cherry and plum bruschetta

One of the appetizers at the last dinner @Tate's Kitchen. Fresh cherries and plums from my morning Farmers Market visit. A loaf of good bread. A little sweetened ricotta. Salt and pepper and extra virgin olive oil. 
Serve it up!

Filling - but light and refreshing all at the same time.

adapted from a recipe in Bon Appetit magazine

YOU WILL NEED:

2 plums - halved, pitted, thinly sliced
1 cup cherries - halved, pitted, sliced if desired
1 tablespoon sugar 
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 of a fresh vanilla bean 
(you can use vanilla extract - but the bean is so much better)
1 cup whole milk ricotta
1 tablespoon lavender honey 
(if you have - if not use a good regular honey)
1 teaspoon (or so) herbs de Provence
fresh mint

a loaf of really good french bread 
(you're not going to use it all for this but who buys a half loaf? not me...)
sea salt
fresh cracked pepper

TO DO:

oven to 350

halve and pit all that stone fruit.
(and if anyone has a magic way to do this with cherries without using some fancy device please let me know)
all fruit into a large bowl.
scrape the vanilla bean and add the scrapings to the fruit. 
add the 1 tablespoon sugar (I actually used a little less - but taste and see what you think) and a pinch of salt.
mix well.
set aside.

in a medium bowl add the ricotta, honey, herbs de provence and a little salt and pepper.
mix well.
taste.
add salt and pepper as needed.
i would now leave this in the refrigerator until you're ready to use.
and By The Way - this can be made a day ahead of time - just wrap and cover well and store.

slice the baguette.
brush with olive oil.
bake until top is golden brown and edges are just getting crispy.
about 10 minutes or so.

let the toast cool for a few minutes then assemble.

toast.
spread some ricotta cheese mixture on top.
gently place some slices of plums and cherries.
drizzle very little extra virgin olive oil across the top.
couple turns of pepper.
sprinkle a bit of freshly chopped mint.

serve immediately.

dinner @Tate's / june 2013

Cook, cook, cook...eat, eat, eat...

and it's a bajillion degrees in this house with no real air conditioning!

Is it worth it?

Of course it is.

LOVE hearing everyone at the table chatting and laughing and then the moments of silence when someone takes a bite and encourages all others to do so.

...perfect...

Here was the June dinner...

We started with a mushroom bruschetta,

And an avocado, lime soup with fresh crab, red radishes and cilantro,

Next up was a spicy grilled shrimp served with a traditional risotto and some kale chips,

Also a Tilapia with paper thin slices of potato baked until crispy and delicious,

Another photo of the Kale chips which everyone MUST try soon,

I also tested this recipe for a kale and zucchini bread pudding which I have made 3 times since this dinner - I will get that recipe up very soon,

Finally it's time for dessert,

Some lemon curd filled thumbprint cookies,

Some Florentine cookies,

And a bittersweet chocolate Cremeux served with raspberry coulis, fresh berries and a little touch of fresh cream,

WHEW

Until next time...

Mushroom Bruschetta

Tate had her first day of first grade yesterday.

Rather than sit in the parking lot and cry all morning like I did when she started kindergarten I came home looking for something to do.....pretty much anything to distract my little breaking heart.

(yes...I really did cry all morning that first day of kindergarten)

My baby is growing up too fast.

Okay...back to why I'm here.

Mushroom Bruschetta is another one of those dishes I saw on some crazy cooking show and decided I needed to make it. Of course I can't remember the name of the show nor could I find the recipe on-line but how hard could it be?

Let's use a little imagination.

I can do this.

This was quick and easy to pull together and perfect for a day that I did not have the mental dynamic to follow a complicated recipe. 

It was also surprisingly filling for what I thought was just going to be a little appetizer.

YOU WILL NEED:

1 baguette

good extra virgin olive oil

1 portobello mushroom

10 oz of some other types of mushrooms  

(I used a mix of button and cremini)

4 garlic cloves

1 teaspoon dried parsley

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes 

(more if you want more heat)

salt

pepper

fresh thyme for garnish

fresh parsley for garnish

freshly grated parmesan cheese for garnish

TO DO:

By the way...that 10 oz of mushrooms came out to around 4 cups - chopped.

Finely chop all the mushrooms - portobello included.

Finely chop the garlic cloves.

Slice the baguette in a diagonal pattern about a half inch thick.

Warm a couple turns of olive oil in a large skillet.

Add the chopped garlic.

Cook the garlic until just beginning to brown on the edges.

Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the pan then add all the chopped mushrooms.

Add all the dried herbs and the pepper flakes. Cook on medium high for ten, fifteen minutes. There will be quite a bit of liquid in the pan now. You want to keep cooking at a fairly high temp (without burning the mushrooms - you might have to turn the stove down a bit) so all this liquid can evaporate quickly.

No liquid. Mushrooms still tender and some are even a little crispy around the edges. Taste for salt and pepper and add as needed.

Transfer the mushroom mixture to a bowl.

In the same pan toast the slices of baguette.

Flip.

Remove slices.

Top with mushroom mixture.

Grate some good parmesan cheese on top.

Sprinkle with fresh thyme and parsley.

Serve and enjoy.