Last weekend I got to experience my newish favorite summer activity: picking peaches in Michigan! A lot of peaches. And by a lot, I mean A FREAKING LOT -  something like 90 peaches! And those were just mine! My friend, Anna (known here as the Culinary School Dropout), also picked a bushel and half. It’s safe to conclude we may have gotten a little carried away, but we were having such a good time!

Two days later and I’m still up to my eyeballs in peaches despite handing them out left and right, and also trying to think of new ways to use them. I’d planned on canning most of the peaches, but it’s just so hot out that I’m still talking myself into it. However, this Peach Salad with Champagne Mint Dressing is perfect for these hot days – I even brought it to an outdoor concert last night where it was enjoyed in by all. The salad is cool and refreshing, especially with the mint and Champagne vinegar dressing and sweet-savory sauteed peaches.

Sadly, I also made the rookie mistake of not getting a good photo, so the sad shot of the salad in it’s plastic container will have to suffice. So 2008, oops.

Here’s the recipe for Peach Salad with Champagne Mint Dressing:

Peach Salad with Champagne Mint Dressing – serves 4

1 tablespoon vegetable oil, divided

1 shallot, diced

Salt

Pepper

1/2 tablespoon butter

3 medium peaches, peeled and sliced 1/4-inch thick

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground ginger

2 cups arugula

1/3 recipe candied walnuts (try this great recipe from Simply Recipes)

Champagne Mint dressing (see recipe below)

Heat 1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil in a saute pan over medium-high heat. Add the shallots and a pinch of salt and pepper. Cook until soft and lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Remove the shallots from the pan and set aside to cool.

Add the remaining 1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil and the butter to the saute pan; return to medium-high heat. Once the butter has melted, add the peaches, cinnamon and ginger and cook until soft but not mushy, about 3 to 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and cool to room temperature.

To serve, toss the cooled peaches and shallots with the arugula and candied walnuts. Drizzle with champagne mint dressing.

Champagne Mint Dressing

1/4 cup fresh mint leaves

1/4 cup vegetable oil

3 tablespoons Champagne vinegar

1 tablespoon honey

Pinch salt and pepper

Combine all ingredients in a blender and pulse until smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Note: the dressing will be thin.

Despite the recent heat wave, I’ve been craving nothing but mushroom soup. I can’t really explain why – maybe it’s a throwback to my French culinary training that I’ve somewhat abandoned in recent months, or it could just something I need to make every other summer, or it could even be a weird umami craving? Stranger things have happened – just sayin’!

I used a variety of mushrooms from River Valley Ranch for this delicious soup including oyster, shitake and crimini and – get this – a half stick of butter! For those of you still working in professional kitchens, please don’t laugh at me! I NEVER use that much fat in anything other than pastries these days. Although I do fondly remember dumping pounds of butter and quarts of cream in soups in the past. Those are happy memories…

Either way, the butter splurge was worth it in this soup, although I did restrain myself and not use any cream. The other highlight was the dry sherry added at the end for a little extra flavor along with a bit of fresh lemon juice. The soup was so delicious that the other half stick of butter and pint of cream weren’t missed at all!

Here’s the recipe:

Mushroom Sherry Soup – makes 6 servings

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided (1/2 stick)

2 shallots, diced

1 1/4 pounds mixed wild mushrooms

6 cups low-sodium chicken broth

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1/4 cup dry Sherry

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Heat 2 tablespoons butter in a large pot over low heat. Once melted, add the shallots and sweat for 10 minutes, stirring every minute.

Rinse the mushrooms and pat dry (yes, it’s okay to wash the mushrooms). Trim the hard part of the stem and discard; roughly chop the mushrooms.

Add the mushrooms once the shallots become soft and translucent. Increase the heat to medium-low and cook for 10 minutes. Add the chicken broth, dried thyme, salt and pepper and bring the liquid just to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer uncovered for 1 hour.

Cool slightly then puree the mixture in batches in a blender. Return the soup to the pot and bring to a simmer. Add the sherry and lemon juice and simmer for 5 minutes. Serve hot.

Not to be overly dramatic or anything, but today my life changed forever and it’s all thanks to a sauce. Or rather this specific oven-roasted tomato sauce, which is unspeakably good – so fresh, so vibrant, I’m convinced I will never be the same as no other tomato sauce could possibly live up to this one.

What makes it so good, you ask? I think it has to be the slow-roasted fresh tomatoes. Or maybe it’s the simplicity of the ingredients – there aren’t many (so unlike me, I know). Or maybe… I don’t know, just take my word that it’s damn good!

I made this version with striped Roma tomatoes I picked up at the farmers’ market, but regular Roma tomatoes would also be great.

I’ll admit I upped the ante a bit by making fresh pasta, but dried is fine, and is in fact what I’ll probably use next time. As much as I love fresh pasta and as simple as it is to make (see video), some nights I just don’t have the energy.

Try this recipe and let me know if it changes your life, too!

Oven-Roasted Tomato Sauce – makes 4 servings

1 1/2 pounds Roma tomatoes, cored and cut into 1/2-inch thick slices

1 teaspoon Kosher salt

1 teaspoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, divided

1/2 yellow onion, minced

4 garlic cloves, minced

3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

In a medium bowl combine the sliced tomatoes, salt, sugar, thyme and black pepper. Toss well and let sit at room temperature for 15 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat.

Toss the tomatoes with 1 teaspoon olive oil and arrange in a single layer on the prepared baking sheet. Reserve the liquid the tomatoes left behind in the bowl; set aside. Bake the tomatoes at 400°F for 20 minutes or until lightly roasted.

Heat the remaining 2 teaspoons olive oil in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the minced onions and cook stirring often until soft, about 7 minutes. Add the garlic and cook two minutes longer.

Add the roasted tomatoes and reserved liquid to the saucepan and simmer until the tomatoes break apart, stirring often. Stir in the basil.

Using a stick blender if you have one, gently blend the sauce to break apart larger pieces of tomato while still leaving the sauce with texture. If you don’t have a stick blender, cool the sauce a slightly then pour into a food processor or blender and pulse lightly. Return the sauce to the pan.

Return the sauce to a simmer and cook until it thickens slightly, about 2 to 3 minutes. Adjust seasoning to taste and add fresh lemon juice. Serve over hot pasta.

Zucchini was one of the first vegetables I learned to like as an adult and also one of the first I learned how to cook. For some reason, I never ate zucchini as a kid but became a little obsessed with it just out of college when the only way I knew how to prepare it was on the George. Since then I’ve experimented with a lot of different ways to cook it: stuffed, cut into ribbons or matchsticks, and mixed in with pasta, which I made last week.

This fresh summer pasta was delicious topped with lots of basil, and the addition of white beans made it especially filling and perfect for a quick and light dinner!

Here’s the recipe for Zucchini White Bean Pasta:

Zucchini White Bean Pasta – serves 2

4 oz dried penne pasta

1/2 tablespoon olive oil

1 zucchini, thinly sliced and cubed

4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped

1 can white beans, rinsed and drained

1/3 cup chopped basil

Salt and Pepper

Parmesan Cheese

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil Add the penne pasta and cook following package directions.

Saute the zucchini while the penne pasta is cooking. Heat a cast iron skillet or saute pan over medium-high heat. Add the olive oil. Once hot, add the zucchini and cook until browned on both sides, about 5 minutes total, flipping once or twice. Add the garlic cloves after 3 minutes.

Stir in the rinsed white beans and chopped basil and cook until the beans are heated through. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Once the pasta is cooked, drain it and reserve 1 to 2 tablespoons cooking water. Mix the pasta with the zucchini and add a bit of the cooking water to combine. Divide the pasta between two plates and sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese.

I’ve been having a great time this summer visiting the nearby farmers’ market on Saturdays, taking in the fresh smells and vibrant colors of the most amazing fruits and vegetables. I swear, I bought blackberries last weekend that were the size of my thumb! Unbelievable!

The only problem has been that I’ve been hoarding these amazing vegetables with no time to actually do anything with them! That all changed tonight with a delicious clean-out-the-fridge summer succotash. I took all the vegetables that were on the verge of, I’ll say it nicely, becoming compost and sauteed them with butter, olive oil and thyme, then served the whole mixture over quinoa for a perfectly fresh and light summer dinner!

I used onions, garlic, green beans, mushrooms, corn and little heirloom tomatoes, but you can use whatever you have on hand. Although, according to the ever-reliable Google search, a succotash is made of corn and some sort of bean (usually lima), so I’m pretty sure this counts. Even if it doesn’t – I don’t care because it just tastes SO good!

Here’s the recipe for Summer Succotash:

Summer Succotash – makes 2 large servings or 4 side dishes

1/2 cup dried quinoa

1/2 tablespoon olive oil

1 sweet onion, diced

2 garlic cloves, diced

1 cup fresh green beans, ends trimmed, chopped into 1/4-inch pieces

1/2 cup diced mushrooms

1 ear corn, kernels removed from cob

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/2 tablespoon butter

1/2 cup cherry or small heirloom tomatoes, halved or quartered

Cook the quinoa according to package directions and set aside.

To make the succotash, heat the olive oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until soft and lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and saute 1 minute, then stir in the green beans. Cook, stirring often, 5 minutes, then stir in the mushrooms. Cook 5 minutes longer, then stir in the corn kernels, thyme, salt and pepper.

Cook an additional 5 minutes or until the vegetables are soft and slightly caramelized. Add the butter and stir until melted and combined. Remove the pan from the heat and fold in the chopped tomatoes. Serve over cooked quinoa.

From the lack of updates it probably looks like I haven’t been cooking much. While I have been cooking, although less frequently than I wish, it’s really just been not having the time to post.

Today, I finally got around to uploading my photos and discovered a bunch of shots from an amazing meal I made a few weeks back: fresh pasta with farmers’ market peas and spring onions. I know I jotted down the recipe on the back of an envelope or something that has since disappeared (shocking!), but the truth is that for something this fresh and delicious you don’t really need a recipe.

In fact, I’m not even sure what the highlight of the dish is: the fresh homemade pasta or the glorious peas and onions straight from local farms. But the best part of this weeknight meal is that it came together in less than hour!

I started with the homemade pasta by whipping up the dough and letting it rest at room temperature for about 30 minutes. I then rolled it into thin pieces using a pasta machine, but cut it by hand into wider pieces, which was a lot of fun.

While waiting for the pasta dough to rest, I prepped the other ingredients and began making the sauce: sauteed the chopped spring onions in equal parts butter and olive oil (be generous – this is the base of the pasta sauce!) until soft and caramelized, added minced garlic and cooked until fragrant, then removed the pan from the heat and stirred in about a cup of fresh shelled peas.

Next I cooked the pasta in batches of salted, boiling water and strained the noodles directly into the saute pan with the vegetables. Fresh pasta cooks really quickly – just two minutes. Finally, I stirred in ricotta cheese, fresh mint and basil, lemon juice, and salt and pepper to taste. Save a bit of the pasta cooking water to thin out the consistency of the sauce if necessary.

And that’s it! Fresh, simple and incredibly delicious – quite possibly the best thing I’ve had all summer that didn’t contain chocolate!

Chocolate cake with chocolate frosting is my favorite dessert. If you’ve ever spent any real time with me, I can guarantee you’ve heard me whine about needing chocolate cake, and needing it now! It truly is my favorite and when I’m craving it nothing else will suffice. That is until recently when I discovered Red Velvet Cake.

While not a traditional chocolate cake – especially given that it’s best with cream cheese frosting (gasp!) – this moist, delicious cake contains cocoa powder, giving it that hint of chocolatelyness that I need but in a much more quizzical way.

If you’ve never made it before you must try this recipe adapted from Paula Deen, which is one of the easiest from-scratch cupcake recipes out there. It takes just minutes to whip up the batter and get the cupcake tins in the oven!

Here’s the recipe for Red Velvet Cupcakes:

Red Velvet Cupcakes – adapted from Paula Deen, makes two dozen cupcakes

Cupcakes

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

1 1/4 cups vegetable oil

1 1/4 cups buttermilk, at room temperature

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1 tablespoon red liquid food coloring

1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350°F and fill 24 muffin tins with paper or foil cupcake liners.

Sift or whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and cocoa powder in a bowl. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the vegetable oil, buttermilk, eggs, food coloring, vinegar and vanilla until well-combined. Add one-third of the dry ingredients and beat until just combined. Repeat two more times until all the ingredients are combined.

Fill each cupcake tin 2/3 of the way full and bake 22 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean.

Cool the cupcakes to room temperature then top with Cream Cheese Frosting and fresh raspberries.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1/2 pound cream cheese, at room temperature

1 stick (1/4 pound) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups sifted powdered sugar

Fresh raspberries, rinsed and drained

Combine the cream cheese, butter and vanilla in a large bowl or the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat until smooth, about 2 minutes.

Slowly add the powdered sugar. Once it has been incorporated, increase the mixer speed to high and beat until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.

Frost the cupcakes and top each with a fresh raspberry.

Despite my carb-centric tendencies, every so often I can handle a bread or grain-free meal, especially if it’s something as fresh and crisp as these Mango Jicama Lettuce Wraps.

The filling is simple – ground turkey, chicken or even those strange soy crumble things (more on those later) mixed with aromatics and Asian flavors. But it’s the mango jicama slaw that really makes the dish pop. The sweet, cool, crunchy flavors are offset by the warm, savory protein filling, and all of it is wrapped in fresh, crisp butter lettuce leaves.

Now, about the filling. For a while I’ve been curious about those frozen soy crumbles and decided this was a good opportunity to give them a try. While not offensive in flavor or texture, next time I’ll definitely stick to lean ground turkey or chicken which, to me at least, tastes much more natural.

Here’s the recipe for Mango Jicama Lettuce Wraps:

Mango Jicama Lettuce Wraps – serves 4

Mango Jicama Slaw

1 small jicama (about the size of a baseball), peeled and diced

1 mango, peeled and diced

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon sesame oil

1/2 teaspoon rice vinegar

1/2 teaspoon lime zest

Juice of 1 lime

Filling

1 teaspoon vegetable oil

1/2 shallot, chopped

2 garlic cloves, chopped

1 teaspoon fresh grated ginger

1 pound lean ground turkey or 2 cups soy crumbles

1/2 teaspoon sesame oil

1 teaspoon soy sauce

1 teaspoon rice vinegar

1 head butter lettuce

2 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro

1 lime, quartered

To make the mango jicama slaw, combine the diced jicama and mango in a medium bowl. In a small bowl, mix together the sugar, sesame oil, rice vinegar, lime zest and lime juice. Pour the liquid over the fruit and mix well. Cover and refrigerate at least 30 minutes up to overnight.

To make the filling, set a saute pan over medium heat. Add the oil and, once hot, add the shallot. Cook stirring continuously until the shallot becomes soft, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and ginger and cook for 1 minute or until fragrant. Stir in the ground turkey or soy crumbles and cook, stirring often, until the meat is thoroughly cooked (cook the crumbles until heated through). Add the sesame oil, soy sauce and rice vinegar and cook two minutes longer.

Separate the leaves of the butter lettuce and rinse well; pat dry. Be careful not to tear the leaves.

To serve, spoon 1/2 cup filling into each lettuce leaf and top with 2 tablespoons mango jicama slaw. Garnish with a sprinkle of fresh chopped cilantro and serve with a lime wedge.

One of my favorite quick-and-easy egg dishes – and in fact one of the few I like – is a balsamic fried egg. Usually I make it with mushrooms because I often have them around, but sometimes I like to change it up a bit, such as this delicious incarnation of asparagus, garlic and cherry tomatoes.

The concept is the same: saute the vegetables, fry the egg, combine everything in the pan and add a dash of good quality aged balsamic vinegar. Two minutes later and a healthy dinner (or breakfast) is served!

Balsamic Egg with Asparagus & Tomatoes

Olive oil

2 stalks asparagus, cut into 1/4-inch pieces

2 cloves garlic, minced

3 cherry tomatoes, thinly sliced

1 egg

pinch salt

pinch pepper

1 tablespoon 18-year aged balsamic vinegar

Coat a nonstick saute pan with a thin layer of olive oil and place it over medium-high heat. Add the asparagus and cook until tender, about 10 minutes, stirring often. Stir in the garlic and saute for 1 minute, then stir in the tomatoes and cook about 3 minutes longer. Remove all the vegetables from the pan and set aside.

Spray the pan with nonstick spray or coat with oil and return it to the burner over medium heat. Crack the egg into the pan being careful not to break the yolk. Cook the egg on one side until the bottom layer of egg white has set, about 2 minutes. Carefully flip the egg over (again, being sure not to break the yolk) and cook for an additional 1 to 2 minutes for a runny yolk.

Return the vegetables to the pan with the egg and season with a pinch of salt and pepper. Pour the balsamic vinegar into the pan and cook for 1 minute until the vegetables are heated through and the vinegar reduces to a syrup-like consistency for over-easy. Serve hot and eat immediately.

It’s not often I eat pizza. While of course I like it, the fact that most are loaded with cheese is enough of a deterrent for my lactose sensitive self to order something different.

This is why making pizza is so fun! I tried a new pizza crust today, the winner of the pizza contest on Food 52. If you haven’t checked out Food 52, you absolutely must! It’s a really cool project where the public submits and votes on recipes for a cookbook that will be published later this year. (To toot my own horn a bit, I won one of the contests last summer!)

This recipe by TasteFood truly is a winner! It was easy to make and crisped up beautifully in the oven. I made half the recipe which was enough for two medium-smallish pizzas and cooked them at a higher temperature than the recipe stated. The only problem I had was getting the pizza onto the hot stone as I don’t own a pizza peel. It would’ve turned out prettier but at least the taste wasn’t affected.

While a peel would make life easier, a pizza stone really is essential to get a good, crisp crunch. Mine was inexpensive (from Target I think) and fairly small for easy storage, but it gets the job done.

And as for the unconventional toppings of chive cream cheese (in my case non-dairy cream cheese), smoked salmon, shallots, tomatoes and watercress? Absolutely divine and a new favorite that all must try! Trust me, you’ll thank for me for it someday!

Here’s the recipe for Smoked Salmon Pizza:

Smoked Salmon Pizza – makes two personal pizzas

Pizza Crust (halved from Food 52)

1 teaspoon dry yeast

1/4 cup lukewarm water

2 tablespoons semolina flour

1 3/4 cup AP flour, divided

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 ounces cold water

2 tablespoons olive oil

Pizza Toppings

1/2 teaspoon olive oil

3 tablespoons cream cheese

1 tablespoon minced chives

1/2 cup smoked salmon, cut into small pieces

6 cherry tomatoes, thinly sliced

1 shallot, thinly sliced

2 garlic cloves, minced

Sea salt

1/4 cup watercress, rough stems removed

To make the pizza crust, stir in the yeast and lukewarm water together in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the semolina flour and 2 tablespoons of the AP flour. Mix well and let stand for 30 minutes in a warm spot.

Add the remaining 1 1/2 cup flour, salt, cold water and olive oil to the yeast mixture. Mix well using the dough hook attachment and knead at medium speed 8 minutes until the dough becomes very smooth and elastic. Pour a thin layer of oil in a medium bowl and add the dough; lightly coat all sides in oil and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Let the dough sit in a warm spot until doubled in size, about 2 hours, then punch down and let rise again 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 500°F with the pizza stone on the center rack.

Divide the dough in half. Sprinkle a work surface with semolina flour and use your fingers to shape the dough into thin disks. Brush a thin layer of olive oil over the crusts.

To make the “sauce,” combine the cream cheese and chives in a small bowl and mix well. Spread evenly over the pizza crusts, then top evenly with the smoked salmon, cherry tomato slices, shallots, garlic and sea salt.

Transfer the pizza to the hot stone and bake at 500°F for 8 minutes or until the crust is lightly puffed and golden around the edges. Note: depending on the size of your pizza stone, you may have to bake them one at a time.**

Remove the pizza from the oven and top with watercress. Slice and serve warm.

**If you only want to make one pizza, wrap the remaining dough in plastic and refrigerate. Allow to return to room temperature before using.