Use your Leftover Bruchetta!

Bruchetta Turkey Burgers

About 1 cup of leftover bruchetta

1lb or so of ground turkey

1 egg, beaten

Grated parmesan cheese to taste

Beat an egg in a glass bowl.  Add leftover bruchetta, juice and all.  Mix well and then add ground meat and a healthy dose of parmesan.  Using your hands and fingers, mix thoroughly and make your patties.  Grill or broil.  Serve as you would serve any other burger.  Enjoy!

Background:

Tomato season takes center stage in our home each summer- we love ourselves some bruchetta!  My bruchetta recipe is simple: diced roma tomatoes, well snipped up fresh basil leaves, diced onions, good quality balsamic vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste.  Joaquin and I especially enjoy our bruchetta when we start by going out to our back yard to pick the tomatoes and basil- nothing like truly fresh bruchetta! 

Anyways, we often “eat with our eyes” and end up with leftover bruchetta.  Like I said, there is nothing quite like FRESH bruchetta, and day (or longer) old just doesn’t cut it for us.  It is a shame to let it go to waste though, so one day I thought to make hamburgers out of the leftovers.  Boy I am glad I did!  These burgers are super tasty and moist.  Even the most anti-turkey burger people admit these burgers are yummy J

Additional Notes:

Any ground meat is good to use in this recipe.  I use chicken and turkey most often because I try to really limit our red meat intake…

Did you notice the “fries” in the picture?  They are oven fries made from batatas!  Maybe that can be a blog post for another day…

Summer's Truly Heavenly Sip!

Jazzy’s Summer Sangria
(the red one)

2 bottles of CHEAP red wine (Merlot or Zinfandel are best)
4 small oranges (juice of two, slice the other two)
2 small lemons, sliced thinly
1 small lime, sliced thinly
1 medium red apple (I like Gala), chopped
Triple Sec (or Grand Marnier)
Brandy
Powdered sugar

Pour one bottle of wine into a large pitcher. Add juice of 2 oranges, and rest of the fruit. Add 2-4 shots of brandy, 3-6 shots of triple sec, and ½ cup of powdered sugar. Add second bottle of red wine. Stir and taste. Remembering that after the Sangria has sat for a few hours it’s flavors will intensify, think about how strong an alcohol flavor you like, and how sweet you want it. Add more triple sec, brandy, and powdered sugar accordingly. It should taste yummy for immediate enjoyment, but not so strong or sweet, that enjoyment later is made impossible by too much liquor or sugar…

No worries, practice makes perfect!


Background:
I have enjoyed Sangria in one form or another since I was a little girl. I seriously can’t remember my first glass, I was that young! I’ve been making my own sangria since I was in my early teens. Family members always liked it sweeter that I did, so I usually used a pink wine such as white zinfandel or blush. I NEVER used a soda of ANY kind. That would just be unthinkable to this Italian/Latina mutt! Now that I’m a “grown up” I am even more snooty about my sangria, ha ha! In fact, if I make it for company, I always make two. My red wine sangria and a white wine version. My white wine sangria is quite popular, I’ll share it with you some day… but the red is what I enjoy most- and I find that those who love red wine as much as I do (or more), prefer my red sangria to any other that has any kind of carbonated anything in it.
I am not sure what is truly Spanish or not, as lots of research has been totally inconclusive, but for me- I just can’t ruin my wine with orange soda, club soda, ginger ale, etc…



Additional Notes:
I use cheap red wines for my sangria.  The thought of marring yummy more expensive ones with other ingredients hurts me!  My current favorite cheap reds to use are "Three Wishes" Merlot that I buy at Whole Foods for less than $4, or a certified Organic cheap red called "Green Fin" from Trader Joe's that is also less than $4 a bottle.

Did you know that MOST wines are organic?  YES!  they trully are!  Growing grapes for wine is an art form as well as a science.  Wineries, viticulturists, and winemakers know that the best wines come from the best grapes.  Turns out, the best grapes are grown using the most ancient of methods: "organic" ones!  Surprise, that shouldn’t be!

¡FELIZ CUMPLEAÑOS JOAQUÍN!

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Cake

(adapted from my Mom Sherwood's bread recipe)

3 cups flour

3 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 cups sugar

¼ teaspoon baking powder

1 tablespoon cinnamon

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup oil

2 cups grated zucchini

I 10oz bag of chocolate chips

butter to grease the cake pan(s)

Preheat oven to 325º.

Whisk dry ingredients in a large glass bowl using a wire whisk. Add wet ingredients to a mixing bowl and mix/blend on medium-high until a smooth creamy consistency is reached. Add grated zucchini and mix on medium until well incorporated. Add half of the dry mixture and mix on medium until well incorporated and then do the same with the rest of the dry ingredients. Turn mixer off after mixture has mixed for 3-5 minutes and looks creamy and thick. Remove mixing bowl and, using a spatula, add the chocolate chips and mix them into the cake batter.

Pour batter into greased cake pan(s) (I use 2 spring-form pans) and bake at 325º for 1 hour.

Orange Zest Frosting

(adapted from a book my sister-in-law gave me)

¼ cup (2 oz.) neufchatel cheese

2 ¼ cups powdered sugar

finely grated rind of one orange juice

1 Tablespoon or more of freshly squeezed orange juice

Using your mixer or hand beater, beat neufchatel cheese and orange zest until smooth and airy. Juice zested orange into a small bowl and set aside. Add ¼ cup powdered sugar and 1 tablespoon of your freshly made orange juice. Mix slowly until well incorporated and slowly add the rest of the powdered sugar, adding more juice as needed.

Background:

My son turned six this week! Growing up, we all had signature birthday cakes.  Grandma Sherwood's is Wart Cake (yep the "t" is intentional), Uncle Dan's is Date Nut Chocolate Chip, I always wanted Banana Bread Cake with sliced bananas in between the layers and penutbutter frosting...  you get the idea!  Naturally, now that I have my own little family, I've decided we all need signature birthday cakes too!  My husband's is Ice Cream Cake, Bella's is Carrot Cake, you now know mine, and you can guess Joaquin's! Since his birthday falls right as zucchinis are usually dominating our veggie garden, a birthday cake that features zucchini just seemed right! Happily, we all seem to love this cake, and it was a few years before we even told Joaquin there was zucchini in his birthday cake.

This year, I had to buy zucchini since our new house has yet to sprout a veggie garden (Hint to the husband!). Baking this cake has really made me crave zucchinis and now I totally miss getting my and my childrens' hands dirty in the veggie patch...

Additional Notes:

To make cupcakes, halve the baking time.

The frosting is so yummy, that I often find myself doubling or tippling the recipe justifying it with the “need” to use up the freshly squeezed juice!

This is also the frosting I use for my daughter's birthday cake, it is just THAT good.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY VIDAL!

Malibu Rum Shrimp with curried peanut and rum sauce!

 Marinade:

1 lb. medium shrimp, raw, peeled, and devined

1/3 cup Malibu Rum (coconut flavor)
2 generous Tablespoons light brown sugar
2 Tablespoons lime juice
2 Tablespoons soy sauce
3 large cloves of garlic, minced
2 generous inches ginger root, peeled and grated with the juice

In a non-reactive shallow dish, grate the ginger and add the minced garlic, brown sugar, soy sauce and lime juice.  Using a fork, mix the ingredients until brown sugar is pretty well incorporated.  Add rum and mix about again.  Add raw shrimp to the dish and mix about covering all the shrimp with newly created marinade.  Let sit on counter for about 20 minutes, stir the shrimp about again and let sit another ten or so minutes before covering and placing in the fridge overnight.  In the morning, mix shrimp about one more time before recovering and letting it sit in the fridge until it’s time to grill them!

To grill: skewer the shrimp and grill over medium-high heat basting often with leftover marinade.  If grilling is not an option, place shrimp in a single layer on a cookie sheet and broil on high in the oven flipping and basting once.

Sauce:

1 cup of smooth peanut butter

1 can of coconut cream
4 Serrano chilies, stemmed and chopped (less for lower heat)
4 Tablespoons of soy sauce
Juice of 1 lime
4-6 Tablespoons Malibu Rum (coconut flavor)
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 teaspoons medium-hot curry powder

In a blender or food processor, combine all the ingredients and process until smooth.  Let stand at room temperature for 1 hour to develop flavors.  Turn processor or blender on to mix and taste.  Add rum and or soy sauce to adjust flavor, mix and then serve as a dipping sauce or drizzle over skewered shrimp on a bed of rice.

Background:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY LOVE!  So, yesterday (28 June) was Vidal’s birthday.  I like to cook a special meal just for him on his birthday.  This year, I chose to make one of his favorite meals that I usually reserve for a Lenten Friday.

Earlier this week, Joaquin and I made friends with the local ABC store clerk while there gathering Malibu Rum (and other fun liquids, why not?).  Turns out, he is a recent culinary school graduate, and his enthusiasm for food was contagious.  He wanted to know what I would do with the assortment of liquor in our shopping basket, which led us to talk about this recipe.  Since he asked me to share it with him, I thought it would serve well as my next blog post too!

I really hope you try and enjoy this meal, as its sweet/spicy summery flavors are just so festive, they are bound to start a party in your mouth and then home no matter the day or occasion!

Additional Notes:

I serve Malibu Rum and diet Cokes in an old fashioned glass over ice before, during and after this meal.

Leftover dipping sauce is super another day with chicken tenders, veggies, etc.

In my enthusiasm over the meal, I forgot to photograph it-  guess that means that I will need to make it again sooner rather than later!