Magazine Wednesday - Martha Stewart Living - Roasted Red Potatoes

I have a ton of food magazines, but Martha Stewart Living is one of my favorite magazines to find food inspirations and recipes. One thing I really love about Martha Stewart Living is the pull out recipe cards. It has been years since I started collecting them and I'm still going strong. Every time I get a new Martha Stewart Living magazine I read through the whole thing once, then remove the recipe cards and put them in a safe place. One of these recipes have become a "go to" recipe. Now, I don't need to look at the recipe card to know what to set the oven to or how long the recipe needs to be cooked...

That recipe happens to be for roasted red potatoes, which are simple to make - amazing to eat - and look great if you want to serve them at a dinner party...

Photo from Martha Stewart Living, October 2004

Roasted Red Potatoes
Martha Stewart Living, October 2004
Prep Time: 5mins Total Time: 35mins

If you prefer, use fresh thyme instead of the rosemary. Any leftover potatoes can be mashed the enxt day (the crisp pieces add unexpected cruch), or tossed with mayonnaise or dressing to make potato salad.

1½ pounds baby red ptoatoes, quartered
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh rosemary
course salt and freshly ground pepper

Preheat oven to 425°.
Toss potatoes, oil, and rosemary on a rimmed baking sheet.
Roast, stirring once halfway through cooking, until potatoes are golden brown and crisp outside and tender inside, about 30 minutes.

See, told you it was simple... I use all kinds of herbs for this recipe besides just rosemary... It really depends what I'm in the mood for and the herbs I'm using in other parts of the meal. The potatoes are great with Herbes de Provence instead of rosemary... I almost always add garlic to these (dried or fresh) - to taste.

I really hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I have and do..

Here's to warm ovens and full bellies.
- Cait

Spotting Dinner - Fig, Goat Cheese, Prosciutto and Arugula Pizza

I've been in such a pizza mood lately. I even bought some ingredients to make pizza for myself this week. When I found eggsonsunday's Fig, Goat Cheese, Prosciutto and Arugula Pizza on TasteSpotting, I knew I'd have to show it off. It's a beautiful pizza. It would be perfect for even a dinner party (done in small versions for something elegant).

Photo from Eggs on Sunday

Fig, Goat Cheese, Prosciutto & Arugula Pizza

via Eggs on Sunday

Ingredients
1 lb pizza dough (I most often use the recipe listed here, using 2 cups AP flour + 1 cup semolina flour)
fig spread (recipe below)
4 ounces fresh goat cheese
about 2 ounces prosciutto
two generous handfuls of arugula, gently tossed with a little olive oil and coarse sea salt

Directions
Preheat the oven to 525 or 550 degrees F with a baking stone inside. Place your pizza crust on a lightly floured pizza peel (or the back of a lightly floured aluminum sheet pan). Spread some fig spread on your pizza crust, enough to coat it but not too thick. Dot with crumbled goat cheese, then slide the pizza onto the baking stone. Bake until the crust is browned and the cheese is melted, about 5-8 minutes. Take the pizza out and top with folds of prosciutto and a mound of dressed arugula.

Fig Spread

This spread is just sweet enough — more like a savory & sweet fig puree than a cloyingly sweet jam.

Ingredients
4 ounces dried black Mission figs, chopped
1 small onion, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup red wine or ruby port
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 cup water
1 tablespoon sugar

Directions
Heat the olive oil in a medium saute pan over medium heat. Add the sliced onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden brown and caramelized. Add the chopped dried figs, the balsamic vinegar and the red wine, scraping up any brown bits that have accumulated on the bottom of the pan. Once the wine is almost evaporated, add the water and sugar. Simmer to reduce until the water is mostly evaporated and the figs are soft. Pour the mixture into a food processor and puree to the thickness you desire (I like mine fairly smooth.) Remove and cool; store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Makes about 1 cup.

It's great that eggsonsunday includes a pizza dough recipe link in the pizza recipe. Yum. I made homemade pizza once - It was well worth the wait (waiting for the dough to rise). This pizza would be delicious with creamy fontina cheese instead of goat cheese (if you don't like goat cheese). If you're trying goat cheese for the first time (worth trying!) I'd go with a soft and creamy cheive. It's the kind of cheese I like to use for a bunch of different things.

Here's to pizza stones and warm bellies.

-Cait

Spotting Lunch - Mussels with Saffron Broth and Spinach Salad with Gorgonzola

These mussels caught my eye the other day, so I had to post them today... I love different kinds of seafood, mussels are great. I've never made them for myself before, but this recipe is something I'm going to have to try. I thought this dish would be great along with a salad. I knew the spinach salad was it when I saw it. What a wonderful lunch these two recipes would make. I found both dishes on TasteSpotting... the mussels were posted by sippitysup and the salad was posted by beloit08.

Photo from sippitysup

Mussels in Saffron and Mustard Broth
via sippitysup

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter

1/2 cup chopped shallots

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 tablespoon thyme, leaves only

salt and pepper

1/3 cup Dijon mustard

2 cups dry white wine

2 big pinches saffron threads

4 lbs mussels

1/4 cup minced parsley

freshly ground black pepper

1. Melt 1 1/2 sticks of butter in a large pot over medium heat. Once the butter bubbles, but before it gets brown add shallots, garlic, thyme, salt and pepper. Reduce the heat to low.

2. Cook this mixture until fragrant, about 2 minutes.

3. At this point add 2 cups of a dry white wine. Bring the heat back up and let the liquid come to a boil.

4. Once it boils, bring the temperature back down to low, and reduce it for a few minutes.

5. Once a little viscosity is built in, add the saffron to the pot. Then remove the pot from the heat and cover it with a lid. You want to keep all that saffron essence inside your pot. You can also do this hours in advance, letting the broth wait at room temperature and re-heat it at serving time.

6. When you are ready to serve whisk 1/3 cup of Dijon mustard into the prepared broth. Bring this to a simmer (not a boil).

7. Add the clean and de-bearded mussels to the pan. Turn the heat up a bit, cover the pot and cook about 2 minutes, quickly remove the pan from the heat. The mussels should have opened up and look spectacular! Toss in a few tablespoons of chopped parsley and give it a good grind of black pepper.

8. Serve immediately…

Don't those mussels sound good?

Now onto the salad...

Photo from G.Turner

Spinach salad with Gorgonzola and balsamic walnut vinaigrette

By G.Turner

(serves 2, 4 if served as a side salad)
Enough spinach to fill a good-sized bowl (you know how much you want to eat)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
4 tbl crumbled Gorgonzola cheese
4 tbl extra virgin olive oil
2 tbl balsamic vinegar
kosher salt

Tear the spinach leaves and pile them in separate bowls. Divide the crumbled cheese and sprinkle liberally over the spinach. In a small skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. When it develops a slight sheen, carefully add the walnuts. Cook them until they begin to release a rich, nutty aroma (probably about 2 minutes), and the color begins to deepen. Add the balsamic vinegar and let it sizzle and reduce, about 30 seconds. Sprinkle with a couple good pinches of salt, then pour the walnuts, oil and vinegar over the spinach and cheese. Serve warm.

If you happen to drink in the afternoon... Serving this lunch with a glass of white wine would be amazing. You could go with red if you prefer, but the weather is getting warmer and I prefer cool drinks... I'd suggest serving with some freshly baked baguette. Is there a great local bread bakery in your area?

Here's to warm ovens and full bellies.

-Cait

Spotting Breakfast - Sunday Morning Waffles

Lately I've been in the mood for "sweet" breakfast foods. I love pancakes and homemade waffles. They are a real "treat" for me, probably because I don't eat them very often and usually have egg white omelets. I got a waffle iron for Christmas two years ago, and it has been a "blessing". Homemade waffles are AMAZING, so when I came across aggieskitchen's Sunday Morning Waffles I knew that would be "breakfast".

Photo from aggieskitchen

Sunday Morning Waffles
Recipe from Aggie's Kitchen

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup turbinado sugar (or regular sugar)
3 TB baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups lowfat buttermilk (can substitute lowfat milk)
3 eggs
1/3 cup applesauce
2 TB flax meal
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon in a bowl. Add buttermilk, eggs, applesauce and flax meal to the dry ingredients and mix until combined. Pour approximately 1/3 cup of the batter per waffle into the waffle maker and cook according to waffle maker directions.

Serve with a small bit of butter, maple syrup and fruit.


If you want to give homemade waffles a "go", try this recipe. It's simple to prepare and you probably already have most of the ingredients. If you don't, the recipe even tells you what you can substitute... For a flavored maple syrup - add a few teaspoons (to taste) of your favorite jam or preserves (not jelly) to the syrup and heat either on the stove or in the microwave.

Here's to the upcoming berry season and full bellies.
- Cait