Sorrel and Arugula Pesto

I had sorrel for the first time yesterday. I can't even say that I had heard of it before then. My buddy Jill gave me some to try in my CSA bag this week. The flavor is like nothing else I have ever tried. It looks sort of like spinach, but the taste is entirely different. I would describe it as grassy, slightly bitter, and citrusy. From the 1st bite I knew I would have to try it in pesto. That is just what I did.

2 cups fresh sorrel

2 cups fresh arugula

1/4 cup pine nuts

1 small garlic clove

olive oil

salt & pepper

You will notice that there is no lemon. There is no need. The sorrel adds all of the citrusy flavor you need. The first four ingredients go into a food processor. Then add enough oil to get it moving. It should take a few tablespoons. Blend until everything is well incorporated, but not until smooth. Add salt & pepper to taste.

I served this pesto on a pizza with roasted tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, and goat cheese. You can get my pizza crust recipe HERE. While you are at it, read THIS STORY I wrote about my true and undying love of pizza.

Seared Fennel and Carrot Salad

There's gotta be sweet, savory, sour, and spicy in most dishes. We are liking balance above all else over here lately, and this simple, impressive little experiment was a hit. It splits the difference between a side dish and a salad, and it was perfect with arugula and truffle oil soufflés tonight. Here's how it went:

a fennel bulb, split lengthwise

2 carrots

2 tbsp. canola oil

5 dried Turkish apricots, diced

2 oz. Maytag blue cheese, crumbled

1 oz. sherry vinegar

drizzle of olive oil

fleur de sel and crushed pepper to taste, plus fennel fronds to garnish

Heat canola oil on high on stovetop. Place fennel and carrots, cut side down, into hot oil. Stick this in a 450 degree oven for 30 min. Arrange fennel and carrots on plates and top with crumbled blue cheese and diced apricots, which you just toss with sherry vinegar and olive oil. Garnish with fennel fronds and add your salt and pepper.

Banana Pudding + Meringue

Ah, banana pudding...The Wife fondly recalls this dessert as a constant in her family's refrigerator every week, a copious amount in a big glass bowl, always topped with clouds of singed meringue. Everyone ate it straight out of the container like wild wolves with magical spoon-holding abilities. You can make this whole deal from scratch, but it won't be as good. Rarely do we advocate throwing together a few store-bought ingredients as a recipe for dessert success, but she has cracked the code of banana pudding and wants to share it with you.

She uses Dr. Oetker's vanilla pudding mix in a box and prefers 2% milk, not skim. Wait 'til it cools to put the pudding together -- you can hurry it along with an ice bath under another bowl. Plain old classic, but not reduced-fat, Nabisco Nilla Wafers work best, of course, so arrange them on the bottom and sides of your bowl or pan. Organic bananas sliced into rounds are mandatory, too, at the bottom, and then just pour the cooled vanilla pudding over it all.

Please don't even think about using whipped cream on top. Instead, here is our hard-fought, always-fluffy meringue recipe:

Meringue

2 egg whites

pinch of cream of tartar

1/8 cup raw or powdered sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

Put packages of frozen fruit or vegetables all around your stand mixer's bowl to keep it as cold as possible. Pour in all ingredients and mix on high for 1-2 minutes in order to whip in lots of air. Once hard peaks form -- they should stand up on their own when you pull the whisk up -- spread this on top of chilled pudding. Using the back of a spoon, pull peaks up from the smooth meringue. Place meringue-topped pudding under a broiler for just a few seconds.

Tips: Watery meringue happens when cold meringue is added to warm pudding, so be sure they are close to the same temp.! Also, make it all ahead. It is so much better after a day in the fridge.

Mushroom and Barley Soup

I went to a great dinner at the Dixon called the Brewer's Feast. Dale Skaggs and Mike Lee paired handcrafted beers with each of four courses. The beer and the food were amazing. It got me thinking about what I would make for a beer dinner and the answer seemed obvious: barley. Beer is brewed from barley so it makes perfect sense to me. Here is what I came up with. Oddly enough I chose to drink wine with it.

10-12 oz small cremini mushrooms (quartered)

4 cloves garlic

2 large carrots (diced)

2 celery stalks (diced)

1 white onion (diced)

3 cups cooked barley

1 cup roasted tomatoes

2 bouillon cubes

1 tablespoon butter

red or white wine for deglazing (or beer)

2 bay leaves

4-6 cups water

olive oil

salt & pepper

First toss the mushrooms in a few tablespoons of olive oil and roast them along with the garlic cloves in a covered dish with the oven set at 300. Leave them in for 45 minutes to an hour. In a large soup pot over medium-high heat saute carrots, celery, and onion in some olive oil until the onion is translucent. Deglaze the pan with a half cup of wine. Add the remaining ingredients including the mushrooms and their juice to the pot. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes.

I served mine with a few warm chanterelles on top and a grilled cheese on rustic seed bread. This is the perfect meal for a cool fall night.

Creamy Polenta with Warm Tomatoes and Olives

Surprisingly enough, simple preparations often make the best meals. Such is the case with this simple but delicious post-farmers-market fall lunch. I'll be honest: this is my most favorite dish I've made in a while. There is something magical about it that I can't quite put my finger on. I suppose this is my own little way of saying my final farewell to homegrown tomatoes for the season. I used three kinds of tomatoes from three different farms; the small orange ones came from Whitton, the medium-sized yellow ones came from Dodson Farms, and the green tomatoes came from Tims.

For the polenta:

1 cup of Delta Grind grits or polenta

4 cups water

2 bouillon cubes

4 cloves garlic

Salt & pepper

Boil water, cubes and garlic. Add grits and stir to make sure there are no lumps. Simmer on low until thick which should take about 30 minutes.

For the tomatoes:

1 green tomato (chopped)

handful of yellow tomatoes (whole)

handful of orange tomatoes (whole)

1/8 cup olive oil

salt & pepper

Toss the tomatoes and the oil into a soup pot and turn the burner on high. (The high walls of the soup pot will keep the tomato juices from evaporating.) Once the tomatoes start to release some juice, remove from the heat and set aside; you just want them to warm through, so this should only take a few minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. I also sautéed some kale in garlic and olive oil for this dish as well.

To serve, spoon polenta onto a plate, top with greens, tomatoes, chopped oil-cured olives, and parsley. Spoon the the tomato juice from the bottom of the pot over the preparation for extra flavor.

This Little Piggy Went to Market...

..and bought every tomato he could get his hands on. October 28th was the last East Memphis Farmer's Market so The Wife and I brought home all we could carry including tons of sweet potatoes, three kinds of tomatoes and two kinds of greens. We will miss this Wednesday tradition and look forward to the spring when they reopen.

Perfect Baked Eggplant Parmesan

Being lazy in the kitchen is not always a good thing, but it can lead to some unexpected discoveries. While taking a shortcut preparing a batch of eggplant parm, I left out a step. I typically dry out-bread in the oven before pulverizing it into crumbs which I use to coat the slices of eggplant. This time I tore up a 1/2 of a fresh baguette and stuck it into the food processor with two cloves of garlic, a pinch of salt, and a pinch of pepper. The result was a moist breadcrumb unlike any I had ever used. I shrugged and went ahead as usual dredging the eggplant slices in flour, then beaten egg, and then coating each with moist breadcrumbs and arranging them on a large baking sheet. I preheated the oven to 375, drizzled each slice with a little bit of olive oil, and stuck them into the oven. After 15 minutes, once the top started to look golden, I flipped them, drizzled them again with olive oil, and left them to cook for another 15 minutes. The final step is to add a heap of grated parmesan on top of each eggplant during the last five minutes of cooking. This is a great dinner with tomato sauce, parsley, and spinach but it also makes a great sandwich for lunch on-the-go.

The result was fantastic. The outside was crispy and crunchy, but the inside was soft and moist and in between is a rich layer that tastes like it has been batter-coated. With dry breadcrumbs the outside may be crisp but the inside not yet cooked. This way it is all done at the same time. When you take a new path, even if it is a shortcut, you always make a discovery.

Chicago Marathon Photos

The Perfect Vessels at Swanky's Taco Shop Tonight (10.23.09)

We start the music at 10 & It's FREE. I hope to see you all there. I'll be the one behind the drum kit.

Chicago Style Pizza

I thought I hated Chicago-style pizza. You know the one I'm talking about: the 3-foot-thick gut bomb, sauce-bucket, the one with 10 pounds of cheese. Turns out that version is more of a parody of what true Chicago pizza is and should be. The bellman, Jeffery, at Hotel Allegro suggested that we try Lou Malnati's, a no-nonsense local pizza chain that serves up genuine deep-dish pizza.

From the 1st bite I had a better understanding of what all the fuss was about. The crust was like a sourdough focaccia. That was topped with a generous, yet not obscene, amount of cheese with the sauce on top of the cheese. It worked for me. You could pick up a slice, but most of us choose to use a knife and fork.

I knew I had to recreate this at home. For the crust:

1 warm beer (I used a pale ale)

3 cups bread flour

1 tbsp. active dry yeast

1 tbsp. honey

1 tsp. salt

olive oil

Throw the dry ingredients and also the honey into your Kitchen Aid stand mixer with the dough hook attachment, and then turn it on low. Add the warm beer 1/4 cup at a time. You may need the whole beer, or you may not. Look for the dough to come together. You will know it when you see it. Let the mixer run on low for about 7 minutes. This will develop the gluten in the bread flour – this is required for a good pizza dough. Now turn off the mixer, remove the dough hook, divide dough in half, and coat your dough in a generous amount of olive oil. Press each dough down into a 8-10 inch straight-walled cake pan or use a spring form pan if that is what you have. Cover and allow the dough to rise until doubled. This should take about an hour or two.

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Top each dough with a cup to a cup and a half of shredded provolone cheese and stick it in the oven. Once the cheese has melted top with a layer of your favorite pizza sauce or crushed tomatoes. They take about 20 to thirty minutes to cook through. You will see the crust tart to turn golden brown and the sauce on top will be nearly dry. Remove each pizza from the pan, top with some parm, and enjoy.

The Green Zebra: Fig & Blue Cheese Tarts

Chicago, like New York, is the kind of town where you would really have to be unlucky to happen upon a bad meal. For the most part, everything was exceptional from farro risotto to the coffee to the pizza.

I was as excited about eating at The Green Zebra as I was about running the marathon. I made our reservation weeks in advance to ensure we got a table on a busy Friday night. The Green Zebra is a mostly vegetarian fine dining place in the middle of one of the meatiest cities in America. Chef Shawn McClain's focus on creativity ensures that even those who eat meat won't miss it at this meal. Personally I was blown away by everything brought to the table, and we ordered just about everything.

For the 1st course:

- Fig and blue cheese tarts with candied almonds

- Fresh burrata cheese with concord grapes and fava beans

- Heirloom tomato salad with fried pickles and buttermilk dressing

2nd course:

- Farro risotto with gremolata and mascarpone

- Sweet corn and pumpkin seed succotash with fennel and Thai chili

- Lobster mushroom and garlic crepe with wax beans

...and a few extras:

- Crispy soba noodles with kabocha squash and chestnuts

- Poached egg with smoked potato pureé

- Grilled corn elote

- Crispy chickpea fries

Wow! All of it was memorable and delicious. The first chance I got I attempted to recreate a few of my favorites. Our long-lost friend Justin Hart is back from L.A. for a visit. He came over for dinner the other night, and I made my version of two Green Zebra dishes: the fig and blue cheese tart and the mushroom crepe along with a pickled tomato salad of my own creation. The Wife made a wonderful pudding with fresh fruit.

The fig tarts were a hit, and they are so simple to make.

For the crust:

1 1/2 cups of AP flour

1/2 cup canola oil

pinch of sugar

Large pinch of salt

ice water

All ingredients save for the water go into the food processor equipped with the dough blade. Turn it on and start pouring the cold water minus the ice into the opening until the dough comes together. You will know when it happens. Wrap in plastic and stick it in the fridge for an hour or so until chilled.

For the filling:

1 box of black figs (sliced into rounds)

Maytag Blue cheese

chopped walnuts

honey

Salt and pepper

Roll out the crust and cut out rounds with a drinking glass. Arrange three fig slices on each small round and pinch the edges of the crust up to catch the fig juices as they cook. Place into a 400 degree oven for 30 minutes or until the crust is golden brown. Remove and allow tarts to cool. Top each with crumbled blue cheese, chopped walnuts, and a drizzle of honey. Add fresh cracked black pepper and sea salt just before serving.

Go VOTE!

If you live in Memphis and have not yet voted in the special election for mayor of the city then please take some time and vote today. Today is your last chance to make your voice heard.

Heirloom Tomato Marmalade

I was wondering what this would taste like! After lunch yesterday, I had scraps from some heirlooms and decided to make this jam. This has lemon and orange peel in it, so I suppose it is more like a marmalade. It's also sweet, which is a weird surprise. I will have it on cheese and crackers, on french bread with goat cheese, or maybe in a tart.

3 cups tomatoes, chopped

one lemon, juice and peel

orange peel

1/4 cup raw sugar

1/4 cup light brown sugar

pinch of salt

Mix and simmer it all in an uncovered saucepan for a couple of hours until it is cooked down to half. Will keep in fridge for a few days or in freezer forever.

Super-Easy Chipotle Enchilada Sauce

In a previous post I gave you my recipe for a slow-simmered enchilada sauce which is great if you have the time. If you are in a hurry this slap-dash version is nearly as good and ready in just a few minutes. Use it to dress up enchiladas, tamales, or your-soon-to-be-famous huevos rancheros.

Place 2 small cans of fire-roasted tomatoes, 4-5 cloves of garlic, and 2-3 canned chipotle chilies into a blender or food processor. Blend until very smooth. Place sauce in a pot with about a tablespoon of olive oil and heat it through on the stovetop. That is it. The smoky complexity of the chipotle chilies makes it taste as if it has been simmering all day. Only you will know the secret.

To make a tamale filling throw two sliced portobello mushroom caps, a sliced green pepper, and half a sliced onion into the sauce and simmer for about half an hour. Strain out the vegetables and add a can of drained black beans to the simmered veggies. pulse mixture in a food processor and then mix in 1/4 cup of wheat gluten. Fill tamales with the black bean and mushroom mixture. Serve tamales with your enchilada sauce, cotija cheese, avocados, cilantro, and a lime as shown here.

Tiramisu

This is something we have never made before, and it was so simple and quick, a great dessert after a pizza dinner at home with the family. We found that a nice sub for fat-laden mascarpone is neufchatel cream cheese.

Tiramisu:

2 packages hard ladyfinger cookies

3 tbsp. espresso powder mixed with 2/3 cup hot water

2 tbsp. rum

3 tbsp. raw sugar

1 8-oz. block neufchatel cheese

1 small container of whipping cream

5 tbsp. raw sugar

1/3 of dark chocolate bar, shavings

Arrange cookies along the bottom of a long pan. Pour warm espresso-rum mixture over the cookies to soak them and let this sit. Whip cheese, cream, and sugar until fluffy, and spread this over soaked cookies. Top generously with shaved chocolate. It should be in fridge for an hour or two before serving.

Dark Chocolate-Ginger Bread Pudding with Crushed Pepper-Clove Cream

The Wife LOVES bread pudding, and yesterday, she decided to make it in a new and strange way. Ghiardhelli chocolate and Dutch process cocoa powder + candied ginger and ginger powder = a whole lot of flavor. She kept the rum and the (golden) raisins. It boasts the mark of an excellent dessert: all gone in less than 24 hours.

The spiced cream (we used Oikos fat-free Greek yogurt with honey) was enlivened by the weird addition of crushed pepper and clove since we were out of her first choice, cayenne. I'll see if I can't get her to give us the recipe.

Here it is!

One loaf of crusty bread, ripped into small pieces

3 eggs

1 cup milk or cream

2 tsp. vanilla

2 tbsp. rum

1/4 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder

3 squares melted chocolate and 2 tbsp. butter (cooled)

1/2 tbsp. ginger powder

2 pieces candied ginger, chopped

Whisk wet ingredients and cocoa powder together. Add chocolate and butter mixture and gingers. Pour over the bread and mix until coated. Pour this into a buttered pan and bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes.

For the cream:

1 container of Oikos Greek yogurt with honey

1 tbsp. raw sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

crushed pepper

1/2 tsp. clove

Mix and use to top the bread pudding.

Grace

Last night, we went to Chef Ben Vaughn's new restaurant Grace in Cooper-Young, and we are still talking about it this morning even before we have our coffee. It is located next door to Burke's Books in a transformed space that is light and beautiful with pale green walls, couches and chairs up front for small groups, and every detail meticulously in place. There are lots of local, seasonal foods in the dishes, and the idea is that there will be a revolving menu based on the ingredients available at the time. First, the brioche and butter brought to the table blew us away. Next, TCV tried the bluefoot and chanterelle mushroom quiche and the fried green tomatoes stuffed with goat cheese and sprinkled with pecans, and The Wife, vegetarian when it suits her, chose seafood bisque and a grits cake with all kinds of treats with it. AMAZING. Desserts we had were blueberry cornmeal crumble with blue cheese ice cream and a poached pear with pecan baklava. We are so excited about having this restaurant, with its deconstructed, elegant take on Southern food, in Memphis. Grace has just opened, so go for a leisurely lunch or dinner soon. Say hi to our friend Marshall who is in charge of the front of the house. Make sure to call before you go (274-8511) because it looks like word is getting out quickly about this lovely new spot.

Lobster ... Mushrooms, that is!

When I spotted fresh lobster mushrooms in the bin at Whole Foods, I knew I had to have them. Anyone who reads this blog regularly knows I am a nut for fresh, hard-to-find mushrooms. Since I had never tried lobster mushrooms before, it was a no- brainer for me. So I snatched up one of the bright coral-colored caps as my head began to fill with all of the ways I might prepare these beauties. I raised it to my nose and gave it a sniff....wow! It smells like fresh seafood. So the name not only comes from the color but also the flavor. I decided then and there that I would make a vegetarian version of shrimp and grits using my newly-found treasure.

I prepared them simply by brushing them with olive oil and sprinkling them with a cajun dry rub. Then I grilled them for 3-4 minutes per side in my trusty cast-iron grill pan. I served them on top of spicy grits with a homemade remoulade sauce and chopped arugula.

Refrigerator Pickles with Garlic, Dill, and Coriander

This is so simple you won't believe it. It is also a lot of fun because you can experiment with all kinds of different spices to make your own unique pickle. Gather these things and go to the kitchen.

2-3 cups white vinegar

2-3 pickling cucumbers

palmful dried dill

palmful of whole coriander seeds

3 whole cloves garlic

1/4 cup salt

1/8 cup sugar

Thinly slice cucumbers. I use the slicer blade on my food processor which works perfectly for this. Arrange cucumber slices in a glass container that is just big enough to hold them. You don't want a lot of extra space. In a pot over high heat add the vinegar and the rest of the ingredients. You will only need enough vinegar to cover the sliced cucumbers. Cook vinegar mixture until all of the salt and sugar has dissolved and it has started to boil. Pour the hot vinegar over the raw cucumber slices, allow it to cool on the countertop, cover, and stick it in the fridge. They will be ready the next day and will keep for about a month.

Pasta with Fennel and Morel Mushrooms

I made this incredibly simple savory dish because I found some nice looking dried morel mushrooms at the supermarket. I love fresh morels, but they are very expensive and hard to come by most of the year. This package of dried morels was only 10 bucks.

The mushrooms and the fennel play off one another very nicely. The earthy smoothness of the mushrooms is offset by the bright crunch of the fennel bulb. It is unexpected and delicious. There were no leftovers last night.

You will need:

1-2 cups morel mushrooms (sliced into 1/2 inch pieces)

2 shallots (minced)

1 "not-chicken" bouillon cube

1 medium fennel bulb (cored, halved and sliced into slivers)

1/2 cup white wine

2 servings of pasta

olive oil

salt & pepper

4 oz fresh mozzarella

In a large saute´ pan over medium heat saute´ the mushrooms, shallots, and bouillon cube in a few tablespoons of olive oil. Once the shallot has browned and the bouillon cube has melted deglaze the pan with the wine and allow it to cook until most of the wine has evaporated. Add the sliced fennel and plenty of black pepper to the mix. Allow the fennel to cook briefly before adding the cooked pasta and 1/2 cup of the pasta water. Toss. Taste. If it is too dry add a bit more olive oil. Pile pasta onto a warm serving dish and garnish with fresh mozzarella and fennel fronds.

Thank You So Much!

Thank you Mo, Lindsey, Amelia, Paul, Gina, Amy, Alisa, Benjamin, Dave, Brittany, Mel, Bobby, Steve, and Blandy!

I have been bowled over by your generosity this week.

Thanks to all of your kindness I have now surpassed my original personal goal of $1000. Let's see how far we can take it before the race.

Click HERE to donate.

-J

Running the Chicago Marathon, Raising Money for St. Jude

Sunday, October 11, 2009 will be the day I complete my first full marathon. Not too long ago, I could barely run to the corner, and now I am prepared and ready to go the distance. It took more than a year of hard work to get to this point, and it all started with the Firecracker 5K on July 4th of last year. My mother, Suzanne Burks, watched me cross that finish line, and she was so proud of me and of my brother Graham for meeting our goals that day. After a wonderful summer spent with family and friends, Suzanne passed away in a car accident on October 19, 2008. My older brother Graham and I decided that there would be no better way to honor mom's memory than to raise money in support of her favorite charity, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. It is amazing how much running has helped us navigate our way through the past year; now we want to use this new focus to make the world that Suzanne made so bright become even brighter for others who need hope. We ran as Heroes in the St. Jude Half-Marathon in Memphis last year, so this will be the second race for us as "Team Suzanne." This time we are joined by my longtime friend -- a veteran of the 2007 Chicago Marathon -- Kelly Robinson. The three of us are certain that Suzanne's spirit will carry us across the finish line in Chicago. We are happy for this opportunity to serve, and we hope you will help us honor Suzanne by supporting St. Jude in making an immeasurable difference in the lives of children in need.

Thanks for helping me reach my goal for the kids of St. Jude

Click HERE to donate

Market Value from Memphis Magazine

The Memphis Magazine story The Wife and I worked so hard on this summer is now posted on line. Click HERE to view and read it. It is a comprehensive look at the connection between farmers and chefs in the city of Memphis. Read it and let us know what you think.

Chili Dogs or Dogs of Chili

I came up with this cool concept while staring at a whole mess of leftover chili. I decided to deconstruct a summer favorite, the chili dog, and turn it into something new: a dog made of chili. The flavor of the dogs will all depend on the flavor of your chili, so use a good one.

You will need:

1 cup prepared brown rice

4 cups leftover vegetarian chili with lots of beans (most of the liquid drained off)

1 cup panko breadcrumbs

1/2 cup vital wheat gluten

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. All ingredients go into a food processor and are blended until well incorporated. It should be the consistency of bread dough. If it is too loose add more breadcrumbs. Then to form sausages, lay 1/2-inch mound of the mixture across a piece of foil leaving a 1/2-inch margin on either end. Roll it tight like a sushi roll and twist the ends shut. Find the middle of the large roll and twist it to for two smaller links. Repeat until you have used all of the mixture. Place links on a baking sheet and place them into the oven for 1 hour. Allow the links to cool. Place links in the fridge for an hour before unwrapping them. Brush them with olive oil and grill'em up. Serve on a whole wheat bun with shredded cheese and onions\ and a side of sliced, salted watermelon.

Zucchini & Tomato Galette

This simple dish has a very elegant presentation. For that reason, it's a great thing to take to a party -- it is sure to get a few oohs & ahhhs. This recipe is great because you can use just about any vegetables you have lying around to make variations of it.

You will need:

pie crust dough

1 large zucchini (sliced into thin rounds)

4 medium tomatoes (sliced into thin rounds)

2 small eggs

1/4 cup ricotta cheese

1 clove garlic (minced)

salt & pepper

parmesan for garnish

Roll pie crust into a large rectangle and place on a silpat-lined baking sheet. Arrange the vegetables in a shingle-like pattern on the crust leaving a 1/2 inch margin. Fold extra crust up over the edge of the vegetables and pinch at the corners to seal them together. In a bowl, whisk eggs, ricotta, garlic, salt & pepper together until well incorporated. Slowly pour the mixture evenly over the veggies. Bake at 325 for 1 hour. Allow to cool completely before eating.

Roasted Eggplant Pizza with Onion & Goat Cheese

Another homage to my new favorite food, the roasted eggplant. Follow roasting instructions from my previous post. Use roasted eggplant instead of tomato sauce on your next pizza. You will love it.

Jackalope Jr. with Roasted Eggplant

At a cookout at his house this summer, my buddy Andy told me the legend of the jackalope. He said that he practically lived off of them in college at the University of Tennessee. No he wasn't eating an imaginary bunny/ deer hybrid. The jackalope is a grilled vegetable sandwich that contains both a portobello mushroom and a thick slice of eggplant. He would pop the slice of eggplant into the gill side of the mushroom and grill it up. He made a version of the jackalope in his backyard that day, and it was delicious.

I decided to try it out at home. I, of course, had to put my own spin on it, so instead of grilling the eggplant, I roasted it. Do this by sticking a raw, uncut eggplant on a hot grill for about 3o minutes. You want the skin to turn completely black, so you want to turn it every 10 minutes. Once the eggplant is nice and burned, place it in a metal bowl, cover it with foil, and put it in the fridge until it's completely cool. Using a spoon, scoop the flesh away from the burned skin and place into a container. Do not add the juice that had collected in the bowl. It is bitter. Add salt and pepper to taste. I like to roast several eggplants at once because the smoky and creamy flavor makes a great sandwich filler and a delicious pizza topper.

Let's make the sandwich:

2 cups roasted eggplant

4 grilled portobello mushrooms

chopped parsley

balsamic vinegar

spring mix

sliced tomato

sliced onion

sliced rustic bread

vegan mayo

Toast bread and spread a little vegan mayo on each side. Stuff the gill-side of each mushroom with the roasted eggplant mixture, and drizzle each with balsamic vinegar. Build your sandwich any way you'd like. Enjoy the rich smoky flavor of the jackalope jr.

Purple Basil Lemonade

This is really simple but has a great, unusual taste. I've been on the lookout for purple basil so I could make it, and Grow Memphis's booth had it on Wednesday at the Botanic Gardens market.

Rinse basil and set it in a small pitcher. Squeeze 3 lemons and one orange, add it to the basil, and muddle it all up for a little bit. Whisk 1/8 cup agave nectar with water. Add agave, ice, and 2 cups water. Stir and pour.

Panelle

The world's best foods are simple and comforting, and that is exactly how I would sum up panelle. A close cousin to falafel, panelle hails from Sicily and is made from garbanzo-bean flour. It looks like tofu, and tastes as creamy as cheese. When I first saw it described on Lidia's Italy, I thought I must be dreaming. It's my fantasy food: low-fat, tasty, creamy, inexpensive, and simple to make. The traditional way to eat these garbanzo flour cakes is simply on a sesame bun. I dolled it up a little with a few slices of tomato, a little vegan mayo, and some rustic bread. I loved it from the first bite. My mind is racing coming up with new ways to use this wonderful concoction.

Find Lidia's recipe HERE.

(The only thing I did differently is to add 1 "Not Chicken" boullion cube to the water for extra flavor.)

One of Ten Mighty Mini-Burgers on Womansday.com

I was honored to be selected as one of ten mighty mini-burgers in an article on Woman's Day's website. The Wife was very excited as she takes that magazine. Click HERE to view the mini-burgers article. Click HERE for my BBQnoosh slider recipe.