Deviled Eggs

Deviled eggs may seem like a lot of work, and they can be, but only if you have to fight to get the shells off of the eggs once boiled. The rest is a snap and makes for a quick side dish to bring to a summer picnic or add some protein to a vegetable plate.

If you don't have a deviled-egg tray or carrier, just cut your eggs horizontally and use your egg carton as the carrier. For that reason, this recipe makes 12, but you'll want to multiply it if serving a group. No one can eat just one deviled egg!

6 eggs

1 T. baking soda

2 T. mayonnaise

1 t. yellow mustard

1 t. white vinegar

1 T. sweet pickle relish

1/4 t. salt

Hard boil your eggs using these tips will not only help ensure a perfectly-cooked yolk, but will also make them easy to peel. Otherwise you could end up with eggs that look like they were peeled by Edward Scissorhands.

• Place eggs in saucepan before adding water to reduce the chance of them cracking. 
• Fill cool or lukewarm water 2 inches above eggs and add baking soda to the water. The baking soda will help the shell separate from the membrane more easily.
• Bring water to a boil over high heat. As soon as water boils, place a lid on the pot and let sit off the heat for 13 minutes.
• Pour water off eggs and transfer eggs to a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process. it doesn't matter if the eggs get cracked at this point.
• Once eggs are cool, remove from water and begin cracking and peeling them at the wide end. This is most likely where the air pocket is, which will decrease your chances of marring the egg white.
• Use the fleshy part of your thumb (not your fingernail) to gently peel sections of the shell back from the cooked egg. Be careful when you get to the pointed end of the egg. It's easy to inadvertently remove the whole top of the egg when that's the last section you get to.
• After removing all the shell, rinse the egg under cool water to remove any remaining flecks of shell or membrane.

Slice eggs in half and gently pop the yolks out into a bowl, or use a small spoon or spatula if you prefer. 

Mix mayo, mustard, vinegar, relish and salt into egg yolks and stir until creamy. Taste and adjust if needed.

Spoon 1 T. of yolk filling back into egg whites. Keep refrigerated until ready to serve.

Guacamole

What goes better with margaritas than some guac and chips? If you've ever ordered guacamole at a restaurant that makes it at your table, you already know the basics. There are two reasons why they prepare it that way. First, avocados start to turn brown the longer they are exposed to air, so it really is best as fresh as possible. Also, by preparing it at the table, they can add whatever you like to it! Here's a basic recipe and some suggestions for how to spice it up.

I recommend 1 avocado for 2 people to have as a snack with chips or an accoutrement with dinner. So double this recipe as needed for your crowd, but don't make more than you think you'll need as it doesn't keep well.

1 ripe avocado (flesh gives a little when squeezed, but not firm or soft)

1 T. freshly-squeezed lime juice (1/2 a lime)

1 garlic clove, minced

1/2 t. coarse salt

Cut avocado in half and plunge the knife blade into the pit and twist to release the pit from the flesh. Scoop out the flesh into a bowl and add lime juice, garlic and salt.

Mash the avocado with a fork and mix all ingredients together. Taste and add more salt, garlic or lime juice as desired.

Add any of the following herbs and veggies for some extra spice and pazazz.

• Chopped fresh cilantro
• Chopped red onion
• Chopped jalapeño peppers
• Diced tomatoes
• Chopped chives

Mix these into the guacamole or just use them to garnish the top and let them get mixed in as people scoop with their chips.

Ranch Dressing

Buy the wings, but make the ranch! Homemade ranch dressing is easy to make and so much more flavorful than what you can buy in a plastic bottle. Use it as a salad dressing or dipping sauce and you'll be glad you took a few minutes to make it fresh. Make it lighter by using low-fat ingredients or yogurt instead of sour cream.

You can easily double this recipe and save some for other recipes in the coming days. Keeps well in the refrigerator for up to 10 days.

1/2 cup light sour cream or plain yogurt

1/4 cup low-fat buttermilk

1/4 cup mayonaise

1 T. minced garlic (about 2 cloves)

1 1/2 t. chopped fresh thyme leaves

1/2 t. salt

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients and refrigerate for at least one hour to allow the seasonings to diffuse into the dressing. If you want it to be a more pourable dressing, add some more buttermilk.

Zucchini Hummus

As you're thinking about what to bring to the traditional Super Bowl party, here's an option that will help you keep your new year's resolutions. Roasted zucchini replaces chickpeas and there's no oil or fat aside from the sesame seed oil in your tahini. Serve this dip with pretzels and it will remind you of pizza-flavored Combos. If you're feeding a crowd, go ahead and double the recipe.

1 large or 2 small zucchini

3-4 garlic cloves, quartered

1/4 cut tahini (sesame seed paste)

1 T. lemon juice

1 t. cumin

1 t. smoked paprika

1/2 t. coarse salt

Preheat oven to 425. Cut zucchini lengthwise and lay cut-side down on a parchment-lined baking sheet. If seeds are large, scrape them out. Roast for 15 minutes or until tender throughout. Remove from oven and let cool.

In a food processor, chop garlic. Add the rest of the ingredients, including cooled zucchini, and process for 1 minute, or until smooth. Serve with pretzels, pita chips, tortilla chips or raw vegetables.

This recipe also freezes well, so when I have a lot of zucchini in the summer, I'll make up a few batches of this and put it in the freezer for the winter.

Garbonzo Bean Patties

These vegetarian patties are good as an appetizer or as the protein with a salad. I serve them with a yogurt herb sauce that makes them even more savory.

Adapted from the Everyday Food blog's Chickpea Fritter recipe.

2 cups cooked garbonzo beans (aka chickpeas)

1/2 cup chopped scallions

1/3 cup chopped parsley

1 egg

1 tsp. hot sauce, like Sriracha (optional)

1/2 cup flour

1 tsp. salt

1/4 cup olive oil

I cook my own dried beans because I like to control the salt and seasonings in them. See my previous post on dried beans for instructions, or just use a 15.5 oz. can of garbonzo beans, rinsed and drained. If serving with the yogurt herb sauce, prepare that first and refrigerate while you make the patties.

In a food processor, combine garbonzo beans, scallions and parsley and pulse until combined, but still chunky. Add egg, hot sauce, flour and salt. Pulse a few more times, careful not to puree too finely.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat and drop scoops of the bean mixture into the pan, pressing down to make a patty. Cook for 3-5 minutes on each side (or until browned), flipping only once.

Transfer from pan to a paper towel to absorb excess grease. Serve with yogurt herb sauce.

Yogurt Herb Sauce

1/2 cup plain, non-fat Greek yogurt

3 T. mayonaise

3 T. buttermilk

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 1/2 t. fresh thyme, chopped

salt and pepper to taste

Combine yogurt, mayonaise and buttermilk. Add garlic, thyme and season with salt and pepper to taste. If you can, make this ahead of time to give the garlic and thyme time to fully season the cream sauce.

Dried beans

Dried beans are an essential staple in Southern Appalachian cooking. Some of my elder Tennessee relatives remember having soup beans for supper every day growing up. I felt silly asking them what soup beans were, since I figured the name tells you all you need to know, but I wanted details. Essentially they are dried beans that have been cooked in water until tender, with a little bacon grease or ham hock added for flavor. You serve them with their juices and eat it either as soup or served over cornbread with however much of the liquid you desire.

I've always loved beans, but never cooked dried beans, or even thought of them as a staple until now. With a little advance planning, any bean dish can be made with dried beans instead of canned, and the difference in taste is worth the extra effort.

Buying dried beans
I recommend going to a grocery store that sells bulk foods by weight, not only because they usually have a better variety of dried beans than what you find pre-packaged on the shelves, but also because the beans are likely fresher. If you're used to cooking with canned beans, remember that dried beans enlarge when they cook. Depending on the kind of bean, it may double in size when cooked.

Cooking dried beans
If you have no time constraints, begin preparing your beans the night  before you want to serve them. Rinse your beans thoroughly under running water to remove any dirt or grit, and pick out any beans that look discolored or shriveled. Transfer beans to a bowl and cover in 2 inches of fresh water. Let beans soak in the refrigerator overnight until you're ready to cook them the next day. If time is of the essence, then you can expediate the soaking process by using hot water and letting them sit covered at room temperature for at least an hour.

Before cooking your beans, discard the liquid they soaked in. Add beans to the pot you want to cook them in, covering them with 1-2 inches of fresh cold water. Place them on the stove over medium heat. While beans are slowly coming to a simmer, add in any herbs or seasonings that you want to flavor your beans with. Do not add salt at this point. Put a lid on the pot and stir occasionally, maintaining a simmer, for 90 minutes or until beans are tender.

Soup bean flavoring suggestions
I add different seasonings to the beans depending on the type and what I'm using them for. If you want to just season the beans, add seasonings whole and tie them in a bundle to easily remove them when you're done cooking.

• Black beans: Oregano sprigs, garlic cloves, black peppercorns. Makes a great side dish if you use chopped fresh or dried oregnao flakes, minced garlic and ground black pepper. Serve with some of their liquid and a scoop each of salsa and sour cream.
• Chick peas/garbonzo beans: Bay leaves, garlic cloves, black peppercorns.
• Great Northern/Navy beans: Rosemary sprigs, garlic cloves, black peppercorns.
• Pinto beans: Bay leaves, ham hock or other scraps of pork. This is how to serve traditional soup beans, but usually if I have ham, I'd just make ham and bean soup.

Once the beans are tender, you can add salt and serve them as soup beans, use them in place of canned beans in any recipe, or store them in their liquid in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for up to a week.

One recipe that I think has been greatly improved by using dried beans rather than canned is hummus. The secret to a healthy, creamy hummus is including the bean liquid. I'd never dream of using the slimey goop that canned beans are packed in.

You can make hummus with any beans, not just chick peas, but let's start with the what's familiar.

Chick Pea Hummus
I think it's best to make hummus in advance and give the flavors at least a few hours to mingle for best results.
Ingredients
1 heaping cup of dried garbonzo beans
1 bay leaf
2 cloves of garlic
1/4 c. bean liquid
2 T. tahini
1 1/2 T. fresh lemon juice
1 T. olive oil
1/4 t. salt
Dash of black pepper

Instructions
Follow the above instructions for cooking dried beans, using a bay leaf in the cooking water. You should have 2 cups of cooked beans. Reserve cooking liquid. In a food processor, chop 2 cloves of garlic. Add remaining ingredients and puree until smooth. You may want to add fresh herbs or veggies to the food processor and make a flavored hummus, such as parsley, chives, carmelized onions, roasted red peppers, etc.

You can make just plain hummus and then dress it up when you serve it, like adding olives, crushed red pepper and olive oil. Pita or tortilla chips make great dippers, but it's great with carrot sticks, too. I also use it in a vegetarian wrap with lettuce, carrots,green onions, tomatoes and feta cheese.

Black Bean Hummus
Instead of salsa and guacamole at your next fiesta, try this spicy black bean hummus for an interesting change.

Ingredients
1 heaping cup of black beans
1-2 cloves of garlic
1 T. bean liquid
1 1/2 T. lemon juice
1 T. tahini
1 t. ground cumin
1/4 t. salt
1 small jalapeno, copped and seeded


Instructions
Follow the above instructions for cooking dried beans, using oregano sprigs in the cooking water. You should have 2 cups of cooked beans. Reserve 1 T. cooking liquid. In a food processor, chop 2 cloves of garlic. Add remaining ingredients and puree until smooth. If you like it spicier, you can leave the seeds in the chopped jalapeno, or top the hummus with a pinch of cayenne pepper.

Black bean salsa

When you have fresh ingredients, all you need is a little bit of salt to make them taste amazing. That is the secret to this salsa. When tomatoes, onions and peppers are in season, this salsa is a great way to make use of them. Grab some chips and a few friends, and you have a winning appetizer!

Ingredients
2 of the freshest tomatoes you can find, chopped (from either your own garden, the farmer's market, or your grocery store's "local" produce section) -- this is important because the tomatoes are the star here
1 jalapeno pepper, finely chopped
1/4 cup red or white onion, chopped
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
1 16 oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 teaspoon coarse ground salt
fresh chopped parsley or cilantro, if desired

Instructions
Combine all ingredients and season with salt and fresh herbs (if desired). Use a slotted spoon to transfer salsa to serving dish or storage container. Fresh tomatoes will create a lot of natural juices, which you want to strain out before serving. No need to make in advance because there's really no need for this salsa to marinate. But you can keep in the fridge for about a week, if you can keep from eating it for that long! Serve with tortilla chips.

Rosemary skewers

During a trip to the farmers market this weekend, one of the vendors threw in some dried rosemary sprigs with our purchase, and gave us a cooking tip for using them. Once you take the rosemary needles off, keep the woody stick and use it as a skewer. Brilliant!

A few tips: 

• You'll need sprigs that are at least 10 inches long. The best way to find a skewer-worthy sprig of rosemary is in a home garden where it has been allowed to grow into a bush. If you don't grow it yourself, seek out a neighbor who does. I'm sure they wouldn't mind sparing a few sprigs... I certainly don't!
• If you're using the skewers to grill over an open flame, be sure to use them within 5 days of being cut from the bush. If the sprigs dry out too much, there's a chance they could catch fire!
• The sprig gets thinner from the base to the tip. No need to whittle a point for your skewer. Just use the narrow tip to spear your food once all the needles are removed.
• For lighter food like shrimp, fish or vegetables, the sprig alone will give you a rosemary flavor. If cooking chicken, beef or pork, you may want to include some of the chopped rosemary needles in your marinade. It's a very strong herb, so a little goes a long way!
• If you don't use the needles for your marinade, keep them in a jar with the lid open for a few days until they dry out. Then store for future use (like roasted potatoes!)
• Substitute a rosemary skewer in any existing kabob recipe, using your usual meat, veggies and marinade. Or skewer meats that you're adding to another recipe, like I did with my shrimp tacos below.

I tested it out at the first opportunity on some shrimp tacos. I normally just marinate the shrimp and then sauté them. Instead, tonight I skewered the shrimp with my rosemary twig. Here's my recipe for rosemary skewered shrimp.

Ingredients

1/2 lb. shrimp
1 clove of garlic, minced
3 T. olive oil
1 T. freshly squeezed lime juice
coarse salt and ground pepper
2 medium-sized corn or flour tortillas
lettuce
avocado
salsa

Instructions

In a shallow dish, combine garlic, oil, lime juice and salt and pepper. Add shrimp and let sit for 10 minutes. Heat a stove-top grill pan to medium heat. Remove needles from two 10-inch rosemary sprigs and skewer 4-5 shrimp per sprig. Add shrimp to grill plate and pour in extra marinade. Cook about 1 minute per side. Remove shrimp from heat and from skewer. Add shrimp, avocado, salsa, lettuce, and any other toppings you desire to your tortilla.

Serves 2 with the addition of some chips, beans or rice on the side.

When life brings you lemons...

make Limoncello!

My husband and I went to Monte Carlo for our honeymoon, close enough to Italy that they serve the delicious lemon liquor Limoncello at the end of every meal. When my in-laws brought us a bag of lemons from California a few weeks ago, we decided to learn how to make this lemony libation.

All you need is a middle-of-the-road vodka like Pinnacle, a peeler to remove the rinds from your lemons and some simple syrup. Because you don't use the lemon juice in Limoncello,  you'll have about a cup of the versatile juice to use in sweet and savory dishes the rest of the week!

Essential Kitchen Gadgets

• Grater
• Strainer

Ingredients

• 5 lemons
• 2 cups of vodka
• 2 cups of sugar

Instructions

Wash lemons and peel the rind off of them in strips, being careful to not peel so deep that you get the white underside of the rind. (Squeeze the juice out of the lemons and set juice aside.) Combine peels with vodka in a sealed container and let sit at room temperature from 1 week to 1 month. Shake it occasionally.

Strain peels out of vodka and mix with simple syrup. Make simple syrup by heating sugar in 2 cups of water over medium heat until sugar is dissolved.

Bottle your limoncello and store it in the fridge or freezer. It also makes a great gift!

Now for that leftover lemon juice. It's hard to find lemon recipes that don't also include the zest of the rind. But here's a few good options to choose from. If you don't have the opportunity to use it right away, pour your lemon juice in ice cube trays, freeze and and store the lemon juice cubes in a freezer bag for later use.

A big batch of Lemonade


Hummus
Add one 15-oz. can of chick peas (drained and rinsed) and 1-2 cloves of crushed garlic to food processor and pulse until chopped. Add 1/4 c. water, 2 T. tahini, 1 1/2 T. fresh lemon juice, 1 T. olive oil and 1/4 t. salt, and dash of black pepper. Pulse until smooth. Add other fresh herbs or spices as desired. Serve with pita chips.


Mayonnaise
Add two large egg yolks, 1 t. dark mustard and 4 t. fresh lemon juice to food processor and pulse until well combined. While processor is running, slowly add 1 cup oil until mixture turns white and thick. Season with salt, pepper and other herbs and spices as desired. Store in an air-tight container for one week. (If raw egg yolks scare you, I've also heard you can poach the eggs in vinegar water before adding them to the mixture. Never tried it!)



Lemon Marinade for Fish
Combine equal parts lemon juice and olive oil. Add some minced garlic, salt, pepper and other herbs and seasonings as desired, and whisk together. Place fish filets in a shallow baking dish and pour marinade over top. Let sit for 5 to 10 minutes, then flip filets to marinate on the other side. Cover the baking dish with tin foil and bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes or until fish flakes with a fork. Garnish with fresh herbs. Best for white fish like tilapia, halibut, cod, etc.



Lemon Cheese Pie
Make your pie crust of choice in a 9-inch pie pan, bake and let cool. I like to use a graham cracker crust.  (Pulse 6 oz. of graham crackers in food processor. Add 2 T. sugar, 1/4 t. coarse salt, and 3 T. unsalted butter, melted. Press the mixture into the bottom and along the sides of pie plate. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes, or until lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack.)

For filling, combine 1 package of softened cream cheese, 1/2 c. sugar, 2 T. fresh lemon juice, and 2 eggs and beat on high with an electric mixture for 2 minutes. Spoon mixture into cooled pie shell and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Pie should be slightly firm, but not browned on top. Cool on a wire rack and then chill in the refrigerator for at least one hour. Before serving, whip together 1/2 c. heavy cream, 2 T. confectioners' sugar and 1/2 t. vanilla. Top entire pie with whipped cream.
It's perfectly delicious on it's own, but I sometimes serve it with fresh berries on the side if I have them.