grilled blue cheese with honey and walnut pesto

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have i told you that i'm, like, *kind of* a pescatarian these days?? not 100%. maybe 90%. (i'll always eat the brisket that you cook for me.) but this summer, with all of our happy vegetables and eggs, a new ful-fueled fascination with beans, and after my trip to cheese school and a first-ever branzino cooking experience, i have been having so much fun diving deep into meals that don't have a big hunk of meat at the center. i like putting the focus on vegetables, nuts, and other things that won't make me look outside and see our macaroni and feel mommy guilt. it's a great challenge and i feel like i'm eating more vegetables for it. maybe it's just in my head. i also like not feeling obsessive about cleaning all of the cooties off of every surface of my body and kitchen when i cook meat, and between the garden and our eggs i can get away with going to the grocery store way less now. 

(side note: we have two chicken breasts in our refrigerator because i'm a dirty hypocrite but i'm having trouble figuring out what to add to next week's ful burritos that will make them better than just burritos filled with mushy beans. do you have any suggestions??) 

so! i don't know where i'm going with this, i think i just wanted to tell you since friends update friends on those kinds of things. not--i repeat not!!!--that i want you to change your menu for when you have me over for dinner next. but when you come to my house we'll probably have lentils. or if we're grilling, how about a fancy grilled cheese!  

let's discuss grilled cheese! i like grilled cheeses where the inside of the bread is first toasted. it allows the cheese to get a little jump start melting, and then there is more textural excitement all up in the middle with nary a soggy bite in sight. a few months ago at cheese school, we tasted various cheese pairings and the one that blew my mind the most was honey with castello's double creme blue cheese. it was like salty/sweet but on steroids because of blue's awesome funkiness and this particular blue's uber creaminess. i knew right then and there that this combination would make one luxurious grilled cheese. so i came right home and did just that. i paired it with a second blue cheese, a quick little walnut pesto too for some oomph and bulkiness, and boom! it's the grown-up grilled cheese of my/your/our dreamz. oh and it needs wine because that's the rule about eating a grown-up version of a kid thing, so this is getting paired with the bright and rich napa cellars' zinfandel. yum. the grilled cheeses pictured here are miniature, fit for a party, but if you're making a meal out of it, go the magnum route. 

grilled blue cheese with honey and walnut pesto

makes 4 mini or 2 large grilled cheeses

ingredients

walnut pesto:

1/2 c toasted walnuts

1/4 c olive oil

1 clove garlic

a squeeze of lemon

crushed red pepper

kosher salt and black pepper

grilled cheese:

8 mini slices bread (pictured) or 4 slices sandwich bread

2 ounces castello double creme blue cheese

2 ounces castello traditional danish blue cheese

honey 

clues

to make the pesto, blend all ingredients in a food processor and season to taste. be careful not to add too much salt since the blue cheese is salty!

to make the grilled cheeses, toast one side of each of your slices of bread, flip them over, and then top half of them with a layer of walnut pesto, both types of blue cheese, and a drizzle of honey. top with remaining slices of bread and grill until the cheese is melty. 

serve with a pickle and zinfandel and enjoy!

-yeh!

thank you, castello and trinchero family estates, for sponsoring this post!

humshuka

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wheat harvest is underway! yee haw. eggboy has been spending his days plucking wheat from the stalk and i’ve been spending my days using it all. well not the exact wheat that he picks on that day but just wheat in general. cause baking is fun. so in other words it’s business as usual for me, but a little bit more business since eggboy’s days are longer and when he works longer i work longer because normally i just work until he comes in for supper. and he’s been coming in for supper at like 9! look at us, staying up late like teenagers. 

i have been taking some time to get out of the house by going to the gym though and watching the olympics from the treadmill. go simone! go aly! go equestrian people who wear the most elaborate fancy downton abbey-era costumes and can make their horsies trot in such mesmerizing/majestic/superhorsey ways! and if they had an olympic event for best farmer's tan, eggboy would win right now fyi. i think one year i’d like to go to the olympics and go hospitality house hopping. i’d probably go to a winter olympics though because of the ice skating. 

today i’m posting a recipe for this great awesome tasty thing that my friend inbal introduced me to in tel aviv last week, hummus with shakshuka on top. humshuka! i saw it a little while ago on green kitchen stories but only ate it for the first time in tlv and it was so mind blowing. the hummus came together with the tomato sauce to become like a creamy hearty tomato soup, and of course a runny yolk never hurts in that situation. i feel like this would be the *perfect* sunday brunch so, yay, happy weekend and here are your brunch plans!  

humshuka

makes 3-4 bowls

1 c dried chickpeas

1⁄2 tsp baking soda

1 tb lemon juice

1⁄2 c tahini

3⁄4 tsp kosher salt, plus more to taste 2 cloves garlic (optional)

1⁄4 c cold water

1 batch shakshuka (recipe follows)

chopped fresh parsley, for serving

freshly baked pita, for serving

onion wedges, for serving

 

 

in a medium bowl, cover the chickpeas with enough water to reach 2 inches above the height of the chickpeas and soak them for 12 hours. 

drain and rinse the chickpeas and place them in a large saucepan with the baking soda. cover them with 1 to 2 inches water and bring the water to a boil over high heat. reduce the heat to low, cover the pot, and simmer until the chickpeas are very soft, about 2 hours. drain them and let cool slightly, then transfer to a food processor. 

add the lemon juice, tahini, salt, and the garlic (if using) and blend until very smooth, about 1 minute. with the motor running, drizzle in the water and continue to blend for 2 to 3 more minutes. taste and season with additional salt if needed. 

spoon into bowls, creating a large well in the center. top with shakshuka and fresh parsley and serve with pita and onion wedges.

shakshuka

serves 3-4

3 tb olive oil, plus more for drizzling 

1 medium yellow onion, chopped 

kosher salt

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 tb ground cumin 

1 tsp harissa, or more to taste (different brands vary in spiciness) 

1⁄4 tsp smoked paprika

black pepper 

crushed red pepper

1 tb tomato paste 

1 can or carton (28 ounces) chopped tomatoes 

1 tsp sugar

3-4 eggs

in a large skillet, heat the 3 tablespoons of oil over medium heat. add the onion and a pinch of salt and cook, stirring, until soft and translucent, 5 to 7 minutes. add the garlic, cumin, harissa, smoked paprika, a good pinch of salt, a few turns of black pepper, and a pinch of red chili flakes and cook until fragrant, 2 minutes. stir in the tomato paste, then the chopped tomatoes and sugar and bring to a simmer.

create 3-4 little wells and crack in your eggs. either baste the eggs by spooning the hot tomato sauce over them, or just let them be in a sunny-side-up situation. when the whites are cooked but the yolks are still runny, remove from the heat. Sprinkle the eggs with a little salt and black pepper.

-yeh!

scallion pull-apart bread

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for the first time since last summer when my mom accidentally spilled coffee all over the cable box attached to the small tv in our kitchen, we have a small working tv in our kitchen. so now, as if the phone and the internet weren't enough of a distraction to make me almost chop all of my fingers off every time i slice a vegetable, i now have olympic rugby and rowing doing that too. which is a good problem to have because the olympics are so great, duh. my favorite parts so far have been the 41-year-old gymnast, the swimming relay with michael phelps, men's volleyball, and the cycling race because it was the same commentators as the tour de france and it made me nostalgic for three weeks ago. my least favorite part was when i got so pumped up for the new zealand women's rugby team to do the haka but then they didn't! does anyone know why? i live 4 the haka. 

when i get sick of the olympics i turn on bojack horseman, my new favorite show. it's so weird and funny. i tried watching stranger things but spent the entire first episode with my hands over my eyes like the scaredy cat that i am and at the end i was still too scared to even walk to the other end of the house by myself without fearing that eleven would appear and suck me up into whatever alien layer she came from. great soundtrack though, no?

anyway. now that my book has gone to print i can really shamelessly cook anything i want from any cookbook i want. before it went to print, there was *always* the option of retesting a recipe from it, but now i don't even have that! so i've been busting through all of ottolenghi's books and all of the great books that just came out or are about to come out and one of my new favorite books is kristin donnelly's modern potluck. there are so many things i want to make in it. i made three recipes from it the weekend it arrived, including some crispy harissa chickpeas, a ribollita that had this addictive preserved lemon pepper relish swirled about, and these here scallion pull-apart rolls, which were a recipe that i contributed because the book is itself a little bit of a potluck, with a few recipes from different contributors. i was soo happy that she asked me to contribute and i felt like these scallion rolls would be a fun, festive, transportable addition to any potluck lineup. they are kind of like big fat scallion pancakes! 

and also big hat tip to julia turshen and gentl + hyers for the inspiration for these photos with the raspberry jam buns in small victories (that is another great book that you should get this fall!).

scallion pull-apart bread

from kristin donnelly's modern potluck

ingredients

for the dough:

2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast (1 envelope)

1 tb sugar

3/4 c warm water

3 c all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting

2 tsp kosher salt

1/2 c vegetable or canola oil, plus more for the bowl

for the filling:

roasted sesame oil, for brushing (about 1/4 c)

8 scallions, finely chopped (about 1 c)

kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

red pepper flakes

1 large egg, lightly beaten with 1 tb water, for brushing

toasted sesame seeds, for topping

clues

make the dough: in a glass measuring cup, combine the yeast, sugar, and warm water. let stand until it foams at the top, about 5 minutes.

meanwhile, combine the flour and salt in a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. stir in the yeast mixture and the oil and mix to combine. knead for 7 to 10 minutes, until smooth and springy. transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl, cover with a damp towel or plastic wrap, and let rise until doubled in size, about 2 hours.

make the filling: brush an 8-inch round cake pan with a thin layer of sesame oil. 

on a lightly floured work surface, roll the dough out into a long rectangle that's about 24 inches by 9 inches. brush the dough with a thin layer of sesame oil, and sprinkle with the scallions, a pinch of salt, a few grinds of pepper, and a pinch or two of red pepper flakes. roll the long side of the dough up like a jelly roll and brush the outside with more sesame oil. cut the roll into 1 1/2- to 2-inch pieces and arrange the pieces cut side up in the cake pan. cover and let it rise for 30 more minutes.

preheat the oven to 375ºf.

brush the dough with the egg wash and sprinkle with sesame seeds and a bit more salt. bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the top begins to brown. let cool briefly and serve.

and! in the spirit of a potluck, you can leave a comment here to enter to win some great lidded transportable dishes from pyrex! to enter to win a Pyrex® Simply Store® 4 Cup Flowers Storage Dish W/ Turquoise Lid and Storage Plus® 4 Cup Turquoise Lane Storage Dish w/ Turquoise Lid, tell me about your favorite potluck dish and be sure to leave your email in the comment form! giveaway open to u.s. residents. a winner will be chosen at random next week.

-yeh!

preserved lemon pappardelle with fried pine nuts, feta, and mint

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molly on the range goes to print today. hallelujah! all of my fears about typos and clarity were at an all time high this week. i started to second guess some things that i thought were funny when i first wrote them and wondered if they weren't funny at all. at first i thought, well, nothing is funny after you've read it 5,000 times. but then i realized that pitch perfect 2 is still funny after watching it 5,000 times. so that's what kept me up at night this week. i started drafting answers to questions that i'm afraid people will ask when the book comes out, in case they don't understand things. i'm probably being silly, or maybe i'm just paranoid because i'm extraordinarily sleep deprived. but in general i am very excited to be one step closer to have all of my favorite recipes in a physical object that i can splatter paint with soy sauce, give as gifts, and just pet like a small animal.

the one other thing that kept me up at night this week was tel aviv nightlife. i cashed in all of my frequent flier miles for a little college reunion with brian and rob, my bridesmen, and we did some of the best most shameless dancing we've ever done. (it was probably more like stylized jumping than dancing, but whatever.) what i like about the dancing in tel aviv is that you don't have to get dressed up or wait on a long dumb line, there's just an abundance of chill bars with chill humans that aren't overcrowded and which happen to have great djs in one section where you can dance like tomorrow is the end of the world if you want. (fave spots: sputnik, radio, and kuli ama.) it was such a great time! but now i'm so happy to be home, right in time for wheat harvest! and also our garden is like whazzup! 

in the summer i love fresh pasta with just fresh herbs, olive oil, and lemon. leave the heavy sauce for sweater weather, these days i'm all about things from the garden tossed about and served next to a sausage or vegetable from the grill. my little macaroni eggs (well, now they are big macaroni, as you can see!) make this pasta so beautiful and yellow, and i'm using the fresh pasta recipe from my friend emiko's stunning new book, florentine (i'm giving away a copy of it over here, btw). the pasta is surprisingly easy to make and totally luxurious, but if you're short on time or just can't be bothered to get out your pasta maker, the combination of flavors here is still worth ripping apart your mint plant for. it's a combination i cannot get enough of these days: feta, mint, olive oil, nuts, spicy stuff, and either a fresh squeeze of lemon or chopped preserved lemon (which lends a funkier pickle-y flavor that i love, just make sure to rinse them otherwise this will be too salty). it's sort of like a deconstructed pesto situation that's just gotten back from summer vacation in morocco. i'm using preserved lemons from trader joe's, but you can also make your own. and california olive ranch's rich and robust olive oil is my go-to for this since its oomph factor can really hang well with the strong personalities of feta and lemon. 

this is a pasta i would gain 300 pounds for, fyi. 

preserved lemon pappardelle with fried pine nuts, feta, and mint

serves 4

ingredients

kosher salt

1 lb pappardelle (store bought or use emiko’s recipe, below)

1/3 c california olive ranch rich and robust olive oil

4 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 c raw pine nuts

4 slices preserved lemon, rinsed and finely chopped

1 c lightly packed fresh mint, chopped

Black pepper

1 c crumbled feta

Crushed red pepper

clues

bring a large pot of water to a boil, salt it ferociously, and cook the pasta according to the manufacturer’s directions. 

While the pasta is cooking, heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat until a drop of water sizzles when flicked across the surface. Add the garlic and pine nuts and cook, stirring, until they’re lightly browned, about 2 minutes. Add the preserved lemon and half the mint and cook, stirring, for another 1-2 minutes. Add the cooked pasta to the pan, reduce the heat to low, and toss the pasta to coat it evenly in the mixture. Give it like 20 turns of black pepper. Top it with the remaining fresh mint, the feta, and a few pinches of crushed red pepper. Serve immediately and enjoy. 

emiko's pappardelle

from emiko davies' book florentine

serves 4

ingredients

200g plain flour

200g semolina, plus extra for dusting

4 eggs

clues

Sift the flour and semolina onto a flat work surface and create a well in the middle with your hands. Crack the eggs into the well. Gently beat the eggs with a fork in a circular motion until they become creamy. Begin incorporating the flour and semolina little by little until it becomes too difficult to use the fork and then gather the dough with your hands. Knead for about 10 minutes or until it becomes elastic. Let the dough rest, covered so it does not dry out, for at least 30 minutes.

Divide the dough into two or three portions. With a pasta rolling machine or a rolling pin on a floured surface, roll out the dough until about 1 mm thick or until you can see your fingers through the other side. If rolling by hand, roll from the centre outwards.

The noodles should be cut to about 2–2.5 cm wide. Fold the dough lengthways over itself three or four times (dust with semolina between each fold so they do not stick) and then cut across the short side of the folded pasta. Use a sharp knife for a straight edge or a fluted pastry wheel cutter for a ruffled effect (good for catching sauce). Unroll the pasta, shaking it out, dust generously with semolina and shape into little ‘nests’ of equal portions – 100 g is equal to one serving. Cover under a dish towel or plastic wrap until ready to use.

Cook the pasta in boiling, salted water for about 3-5 minutes, or until silky and cooked al dente.

-yeh!

thank you, california olive ranch, for sponsoring this post!