I’m always trying to find new side dishes to serve during the summer. Grilled vegetables or a simple salad are my standbys. We also eat a lot of potato salad. But as my cherry tomatoes are now ripe, this looked perfect. It is adapted from Food & Wine.

Green Bean and Tomato Salad

Ingredients

1 pounds green string beans
1/8 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium shallots, minced
1 tablespoons chopped tarragon
Salt and freshly ground pepper
a handful of cherry tomatoes, halved

Directions

In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the beans until just tender, about 4 minutes. Strain beans and put in ice water to stop cooking. Once cooled, drain and pat dry.

In a small bowl, whisk the olive oil with the shallots and tarragon and season with salt and pepper. Place the beans and tomatoes in a large bowl, add the dressing and toss well.

Serve and enjoy!

I’ve often said that I’d much rather being cooking for others than be a lawyer (which is what I really do).  My friend Tori and I planned and catered two weddings in the past.  Recently, I had the opportunity to cater two more parties for a friend.  In the process, I started a second blog.  So come visit my alter-ego at:

www.gingercatcatering.wordpress.com

On that new site, you’ll find pictures from prior events, more food pictures, and posts about my catering adventures.  This is only a part-time, once a month type thing.  Otherwise I’d have to be licensed, inspected, and all that.  I’ve done my research.

Carmen and her husband recently completed a major renovation and expansion of their home, and wanted to throw two house-warming parties.  The first one was at night, with heavy hors oeuvres, thrown for their friends.   (I’ll get those photos up along with some recipes later – they are on Carmen’s camera.)

This past weekend, Carmen had her second party, this time for her family.  She requested “chips and dip” type food, since the party was a 2 p.m., and she was expecting guests to have already eaten lunch. I wanted to be a bit more creative that potato chips with onion dip. And I knew that there would be a lot of people, so I wanted to provide a lot of variety to accommodate a range of tastes.

The menu included veggies with herb dip; tortillas with homemade guacamole and a roast corn salsa; olive tapenade with pita chips; hot artichoke dip; and brie with roast garlic and onion chutney. And then I made mini cheesecakes for dessert.

Aside from the cheesecakes, everything else was really easy, and really quick to make.

Roast Corn Salsa

(makes about 2 cups)

2 ears sweet corn
3 Tablespoons olive oil
3 Roma tomatoes, seeded and diced
1/4 cup diced red bell pepper
1/4  cup diced green bell pepper
1/4  cup diced red onion
1 Tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice
3 basil leaves, julienned
1 small Serrano chile, seeded an mined
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Remove husks and silk from corn. Brush olive oil over cobs. Wrap in aluminum foil. Grill for approximately 15 minutes, turning occasionally. (These can be roast in the oven. You can also pull back husks, remove silk, then smooth husks back over corn, then roast in husks.)

Allow corn to cool; cut kernels from cobs. Place kernels in bowl and add remaining ingredients. Taste and correct seasoning. Transfer to bowl and serve at room temperature.

(Can be made the day before.)

Chunky Guacamole

(makes about 3 cups)

4 ripe Haas avocados
freshly squeezed juice of 1 lemon
1/2 cup small-diced red onion
1 large garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 medium tomato, seeded, and small-diced

Cut the avocados in 1/2, remove the pits, and scoop the flesh out of their shells into a large bowl. Immediately add the lemon juice, onion, garlic, salt, and pepper and toss well. Using a sharp knife, slice through the avocados in the bowl until they are finely diced. Add the tomatoes. Mix well and taste for salt and pepper.

Serve within an hour or two.  If not serving immediately, press plastic wrap firmly onto the surface and refrigerate.

More recipes to come…

Seamaiden (Book of Yum) is again hosting her “Adopt a Gluten-Free Blogger” event.  This gives people a great opportunity to try out new and different recipes from our fellow bloggers and write about our fun and adventurous experience.  (Hopefully not too adventurous?!)  I chose Karina to adopt this month, with an eye on cupcakes. 

I have one failure that I must admit to - we ate all the cupcakes before I remembered to take a picture for my post!  Oh no!  So my “Adopt-a-blogger” post fails, but the cupcakes were a huge success.

Karina, from Karina’s Kitchen, really is a gluten-free goddess!  If you haven’t already checked out her blog, you really must.  Just be warned, all the photos and descriptions are so mouth-watering, you might just drool on your computer.  She has a great collection of recipes, on a beautiful and user-friendly site.

I’d had my eye on her Orange Creme Cupcakesfor some time.  I’ve shied away from “regular” cakes because it is so hard to get a good consistency or flavor.  Flourless chocolate cake is always easy.  But what to do when you don’t want chocolate?  The orange intrigued me.  And her photos looked darned tasty!

And what do you do when you want to make something gluten-free AND vegan AND soy free???  (not to mention nut free.)  You see, one of my co-workers has three children each with some food allergy or another.  One of his boys is allergic to just about everything.   So even more reason.

And then, I was asked to bring cupcakes to a friend’s wedding because the maid of honor was also gluten-free.

So a big batch of cupcakes it was!  I loved them, the maid of honor loved them, and all the kids loved them (so much so, that mom wanted the recipe for the next birthday).

If (when) I make them again, I’ll try to remember to take a picture to add.

Cuban cuisine is a fusion of Spanish, African and Caribbean cuisines, and has absolutely nothing to do with Mexican cuisine.

Food & Wine Magazine ran an article last issue all about Cuban Food, with a lot of great recipes. I had made a similar salad before. And I changed around the black bean recipe to cheat and use canned beans. In a way, the flavors are simple – plenty of onion, pepper and garlic, and not much more. But you really don’t need much more.

The beef was delicious. It’s important to start with good quality grass-fed beef since you are not overpowering it with extraneous flavor.

Vaca Frita (Crispy Beef)

(serves 2-3)

Ingredients
1 pound flank steak, cut into 4 pieces
1 green bell pepper, cored and quartered
1 large onions— halved. 1 half sliced, the other coarsely chopped
1 bay leaf
2 garlic cloves, smashed
Salt
1/3 cup fresh lime juice
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Freshly ground pepper

Directions
In a large saucepan, combine the flank steak with the bell pepper, chopped onion and bay leaf. Add enough water to cover and bring to a boil. Simmer over moderate heat for 20 minutes. Transfer the flank steak to a work surface and let the steak cool. Strain the broth and reserve for another use. Shred the meat and transfer it to a bowl.

Using the side of a large knife, mash the garlic to a paste with 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Stir the paste into the meat, along with the lime juice, olive oil and sliced onion. Let stand at room temperature for at least 30 minutes or up to 1 1/2 hours.

Heat a large, flat griddle until very hot. Working in batches, spread the shredded beef on the griddle in a thin layer and season with salt and pepper. Cook over high heat, turning once or twice, until sizzling and crispy in spots, about 6 minutes per batch. Transfer to a platter and serve.

This recipe I combined from a couple places. The recipe in the magazine looked wonderful, but called for starting with dried beans, which I did not have (also did not have time for).

Frijoles Negros (Black Beans)

(serves 2-3)

Ingredients
1 (10 ounce) can black beans, drained
1/4-1/2 cup stock, depending on preference (chicken or vegetable)
1/2 medium onion, diced
1/2 green pepper, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
1/2 teaspoon oregano
salt to taste
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar

Directions
Fry the onion and pepper in a little oil.
Add the garlic and saute a little.
Add about a 1/4 of the beans and mash lightly with the back of a fork or potato masher.
Add stock and remaining beans.
Add spices and simmer about 30 minutes.
Add the vinegar just before serving.

 
This was so easy, it hardly needs instruction.

Avocado and Onion Salad

(serves 2+)

Ingredients
1 Hass avocados, thinly sliced
1/4 small red onion, very thinly sliced
1 teaspoon (approximately) extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon (approximately) red wine vinegar
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Directions
Arrange the avocado slices on a platter and top with the onion. Drizzle with the olive oil and vinegar and season with salt and pepper. Serve right away.

¡Buen provecho!

No, not that CIA, the other one.  The Culinary Institute of America has come out with a gluten-free baking cookbook.  (Titled “Gluten-Free Baking with the Culinary Institute of America.”)  It was great to see such a prestigious institute come out with a gluten-free publication.  Reading through it, you can tell they really spent a lot of time experimenting with all the different flours. They also have a lot of useful general tips about baking gluten-free.  One word of warning – they use a lot of different flours and ingredients per recipe.  Also, very few recipes are casein free.

The first thing I tried making, was their pizza.  I like the recipe I use, but thought I’d give theirs a try.    As with most gluten-free pizza crusts, it is a thin crust. 

I give it 2 thumbs up.

CIA Pizza Crust

Ingredients:
3 2/3 cups Flour Blend #4 (see below)
1 teaspoon Instant Yeast
2 1/4 cups Water
1 teaspoon Salt
1 1/4 teaspoons Guar Gum (or Xanthan Gum)
1/4 cup Vegetable Oil

Directions:
– Combine 1 cup flour blend, yeast, and 1 cup of water and mix until smooth. Cover the top with plastic wrap and let it rise for 45 minutes
– Thoroughly mix the remaining flour with salt and guar gum.
– Combine the two mixtures and add the remaining 1 1/4 cup water and the oil.
– Mix for 2 minutes using the paddle attachment on low speed.
– After mixing, pipe the mixture onto parchment paper into three circles or into a greased pie tin. (I failed at my attempt to pipe, although I can see how this could work better than trying to spread with a spatula.) Rest the crust for 30 minutes in a warm, humid environment.
– Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Parbake crust for 15 minutes.
– Allow crusts to cool. Turn over so the bottom of the crust is now facing upwards and top with your favorite toppings. Complete the baking in the oven for 8 to 10 minutes.

*Flour Blend #4 (the book uses several blends)
White rice flour – 8 oz (1 1/2 cups)
Tapioca starch – 8 oz (1 3/4 cups)
Soy flour – 8 oz (2 1/4 cups)

This month’s challenge was designed just for us “alternative” bakers.  The recipe was vegan, and was designed to be made either whole grain or gluten free.  The hosts this month were Natalie from Gluten A Go Go, and Shel, of Musings From the Fishbowl.  You never really think about making crackers at home, but they are really easy, and yummy!  So for gluten-free people, this is a great option.  Obviously, I chose to go with the gluten-free version.

Gluten-Free Lavash Crackers

Makes 1 sheet pan of crackers

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups gluten free flour blend
1 tsp xanthan or guar gum to the recipe)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp instant yeast
1 Tb agave syrup or sugar
1 Tb vegetable oil
1/3 to 1/2 cup + 2 Tb water, at room temperature
*Poppy seeds, sesame seeds, paprika, cumin seeds, caraway seeds, or kosher salt for toppings

Directions:
1.  In a mixing bowl, stir together the flour, xanthan gum, salt, yeast, agave, oil, and just enough water to bring everything together into a ball.  You may not need the full 1/2 cup + 2 Tb of water, but be prepared to use it all if needed.

2.  (The dough should be firmer than French bread dough, but not quite as firm as bagel dough (what I call medium-firm dough), and slightly tacky.)  Lightly oil a bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl, rolling it around to coat it with oil.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap.

3. Ferment at room temperature for 90 minutes, or until the dough doubles in size.

4.  Lay out two sheets of parchment paper.  Divide the cracker dough in half and then sandwich the dough between the two sheets of parchment.  Roll out the dough until it is a paper thin sheet about 15 inches by 12 inches.  Slowly peel away the top layer of parchment paper.  Then set the bottom layer of parchment paper with the cracker dough on it onto a baking sheet.

5. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit with the oven rack on the middle shelf.  Mist the top of the dough with water and sprinkle a covering of seeds or spices on the dough (such as alternating rows of poppy seeds, sesame seeds, paprika, cumin seeds, caraway seeds, kosher or pretzel salt, etc.)  Be careful with spices and salt – a little goes a long way. If you want to precut the cracker, use a pizza cutter (rolling blade) and cut diamonds or rectangles in the dough.  You do not need to separate the pieces, as they will snap apart after baking.  If you want to make shards, bake the sheet of dough without cutting it first.

5.  Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the crackers begin to brown evenly across the top (the time will depend on how thinly and evenly you rolled the dough).

6.  When the crackers are baked, remove the pan from the oven and let them cool in the pan for about 10 minutes.  You can then snap them apart or snap off shards and serve.

We were also asked to make a dip/salsa/topping for our crackers. We had complete creative control over this part, so long as the recipe was both vegan and gluten free.

I decided to make an Olive Tapanade, basically because I like olives. (That’s a good reason, right?)  Other good options would be salsa, hummus, guacamole, etc.

I only sort of followed a recipe.  Basically, I combined olives, capers, roasted red peppers, lemon rind, garlic, olive oil and vinegar.  Very tastey.