Dinner on the Porch has MOVED to Wordpress!

Well, after a grueling 8 hours of work on a new blog format at wordpress...it's finally all set up!

You can now find Dinner on the Porch at: http://dinnerontheporch.wordpress.com.  I've moved all my past blog posts there as well so everything is at the new address.  Posting comments on the site should be easier AND there is a print button at the bottom of each post! I hope you like the new look!

Ratatouille - enjoying summer's vegetables

The finished Ratatouille after it's baked in the oven for a little over an hour.

To say that I love ratatouille...well, I made the huge pot you see in the picture and although I did share two small containers with some friends, what remained has been feeding me all week. Ratatouille is a wonderful way to highlight the beautiful vegetables of summer - zucchini, eggplant, colorful bell peppers, tomatoes - and it can be eaten as a side dish with any protein. Or if you're a vegetarian, completely on it's own. It is also delicious for breakfast topped with a fried egg, sunny-side-up, and a little grated parmesan cheese.

Ratatouille is very simple to make with the only time consuming part of preparation being the chopping of the vegetables. Once that's completed, it comes together quickly on the stove top and then finishes cooking in the oven.


Ratatouille

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 large red onion
5 medium-large garlic cloves, minced
1/2 can tomato paste
3 bell peppers (I use one each of red, yellow & orange)
2 medium zucchini 
2 small or 1 large eggplant
6 roma tomatoes or small on-the-vine tomatoes
1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper
More salt & pepper to taste


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.


Chop all vegetables into 1-2 inch cubes and keep them separated in their own bowls. In a large pot or dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium high heat. Add the red onion and cook until it begins to soften. Add the garlic and stir until fragrant. Add the tomato paste and stir until it coats the onion and garlic. Add the remaining vegetables in order listed and the 1/4 teaspoons of salt and pepper, stirring well after each addition to coat vegetables with the tomato paste.

Once all the veggies are in the pot and have been stirred and coated well with tomato paste, put the lid on the pot and place in the oven.  Cook the Ratatouille with the lid on for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, cook uncovered for another 30-45 minutes, until all the vegetables are very tender. At this stage, I am stirring the vegetables every 15 minutes. Finally, add salt and pepper to your preference. All of the natural moisture from the vegetables create a wonderful natural sauce from cooking.

Let the Ratatouille cool completely in the pot before saving in storage containers. Of course you can enjoy a bowl before you do that! It's also great with feta cheese crumbled on top!

Even though the heat has caused the trees and grass to lack vibrancy, summer vegetables still show off their splashy colors

All the veggies in the pot! Mixed well to ensure the tomato paste is coating all the pieces - then into the oven!

Yum.

Curried Tuna Salad sandwich on toasted homemade oatmeal wheat bread

Wow, it is officially too hot to turn on the oven unless absolutely necessary. The baker part of me is sad but I guess I should blog about recipes other than just baked goods. So since I have to eat lunch, I thought I'd share my recipe for Curried Tuna Salad. I actually enjoyed a similar sandwich at a local restaurant called Shade and loved it so much I had to attempt to recreate it at home. The curry combined with the sweetness of the red grapes and the nutty toasted goodness of the walnuts is a divine way to elevate your standard tuna salad.

Before I get to the recipe, there is a funny side of tuna salad for me. I cannot make, eat, order, or even think of tuna salad without remembering (and laughing) about a very humorous childhood incident that involved tuna salad...and my oldest sister. I am hoping she'll get a kick out of me sharing this story.

Growing up, we lived in Valrico, Florida, just a little east of Brandon. My paternal grandmother (mi abuela) and my aunt Patty (my dad's sister) lived in Tampa. We would often visit both of them at my aunt's house because my grandmother would often stay with her. And we would often eat tuna salad for lunch. At the time of this incident, I was 7 or 8 which means my oldest sister was 11 or 12 and I was not particularly fond of anyone's rendition of tuna salad. Specifically because chopped pickles always seemed to end up in the mix and I had not yet acquired that taste. My sister however, had already graduated to liking pickles.

On this particular day, my grandmother made my sisters and I tuna salad sandwiches for lunch. We always sat on bar stools at the little bar area that was part of the kitchen counter (which of course kids love to do) to eat our lunch. Because I didn't like the pickles, I picked their little chopped selves one by one out of my sandwich and continued to eat. I stacked their tiny shriveled pickle bodies in a pile on a napkin next to my plate. After I had collected quite a pile, my sister asked me if I was going to eat them and I said "no" so she asked if she could have them. Of course I said yes, I sure wasn't going to eat them, and she proceeded to eat them. It wasn't until she was almost finished with the entire pile of pickles that I remembered, suddenly, with my hand clamped over my open, horrified mouth, and confessed that I had sucked each little chopped pickle to remove the tuna and mayonnaise that coated them. I do not remember if she was mad at me then (probably!) because all I can do is laugh when I think of that story now. Hopefully it brought you (and my sister - love you!) a laugh as well.

Now on to the Curried Tuna Salad recipe which low and behold, does not contain pickles (although I do like them). Recipes like these of course are not an exact science so feel free to increase or decrease the mayo, add chopped red onions, more or less curry, grapes and walnuts. The sandwich pictured was delicious.

Curried Tuna Salad with Red Grapes & Toasted Walnuts

adapted from Shade Restaurant in the Heights

2 5-ounce cans of white albacore tuna

2 tablespoons olive oil mayo (I use Hellmann's)

1 teaspoon of curry powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup red grapes, sliced in half

1/3 cup chopped toasted walnuts (I had some leftover from another recipe - I always toast extra - so I didn't have to use my oven today!)

2 slices of your favorite wheat bread, toasted

mixed greens

2 slices of tomato 

To toast walnuts, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a sheet pan with aluminum foil and spread 1/2 cup of walnuts in a single layer on pan. Place pan on the middle shelf and toast walnuts for 10-12 minutes until fragrant and color has deepened slightly.

Drain tuna and empty cans into a bowl large enough to contain all ingredients. Break up the tuna chunks with a fork. Add the mayo, curry powder, and salt and mix well. Gently stir in the grapes and toasted walnuts. Cover and chill for at least one hour (because tuna salad tastes better chilled).

Toast your favorite bread and add a thin layer of mayo. Add tuna salad, mixed greens and sliced tomato. And enjoy!!

Clearing my head for a new journey

No, no, I haven’t dropped out of blogging before I’ve barely gotten started. I have been taking just a little time to clear some clutter out of my head after making what I would call a pretty big life decision. A little over a week ago, I quit my pharmaceutical sales job to pursue my culinary aspirations full time. Taking this leap is something I have wanted to do for quite some time but had to build the courage to do so. And even though it's only been a bit longer than week since making this decision, looking back I am amazed at how long I traveled dutifully on the road of keeping a job/career that I really did not enjoy – 11 years to be exact – because of the monetary stability it offered. Don’t get me wrong, monetary stability is a very valuable and important reason to keep a job, especially considering our uncertain world and economy. But at what cost?

I can certainly say from experience that staying in a job/career that does not bring any measure of joy or fulfillment ultimately drained my ability to experience joy and fulfillment in the other parts of my life. There was always this nagging voice of discomfort clouding my ability to see clearly at times and often tainting my everyday life as I struggled to make myself fit a job and persona that was not innately me. So the cost to me became greater and greater – a clouded and uncomfortable present existence and resentment that I was not doing something I enjoyed and longing for the opportunity to do so. Add to that a heaping supply of guilt: guilt that I didn’t want to keep the job when so many people are unemployed, guilt that my husband had to listen to me complain, guilt that I was letting my job unhappiness steal the joy from the beautiful life I have and share with my husband, and the guilt list goes on and on.

But I don’t want to dwell there, because I am starting a new chapter and looking forward to all of the possibilities that lie ahead. This fall I'll attend culinary school full time to achieve both culinary and pastry arts degrees. This new journey toward culinary school actually began with a seed planted in the fall of 2009. As the years have gone by, my love for cooking, baking and sharing my food with others has continued to grow; steadily demanding more of the space in my life. I knew I wanted to learn more, but cookbooks and cooking magazines were just not quenching my thirst for more in-depth knowledge and the yearning to make my culinary passion more than just a hobby.

Well, knowledge is certainly power and learning that the local community college had a culinary program proved to be the fuel that powered my path (and watered that early seed) to where I am today. I would never have even known that the community college here in Houston offers both a culinary and pastry arts degree had I not had a chance encounter with a woman who sold me my first cast iron pot. I met her the first time at Williams-Sonoma then ran into her again at the Le Creuset outlet many months later, in the summer of 2009. It was there she told me she was attending culinary school. I assumed, however, it was one of the two culinary programs I knew about but to my surprise and delight, I had not heard of the community college program and, a very important detail here - that they offer evening classes.

As soon as I returned home I sent an email to Bobby eagerly telling him about my discovery and immediately after, I began to search the college’s website for information. Within the next few days I was registered for my first semester of culinary school in four evening classes. It would prove to be a grueling 16 weeks, working full time and spending my evenings in class – but it was invigorating, quenching and enlightening all the same…that small seed that was planted already received a good boost of growth and quite a bit of joy was growing as well. Although I have only taken a few classes since that first semester, due to a job that threatened to keep me from nurturing that new found hope, my desire to pursue culinary and pastry full time kept swirling around in my head, getting steadily louder and more unwavering to my attempts to say, “maybe in a few years.” After two years of internal struggle, finally, I have allowed my dream to have a full voice that will not be hushed by guilt or fear.

I am so excited about what the future holds, with all of it’s uncertainty and unknowns. And I am incredibly fortunate to have this wonderful opportunity at this point in my life. At 41 years old, I am both too old and too young, to wait a second longer to pursue my culinary aspirations. It has been an uncomfortable couple of years getting to this point, but well worth the journey. I’ve had to take a very close look at what is important to me and not let what society might think I should be or do, deter me. And I have realized to an even greater depth, the wonderful, loving and encouraging husband to whom I am married.

Making this decision was by no means easy. I gave up quite a bit. But what I have already gained emotionally, psychologically and spiritually, have already proven to me that is was most definitely the right decision. I am relieved, unburdened, excited and full of joy. And I am eternally thankful and blessed to have so many family and friends cheering me on. Now I guess it's time for me to get myself back in the kitchen!

Maple Oatmeal Sandwich Bread

Toasted Maple Oatmeal Sandwich Bread with fig jam

 I think I’ve gotten a little bread crazed of late.  Although this is another sandwich bread recipe, I’ve actually been baking all sorts of bread deliciousness  - from crusty artisan bread to homemade buttermilk dinner rolls… I really cannot overstate the goodness and comfort of homemade bread. Because you cannot get any fresher bread than the bread that comes from your own oven. I’ve made this particular bread on Sunday for the last three weeks (make that four weeks since I had to make another loaf to photograph for the blog) and now I cannot bring myself to buy a loaf of sandwich bread at the store. Yes, this bread is that good and that easy.  And the maple smell that will waft through your house as it’s baking will make you a believer too…

This bread is fantastically delicious toasted, with butter as it’s only adornment. However, I have been known to enjoy it with peanut butter, or goat cheese that’s been softened and then topped with fig jam. It elevates a simple ham and cheese to greatness. And I can only imagine how ridiculous bread pudding would be made with a loaf of this bread. How about some French toast…well, let’s not even go there…

Finding this recipe was more a stroke of luck than anything else – lucky, because I didn’t throw the recipe away before giving it a try! In addition to the 40 plus cookbooks I have, I also keep a notebook for other recipes that are shared with me or those that I have torn from a magazine and promised myself I’ll try at some point. In the notebook I've used tabs to divide the recipes into categories and every now and then I sit down and flip through what I've saved and discard the recipes that have been hanging around for too long that I have never attempted to make. This bread recipe was one that was heading for the discard pile because I’m pretty sure it’s been in that notebook for close to three years…just waiting.  So with my current obsession for homemade bread in full force and the fact that it has maple syrup in it…well, I couldn’t let the opportunity to try a new sandwich bread recipe pass me by. This bread is worth making for your family on a weekly basis...I think I've officially decided to stop buying sandwich bread at the store because of this recipe. I hope you'll give it a try. 

Maple Oatmeal Sandwich Bread
from Bon Appetit Magazine

** If you don’t have maple syrup or maple extract on hand, omit both of those ingredients and sub in ¼ cup of honey – this substitution also makes a great bread**

You will need:

A stand mixer

9x5 bread pan

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons of water (heated to 105-115 degrees)
1 egg
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

¼ cup maple syrup (grade B) - I have used regular Grade A, the maple flavor is a little lighter

1/2 teaspoon maple extract

2 cups all purpose flour

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 cup old fashioned oats (I use Quaker Oats – not the Instant)

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons active yeast

In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a dough hook, add all of the ingredients in the order they are listed.  Mix on low until the ingredients begin to come together and then knead on medium for 8 minutes.

Remove the dough from the dough hook and leave dough in the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and then a towel. Allow to rise at warm room temperature about 2 hours or until doubled in size.

Butter the 9x5 bread pan all the way up the sides and set aside. Turn dough out on a floured surface and knead for 1-2 minutes.  Shape the dough, with any seam side down, into an 8 x 3 inch loaf – so that the ends almost touch the inside ends of the bread pan. Place loaf in buttered bread pan and cover with plastic wrap that has been buttered to prevent it sticking to the bread.

Allow bread to rise for approximately 45 minutes or until it has risen 1 1/2 inches above the top lip of the pan.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place a rack in the bottom third of the oven. Bake for 30 minutes, until the top is golden brown and the temperature is 180 degrees.

All ingredients in mixing bowl, added to bowl in order listed

After being mixed/kneaded on medium speed for 8 minutes

Dough, after first rise

Dough ready to be kneaded by hand for 1 minute

Stretch dough enough to be able to fold in half

Dough folded in half...

Use heal of hand to apply pressure and push away from you

Turn dough 1/4 turn, seam will be on the right, stretch dough again enough to fold in half

Repeat this process, folding, then using heal of hand to apply pressure and push dough away from you, 1/4 turn, etc., for 1-2 minutes

Dough is ready to shape for pan

Use both hands to squeeze the dough into a loaf shape, long enough for ends to touch inside ends of pan

Bread shaped to fit in 9x5 bread pan

Bread dough in pan for 2nd rise (approx. 45 minutes to an hour)

2nd rise complete, ready for baking

Baked bread cooling, after 15 minutes initial cooling in pan

Ice Cream!! Make some! Because it's hot outside! (and it's really easy)

 

An ice cream machine is one of those kitchen appliances I thought I'd never buy because I thought I wouldn't use it enough to justify the purchase. Not that they are overly expensive, but it would still be wasted money if I bought it and then only used it once or twice. Well, a few summers ago, I don't know if it was the Houston heat or the savvy Williams-Sonoma marketing, but I gave in and I'm glad I did. I don't use it all year round but I do use it regularly during the sticky and steamy summer months here, which are more than just the calendar months of summer. If you have kids, I think this is something fun you could do during the summer months using different kinds of mix-ins when making vanilla ice cream, like crushed Oreos, caramel, brownie chunks - I'm sure the kiddos will dream up all sorts of stuff to swirl into the ice cream in it's final minutes of churning!

The recipe for the ice cream pictured is a simple non-custard based recipe, which means there are no egg yolks to be whisked and then tempered with the cream mixture. Custard based recipes are very good but sometimes you just don't want to go through all that trouble. This recipe is very simple and super yummy. It's like eating a strawberry milkshake but with lovely chunks of strawberries throughout. 

I've read in several different magazines and books that non-custard based recipes tend to get icy once you freeze the finished product completely - that has not been my experience. The only thing I have found is that once you have the fully frozen product, you'll need to allow five to ten minutes for it to soften a bit for scooping, so just take it out a little ahead of when you want to eat it. (I am including a recipe for Vanilla Ice Cream at the bottom of this post).

**I did not eat the entire bowl of strawberry ice cream pictured...in one sitting...**

Strawberry Ice Cream

from Gourmet Magazine

1 pound strawberries, trimmed of stems and quartered

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 cups (16 ounces) heavy cream (or carton will be labeled heavy whipping cream)

**Important note: make sure you have frozen the insert to your ice cream machine for 24 hours.**

Place strawberries in a bowl with the sugar, lemon juice and salt. Mix well and mash strawberries. Let the strawberries sit for 10 minutes, occasionally mashing a little more.

Put half of the mashed strawberries mixture in a blender with the 2 cups of cream. Blend until smooth. Pour the pureed mixture back into the bowl with the remaining strawberries and mix well. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill for 3-6 hours. (this batch chilled for 3 hours and it was fine but the chillier the better).

Put the strawberries and cream mixture in the insert of the ice cream machine and churn for 20 minutes, may be a little longer or shorter depending on your machine. Enjoy immediately as a soft-serve style ice cream or put in a freezer safe container to become a little more solid. Ice cream keeps for 1 week.

Beautiful fresh strawberries

Stawberries with sugar, lemon juice and salt

Strawberries, after being mashed/mixed with sugar, lemon juice and salt

Final strawberries and cream mixture, ready to be chilled and then churned

 

Vanilla Ice Cream

3 cups heavy cream

2/3 cups sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

seeds scraped from 1 vanilla bean

Heat the cream, sugar, vanilla, and vanilla seeds in a small saucepan only until the sugar is dissolved. Make sure all the sugar is dissolved so there is no longer in grittiness from the sugar. Strain into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and chill overnight. Freeze the mixture in an ice cream machine for approximately 20 minutes. May be a little shorter or longer depending on your machine and how chilled your cream mixture is. Enjoy as a soft-serve style ice cream immediately, or spoon into a freezer container for more firm ice cream. Once completely frozen, allow to soften before serving.

A day trip and buttermilk fried chicken...

Chevrolet 3100 Circa 1950's

Because of the sweltering heat we’ve been having in Houston that usually keeps us inside during weekends or at best, hopping from one air conditioned building to another while running errands, I thought a day trip to one of the many small towns nearby would force us out of our air-conditioned hibernation. The fact that we had a long weekend for the July 4^th holiday was also a motivator to do something more than merely try to avoid the high temperatures. So we decided to leave mid morning on Saturday and drive an hour and a half to Warrenton, known for it's many antique shops, and then to a few other towns nearby.

Old tractor and farming equipment

The drive is a peaceful one, west on Interstate 10 and then northwest on State Highway 71. The miles of suburban sprawl quickly turn into rolling hills and farms once you make it to 71. Despite how dry and hot it’s been the past few months, the landscape still remains quite green, not yet looking overly parched from the constant scorching. With one farm after another, seeing the many horses and cows trying to stay cool in the shade, it’s hard to believe we are so close to such a huge city.

A turn right off of 71 to get to Warrenton takes you through a tiny place called Fayetteville. I should have snapped more pictures than just the old Gulf signs but the heat of course kept me in the car.  A town square area with two restaurants and several old buildings begging to be renovated for occupancy hearken back to a time when there were probably a few more people than the 268 captured on the sign denoting the current population. We drove around for a few minutes before heading to Warrenton, admiring the beautiful turn of the century bungalows, many of them renovated, that line every street.

Just a short drive on to Warrenton, we were sad to discover the many antique stores and warehouses were closed. As we later discovered, they are open for an antique fair twice a year held in late March to early April and then again in late September to early October. So it was a veritable ghost town when we drove through... Needless to say, we'll plan another visit during one of those months and more importantly, do a little more thorough research for our next road trip. However, we were quickly rewarded for our efforts, as we continued 4 miles up the road to Round Top, where many shops and several restaurants were open for summer business. It was perfect timing for us to get out and stretch our legs a bit, so we parked and set ourselves to discovering this little gem.

Our first stop was for something cold to drink at a tiny place called Royers Round Top Cafe.  I also picked up a jar of their Peach and Peppers Preserves that I put on grilled salmon a few nights later, in a word - divine. At a little before noon, the cafe was completely full with more folks streaming in to get what must be some great food. Apparently, a day trip from Houston to Round Top to visit Royer's is quite a common occurrence. As you can see from the picture below, the inside decor of the cafe' is as interesting as the outside and is covered with all sorts of memorabilia and "cheeky" collections.  Since we weren't quite hungry for lunch and the hearty fare they serve, we made a vow to return (probably in a cooler month when we are revisiting Warrenton) to sample this popular cafe.

Royer's Round Top Cafe

Inside Royer's

We continued on into several of the small unique shops and art galleries, taking our time perusing the merchandise and art work and enjoying the air conditioning. Our hunger tempered a bit by the heat, we stopped at a small pizza shop and shared a small pizza and a little fun with a cool photography app on the iPhone before heading toward home.

Fun iPhone photography app

Heading toward Houston, we decided to make a stop in Brenham since it was on the way, and well, it is the home of Blue Bell Ice Cream. What better way to cap off a Saturday field trip than with a stop for ice cream? We stopped in the old downtown area of Brenham at a restaurant named "Must Be Heaven" and with air conditioning a plenty and Blue Bell ice cream to spare, I could not agree with that name more. 

As I was savoring my scoop of oreo cookie ice cream, I thought about how something as simple as a local road trip can quite effectively remove you from life's distractions. If we'd stayed at home, even with intentions of relaxing, we would have probably ended up doing some sort of project around the house or running errands...all of which are always there to be done and can, for the most part, wait for a later time to be completed. Simply getting in the car with the only goal being to discover a small town gem and enjoy each others' company, was enough to put my spirit at ease and quiet the "to do list" noise.

Well, it's amazing how tiring a little road trip can be...upon arriving home, a cat nap was completely necessary to give me the energy required to make dinner, which I was looking forward to doing. But then buttermilk fried chicken, homemade mashed potatoes and some roasted green beans would probably motivate most cooking-crazed people like myself. The fried chicken is a recipe I've been wanting to try from a cook book I have by Thomas Keller, Ad Hoc at Home, and the chicken has been touted in several reviews I've read to be worth the entire cost of the book (well, the truth here, I bought mine at Costco, so that just might be true...).

I'm not going to detail the entire recipe here but I do want to give a few easy and worthwhile tips for home made fried chicken. First, brining is essential. A brine solution is a mixture of water with salt, sugar and other spices, that the chicken (or pork) soaks in for sometimes as little as one hour or up to 24 hours. Since 20 percent of the moisture of chicken (or pork) is lost in the cooking process (regardless of mode), brining will counter act about 10 percent of that loss, so you get much juicier chicken. Just make sure you rinse the chicken well after brining to remove excess salt. I brined a whole 3 pound chicken, already cut into pieces, for 12 hours.

Second, the breading step is also key. Two parts of this step are important. One is the seasoning of the flour and the other is that you use the flour twice. Depending on what flavors you like, many different spices can be added to flour that will greatly impact flavor. My flour for breading (Mr. Keller's recipe) had garlic and onion powders, cayenne pepper, paprika, black pepper and a little salt (not too much salt since the chicken brine contained a lot of it). So generously season your flour. As I mentioned, use the flour twice. You'll have three dipping stations for your chicken. Three bowls: one each in this order - flour, buttermilk, flour and make sure you've dried off your chicken pieces very well before dipping into the first flour station. And last, make sure you have at least 1/2 inch of oil in which to fry the chicken and that your oil stays around 320 degrees. Oh, two more little tips: a sheet pan with a cooling rack set inside and placed in a 200 degree oven is good for keeping your chicken warm as you continue to fry all the pieces. Let the chicken rest for 10 minutes - all meats are better with some resting to redistribute their juices that have been jostled around in the cooking process.

The chicken pictured below which was our dinner, was some of the best fried chicken I've ever had, if I may say so myself. The crust was ridiculously crispy and had great flavor. The potatoes and green beans were tasty as well. Good. Old fashioned. Comfort food. It was a great day.

Buttermilk Fried Chicken