Grilled Panzanella

Spring has officially arrived.  Easter has passed, and the busy season has arrived for the gardeners and farmers.  I hopefully will be able to count myself amoung those who produce their own food.  Today I spent most of the day preparing my soil and planting my small, quaint garden.  I placed it right outside my window to be able to view it and not forget to water the tiny plants I nestled in the ground.  I have tried to plant everything that a wonderful ratatouille requires.  This summer I am determined to make ratatouille while watching the movie Ratatouille.  (I think I have gotten the spelling down now.)  If you have not watched it, I beg you to view the darling film while eating a fabulous meal.  If you are not eating the fabulous meal, you will want to by the end of the film.

I seem to always be in the mood to grill on my last day off.  The reason is my need to soak up as much sunlight as possible before becoming a Cullen and sleeping during daylight hours. The weather is breezy and light, and I want to soak it all up as much as possible.  As I planted my garden, my hummingbirds were buzzing around, trying to scare me away from the area.  Their presence, which I dearly missed, made my garden planting ten times more enjoyable and myself more hopefully that this summer will welcome a bounty harvest.

When I grill which has not been many times, I find that I enjoy making a Grilled panzanella salad.  I watched Ina make the recipe on her grilling episodes, and it looked fabulous!  When I went about to make it, I was so disappointed that my bell peppers were not in their best state!  So I slightly modified the recipe a bit to include everything I did have, and those that I did not.  The definition of a panzanella salad is a bread salad with sometimes “leftovers”.  The bread, which is grilled, soaks up all of the lovely dressing and acts as little sponges bursting in your mouth with flavor.  I added a bit of goat cheese to mine in the beginning, and while the hot grilled vegetables were added, the goat cheese melted into the dressing making the whole thing rich and creamy.  My hubby of course stated I could have added more goat cheese, but this is a usual complaint of his about my cooking.  “It needs more cheese!”  I used potatoes, mushrooms, onions, and zucchini to grill, and added tomatoes and capers in with the dressing.  This salad will definitely be a staple for our summer months due to the easiness of it as well as the flexibility of the contents.  Hope you enjoy.

Grilled Panzanella
Adapted from Ina Garten

Good Olive oil
1 teaspoon minced garlic
½ teaspoon Dijon Mustard
2 tablespoons champagne vinegar
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
½ cucumber, cut into ½ inch thick slices (I did not use this)
1 large ripe tomato, cut into 1 inch cubes
10 large basil leaves
3 tablespoons capers, drained
Things to Grill:
1 onion, yellow or red, sliced into ¼ inch rounds
1 red bell pepper, seeded and cut into 3 large pieces
1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and cut into 3 large pieces
½ small loaf of Italian bread (I used Asiago bread) cut into 1-inch slices
(I also used
1 small red potato cut into ½ inch slices
1 zucchini, cut into four pieces
2 ounces goat cheese)

Prepare the charcoal grill with hot coals.

In a small bowl whisk together the garlic, mustard, vinegar, and ½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper, and ¼ cup olive oil.  Set aside.

Place the cucumber (if using), tomato, basil, goat cheese (if using), and capers in a large bowl and sprinkle with salt and pepper and toss together.  Set aside.

When the grill is ready, brush 1 side of vegetables to grill with olive oil.  Place them olive oil side down, and the grill and cook for 4 minutes.  Brush the other side with olive oil, turn them over and continue cooling an additional 4 minutes.  The onions and potatoes will probably need a couple more minutes.  Remove the vegetables from the grill onto a cutting board.  Slice the vegetables ½ inch think cubes, and separate the onion rings.  Add them to the bowl with the tomato mixture and toss.

Brush the bread slices on both sides with olive oil and toast them on the grill until golden, about 2 minutes.  Place them on to a cutting board, and slice into 1 inch cubes.  Add them to the mixture.  Pour the reserved vinaigrette over the salad and toss together.  Serve warm.

Serves 6-8 people.

Read Full Post »

The Segars Pound Cake

Dear Friends,

Several weeks have past since I have written something to you.  I feel this is due to the lack of my lack of artistic ability and forgetfulness of my camera.  My cooking has not ceased, but my posts are few and far between.  I hope you will not be upset, but my posts will probably not be including as many pictures in the future.  Possibly I will be able to find someone who can photograph my creations, and all will be as it should.  But for now, the lack of photos will not prevent my discussion about food.  Hopefully this will not hinder you coming to the site and sharing your thoughts on food.

Right now I am drinking a fresh cup of Earl Grey and eating a Scottish scone with lemon and ginger.  The recipe is featured here and in A Homemade Life. If you have not read A Homemade Life, I urge you to take some time and sip a cup of tea with this in your hand.  The book is a lovely collection of recipes.

This past weekend, we visited Tony’s Georgia family.  We all gathered down in Orlando, Florida and entertaining ourselves at Universal Studios.  I had a wonderful time and enjoyed catching up with everyone.  As traditional at family reunions, food is an important component, and being myself, I wanted to contribute.  Tony suggested his mother’s pound cake.  He always raves and raves about this beautiful, dense, lovely cake that his mother makes on occasion when she visits.  And being a good wife, I looked up the recipe and whipped it up in no time.  The recipe was quite simple really; however, his mother posted a comparison of this cake to a woman, not always turn out and in very fickle.  This I thought was advise for other bakers.  I felt that I had done everything right; I even left the eggs and butter out at room temperature for two hours.  Something that is rarely done, I am sorry to say.  So I poured it into two loaf pans, having the logic that this was the same as a bundt pan.  Boy was I ever wrong.  The cake began pouring over the sides like a volcano.  Then when I attempted to place the pans under a rimmed cookie sheet (yes another baker concept I forget), the cake continued poured over the sides.  My house smelled like burnt cake. Tony has yelling at the cake, telling it to behave; I was trying desperately with a spatula I hate, to scrap the batter off the bottom of the oven as well as the coils.  Commotion was everywhere.  After we toke the cake out (it did come out clean of the pans, thankfully), we discovered that the cakes had inherited the burnt taste as well s a slightly over-cooked quality.  Friends, this is not an experience I am proud of my cooking; however, the cake was an edible topping for chocolate gelato and vanilla ice cream.

I decided not to take the cake to the reunion and just forget about the whole experience.  Then, after breakfast one morning with the whole family, Tony’s grandmother, Granmommy, offered her pound cake to the family.  All the men jumped up and grabbed a piece stating it was their ultimate favorite cake.  I glanced over to Tony, and he was devouring it.  The cake was fabulous; it was sweet and dense without being heavy.  And the vanilla was the best hint I have tasted.  While I finished my piece, I relayed my story of the cake to Granmommy, stating that my cake became a volcano.  She laughed and stated that her cake we were eating did not come out of the pan easily.  Then Tony’s grandfather, Grandaddy, piped up with his tragic story of pound cake.  The newest member of the family, Tony’s aunt, had baked the pound cake, brought it to another family gathering.  Afterwards Grandaddy went into the kitchen wanting a piece only to discover she had taken home the leftovers.  Needless to say Granddaddy will not let her forget that she toke away his cake.  I guess once pound cake enters a Segars household, the men will always have claim to the leftovers.  🙂

The Segars Pound Cake
Slightly Adapted from Kay Segars

3 cups sugar
1 cup Crisco
6 eggs, at room temperature
1 cup sour cream
3 cups Cake flour
¼ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and prepare a bundt cake pan.  Sift the flour and baking soda together.  Cream the sugar and Crisco together.  Add the sour cream and vanilla.  Then alternating, add the eggs and flour mixture.   Cook for 1 hour and 15 minutes.    Cool on a cooling rack in the pan for about 10 minutes, then invert the cake onto the cooking rack and cool completely.  Serve with ice cream, whipped cream, or any type of sauce.

Make 1 Bundt cake

Read Full Post »