Archives for 2013

Summer CSA Salad with Red Wine Tomato Vinaigrette

July 22, 2013 by Erica

Summer CSA Salad with Red Wine Tomato Vinaigrette

Meet my perfect simple summer salad.

You two should be friends.

Summer CSA Salad with Red Wine Tomato Vinaigrette

This salad is certainly no culinary breakthrough, but when it comes to summer produce, sometimes simpler is better. And there is about to be a LOT of summer produce up in here, because this past week’s CSA box was packed to the brim:

Summer CSA Salad with Red Wine Tomato Vinaigrette

I have more lettuce than I know what to do with, along with zucchini, beets, carrots, garlic, green garlic, spring onions, green beans, apricots, and the season’s first corn. Foooooood.

I think the boxes are only going to get more stuffed from here on out. Come August and September, I have no idea how we’re going to eat it all!

For now, I think I’ll try to stuff as much of it as possible into a salad.

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Coconut Almond Fudge Crunch Ice Cream (Vegan)

July 19, 2013 by Erica

Coconut Almond Fudge Crunch Ice Cream

Behold my first vegan ice cream!

I should have shown you this ice cream a while ago. It’s a little unforgivable that I haven’t, actually. But you see, some things got in the way.

First, I needed to work on the recipe.

Next I needed a batch that could actually stay in my freezer long enough to be photographed.

Then I needed my friends to try some.

Last, I needed to take some good pictures… you know, before the subject of my photographs disappeared from the bowl.

Coconut Almond Fudge Crunch Ice Cream

It’s actually a wonder that this whole post isn’t just empty bowl pictures like the one above. But, four batches later, despite my best efforts, I am finally showing you this ice cream.

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Copycat Near East Rice Pilaf

July 17, 2013 by Erica

Copycat Near East Rice Pilaf

A pretty piece of salmon deserves a great side dish.

Growing up, we almost always ate Near East rice pilaf with our salmon. It was a staple that I never really appreciated until I went to college. I remember coming home for vacation during my freshman year and eating my mom’s home cooking again (the best part of coming home, even better than showering with no flip flops on!). We were eating salmon, rice pilaf, and probably string beans, and all the sudden I loved rice pilaf. It was pure nostalgia! Funny how I still remember that moment.

Crispy Pan-Seared Salmon with Rhubarb Sauce

Recently I got a craving for Near East again and decided I’d try to recreate it on my own rather than stocking up on the boxes. (They’re expensive!) Some rice, orzo (little rice-shaped pasta), and spices, and I was in business! My favorite part is the yellow color the turmeric lends the rice. I don’t know what I thought turned it yellow before… magic, I guess!

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Crispy Pan-Seared Salmon with Rhubarb Sauce

July 15, 2013 by Erica

Crispy Pan-Seared Salmon with Rhubarb Sauce

Good morning! We’re getting a bit more of a carnivorous start to the week than you may be used to here.

Crispy Pan-Seared Salmon with Rhubarb Sauce

Yum.

P.S. Do you like my asparagus bouquet?

Crispy Pan-Seared Salmon with Rhubarb Sauce

I’ve been eating a lot of salmon recently. Actually, the truth is that even when I went vegan, I had fish a few times, mostly in sushi because I juuust couldn’t resist. I love salmon, and I especially love ordering it at restaurants, where it tends to be the healthiest thing on the menu. The vegetarian options aren’t always the healthiest when you go to, say, a French or Italian restaurant. As much as I love some gnocchi in cream sauce, I can’t pretend to choose that “for health reasons” when there is a beautiful piece of healthy fish on the menu.

Crispy Pan-Seared Salmon with Rhubarb Sauce

That’s how I came to try salmon with rhubarb sauce at the inn where our friends Bill and Aspen got married in May. The menu was small and meat-heavy, so I chose fish (although I did steal a bite of Nate’s lamb, mmmm. I love lamb!) The restaurant at the inn was so good; I would have loved to order every single thing on the menu. I think we did our share, though, ordering appetizers, main courses, and a dessert! I would show you a picture of that original salmon with rhubarb sauce… but romantic lighting, iPhone camera, and a plate of food – we all know how that story ends. I’d rather show you these photos instead.

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Chocolate Terrine with Sea Salt and Thai Basil Ice Cream

July 12, 2013 by Erica

Chocolate Terrine with Sea Salt and Thai Basil Ice Cream

It’s chocolate lovers only from here on out. This is some serious chocolate.

Chocolate Terrine with Sea Salt and Thai Basil Ice Cream

A few years ago, I had this dessert at the restaurant Ten Tables in Cambridge, MA. I was out to dinner with my mom after work, and naturally ordered the most chocolaty thing I could find on the dessert menu – chocolate terrine with sea salt and Thai basil ice cream. I thought Thai basil ice cream sounded weird and that I probably wouldn’t eat that part; I was mostly interested in the chocolate. So misguided.

The first bite blew my mind. An ultra-chocolaty flourless chocolate cake topped with crunchy sea salt and fresh, creamy basil ice cream. The combination was SO unexpectedly delicious. I was in heaven.

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