dinner with Julie

Day 19: Goat Cheese Gratin with Roasted Peppers, Tomatoes and Chilies with a Big Salad and some Cracked Pepper & Olive Rye

I’m almost ashamed at how close Mike came to convincing me we should order Inglewood Pizza tonight – he knew I was an easy target, my defenses having been knocked down by the deep snow and PJs I had been in most of the afternoon since coming inside, making me feel all snug and far from Monday.  (Not quite far enough.)

I stopped him as he picked up the phone, in fact. I’m so glad I did – I had another recipe to test using my mishmash of peppers. Right now I can smell the tumble of oil-slicked peppers, tomatoes, chilies and garlic roasting in the oven. When they come out, I’ll blitz it in the food processor until it’s chunky with a few black olives, spread it over some crumbled goat cheese I put in a smallish baking dish, and broil it until it’s bubbly around the edges. It should be perfect scooped out with chunks of the pepper-olive rye we picked up this afternoon, still so warm it made the plastic bag soften and almost shrinkwrap the loaf when we stepped out into the cold.

Final report: we have a winner! This is the sort of thing that excites me so much, I just wanted to pick up the phone and tell someone about it. The photo truly doesn’t do it justice – it was dark and the battery was flashing, and I wasn’t in a position to abandon sizzling cheese in order to find the battery charger. Because roasting mellows the chile peppers, we put a spoonful into W’s whole wheat spaghetti, and he wolfed it down.

I suspect if you don’t  have any fresh chilies or are a fan of chipotle, this would be equally good with the red chilies omitted and one or two chipotles en adobo (the smoky tomato sauce they are generally packed in when canned) added to the peppers along with the olives. A few leaves of fresh basil or a twig of rosemary would probably be great thrown in too.

Goat Cheese Gratin with Roasted Peppers, Tomatoes and Chilies

1 red bell pepper
1 orange or yellow bell pepper
olive or canola oil
1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes, or 4 Roma tomatoes, halved
2-4 red chile peppers, seeded and chopped
3-4 cloves garlic, peeled
1/2 cup black olives, pitted
2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
salt, to taste
10 oz. soft goat cheese

Preheat oven to 450°F. Seed the peppers and cut them in half. Set them cut side down on a rimmed baking sheet that has been drizzled well with olive or canola oil. In a medium bowl, toss the tomatoes, chile peppers and garlic with another drizzle of oil, toss to coat and spread them out on the pan among the peppers. Roast for 30-45 minutes, until the skin on the peppers blisters and blackens.

Remove the vegetables from the oven and transfer the roasted bell peppers to a bowl; cover and let stand until cool enough to handle. Scrape the roasted tomatoes, chilies and garlic into the bowl of a food processor, along with any juices and the blacked bits on the pan. When the peppers are cool, peel off their skins and add them to the food processor, along with any juices that have accumulated at the bottom of the bowl. Add the olives, some basil or rosemary if you like, and the vinegar, and pulse until the mixture is well blended but still chunky. Taste and add salt, if it needs it – the olives are often salty enough

Crumble the goat cheese into a shallow baking dish, and spread the pepper mixture over top. Broil for 10 minutes, or until heated through and bubbly around the edges. Serve with fresh bread, pitas or crackers.

Serves 8 (depending on appetites).

January 19 2008 | appetizers and cheese and snacks and vegetarian | 6 Comments »

Day 18: Thai Green Curry with Tomatoes, Spinach and Shrimp

And finally, a new website! And it only took me a year or so. (Seriously. Remember my old domain actually ran through its lifetime and extinguished itself while waiting for me to set it up already?) So, yay me. I think I may have pulled something trying to pat myself on the back.

Mike’s playing a show up in Canmore tonight, and so seeing as a) it’s winter, and b) snowy, and c) he gets so nervous before a gig that he never eats, and if they do get a free food and booze tab, you can guess which category it’s spent on, I decided to feed him proper before sending him off this afternoon.

Now, you’d think by the ripe old age of somewhere between 30 and 40, I might have learned that when working with hot peppers, rubber gloves are a good idea. I’m pretty sure I mentioned that fact in the article I just finished for City Palate. In fact, I deliberated including it or not, thinking the advice was just too obvious. And yet each and every time I work with fresh hot peppers, I think I’m somehow exempt from this rule; that if I work fast and wash my hands immediately, the capsaicin isn’t going to have time to seep into my dried-out skin to burn me all night long. (And then after spending all evening slathering tingly-cool peppermint foot lotion on my hands, I’m not going to be reminded again of my mistake when I take my contacts out.)

Thai Green Curry with Tomatoes, Spinach and Shrimp

2 fresh jalapeño or bird’s eye chiles, seeded and chopped
1 stalk lemongrass, the meaty parts chopped
a handful of fresh cilantro
3 cloves garlic, peeled and cut into chunks
2 Tbsp. lime juice
1 Tbsp. canola oil
1 Tbsp. grated fresh ginger, or about a 1” knob, cut into chunks
Canola, olive or sesame oil, for cooking
1/2 pint cherry or strawberry tomatoes, halved
1/2 can light or regular coconut milk
1 lb. large raw shrimp or prawns, peeled with the tails left on
1/2 bag of pre-washed baby spinach leaves, torn into pieces
salt, to taste
steamed rice, to serve over

Combine the jalapeño peppers, lemongrass, cilantro, garlic, lime juice, oil and ginger in a blender and pulse until you have a sort of paste.

Add a drizzle of oil to a large skillet and set it over medium-high heat. Add the tomatoes and cook for a few minutes, until they release some of their juices and start to brown and soften. Add about half of the green spice paste and cook for another minute. (The rest can be set on the table as a condiment, kept in the fridge or frozen for another meal.)

Pour in the coconut milk and bring to a simmer. Cook for a minute or two, to allow it to thicken a bit. Add the shrimp and spinach and cook for about 2 minutes, until the spinach wilts and the shrimp turn opaque. Remove the pan from the heat immediately, so that you don’t overcook the shrimp. Season with salt to taste and serve immediately over rice. Serves 4.

January 19 2008 | one dish and seafood and vegetarian | 5 Comments »