or 2 cloves of garlic, diced
2 tablespoons of olive oil
salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 400⁰
2. Put asparagus and garlic in a bowl, and drizzle olive oil over them. Toss to make sure they're coated, then sprinkle salt and pepper to taste.
3. Place asparagus on a baking sheet in a single layer, with the garlic.
4. Place tomato on top of asparagus.
5. Roast for 17 to 25 minutes until asparagus is tender but firm. The thinner the asparagus, the less roasting time. Our thin spears were ready in 17 minutes.
I made a couple of adjustments to accommodate our needs. I used a whole tomato diced instead of cherry tomatoes, and I reduced the servings to two by adjusting the amount of asparagus. I also reduced the cooking time because the asparagus were thin. I prepared it in our toaster oven.
Ingredients
1/2 lb of asparagus, trimmed
1 tomato, diced
1 or 2 cloves of garlic, diced
2 tablespoons of olive oil
salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 400⁰
2. Put asparagus and garlic in a bowl, and drizzle olive oil over them. Toss to make sure they're coated, then sprinkle salt and pepper to taste.
3. Place asparagus on a baking sheet in a single layer, with the garlic.
4. Place tomato on top of asparagus.
5. Roast for 17 to 25 minutes until asparagus is tender but firm. The thinner the asparagus, the less roasting time. Our thin spears were ready in 17 minutes.
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