Al Fresco

The weather has been glorious lately. I really can't remember the last time I saw a cloud in the sky. With weather like this there is no excuse to not eat every meal out of doors. Tonight I made a quick salad and we sat outside and laughed and talked until the mosquitoes made things a little uncomfortable.

White Bean and Tuna Salad with Preserved Lemon and Mint
4, 15ounce cans of white beans rinsed and drained well
2 large shallots minced
1 preserved lemon or the zest of one large lemon
1 cup flat leaf parsley chopped fine
1 cup mint leaves chopped fine
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
2/3 cup olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2, 8ounce cans of solid-pack tuna in olive oil, drained

If using the preserved lemon rinse it well under running water, scoop out and discard the lemon flesh, then chop the lemon rind finely.
Combine the beans, shallot, preserved lemon (or zest), and herbs in a mixing bowl. In a separate bowl mix together the lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper.  Pour the dressing over the beans and let sit for 20 minutes.
Before serving break up the tuna and stir it through the salad.

Better!

I'm feeling better. I'm not sure if it was the crystal blue cloudless skies, laughing with friends, or the knowledge that we've hit the homestretch. Just a month now until we go home.

Or, maybe it's the butter. Butter that has been browned until it smells all nutty and makes your nearly grown children come into the kitchen to wonder what in the world you are making.

That was some butter I tell you. I splurged and bought some French butter. It was serious butter, not butter you would buy everyday, unless of course you lived in France and could buy it everyday. This was luxury butter. It must have taken some very happy cows to make butter that good. After browning it I slipped in a split vanilla bean while I waited for it to cool. That was pretty genius on my part. The warm butter infused with the vanilla. Sigh. It smelled great.

I used the browned butter to make my favorite type of cake, a simple bundt cake, but one with a little cha cha from the browned butter and vanilla beans. I served the cake with the first of the season raspberries and some sweetened and whipped creme fraiche.

Feeling even better now.

Brown Butter and Vanilla Bean Bundt Cake
Adapted from Miss in the Kitchen
1 cup unsalted butter, browned, and cooled until set (see cooks note)
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
6 large eggs
1 vanilla bean split and scraped
4 cups all purpose flour
3 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
Vanilla Glaze
2 cups icing sugar
1 vanilla bean split and scraped
milk

Preheat the oven to 350, grease and flour a 12 cup bundt pan, set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer combine the scraped vanilla bean, flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt. Blend on low speed until combined.
To the flour mixture add the browned butter, sour cream, milk, vanilla extract, and eggs. Beat on low speed to combine. Increase speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes or until fluffy.
Pour cake batter into prepared pan and bake for 50-60 minutes or until the cake springs bake when touched and a testet inserted comes out clean.
Cool the cake completely.
For the glaze, in a bowl mix together the icing sugar and enough milk to make the glaze the consistency you like. Add the scraped vanilla bean and mix well.  Pour over cooled cake.

Cooks Notes:
*How to Brown Butter.
Heat a medium sized heavy bottom saucepan over medium heat. Slice 1 cup of butter into tablespoon sized pieces and add them to the pan. Stir the butter frequently until melted.
You will notice that once the butter has melted it will begin to foam. Soon the foam will subside and lightly browned bits will begin to form on the bottom of the pan. Watch the butter carefully as it can quickly turn from nutty brown to acrid black in the blink of an eye.
Once the butter begins to smell nutty and the milk solids have browned on the bottom of the pan remove the pan from the heat and pour into a heat resistant container to cool.
*At this stage I slipped a split vanilla bean into the brown butter to infuse it, you don't need to do this but the house smelled fantastic!
*I made the brown butter the evening before I made the cake so that it could cool completely and set up. I left it at covered at room temperature as my kitchen is fairly cool, but you can certainly put it in the refrigerator, allow the butter to come to room temperature before proceeding with the recipe.

Blah

I have a small case of the blahs.
I hope you understand, there's nothing to worry about.
Nothing is terribly wrong.
I'm just...blah.

So to snap out of it I've been trying a few things. New music for starters, Jack Johnson Best of Kokua Festival  will lift the grumpiest of spirits. Try it! And for some reason, I have been listening to a bit of KC and the Sunshine Band and the Bee Gees. My daughters are more than a little horrified by that last confession. Last week while humming away to Boogie Shoes I looked up to find my youngest standing at the kitchen door with her mouth agape.  She then uttered, "Good God" and called for her sister. I'm sensing an itunes intervention soon.

But the sun is out, God is good, and we'll be home in 42 days. That last part is probably the source of my "Meh" state. But 42 days is not long at all! Gee things are looking up already.

These flowers hanging over the edge of our fence do a lot to cheer up our mornings.

If you have been reading this blog you know that on Saturdays my friend Lauren and I head to our local market to pick up the weeks fruit and vegetables. Everything is locally grown in Tunisia, very little of our food supply is imported. It has been a great joy to cook with the seasons, celebrate what is in season and anticipate what is to come. The market stalls are really a beautiful sight, and ever inspiring. Just this week the giant bunches of mint were begging to be made into a mint chutney or the occasional afternoon mint julep. Stone fruits are starting to make an appearance, the tomatoes are gorgeous and bursting, and there were even a few punnets of raspberries.

My weeks haul. The scent of the melon perfumes my kitchen. It's intoxicating.

After seeing what was available at the market, I had a craving for a big garden salad with crispy homemade croutons and a Ranch style salad dressing. Now Ranch dressing isn't something that we can buy here so when the cravings hit, it's good to have a greens grocer that has a steady supply of fresh herbs. Chives, flat leaf parsley, and dill, added to a little creme fraiche and a few other ingredients and I'm well on my way to chasing away the blahs.

Now, if you'll excuse me, KC and I have a date in the kitchen.

Creme Fraiche and Green Herb Dressing

1/2 cup of creme fraiche or sour cream
1/2 cup of mayonaise
1 large garlic clove minced
4 tablespoons of minced chives
4 tablespoons of minced flat leaf parsley
4 tablespoons of minced dill
Juice of half a lemon
milk
sea salt and black pepper to taste

In a mixing bowl combine all the ingredients except the milk and salt and pepper. Use the milk to thin the dressing to the consistency you like and then season with salt and pepper. Add more herbs, garlic, whatever you like to make this yours.
It's great with baked potatoes, on top of salads, and as a dip for chicken.

The Road to.....

Hell is paved with good intentions.
That's what my Mom told me once. I tend to think it may occasionally be true. It was this past week at least.

My week didn't actually go to hell. I had things I intended to write about, recipes that I have come to really like and wanted to share but then life happened, and friends came to visit, and no pictures were taken (how could I not take pictures of these people and the fun we had) and time just got away from me, (and clearly punctuation has gotten away from me) and the things I wanted to share with you were neatly spooned into storage containers and zip top bags and set in the refrigerator to make someone a happy lunch this week.....

It was an oddly quiet week and for some reason, even though I had great plans and plenty of time, I just couldn't get around to writing, or more precisely, I couldn't find the words to say what I wanted to say. Half our family was gone for a soccer tournament in Spain (I know. We don't feel bad for them) leaving the other half a little lost as to how to spend our time. The house was just too big, and while there was warmth and laughter (Morgan and I do know how to have a good time together) we just missed sharing life with the rest of our little tribe. Thankfully the weekend came and with that friends. Thank goodness for friends.

There were sleepovers, and giggly girls wanting to be fed, and baking, and marinating, and second guessing on an appetizer that I served at a BBQ. Olives warmed in a honey and sherry vinegar reduction. I bought this crazy huge jar of honey at the market a few weeks back. It was an impulse buy.  Well that's not entirely true, it was more pressure, hard sell, and lack of language skills that lead me to trade money for a giant jar of honey. Honestly though I am not a honey person and it could take me the better part of a year to get through all this honey. This recipe though called for 2 cups of the stuff, WOO HOO!

I cooked the olives, tasted them, got scared. Let them sit a bit, tasted them again. Not so scared but now concerned. Was this a recipe that I made because of the beautiful pictures, and intriguing ingredient list that in reality would just be weird?

Nah, it was good, addictively so. Salty, sweet, sour, sticky goodness. I'm all set if my intentions this week head South.

Warm Olives with Honey Gastrique
adapted from Tyler Florence Family Meal
3 cups Sherry vinegar
2 cups honey
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 bay leaves
1 large fresh sprig of rosemary
Grated zest of one orange
Grated zest of one lemon
5 garlic cloves peeled and smashed
1 pound of mixed olives, unpitted

In a large shallow skillet combine the vinegar, honey, and olive oil. Bring to a simmer over medium low heat. Add the bay leaves, rosemary, orange and lemon zest, garlic and olives.
Simmer uncovered for 30-35 minutes or until the liquid has reduced to a thick syrupy consistency.
Serve the olives warm.

My Day Thus Far.......

Here is how my day started.
4:15 am, pushing the bounds of my "morning personhood", the call to prayer sounds. The speaker is directly across from our bedroom window. I think I can drift back to sleep.
4:45 am, a pack of neighborhood stray dogs begin howling at the rising sun, joining in chorus to a random rooster, and other birds.
Since the world is waking up around me I may as well get up.
I turn on my laptop, make coffee, consider what I might make for breakfast for the sleepover girls.
Sip coffee, look at Facebook, throw together a dough to make cinnamon rolls.
5:45 am, some sort of alarm I have never heard starts sounding from an upstairs bedroom. It is not unlike the sound of police sirens at full volume.
The sleeping teens, including the owner of the blaring alarm, do not stir from the downstairs guest room.
I run upstairs and find someone's Blackberry phone ringing away to the morning alarm.
I try to turn it off but only manage to hit the snooze. Hmmm, how to turn off the alarm. I am not at all familiar with Blackberrys.
Ah, that must be the volume button, that can buy me some time until I figure this out. Oops, nope not the volume, I may have just changed some settings. Shoot.
The alarm sounds again. I hit a button and accidentally call someone named Tinta. Tinta isn't happy. At least I think she isn't happy. I can't tell because she doesn't speak english.
I hit another button and end the call. I think. Phew.
Okay, what is that button.......Oh good Lord. I accidentally take several pictures of the floor and closet. I also may have possibly taken a video which I really hope doesn't have sound.
I may have said some unkind words about the phone.
The alarm sounds again. I have figured out the snooze function and hit it.
I google how to turn off the alarm. That doesn't work.
I google how to turn off the DAMN phone.
The alarm goes off again, this time the sound is a little muffled because it is at the bottom of the laundry basket. Snooze is hit again.
It is now 6:30. I consider backing over the phone in the driveway.
Instead, I wake up the sleeping girl, which I should have done 45 minutes ago, and have her turn off her phone.
Sigh.
Good morning.

Brown Sugar Caramel Cinnamon Rolls
adapted from the Pioneer Woman
For the dough:
2 cups milk
1/2 cup melted butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 package yeast
2 cups whole wheat flour
3 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
For the filling:
1 cup butter melted
1 cup dark brown sugar lightly packed
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
For the frosting:
8 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
1 cup butter at room temperature
2 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon maple extract

To make the dough: Over medium high heat warm the milk, butter, and sugar. Just warm it through, don't let it simmer. In the bowl of a stand mixer, or large mixing bowl, stir together the yeast, flours, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Add the milk mixture and with a dough hook blend until a soft dough forms, or using a wooden spoon stir the dough until it comes together. Spritz the dough with a little oil, cover with a clean kitchen towel and let rise for 1 hour.
While the dough rises make the filling and frosting.
For the filling: Stir together the butter, brown sugar, sugar, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Set aside.
For the frosting: In the bowl of a stand mixer beat together the cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. On low speed add the powdered sugar and beat until well combined. Add the extracts and combine. Set aside.
To assemble: Turn out the risen dough onto a floured surface. Knead to bring the dough together. Roll out the dough into a large rectangle about 1/4 inch thick. Spread the filing mixture over the surface and roll up. Pinch the seam closed and slice into 12 equal rolls.
Place in a 15X10 inch baking pan (you can use a 9X13 but it will be crowded), lined with parchment paper. Cover with a towel and let rise again for 20 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 375. Bake the rolls for 15-18 minutes. Immediately after removing from the oven spread the rolls with 1/3 of the frosting. Let cool for 15 minutes and frost with remaining frosting before serving.

À Bientôt

Sweet friends came to Tunisia this past week. They will be moving here in August and to say that we can't wait is an understatement. I'm counting down the days I'm so excited. 132 days. Sigh, it's like waiting for Christmas.

Yesterday was their last day here for a while, we squeezed in a few more cups of coffee, important chats, a little site seeing, a little getting lost....... Just enough to leave them excited to return minus the getting lost part. It was a beautiful day, the sky was impossibly blue, the Med a crystal clear turquoise pool, the day was warm but there was enough of a breeze to keep you the perfect temperature.

To ease into the day I made a coffeecake. It was very moist, and rich with a crunchy caramelized topping. I think it set the mood for a perfect final day until we see them again soon.

À bientôt, see you soon Marty and Bridged!

Saturday Morning Coffeecake
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
2 cups dark brown sugar, divided
2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 cups butter
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 350 and grease a 9X13 inch baking pan.
In a food processor combine the flours, sugar, 1 cup brown sugar, and salt, pulse to combine. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. If you don't have a food processor whisk together the flour, sugar and salt and cut in the butter until it resembles coarse crumbs. Reserve 2 cups of the crumb mixture, and place the remaining crumb mixture in a medium mixing bowl.
To the mixing bowl add the baking powder, baking soda and mix well. Add the buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla and stir well to combine. Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan.
To the 2 cups reserved crumb mixture add 1 cup dark brown sugar and the cinnamon. Mix well and sprinkle the crumbs over the batter. Bake until a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out clean, approximately 35-40 minutes.
If you can manage it, allow the cake to cool slightly before serving. I dug in right away and have the burned roof of my mouth to prove it. Totally worth it though.

Morning

I wanted to show you the beautiful blue skies we've been having of late. Is this a great reason to get out of bed in the morning or what?  I'm kind of strange, I am very much a morning person. Actually I am very much an early morning person, and it's even better in my book if that morning is a Monday.

I know, strange right?

If you are however not a morning person, I make the case that these muffins might just persuade you otherwise.

Morning Muffins
Makes 2 dozen
2 cups grated zucchini
2 cups grated carrot
2 apples grated
1 cup grated unsweetened coconut
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar lightly packed
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup olive oil
6 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Coarse sugar for topping

Preheat the oven to 350. Line a muffin tin with paper liners and set aside.

In a large bowl mix together the zucchini, carrot, and apple. In another mixing bowl whisk together the coconut, flours, cornmeal, sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, salt and baking soda. Add the dry ingredients to the zucchini mixture and stir well to combine.
In a small bowl or glass measuring cup mix together the oil, eggs, and vanilla extract. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and fold together until just incorporated. The mixture may be a bit lumpy.
Divide the batter evenly between the prepared muffin tins and then sprinkle each muffin liberally with coarse sugar. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a tester inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Allow to sit in the muffin tins for 5 minutes then remove to a rack to cool completely.