Shrimp Pesto Quesadillas and Sausage Sandwiches on French Toast

This week has been clean up the kitchen for two.  First, we had brunch with kids and grandkids at one of our favorite places and brought home hash browns with corned beef and half a eggs florentine. Here's what we had at Uptown Cafe:

Then, I made grandson Bradley's favorite crepes for dinner and made homemade sausages to go along with them. 

For dinner one night I used the rest of the ground pork and made pork burgers using essentially the same mix I'd used for the sausage.  When I couldn't find my Hoosier Mama cookbook with my favorite sausage recipe, I made one up.  And, wound up liking it better.  I can't quote you the measurements but can tell you the ingredients:  ground pork, lemon juice, crushed red pepper, salt, ground black pepper, ground sage, garlic powder and dried onion.  Here's the mix ready to be mixed: 

They were really good on some kaiser rolls with mustard, tomato and lettuce.  Unfortunately, they were inhaled before I remembered a photo!

The leftover sausages got put onto an open faced sandwich.  First I made some french toast using rye bread, milk, eggs and a savory seasoning from Penzeys.  I topped that with some sliced tomatoes, then the sausages, then grated mozzarella cheese.  The whole shebang got topped with a poached egg and some everything bagel seasoning.  Here's what that looked like:

Along the way I bought several clamshells of strawberries on closeout at the stand up the street.  Some went into a strawberry/turkey/almond/cheese/spinach salad topped with a jam dressing (jam, soy sauce, red wine vinegar, whole grain mustard and olive oil) and some went into strawberry daquiris.  Those were thanks to Connie's efforts!

Finally, we were out of leftovers to use up.  Connie wanted pesto.  So, I pulled out my friend Monica's trusty recipe.  Still the best one I've ever had!  Would we do old faithful linguine with pesto?  Or something else?  Shrimp sounded good.  Off to this blog.  I found pesto risotto.  We've made that and loved it.  And, then there was the pesto BLT.  YUM.  Except my heart was set on shrimp.  Ok, on to eatyourbooks.com.  More pesto risotto.  And, all kinds of pasta with pesto and shrimp.  And, then, Kevin Lynch of Closet Cooking to the rescue.  Shrimp pesto quesadillas.  He'd made pesto shrimp and had leftovers and turned it into quesadillas.  I was starting from scratch so used his recipe as inspiration and on I went!

The shrimp were cooked in a bit of olive oil, white wine and garlic.  Monica's pesto was made.   A triple batch!  And, I got the quesadilla ingredients ready to go.  Here's the recipe:

Shrimp Pesto Quesadillas
serves two

Ingredients:
two tortillas
14 - 21-25 size shrimp, uncooked
1 T olive oil
1 T white wine
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 c pesto
1 T olive oil
1 c shredded Italian blend cheese (or mozzarella)

Directions:
Pour the olive oil in a large skillet.  Add the thawed shrimp and saute until one side is pink.  Add in the white wine and the garlic.  Flip the shrimp and cook until the 2nd side is pink.  Remove the shrimp to a bowl and rinse out the pan.  Remove the tails and coarsely chop the shrimp.  Add the other tablespoon of olive oil to the pan.  Lay the first tortilla in and fold it in half so it follows the contour of the pan.  Fold the other one in half and add it to the pan.  Turn the heat on to medium.  Open one tortilla and sprinkle half the cheese in.  Then, so the same to the other.  Next, add the shrimp.  Then, coat the sides of the tortillas that'll fold down on the shrimp and cheese with the pesto.  Once the first side of the tortillas is nice and brown take them out of the pan very carefully and flip them then slide them back into the pan.  I use a plate for this.  Once the second side is brown, plate the quesadillas and drizzle them with balsamic glaze. 

Here's how it looked:

Eggplant Happiness

Eggplant.  Hmmm.  I wanted nice crispy, crunchy fried eggplant.  I also wanted the warm, flavorful bowl of ratatouille.  Or, maybe I’d do some mushroom pesto with the fried eggplant.  We have oodles of basil so pesto was a great option.  On to eatyourbooks to no avail.  You know what comes next…  I made up a recipe.  Not quite sure what to call it because it had so many pieces and parts! 

Here’s what I did:  I peeled the eggplant and sliced it into four planks.  Then, I put a couple of eggs in a bowl and whisked them with a fork.  Into another bowl I put a big handful of panko and a big handful of coarsely grated asiago cheese.

Then, I picked a big handful of basil.  Half of it got julienned and half went into the bullet. 

A big handful of pine nuts went into a dry skillet to brown.

A big skillet went on the stove with a good glug of olive oil.  Into that went two portobello mushroom caps, half a big zucchini, half a big yellow squash, half a red onion, one of the end pieces of eggplant and about 10 cherry tomatoes.  Everything got diced about ¼” to ½”.  When it got too dry, I poured in some water.  The julienned basil went in too along with a handful of capers and a couple of cloves of garlic finely minced.

Half the pine nuts went into the bullet along with an equal measure of coarsely grated asiago, a small pour of olive oil and a tablespoon of melted butter.  That all became pesto. 

The eggplant planks got dunked in the egg wash then the panko/cheese mixture and plopped into a skillet with sizzling olive oil.  Those got sautéed until the exteriors were golden and crunchy and the interiors were creamy.  If you stick a fork into uncooked eggplant it’ll resist.  When it’s done it’s like putting a fork into custard.  No resistance.  Now, as I cooked the eggplant some of the panko/cheese mixture fell off and became a lovely crunchie.  I scarfed it up and had an ah-ha moment.  Pour the rest into the skillet!  I did and drizzled it with olive oil.  Those became lovely golden crunchies!

Time to put the dish together.  Eggplant plank on the plate.  Topped with the ratatouille.  Then, the rest of the toasted pine nuts, the crunchies, the pesto and finally some more coarsely shredded asiago.   (Can't get this one rightside up!)

We rated this a five out of five. It does use up pretty much every dish and skillet in the kitchen and isn’t a quick dish.  But, it’s SO worth it!

Pesto Risotto

Every once in a while a cooking contest will have the contestants schmoosh two recipes together.  Usually it's a pretty darned weird combination.  In our case, we combined risotto and pesto and got a pretty darned GOOD combination.  Good enough that I can say I liked this better than pesto and pasta.  Who'd have ever thought that????

Let's start with the pesto.  About 30 years ago a friend of mine named Monica gave me a pesto recipe.  I wrote it on the back of one of those pink phone message slips.  And, that's still what I use...  It's dog-eared as all get out.  But, it's still the best pesto recipe I've ever found.  Her secret is that you can do everything but add the butter and the parmesan and freeze the sauce.  We freeze a couple of pints of that every fall.  Then I thaw enough for each recipe and add the appropriate butter and cheese and we're good to go.  Just in case, I always keep a jar of Trader Joe's pesto in the pantry.  It's ok as a back up.  Here's the link to the post with the pesto recipe:  http://kateiscooking.blogspot.com/2010/08/eggplant-and-tomato-stacks-with-pesto.html

And, now, risotto.  Our clean up the kitchen for two.   Over the years I've posted several recipes for risotto.  But, it appears that I've never posted our basic recipe.  So, here goes:

Kate's Basic Risotto

Ingredients:

1 T olive oil
1/2 small onion, finely diced
1 c Arborio rice
1/4 c white wine (Chardonnay is usually best)
2-3 c chicken or turkey stock (keep warm in a saucepan)
1 T butter
1/2 - 1 c grated Parmesan

Directions:

In a medium saucepan, saute the onion in the olive oil until it's softened.  Pour in the rice.  Saute until it's a teeny, tiny bit brown.  Maybe I should say beige?  Although, Connie insists there are actually only eight colors and they can be found in the basic Crayola box!  So, once the rice gets a bit of a suntan, pour in the wine.  The rice will slurp it right up.  Ladle in about half a cup of stock and stir and stir and stir.  It's the stirring motion that causes the rice grains to release their starches and create the creaminess you want.  When the rice runs dry, ladle in another half cup.  And stir. And, so on until the rice is the right texture.  You don't want it al dente nor do you want it dry nor do you want it mushy.  It needs to have creaminess with texture.  If you've run out of stock and your risotto still isn't the right texture, toss in some water.  It won't hurt a thing.  Now, if you're planning on adding anything, this is the time to do it.  Whatever you add in should have been cooked in advance and should be nice and warm.  We put whatever in.  Mushrooms, peppers, shrimp, chicken, beef, zucchini, beets.  Like I said earlier, risotto is clean up the kitchen for two for us.  Ok, you've added in the extra and now it's time to plop in the knob of butter and the Parmesan.  Mix it all together and serve.  You can add more cheese on top as well as some fun crunchies.  We particularly love nuts.  But, French fried onions are equally good. 

Now, you've got the pesto made and the risotto made.  Mix in the pesto until you get a flavor you like.  For our pesto risotto, I browned some pine nuts.  They added the crunch and pizzazz I wanted.  We gave this one a five out of five!

As you'll note, there's a salad in the photos.  It's one of our favorites.  I had dribs and drabs of veggies to use up.  Celery, a small zucchini, a roma tomato, some radishes...  All of that tossed with some homemade blue cheese dressing and a sprinkle of dill and we were in business! 

Here's the link to the blue cheese dressing we love:  https://kateiscooking.blogspot.com/2013/11/blue-cheese-dressing-bjs-brewhouse-chef.html  I will say as time has gone on, I've upped the amount of dry mustard.  We love the tang it gives the dressing!

Deconstructed Pesto

Morels are finally in season.  In years past, we trudged out to the Mansfield Mushroom Festival.  Once to find they had virtually no morels.  Not fun when it's a couple hours drive from Indy.  Then we discovered a place close to home called Locally Grown Gardens.  They're very reliable about having morels.  We were in business! 

Early this week we thought it was about time AND we were going to be home for dinner - one of four evenings in April that we were scheduled to be home alone together for dinner.  Connie called Locally Grown Gardens and they were out.  BIG pout on my part!  But, they said they'd have more later.  We were scheduled to head to Civic Theatre on Friday for Fiddler on the Roof.  Typically we'd eat at Divvy or Matt the Millers or someplace on the way.  But with morels in the picture we decided to stay home.  Now, the fact that we'd not been to the grocery for two weeks and there wasn't much fresh in the house didn't dissuade us.  Not at all.  I figured something would present itself.  After all, when I finally got home from my Greenwood office at 7:30 on Thursday Connie managed to make a fabulous cheese and pickle plate to go with a bit of shrimp cocktail. 

On the way home from the office I thought about the options.  Mom's noodles with parsley and cheese came to mind.  That'd go just fine with morels.  Then, when I got home and realized the basil from Bradley's herb crepes was still fine two weeks later (who'd have thought that!) I changed plans a bit and decided to make deconstructed pesto.  There wasn't enough basil for real pesto and I didn't want to deal with the blender and the mess.  So, into the simmering water went two servings of whole wheat thin spaghetti.  Then, in a small skillet I put a tablespoon each of olive oil and butter.  About a quarter of a cup of pine nuts and a tablespoon of chopped garlic followed. 

I let the pine nuts and garlic get nice and brown then tossed the cooked and drained spaghetti with them.  Dry.  I added a tablespoon of butter.  Better but I'd still have preferred regular spaghetti.  Into the mix went about half a cup of finely grated parmesan and an equal amount of chopped basil. 

I tossed the whole deal and served it then added more grated cheese at the table.

What did we think?  Morels are just so sublime!  It would be impossible to top them.  But, the deconstructed pesto was very good.  Something that I'll make again once we have our own fresh basil.  And, yes, that will be soon.

Pesto Tomato Pizza and White Bean Dip

I have yet again another new cookbook.  And, I've not even finished reading the ones I bought a couple of weeks ago.  The new one is courtesy of Jolene Ketzenberger.  She's the owner and editor of EatDrinkIndy.com and used to be the food writer at our local paper.  In years gone by, she did a Christmas cookie contest.  Like most things fun, the Star has discontinued that.  Just another reason I prefer the New York Times these days!  At any rate, Jolene's hubby John persuaded her to put together a last minute cookie contest at a local Brewery.  It's called Bent Rail.  The noise in there was deafening.  But, the food was incredible.  We'll head that way for dinner and make sure we get there and are gone by the time the band starts!!!  Let me note here... I am NOT a baker.  Used to bake 4,000 cookies and deliver plates of them to all of my clients.  No more.  I really avoid baking.  But, because Jolene wanted to do the contest, I entered.  Whiskey shortbread cookies.  They were good but not fabulous.  Nothing I'll make again.  But, since everyone who entered got to choose a cookbook, I was a happy camper.  That and I got to talk with some other foodies.  Carolyn, this is directed at you - time to start your own blog!  Seriously Simple Holidays is the cookbook I chose.  Can't wait to dig into this one.  Just in time for the holidays too.  Chicken paillards with cranberry port sauce.  Doesn't that sound amazing?  I know there will be a dozen recipes that we'll love.

So, back to the other new cookbooks I bought.  I had to go to the Christmas Tree Shop for bows for the window boxes.  Stop.  I wanted to go.  Needs versus wants.  I'm constantly reminding my clients of the difference...  Bows on window boxes are a want.  So are new cookbooks.  Or, in my case an obsession.  One that Connie happily tolerates because he gets lots of fun food.  The first cookbook I read was Small Plates by Williams Sonoma.  They actually have a lot of very good cookbooks.  This is my 5th or 6th and I've enjoyed all of them.  In addition to a recipe for scallops over a salsa of avocado and mango that's on the menu for New Years Eve, I had my eye on a pesto, tomato and mozzarella pizza.  In the fall we always turn the last of the basil into pesto.  Then, before the cheese is added in, it's frozen.  So, I have about a dozen 1/2 cup containers of frozen almost pesto.  Makes us think of summer when we eat it.  I wanted a meal that was quick, quick, quick.  We'd spent most of Sunday at the office.  Something about our admin being out thanks to her knee being replaced.  But, you've heard that story.  We're still doing double duty.  And, I had cookies to bake.  And, and, and.  Just not a lot of time to cook.  I'd had Connie buy a Boboli crust at the grocery so I was ready.  And, it was the perfect evening.  Nuke the pesto to thaw it.  Stir in some grated parmesan romano.  Schmear it on the crust.  Cut grape tomatoes in half and cover the pesto.  Thinly slice the fresh mozzarella and layer it over the top.  Bake at 450 for 15 minutes and we were good to go.

What did we think?  There almost weren't leftovers.  This was amazing.  My prep time was about 10 minutes.  Cooking time was 15.  And, we had a dinner that tasted much fancier than that.  Here's what the process looks like:

Our second recipe from the cookbook was equally successful.  White bean dip.  It's similar to ones we've made before but with bits of crunchy sage and prosciutto, it's just a step ahead of the generic white bean dip...

White Bean Dip

Ingredients:

2 T olive oil
1 oz prosciutto (I used two ounces,) finely diced
6 fresh sage leaves, finely minced
1 clove garlic, finely minced
1 15 1/2 oz can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1 shallot, finely minced
2 t lemon juice
salt and pepper

Directions:

Heat 1 t of the olive oil to shimmering in a small skillet.  Add the prosciutto, sage, shallot and garlic.  Saute until the prosciutto and sage are a bit crispy.  In a food processor, whir the beans with the other tablespoon of olive oil and the lemon juice.  Pour the beans into a small bowl and add the sautéed ingredients.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Serve with thinly sliced baguette, pita chips or crackers.

Adapted from Williams Sonoma Small Plates

As I type this it's Christmas Eve Eve.  Last weekend our oldest son David, his wife Kara and our grandkids, Bradley and Rosie came over to visit.  We started with Mary Poppins at Civic Theatre.  They totally hit it out of the park with that show.  I have to give kudos to a long-time friend of mine, Don Knebel, for what he's doing there.  After a long career as an attorney, he retired to spend time working with the Institute for Civic Literacy at IUPUI.  But, Civic came calling and he answered the call.  This show was so well done.  I've been singing Let's Go Fly a Kite all week!!!  Here's Rosie meeting Mary Poppins:

 

After Mary Poppins we headed home for ham, mac and cheese and an autumn salad with apples, sugared almonds and blue cheese.  Dessert was a decadent ice cream pie.  With bacon caramel sauce, Heath bars and honey roasted peanuts.  Makes my teeth ache just thinking about it.  But, it was fabulous!

 

Then, we opened presents.  The hit of the year was toolboxes.  We were a bit hesitant to get the kids their own tool boxes but I do believe Mama has a grand idea.  She's going to go to Lowe's and get some lumber and set it up in the garage so they can practice.  Here's Bradley showing his off and Grampy showing Rosie how everything works:

 

 

Tomatoes, Baked, Gazpacho, Pesto BLT's...

Me behind on things to do at the house?  To the best of my knowledge I've never gotten to the point of having three loads of scrunchies to wash.  There must've been eight full loads of wash.  When you're talking about two people that's a lot of clothes, folks.  My excuse?  Well, we're still dealing with the tsunami of paperwork in the office.  AND, we've been fringing and going to Indians baseball games and going to wine tastings and various sundry fun things. 

Fringing, you say?  Yup.  Indianapolis is lucky enough to have our own Fringe Festival.  It runs for eleven days in several venues on or near Mass Ave downtown.  The first evening we saw Phil Van Hest's new show, "What Biscuits."  When he first started doing Fringe, Phil lived in LA.  Then, he met a lovely lady named Noelle and moved to Indy.  This time his nine month old son, Gray, came to his show for his first time.  And, his last until he's old enough to not do the monkey hear, monkey say thing.  Just saying.  Phil does know a few four letter words, ya know.  And, they do show up in his show.  We ran into Phil on the Avenue later and he confirmed that Gray will not be attending in the near future.  After that we saw a show that's played to rave reviews at other Fringe Festivals - "Under the Lintel."  It was very good but a bit deep for us.  We prefer the straight comedy shows.  Along the way we saw five more shows.  Our favorite this year was Act of Foo.  Those guys were an amazing improv troupe.  We laughed until our sides hurt.  Our second favorite was a fellow we loved a couple of years ago.  Paul Strickland was back with a new show - Ain't True and Uncle False.  Again, we laughed until our sides hurt.  There we ran into my friend, Dave Andrichick who owns the Chatterbox Tavern.  Dave said he'd been to a dozen shows.  We had at least that many we wanted to see but just didn't have the time to spend.  At 50 minutes and $10 a person per show, it's bargain entertainment!  Finally, last night we went to a Fringe reprise at the Fringe Theatre.  A parody of Walt Disney shows and one about an auction called Going, Going, Gone.  Two more side-splitters!

We've been existing on tomatoes.  Tomatoes and cottage cheese.  Caprese salads

Baked stuffed tomatoes.  BLT's, plain and with pesto. 

Tomatoes sautéed with other veggies.  I am going to turn into a tomato.  We've got easily a dozen varieties in our garden.  Two different cherries.  One red and one gold.  Two yellow tomatoes.  Three kinds of romas.  Three different Brandywines.  And, three or four other heirlooms.  I totally forgot to take a photo of the finished dish of one of my favorites - gazpacho.

Baked Stuffed Tomatoes

Large tomatoes
Olive oil
Panko bread crumbs
Garlic, minced
Fresh herbs (I used rosemary, thyme, sage, parsley and basil)
Freshly grated romano cheese

Brown the panko and garlic in the olive oil. 

While they're browning, core the tomatoes and scoop out some of the interior. 

Chop the tomato interiors and add those plus the cheese and herbs to the panko. 

Gently stuff the tomatoes and bake or grill on a grill pan.

Gazpacho

Ingredients:

6 c tomato juice (I typically use V8 instead)
2 T olive oil
2-3 T lemon juice
1 c beef broth
1/2 c minced onion
4-5 tomatoes, finely minced
2 c finely minced celery
1/2 green pepper, finely minced
2 cucumbers, peeled, seeded and finely minced
1 t salt
1/4 t freshly ground pepper
1/4 t Tabasco

Directions:

Divide each of the veggies in half.  Put half of each in a food processor.  Process until liquefied.  Pour them into a bowl.  Add the V8 and beef broth and mix well.  Add the other ingredients.  Chill overnight before serving. 

adapted from Indianapolis Collects and Cooks



We've also got about two dozen basil plants.  So, I've been fixing a LOT of pesto (my friend Monica's is the BEST.)  Like the recipe I made up last night.  Pesto fish with pesto rice.  The pesto coating kept the fish really moist.  And, the bit of pesto in the rice really carried the flavor through.

Dinner from the Garden

Normally this time of year we have a bumper crop of everything from the garden.  Not so much this year.  A lot of Indiana is in an exceptional drought.  That's the worst type.  Until the last week or so rainshowers had pretty much hit all around us but very few had actually hit our home.  Our herbs have mostly gone to seed and the vegetables (with the exception of peppers and cucumbers) just haven't grown.  Finally, we went out to the garden and got enough for dinner!  Well, at least for the salad course!

I remember the year we had an absolute bumper crop of eggplant.  I made all kinds of new and fun dishes.  This year, we've had two eggplants from eight plants.  The first was almost decent sized.  The second as about the size of Connie's fist.

The Southwestern Grill by Michael McLaughlin had recently joined my collection of cookbooks.  There was an eggplant dip that I really wanted to try.  But, I couldn't find the cookbook.  All over the kitchen and family room I searched.  Not to be found.  Ah, ha moment.  I'd taken it to bed to read.  Yup.  It was sitting on the floor next to the bed.  Whew. 

What did we think?  This was incredibly easy to make.  And, we totally loved the flavor.  The recipe calls for using the dip with corn chips.  I can see it being used mixed in with mashed potatoes.  Or a good dollop on top of a lovely southwestern rubbed pork tenderloin. 

Now, for the second, little eggplant, I got creative on my own.  We had a couple of burrata that we needed to use up.  I'd never seen them in Indy and had found them at Trader Joe's.  One of my favorite eggplant salad combos is fried eggplant and tomatoes with shredded mozzarella.  What if I replaced the shredded mozzarella with the burrata and added some good homemade pesto?  Well, let me tell you, that worked.  I wish I had another eggplant in the garden and I'd be making that again NOW.

Grilled Eggplant Dip wtih Sweet and Smoky Flavors

Ingredients:

3 T pine nuts, toasted and set aside
2 - 1/1/2 lb eggplants, trimmed and cut into 1/2" slices (do not peel)
3 T olive oil (divided)
chopped oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes
3 T balsamic vinegar
3 T minced canned chipotle chilies en adobo
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 t salt
1/4 c fresh cilantro, chopped (optional) 

Directions:

Toss the eggplant with a couple of tablespoons of olive oil.  You can either grill the slices or roast them.    The eggplant should be very well done. 

Coarsely chop the eggplant and put it in the bowl of the food processor with all the othe ingredients other than the pine nuts and cilantro.  Pulse a few times making sure the mixture is still a bit coarse. Top with the pine nuts and cilantro.  (Obviously from the photos I skipped both.)  Serve at room temperature with corn chips.

adapted from Southwestern Grill


Eggplant and Burrata Salad

Ingredients:

One small eggplant, sliced into four slices
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 c panko
1/2 c finely grated gruyere, parmesan or romano
1 large tomato, sliced into 1/2" slices
2 buratta
1/4 c freshly made pesto

Directions:

Don't peel the eggplant.  Dip the slices into the egg then into a mixture of the panko and cheese.  Fry in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil until the eggplant is brown and crunchy.  Remove from the heat and put on two salad plates.  Nest the slices. 

Top with tomato slices.  Depending on the size of the tomato, you'll need either one or two per salad. 

Top the tomatoes with a burrata.  Drizzle pesto over.