another apple shoot!

Julie (aka: food stylist extraordinaire) and I recently worked together on another apple shoot.
Here are some of the final images...

radicchio salad with baby greens and caramelized onions

I almost never post recipes on here, but I have been eating this salad non-stop for the past 4 days so I thought I would be generous and share. Plus, I am always complaining that there aren't enough salad blogs so I figured I should do my part.

This salad was completely and totally inspired by Julie, an amazing food stylist with whom I have had the privilege of working recently. She was telling me about a salad she made comprised of radicchio, spinach, caramelized onions and tossed in a vinaigrette, and my mouth was watering. Joe and I eat salads as our main course several times a week and I'm always looking for new things to try.

In my version, I added crumbled bacon and a sprinkling of ricotta salata at the end. I also chose to use a balsamic vinaigrette. With the sweetness of the onions, smokiness of the bacon, bitterness of the radicchio, saltiness of the cheese, and sweet-tart of the dressing, there is a delicious mix of flavors that hits all the important notes. No matter how you make this, though, you really can't go wrong. It's fab.

Radicchio Salad with Baby Greens & Caramelized Onions

1 head radicchio, chopped
4 oz. mixed baby greens (arugula, spinach, and baby chard work really well)
2 sweet onions, sliced very thin
olive oil
5 strips of thick-cut bacon, cooked and chopped (optional)
vinaigrette of your choice
ricotta salata (optional)

First, caramelize your onions. I found the easiest way to do this was to toss them with olive oil and salt, spread them on a sheet pan, and bake at 375 until they are golden. Make sure to stir them occasionally so they don't burn.

Make your dressing. I make all my dressings to taste, so I'm pretty hopeless when it comes to amounts. Basically, I squirt some dijon dressing in a mason jar (2 teaspoons, maybe), add some balsamic vinegar, some salt and pepper, and some good olive oil and shake until it's all emulsified. Easy.

Add radicchio, greens, caramelized onions, and bacon to a large mixing bowl, pour in dressing, and toss. Sprinkle on ricotta salata at end, if desired.

Serves 4

kale

I have a lot more to write about my trip cross country. In a nutshell, our trip was INCREDIBLE. However, as usual, the transition back to life at home has taken more time than I expected and I am overwhelmed with photos to download, emails to answer, home chores to be finished. So, those posts will come soon. In the meantime, I want to talk about kale.

If you know me at all, you know that there aren't many vegetables I don't love. I have a particular fondness for all greens and every cruciferous vegetable known to man. While Joe and I were on the road, we ended up visiting a lot of towns where we were hard-pressed to get a salad that consisted of more than shredded iceberg lettuce. After 5 weeks, we could not wait to get back in our own kitchen and eat some vegetables.

Kale is one of those veggies you hear about all of the time because of it's enormous health benefits. I have always loved it steamed, sauteed, and stir-fried, but have only become a fan of it in it's raw form in the past year. In my experience, raw kale salad is very often poorly made and I end up chewing a bite of salad for, like, 900 years.

Not appetizing.

It was my awesome brother, Sean, who showed me how to use kale in a salad. After my tutorial with him, it is my opinion that there are 5 factors to a successful kale salad: removing the spine of the kale leaves, chopping the kale into bite-sized ribbons, making a good vinaigrette, massaging the dressing-- BY HAND-- into the leaves, and letting it sit for a bit so that the kale softens a bit and the flavors have a chance to meld together.

The recipe below was inspired by a salad Helene and I ate from a Charleston grocery store. She and I DEVOURED it, (along with a few glasses of prosecco), and I couldn't stop thinking about it for the rest of our trip.

Sesame Ginger Kale Salad

*One thing to keep in mind when making a salad: buy more kale than you think you will eat.

After marinating and sitting, raw kale will reduce in size by about half.

This recipe makes enough to serve 4-6 side portions, less if you eat salad as a main course like we do. Also, this salad is great the next day. That's one of the awesome things about kale-- it's a hearty green and doesn't wilt easily.

3 bunches of black dino kale, (washed, spinned dry, spines removed and then chopped into bite-sized thin ribbons)
Sesame Ginger Vinaigrette (this recipe will make more than you need)
-1 1/2 TB minced ginger
-1 tsp. crushed red pepper
-1/8 cup rice vinegar (not seasoned)
-1/8 cup Bragg's Liquid Aminos or tamari
-1/2 cup toasted sesame oil

Whisk together vinaigrette and drizzle half of it on kale. With your hands, massage the dressing into the leaves and toss. Whisk dressing again, add a bit more, massage, and toss. I ended up using about 2/3 of the dressing, but the amount you use will vary depending on your taste and the size of your bunches of kale. Make sure you taste as you go.
Let salad sit for a while. The intensity of the dressing will mellow a bit, the leaves will soften a little, and the flavors will meld together.

Enjoy!

green soup

I have a favorite soup.

It's my go-to easy comfort soup, a soup I make several times a month in large batches so I can eat it throughout the week. It's delicious, soothing, nutritious, and it reminds me of home.

This is not a recipe blog and I have no intention of making it into one. But I thought I'd share my recipe for this soup because it's special to me. It's also super easy, which is how I like my cooking to be.





Broccoli and Spinach Soup

(Makes a very large pot)

3 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, chopped,
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
2 TB butter (or coconut oil)
fresh or frozen broccoli, (I use frozen organic broccoli and usually use about 3 10-oz. bags)
several big handfuls of baby spinach
6+ cups chicken or vegetable stock, preferably homemade (I use chicken)
1-2 cups whole milk (coconut milk works great, too)
spices (see note about this below)

Melt butter in a large soup pot, and saute garlic, onion, celery and carrot until soft. Season with salt and pepper.
I add my various seasonings at this point, which change every time I make this. Currently, my favorites are lots of dill and some dried sage. I don't measure anything, I just toss some in, stir, taste, and adjust.

Add broccoli and spinach, stir and let cook down for a few minutes. Then add your stock. I add enough so that it barely covers the vegetables.
Cover and cook at med-high for about 10 minutes, (this is an estimate. Basically, I heat until the soup just begins to boil and everything is soft.)

Take soup off the heat and, in sections, run through a blender until super smooth. When all is blended, add soup back to the pot, and add your milk. For a big pot of soup, I probably use about a cup and a half although, again, I don't really measure. You can adjust the amount, based on how you like it. I recommend you taste it before adding too much, though, because the soup is incredibly flavorful on its own.

Taste, season with more salt and pepper and heat until all warmed through.

Enjoy!

ode to heidi (part 1)

It may be surprising for some people to know that, up until a few years ago, I really didn't like to cook. As a food photographer, I feel like it's my duty to be a fabulous chef and, truly, I am not. But something has definitely shifted in the past few years. It all changed after I discovered a few blogs that resonated with me and addressed the way that I like to eat-- simply and with lots of vegetables. Heidi Swanson's blog, 101 Cookbooks, has been one of my favorites since the first time I read it.

In our household, my husband, Joe, is the "real" cook. He's one of those people who can look at whatever is in the fridge and pantry and create something amazing. In 13 years, I have never seen him glance at a recipe.

I, on the other hand, often start with a recipe and adapt as I go. I am constantly on the lookout for new veggie recipes. Vegetable dishes are my domain, meat and fish dishes are Joe's. I avoided meat for years and, while I do eat it now and enjoy it, I still prefer to eat primarily vegetarian meals. Consequently, we eat big salads 4 or 5 times a week. I am pleased to report that Joe has been won over to the salad camp and craves them whenever I am out of town. Success! :)

So, back to 101 Cookbooks.

Heidi is a vegetarian so her whole site is devoted to meatless meals using whole foods.

As if her blog weren't great enough, Heidi's latest cookbook, Super Natural Every Day, is FREAKING AWESOME. Sorry, there is just no other way to put it. I can't think of any other cookbook that makes me want to cook every single thing in there. The recipes are simple, straightforward, healthy, and delicious. Exactly what I like. On top of that, the photos are stunning. Heidi is a rock star with the camera.

So far, I have made a number of the dishes in her book and plan on making a whole lot more.

Lately I have been craving roasted tomatoes. Yes, I know it's the end of April and, yes, I know that tomatoes are months away from being in season. Today, I didn't care. I bought some cherry tomatoes anyway and roasted them.

If you haven't roasted cherry tomatoes before, then I suggest you do so as soon as possible. I will be growing cherry tomatoes this summer for the sole purpose of roasting them-- they are THAT good. And they are so incredibly simple. Heidi has a recipe in her book, as well as on her blog.

After roasting the tomatoes and eating quite a few of them on their own, I decided to make another one of Heidi's recipes-- Heather's Quinoa. This one is on her blog, not in her book, so you can check it out over there. It combines quinoa with shallots, corn (I used frozen), kale (I used red chard instead), tofu, pesto, pumpkin seeds and roasted tomatoes. I added way more tomatoes than called for but, other than that, I stayed pretty true to the recipe.

Not surprisingly, it was incredibly tasty, and really, really easy.