Peach and Orzo Salad with Mango Viniagrette

OVER THE PAST COUPLE OF WEEKS, I HAVE made several pasta salads. Loaded with fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, they seem to be perfect for a light supper on a hot summer evening. The combinations are endless with the varieties of pasta shapes available as well as the abundance of summer produce.

This was one of our favorites. Our Southern peaches from South Carolina and Georgia have been outstanding this year--perfectly juicy with intense peach flavor. This salad uses those flavorful peaches along with small mozzarella balls and toasted pecans as well as other vegetables. The mango dressing really ties everything together.

Peach and Orzo Salad with Mango Viniagrette
8 ounces orzo, cooked according to package directions, drained
2 large peaches, peeled and chopped
4 scallions, sliced
1 stalk celery, sliced
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
8 ounces small fresh mozzarella balls
1 cup pecan halves, toasted
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/4 cup mango chutney
1/2 cup olive oil
2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste

In a large serving bowl, combine cooled orzo, peaches, scallions, celery, bell pepper, cheese, pecans, and parsley.

Add mango chutney, olive oil, and red wine vinegar to a mason jar and shake vigorously to blend. Add salt and pepper to taste and shake again.

Pour the dressing over the salad and combine well. Taste and adjust seasonings, adding more salt, pepper, or vinegar if needed.

BLT Salad - as a meal

AUGUST MUST SURELY BE MY FAVORITE MONTH. Summer fruits and vegetables are at their peak of ripeness, abundance, and affordability. Brilliant pink crepe myrtle and golden black-eyed Susan on every corner cheer me. The scent of lavender fills the air.

Our back yard is alive with butterflies and hummingbirds. Not to mention all the other critters--birds, bunnies, squirrels, chipmunks, an occasional raccoon and snake, even a bear. I have seen foxes and deer around town, but so far not in our yard.

Suppers are casual and relaxed and we often dine by fireflies.

Our next door neighbor gave me a bowl full of cherry tomatoes which inspired a BLT salad. I roasted the tomatoes and also made croutons with some leftover chiabatta bread. I cooked the bacon until crisp, thinly sliced some red onion, chopped an avocado, and served it all atop a bed of freshly washed and dried, crisp lettuce, and topped it with homemade blue cheese dressing.

BLT Salad
Freshly washed and dried lettuce
Thinly sliced red onion
Crisp bacon
Diced avocado
Roasted cherry tomatoes
Croutons
Homemade blue cheese dressing (Recipe)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Place cherry tomatoes on a rimmed sheet pan. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Toss lightly and spread into a single layer. Roast for 15 - 20 minutes, until the tomatoes are soft.

Cube day old French bread or ciabatta into bite sized pieces. Place on a rimmed sheet pan and drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Toss lightly and spread into a single layer. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes.

Arrange the onions, bacon, avocado, cherry tomatoes, and croutons on top of a bed of crisp lettuce. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with blue cheese dressing.

Composed Salads, Grain Bowls, and Organizing Photo Files

IF YOU LOVE COOKING AND YOU LOVE PHOTOGRAPHY (a match made in heaven) you will most likely end up with a backlog of photo files to sort through.

My files had gotten so big, they were bogging down my computer. It was time to stop procrastinating and get to work. I have deleted hundreds on photos and transferred others to an external drive.

I do photograph many things other than food and this process has taken me down a memory lane of the past couple of years. There are so many cute pictures of the children--they grow and change so fast. There were pictures of my head, bald from chemo, to growing out, to my first haircut last week. There are many photos of beautiful flowers, birds, bunnies, butterflies, and bugs from our yard. Scenic photos from the gorgeous, vibrant, and hip place I am blessed to live--Asheville, North Carolina.

Mandarin Chicken Salad

As I culled photographs, I decided to share some of the things I have made, we ate, but never made it to my blog. Mainly because I wasn't pleased with the photos. But also because I wasn't thrilled with the taste of the food. I only blog about things I think are delicious.

For example, the Mandarin Chicken Salad. Ho-hum.

Shrimp, Brown Rice, and Vegetable Salad

I can see the salad has a dressing but I don't remember what it was. Which is another danger of letting my photo files back up. I can't remember what I did.






































I remember loving the brown rice and tofu bowl--I would happily eat it right now. I suppose I could fake some recipes. . .

Many things I love, tuna, cheese, boiled eggs, radishes, cornichons, sprouts (!) with baby lettuces.

Waldorf Quinoa Salad

I was really happy with this meal, but I didn't get any photos I loved. Quinoa, grapes, celery, apples, lettuce, candied pecans, and crumbled blue cheese. (Some kind of dressing). Mmmm, I think I'll try this again.

I was also happy about this meal, but again did not get shots of it that I loved. It was an awesome combination of flavors, quinoa, black beans, roasted Japanese sweet potatoes, pineapple, cheddar cheese, and spinach. I dressed this one with a Honey Lime Vinaigrette.

Honey Lime Vinaigrette
1 small sweet onion, preferably Vidalia, roughly chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 large tomato, washed and peeled
1 lime, washed, roughly chopped and seeded
2 Tbsp. honey
1 tsp. salt
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
1/4 cup olive oil

Put all ingredients into blender and process until smooth.

Southern Legacy Green Beans

My Grandmother's Serving Bowl

IF MY GRANDMOTHER WERE ALIVE TODAY I would ask her to cook me some of her well loved green beans. As you can see, these beans are cooked to smithereens. It has taken me years to get them right and now I am sharing her secrets with you.

These beans are intensely flavored--practically a bean butter. Think apple to apple sauce to apple butter. That is the concept.

After inquiring about these beans repeatedly over the years, it was a recent conversation with my Mother, when she said that her Mother would put on the green beans right after breakfast, to have for supper that evening, that I had my Aha! moment. I had been told to put the beans in a big pot, add in a piece of fatback, cover with water and cook. That was it. The detail that wasn't revealed was the fact that the beans were literally cooked for hours. Hours.

My Grandmother's Table Cloth

 I cooked these beans as part of a summer vegetable plate, as was tradition in my family. To this day, there is nothing I love eating more than a plate of well prepared, flavorful vegetables. I have been eating these vegetables for two meals each day for three days in a row. Heavenly.

As the beans, squash, corn, field peas, okra, and tomatoes were spent, greens would be planted. In fall, the turnip greens, collards, sweet potatoes, and pumpkins would begin appearing on plates instead of the summer crops.

My Grandmother's beans cannot be made with the blue lake type green bean typically found year round in grocery stores. A good stout bean is needed. These are half runners which are an heirloom bean. You definitely don't want to steam these for five minutes and serve. Even if you don't want to caramelize them as I have done, they still need a good long cooking time to achieve tenderness.

You need to snap these beans and string them. Some people even call them snap beans. And when I say string beans, you can see what I mean. If you ever sit down before a serving of beans that have not been properly stringed--well, let's just say it is not pleasant. And the snapping helps to get hold of the strings for pulling to remove.

Rinse very thoroughly.

The vendor called this "side meat". My Grandmother always called it streak o' lean.  It is like slab bacon that has been cured but not smoked. It is salt cured, so don't add any salt to your beans. I have known cooks to use lard instead, or even a big glug of vegetable shortening. If I wanted to keep the concentrated bean flavor more on the healthy and vegetarian side, I would use coconut oil. Of course you would need to add salt then.

Southern Legacy Green Beans
3 - 4 pounds heirloom green beans, snapped and strings removed
2 - 3 oz. streak o' lean, salt pork, fatback, lard, or other fat of choice
Salt if not using salt-cured meat
Water

Put prepared green beans in a large, heavy pot. Add streak o' lean. Cover the beans with water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a steady simmer and partially cover. Cook for several hours, adding more water as needed. Do not add more salt--the salt added in the beginning is still there, it is only the water that cooks away.

BLT Sandwiches with Heirloom Tomatoes and Basket Weave Bacon

EACH SUMMER, WE EAGERLY ANTICIPATE THE ARRIVAL of Harold's tomatoes. And it is our tradition to make BLT's with the first ones, because is there any better way to honor a fresh, vine ripened, summer tomato?

Harold is a farmer in a nearby county who grows all kinds of vegetables. He is especially proud of his tomatoes (as well he should be) and is most well known, area-wide, for his Mr. Stripey tomatoes. Mr. Stripeys are low acid, yellow heirloom tomatoes with red striping. They are sweet, juicy, and extremely tender. They are perfect for sandwiches and salads.

Harold is a commercial vegetable grower but because we happen to have an inside track, we had the honor of trying out three other heirloom tomatoes he has tested this season, which are not yet on the market. They are a pink tomato, a red Mr. Stripey, and a Cherokee black tomato.

The idea of weaving little rafts of bacon for sandwiches is not original to me. I have seen the concept around for quite a while but this is the first time I have tried it. And it really works great!

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a rimmed baking pan with foil. Cut bacon in half. I used 3 strips of bacon, or 6 half strips for each raft. Weave like a little potholder, or basket, or lattice crust. Bake 20 - 30 minutes, to preferred done-ness, depending on thickness of bacon. Keep checking, it may be done earlier or it may take a little longer. We like our bacon crispy and I think these rafts cooked around 35 minutes.

Pritchard Parker and I don't agree on every aspect of the perfect BLT. We both agree there is no need to bother without excellent summer tomatoes. We both prefer crispy iceberg lettuce. Neither of us wants to scrimp on bacon.

He prefers his bread untoasted and smeared with mayo, specifically Duke's mayonnaise (this is a must). I like my BLT on buttered toast.

How do you make your BLT?

Lemony Greek Orzo Salad

 THE GLORY OF THE SEASON IS UPON ME. I adore summer and all the blessings it brings, including the fabulous childhood memories. Unfortunately, the joy is not shared by my beloved.

Each day, as I bask in the heat and humidity of our un-air-conditioned home, wearing only shorts, tank tops and my own bare feet, my husband is engaged in his extremely cold and arid occupation. Upon walking into the other-worldly climate of our home, he feels assaulted by the rain forest like atmosphere.  I am acclimated, of course, and don't feel one iota of discomfort, but I do understand his position.

Therefore, I try to keep heat producing activities, namely cooking and baking, to a minimum. Now is the time I go for great salads and sandwiches as meals. Any cooking, at all, like boiling pasta or steaming vegetables, gets done in the early morning hours.

I think grain salads and pasta salads make great summertime meals, don't you? Taking advantage of the season's harvest is really the only way to eat. I just love the fact that everywhere you turn, someone is selling or giving away garden fresh tomatoes, peppers, squash, okra, cucumbers, and beans.

Lemony Greek Orzo Salad
8 ounces orzo
1 small sweet onion
1 lemon
1 cucumber, peeled, seeded, sliced
2 stalks celery, sliced
1 large tomato, peeled, seeded, cut into chunks
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
4 ounces feta cheese, chopped or crumbled
3 Tbsp. olive oil, to taste
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Cook orzo in boiling, salted water, until tender.

Meanwhile, chop onion and place into bottom of a salad bowl. When orzo is done, drain and place on top of the chopped onion. Squeeze 1/2 of the lemon over the pasta and a generous grating of fresh black pepper. Mix together. This process infuses great flavor into the pasta.

Add cucumber, celery, tomato, and parsley to the salad bowl. Squeeze in the other half lemon, drizzle with the olive oil; stir to combine well. Gently stir in the Feta cheese.

Taste, adding salt, more pepper, lemon, or olive oil if desired.

Cherry Eton Mess

MY AUNT AND UNCLE HAD A VAST CHERRY TREE which grew right beside their house. As a girl, I could climb from their second story porch right into that great tree.

Every summer, our family would pile into the car for our annual trek from our home in Alabama to visit my Dad's hometown in Akron, Ohio. There we would split up and move from relative to relative, spending time with each.

My cherry tree uncle was a trucker so he was away from home a lot. But I loved spending time with my aunt and their five (5!) rowdy sons. Their home was loud, messy, and chaotic. The only thing she ever said to me while I was eating cherry after cherry after cherry while sitting in the tree, was a warning that if I kept it up, I would have a tummy ache. I paid her no regard, thinking the joy of eating a seemingly endless supply of cherries, fresh, juicy, and warm, straight from the tree would be worth it.

I never had a problem digesting all those cherries. And when I think about it now, I know my own mother would have been worried about much more than stomach troubles if she had ever seen me perched high in the branches of that mighty tree.

Eton Mess is an English dessert made with baked meringue cookies, strawberries, and cream. I made mine with fresh cherries.

I had some meringues, which store beautifully in an airtight container, leftover from making my Tapioca Pudding. You can see a recipe here.

I love homemade whipped cream. It is super, super simple to make.  It was one of the tasks my mother handed over to me when I was just a little girl. I would make it using an old-style, hand, rotary mixer. You know if a little girl can make it, you can too.  Here is a recipe.

Cherry Eton Mess
Fresh cherries, washed, pitted, and halved
Meringue cookies
Freshly whipped and sweetened cream

Layer, as desired, crushing some of the meringues if you wish, in a pretty glass. Garnish with a whole cherry.

Homemade Vidalia Onion Rings

FRESH HOMEMADE ONION RINGS seem like such a delicacy at our house, a rare and special pleasure. The arrival of the summer's Vidalia onions are cause for such a celebration.

Ordinarily, I am not fussy about the way others pronounce words. Not even my own name, and you cannot believe the variety of ways people can say, "Rocky". But when it comes to the South's, specifically Vidalia, Georgia's beloved sweet onion, I'm afraid I get a little defensive.

The name, Vidalia, is NOT pronounced vee-doll-eea with the head tilted back ever-so-slightly, chin jutting forward, eyebrows arched while the nostrils flare imperceptibly. The word Vidalia is said like so: VIE-DALE-YA and it is spoken with a smile.

I make a batter, dip the onions, then pan fry them, in a single layer, in shallow peanut oil, in a black iron skillet. Have you ever bitten into an onion ring and the entire onion slice pulls away from the crust? It happens when they are deep fried in oil that is too hot. The outside browns before the onion has a chance to cook. Not these onion rings. The batter adheres well and forms a crispy crust which encases the sweet and tender Vidalia onion slices.

Home Made Vidalia Onion Rings
3 large Vidalia onions
1/2 cup flour
1 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. black pepper
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 egg, well beaten
1/2 cup milk
Cooking oil for frying

Wash and peel onions and cut into 1/4-inch thick rounds. Separate rounds into rings. In a bowl, combine flour, salt, pepper, and baking powder. Whisk together the egg and milk. Add milk mixture to the flour mixture and blend well.

Dip onion rings into the batter and fry in a single layer in shallow, hot oil, in a large skillet. Once golden brown on one side, flip over and continue frying on the second side. Remove to paper towels to drain.

Serve hot.

Lemon Pound Cake with Blueberry Cream Cheese Frosting Decorated with Sugared Blueberries

 IN HONOR OF THE RETREAT I ATTENDED last week (Camp Bluebird), to celebrate summer, my favorite season, and to debut the kooky and festive cake stand that followed me home from an estate sale,  I present you with Lemon Pound Cake with Blueberry Cream Cheese Frosting decorated with sugared blueberries.

Several steps were involved in making this cake, including zesting and juicing fresh lemons, preparing a lemon syrup, pureeing and straining fresh blueberries, and making  sugared blueberries so they can be set aside to dry. Those are details I like to go ahead and put behind me before even beginning the cake baking process.

The butter, eggs, buttermilk, and cream cheese all need time to come to room temperature so plan accordingly. The cake layers need time to cool completely before frosting.

To make sugared blueberries, rinse and dry fresh, plump blueberries. Beat one egg white along with a teaspoon of cold water until very frothy, but not stiff. Pour as many blueberries as you want for decorations into the egg white mixture. Roll each blueberry, individually,  in sugar and set onto a board to dry for at least 2 hours.

For blueberry puree, blend about 8 ounces of fresh blueberries in a blender. Strain out the solids in order to make a completely smooth frosting. Use leftover blueberry puree for making smoothies.

Lemon Pound Cake
1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 eggs, room temperature
1/3 cup grated lemon zest
3 cups flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 2 (8-inch) cake pans.

Cream butter and sugar, with electric mixer, until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the lemon zest.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. Add the flour and buttermilk alternately to the batter, beginning and ending with the flour. Blend in vanilla.

Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans and smooth top. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in pans for 10 minutes. Turn out onto cooling racks set over wax paper.

While cakes are baking, make a lemon syrup by combining 1/2 cup sugar with 1/2 cup lemon juice in a small saucepan. Cook over low heat until the sugar dissolves. Spoon over the cakes on the cooling racks, then let the cakes cool completely before frosting.

Blueberry Cream Cheese Frosting
8 oz. (1 stick) butter, softened
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
3 Tbsp. blueberry puree
1 tsp. vanilla
pinch of salt
4 cups powdered sugar, as needed

Whip butter and cream cheese with an electric mixer until very pale and creamy, about 8 minutes. Mix in blueberry puree and vanilla. Add powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, and beat well until fluffy. If the frosting is too stiff add a little blueberry puree; if too thin, add more powdered sugar. Use about a cup of frosting between the cake layers and the remaining for the top and sides of the cake.

My frosting was a little more oozy than I usually like it because I was trying to achieve a vibrant blueberry color. I used more puree and less sugar than I would have used if I'd wanted to pipe frosting onto the cake.

Decorate with sugared blueberries.

Fresh Strawberry & Ginger Jam (a small batch)

IT IS A COOL AND RAINY DAY and I am glad. I'm having a tad of trouble transitioning to summer. It is not the heat--I love that. It is the noise. From year to year, I forget waking before dawn to the cheep, cheep, trilling, cawing, cooing, tweedle-dee of our avian choir. It is really a joyful sound but it does jar me from my dreams.

Then the machines start up. The mowers, blowers, trimmers, tillers. Somewhere in the neighborhood a building project is happening, so there is hammering and buzzzzing and the most grating sound in the world, that high-pitched, jangly beep-beep-beep of some vehicle in reverse. Repeatedly. Do those things only go backward?

Today, the birds are roosting, the gardening and building projects are on hold, the weather is cooler and I have closed the windows.

What a great day to simmer a fragrant pot of strawberries. . .

Fresh Strawberry & Ginger Jam
1 pound fresh strawberries, washed, hulled, and diced
1 cup sugar
Juice of 1 lemon
2 Tbsp. candied ginger, diced

Combine ingredients in a heavy saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, stirring often, for about 10 minutes until mixture begins to look syrupy and thickened.

Let cool to room temperature before serving. Refrigerate leftovers.

Fresh Homemade Banana Split

Fresh Homemade Banana Split
3 scoops ice cream - your choice of flavor
Homemade Fresh Strawberry Sauce
Homemade Fresh Pineapple Sauce
Homemade Fudge Sauce
Buttery Salted Roasted Pecans
Freshly Whipped Cream

Topped with a cherry and served in antique banana split boats.