Kofte

Serve with pita, spicy olive oil, roasted tomatoes and homemade chips.

Ingredients

Ground beef

Flat-leaf parsley

Salt

Pepper

Grated red onion

Garlic

Instructions

This is pretty simple. Mix ingredients in a bowl. Season as if you are preparing hamburgers, and then add a couple tablespoons of parsley, red onion, and maybe a tablespoon of chopped garlic.

Lightly shape meat around a skewer until it forms what looks like a hot dog. Don't press meat too hard or it will get tough. Now just grill over high heat until done to your likeness.

Crisp Rosemary Flatbread

Easy. Really bad for you. Delicious. We saw this on the Blue Ridge Baker.

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cup unbleached white flour

2 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup water

1/3 cup olive oil

coarse sea salt

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees fahrenheit and place baking stone on middle rack.

Combine flour, rosemary, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Incorporate the water and olive oil. When the dough comes together, knead it 4 or 5 times. Divide dough into 3 equal pieces and roll them out one at a time. Roll out no more than 1/8". Place a piece of parchment on top of each round and gently lift up the parchment with the round attached. Fold the parchment back on itself with the dough. This step is necessary because the dough will be too thin to move to the parchment with your hands. Lightly brush top of each round with additional olive oil and sprinkle with coarse salt. Slip the dough with the parchment onto the baking sheet in the oven and bake for 10-12 minutes, until lightly golden brown.

Pesto

We eat this classic Ligurian sauce with linguine at least once a month. There really isn't a "recipe" for pesto, just a few basic ingredients. Because of this, the quality and proportions of the ingredients are the limiting factors. Use the freshest basil, olive oil, and cheese possible, and experiment with different amounts of each ingredient as you build the sauce. Each batch will be different than the last, and this variability is what makes pesto special.



Ingredients
2 1/4 cups tightly packed basil leaves, washed and dried thoroughly
2 cloves garlic
about 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
sea salt
freshly cracked black pepper
about 1/4 cup pine nuts
parmiggiano-reggiano (or grana padano) cheese
linguine (or any type of pasta), fresh if possible

Instructions
Toast the pine nuts over medium heat until golden brown. Be careful as they near the end of cooking, as they tend to burn quickly. Crush with a mortar and pestle, or with the back of a knife, and set aside.

Puree the basil, 1/4 cup of olive oil, and garlic in a food processor. Add more olive oil, salt, and pepper in small increments, tasting after each addition, until the sauce tastes good to you. Remember to make it a little stronger than you think is necessary, because it will be somewhat diluted when you add the pasta. Also, be careful not to add too much oil. If you do, the sauce doesn't absorb into the sauce quite as well. Pour into a deep bowl and mix in the nuts. Some recipes recommend blending the nuts with the sauce, but we prefer to add them later to preserve their texture.

Boil your pasta until al dente. Move about a tablespoon of the cooking water to the bowl of pesto before you drain the pasta. After well drained, add the pasta to the pesto and top with an extremely generous portion of grated parmiggiano-reggiano cheese and mix until pasta is coated.

The easiest way to improve your pesto is to use high-quality olive oil. In fact, a good (and usually expensive) bottle of olive oil is always good to have around to supplement a less expensive bottle used for cooking. We started using Palestinian oil and haven't looked back.

If you are really serious about pesto, you can use a mortar and pestle instead of a food processor. Crushing each leaf by hand breaks down the fibers and tends to make a more flavorful sauce. But be warned, you might be too tired to eat by the time you are done.

How to Boil Corn

By popular demand, I am actually going to post a recipe for boiled corn on the site. What started out as an inside joke, has lead to quite a number of searches for the actual recipe. Who am I to argue? Behold, the one recipe everyone has been waiting for!

Ingredients
Corn on the cob
Butter
Salt

Instructions
Fill large stock pot 3/4 full of cold water. Cover and put on stove until boiling. Meanwhile, clean off corn, rinse, and get it ready to cook. Once water is boiling, add the corn and partially cover with lid. Boil for exactly 7 minutes, remove from water, add butter or salt if you want and eat it hot.

The important thing to remember is - do not add salt to the boiling water!

Enjoy! Learn more about how to cook corn.

Our buy this book for more than 170 corn recipes:

Spicy Breakfast Potatoes - Oven Roasted Potatoes

Just made these spicy breakfast potatoes for brunch yesterday, and they were a big hit. You could eat them for any meal really.

Ingredients
2 yukon gold potatoes
olive oil
black pepper
chili powder
garlic powder
Pam cooking spray
Flat leaf parsley
Salt

Instructions
Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. Spray baking sheet with Pam.

Wash the potatoes and cut them into cubes. Soak cubed potatoes in a bowl of cold water for 5 minutes. Drain and sprinkle with pepper, chili powder, and garlic powder. Spread out potatoes on baking sheet & spray with Pam. Put them in the oven for 10 minutes, flip potatoes or shuffle them around on the pan, and cook for 10 more minutes until crispy on the outside, soft on the inside. Chop up some parsely & sprinkle cooked potatoes with a drizzle of olive oil, salt, and parsely.

We don't have a picture because they were eaten too quickly!

Other recipes you may like:
blueberry pancake recipe
potato and leek soup

Sunday Sauce

We usually make this tomato sauce on Sunday nights. Simple and delicious.

Ingredients
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
4-5 cloves garlic, smashed with the side of a knife

1 (or more) pinch crushed red pepper flakes
3-4 tablespoons italian parsley

~24 oz. can pureed tomatoes

1 or two handfuls of picholine olives, or use any olives you like.

linguine

Directions
Heat the olive oil in a medium sized pan over low heat. Place the smashed garlic cloves in the pan before the oil is hot and let them turn golden. This should take 5-7 minutes. Be sure to flip them every so often so that they do not burn. Remove the garlic. I throw it away at this point because the oil is nicely scented. Stir the parsley into the oil and cook briefly, about 30 seconds. Add the tomato puree, pepper flakes, and the olives. Cook for about 20-30 minutes on low with the lid off. The olives season the sauce, so don't add any extra salt. Mix a little less than a pound of linguine into the sauce and serve with fresh parsley on top. This makes excellent leftovers for Monday.

Toasted Pound Cake with Broiled Brown Sugar Strawberries

Thank you Oprah.

Ingredients
1 pint strawberries, hulled and quartered
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
Dash of vanilla
4 thick slices pound cake

Directions
In a glass baking dish, mix strawberries with brown sugar and vanilla; let sit 30 minutes. Toast pound cake slices in a toaster, or in a 400° oven on a sheet pan 10 to 12 minutes, or until edges are golden.

Preheat broiler to high. Place strawberries (in baking dish) about 5 inches from heat source. Broil until just bubbling, 3 to 5 minutes. Remove and divide berries among pound cake slices. Serve warm.

Tortilla Soup

This is the best version we have made. Use fresh corn.

Ingredients
2 ears corn
4-5 garlic cloves
1 onion, quartered
1 jalapeno
2 T oil
1 chicken breast
2 corn tortillas, quartered
2 tomatoes, coarsely chopped
2 T tomato paste
1.5 t cumin
64 oz chicken stock
tortilla chips
shredded cheddar cheese
avocado
cilantro
lime

Instructions
Extract the kernels from the corn. Coarsely chop the chili, onion, corn, and garlic in a food processor. Heat the oil in a large pot over medium-high heat and sear the chicken. Add tortilla squares and cook over low heat. Stir in vegetables and coat with the oil, but don't brown them. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, and cumin and simmer for 10 minutes. Add chicken stock and simmer on low until reduced by 1/3. This might take at least an hour. Remove chicken breast, shred, and set aside. Puree soup in food processor. Garnish each bowl with the shredded chicken, cheese, avocado slices, cilantro, tortilla chips, and a lime wedge.

Potato and Leek Soup with Brie Croutons

Kind of like drinking a bowl of mashed potatoes... in a good way.



Ingredients
1 pound leeks, white and part of green part, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 large onion, peeled and chopped
4 cups chicken stock or broth
2 pounds Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cubed
4 T dill or parsley, finely chopped
1 loaf sourdough bread, sliced
brie cheese

Instructions
Place leeks, onions and broth in a large pot. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer 25 minutes.

Add the potatoes and raise heat to return to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 more minutes, or until potatoes are tender.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400°F for the croutons. Top 4 slices of bread with a piece of brie and place on a cookie sheet. Set aside until oven has finished preheating and soup is nearly done cooking. When there is about 10 minutes left on the soup timer, put the bread in the oven and toast until cheese is golden. Put one crouton in the bottom of everyone's bowl.

Once the soup has finished cooking, laddle it in small batches into a blender and puree until smooth. Season with salt & pepper. Pour soup into individual bowls over the croutons. Serve hot.

Shrimp Scampi with Linguini

Repeatedly declared "the best thing we've ever made." The most difficult part of preparing this one is deveining the shrimp. I'd recommend letting Tim do that.

Ingredients

1 pound linguini
4 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
2 shallots, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
Pinch (or two) red pepper flakes
1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup dry white wine
Juice of 1 lemon
1/4 cup finely chopped parsley leaves

Directions
For the pasta, put a large pot of water on the stove to boil. When it has come to the boil, add a couple of tablespoons of salt and the linguini. Stir to make sure the pasta separates; cover. When the water returns to a boil, cook for about 6 to 8 minutes or until the pasta is not quite done. Drain the pasta.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet, melt 2 tablespoons butter in 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium-high heat. Saute the shallots, garlic, and red pepper flakes (if using) until the shallots are translucent, about 3 to 4 minutes. Season the shrimp with salt and pepper; add them to the pan and cook until they have turned pink, about 2 to 3 minutes. Remove the shrimp from the pan; set aside and keep warm. Add wine and lemon juice and bring to a boil. Add 2 tablespoons butter and 2 tablespoons oil. When the butter has melted, return the shrimp to the pan along with the parsley and cooked pasta. Stir well and season with salt and pepper. Drizzle over a bit more olive oil and serve immediately.