Toasted Nori + Tofu "Fish" Over Purple Hull Pea Succotash

This is a concept so simple I can't believe I haven't thought of it before. Using two ingredients that are often paired, (firm) tofu and nori, I created a simulated seafood experience -- without any tacky fake meat.

Toasted Nori and Tofu "Fish"

1 block firm tofu (sliced into 8 pieces)

1 or 2 sheets of nori

1 piece of kombu (optional)

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

olive oil

salt & pepper

Dry tofu slices with a towel. Place slices onto the sheet of nori about a half-inch apart. Cut around each slice of tofu so the nori is the same size as the tofu. This imparts the flavor of the sea into each slice. Place in a single layer in a container with a piece of kombu. Allow to marinate overnight.

When you are ready to serve it, heat a skillet over medium heat, add oil to the pan, and allow it to come to temperature. Dredge each piece of tofu (top and bottom) in flour before placing it nori-side-down in the oil. Allow each pice to cook in the pan for about 3-4 minutes per side. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

I served this tofu over a delicious succotash made from sea beans, fresh corn, purple hull peas, jalapeno peppers, red peppers, and shallots. The dressing was a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, champagne vinegar, salt, and pepper. The dish was finished with a vanilla bean buerre blanc and a sprinkle of panko for texture.

Go Vote!

Our Fall Garden

Maybe we'll have some success with our first fall vegetable garden because I don't want to abandon the raised bed just yet! Remembering to water every day -- not to mention yesterday's big rain -- has given these new mini-crops a much-needed head start.

It's surprising how easy it has been to start a few rows of mesclun, arugula, and mixed heirloom lettuces, Golden Cross cabbage, garlic chives, Swiss chard, and red carrots. Plus we still have a okra coming in and an amazing crop of basil. Now I wish I knew what to plant, if anything, when it starts to get colder. Any ideas about where we could get some hearty plants and tough seeds for late fall into winter? Is it going to be kale and only kale?

The Perfect Vessels Record Release Show + More

I'm in a band called The Perfect Vessels, and we have an album coming out on Makeshift Records called "Name Our Own Stars." If you absolutely can't wait for the official release in February to get your hands on a copy, you can get the digital album for $5.99, or pre-order the CD for $9.99 which includes an immediate download of the album. Go to our Facebook page and click the MyStore tab.

Also, we are playing live on the radio today, at 5:45 PM sharp on 730 AM Fox Sports, the Chris Vernon Show's "Sounds of Memphis" segment. Aaron Brame will be joining us on banjo! Listen online HERE.

We just released our video for the song "Sun Never Goes." See it HERE.

If you'd like to see how dumb I sound quoted in print, go HERE for an article from the Commercial Appeal that came out today.

If you haven't had enough of us after all that, our record release show is this Saturday, October 23 at the Hi-Tone with the Subteens and Tiger Mountain. We will have video projections during our set being remixed live by our friend Kevin McCasland, with clips provided by Bart Shannon, Jamie Harmon, Drew Smith, Ryan Azada, Graham Burks, and more.

Hope to see everyone Saturday night. I'll be the one behind the drums.

-JFB

How to Create The World's Best Veggie Plate

I laughed out loud when I read the headline on the cover of the new Food & Wine magazine that came in the mail a few days ago. It read "Vegetables: the next big trend." As far as I'm concerned, they never went out of style!

I was inspired to make a restaurant-style veggie plate out of all of the 'hip and trendy' things I had hanging out in my fridge. I made a warm zucchini and tomato salad with parmesan, pickled beets with arugula and goat cheese, baba ganoush with homemade pita chips, and green beans with almonds and orange zest.

Now I want to give you few tips for making your own vegetables tasty:

1. Blanch green vegetables like green beans, broccoli, and zucchini in super-salty water for just a few seconds. This will leach out any bitterness and render a sweeter-tasting veg without obliterating the nutritional value.

2. Get some caramelization on your veg by leaving it alone in the pan a little longer than you think you should. That color = flavor.

3. Add some citrus zest to almost everything. A little goes a long way, but it adds a bright note that is undeniably delicious.

4. A pinch of high-quality salt and a twist of good black pepper at the end can make all of the difference in the world.

So, we're wondering...do you have any tips of your own for making the most of vegetables?

Chestnut + Butternut Squash Ravioli

So what do you do with your bounty of chestnuts once you have them roasted and peeled? Well, I made ravioli, of course. I know, I've been a little obsessed with ravioli lately, but it is really nearly the perfect food. It's delicious and versatile, and it's sure to impress. This fall-inspired filling makes perfect use of earthy flavors. The chestnuts add a nice creaminess while the roasted butternut squash lends a bit of sweetness to the dish.

6 chestnuts (chopped)

1 small head of garlic (roasted)

1 1/2 cups butternut squash (roasted)

1/2 cup mozzarella cheese

1/4 cup bread crumbs

1 egg

orange zest

salt & pepper

Everything goes into the food processor until well incorporated. Follow THESE instructions to make the pasta dough and to assemble these little beauties. The sauce was made from 1 diced shallot, olive oil, 1 1/2 cups white wine, a knob of butter, sage, orange zest, and sliced chestnuts. I garnished the dish with fried sage leaves and a little bit of parmesan.

How I Score a Chestnut

Before you roast fresh chestnuts, you need to score each shell with an "X". I used to do this with a knife until I tried it with my kitchen shears one day. It's a million times easier and faster this way, and it's a little less likely that you will slip and hurt yourself; still, be careful!

Once you have scored all of your chestnuts, stick them in a 375 degree oven for 10-15 minutes until they pop open, allow them to cool, and then pull open the shells. Store the chestnut meat in the fridge if you're going to use it in a few days. Or you can just keep 'em in the freezer for up to a month.

BTW, I bought these particular chestnuts at the Memphis Botanic Garden's Wednesday afternoon farmers market. They are from the garden's very own trees. Be on the lookout for chestnuts from the very same haul to be on menus around town this month! Today, I'm thinking of making some sort of chestnut cream...

Customizable Fruit Crisp in 10 Brief Steps

Fruit crisp is a must around here in the fall, so I use this process all the time to make a quick, healthy-ish dessert with whatever's at the market. I've memorized it because it is super-simple. Tonight's crisp was plum-and-orange crisp with crystallized ginger and honey-cinnamon yogurt cream. Customize your own fall crisp as you wish. Here's the process:

Part One: The Fruit

1. Chop your fruit, whatever kind you have or like, into pieces that are on the small side.

2. Add the juice of half a citrus fruit and sift in a tablespoon of cornstarch.

3. Butter your pan and pour the fruit mixture into it. Set it aside.

Part Two: The Crisp

4. Cut up a few pats of butter into squares and put this in the fridge or freezer.

5. In a separate bowl, mix equal parts cane sugar or light brown sugar, oats, and flour.

6. Add a pinch of salt and the tiny, cold squares of butter.

7. Add the spices you like, any combo of crystallized or powdered ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, or even something like allspice or five-spice powder. Mix it up.

8. Top the fruit evenly with the crisp and drizzle olive oil on top.

9. Bake at 375 degrees for 40 minutes.

Part Three: The Cream

10. No one really wants crisp without something on top to cut the sweetness. I like Greek yogurt whisked with honey or maple syrup with an add-in or a little spice.

Looking for something to do this weekend?

On Friday night, make your way over to Broad Ave. for the Art Walk, where my friend Mel Spillman will be showing some of her beautiful paintings from 5-8pm at Material (2553 Broad). Next, head over to Shell Out for the Arts which runs from 6:30-9:30pm. There will be good vegetarian food provided by the Young Avenue Deli and a concert by Alvin Youngblood-Heart. On Saturday, come see me and Ben Vaughn cook like crazy at the Cooper-Young Regional Beerfest. I advise resting on Sunday.

We have a winner!

Thanks, everyone, for playing. I got some great responses, and I also learned a thing or two. (Now I've got to order some asafoetida.)

To be completely fair, I used a random integer generator to come up with the number of the winning comment.

So...congratulations, CyberTygr! You won a pair of V.I.P. tickets to the Cooper-Young Regional Beerfest and lunch on me. Please see my profile and email me your real name and a password of your choosing, and I will leave your tickets for you at the front counter of Au Fond Farmtable. You may pick them up on Friday or Saturday.

And I hope to see the rest of you at the fest!

Cooper-Young Beerfest Ticket Giveaway

Chef Ben Vaughn of Restaurant Grace and Au Fond Farmtable and I have collaborated to create a menu for the Cooper-Young Regional Beerfest, which is happening on Saturday, Oct. 9, from 1-5 p.m. in Memphis.

Our menu riffs on the classics: dogs and pizza. While Chef Vaughn has some delicious plans for those who eat meat (and cinnamon rolls!), I will make sure the vegetarians don't go hungry. I'll be making a vegetarian version of a meatball sub and puttanesca pizza on focaccia bread. It's sure to be a carb-y good time.

I have two V.I.P. Beerfest tickets ($60 value) to give away this week to a lucky TCV blog reader. At the festival, I will also provide 2 of our food items free to this ticket winner. Here's the deal: tell me about your favorite vegetarian dish to pair with beer. Post your response in the comments section of this post by Wednesday, 10/6 at midnight. I will select the winning entry at random and post the winner's name on the blog on Thursday. You may enter more than once.

Even if you don't win, be sure to stop by on Saturday, grab some good food, and say hello!

Dutch Process Hot Cocoa

It's cold, and you need some hot chocolate, stat, for these forty-something-degree nights. (How in the world did this happen all of a sudden?!) It's also pretty nice to have some gelatin-free marshmallows after twenty-plus years without them.

In a saucepan over medium heat, warm this:

1 1/4 cup milk

1/4 cup half-and-half

Whisk in this:

1 tbsp. Dutch process cocoa

2 tbsp. cane sugar

Pour into two mugs and top with:

Sweet & Sara vegan mini marshmallows

(And fall has arrived!)

Olive + Mushroom Ravioli

This is a great vegetarian ravioli filling because the mushrooms lend a nice 'meaty' flavor while the olives add a briny note. The result is a welcome change from the more typical cheese-stuffed ravioli you find in restaurants and in the grocery store freezer section. If you haven't made your own ravioli, it's time to try it now. Follow THESE basic instructions. Like most things in life, it's a struggle at first, but then with a few attempts, you'll get the hang of it. You really can make handmade ravioli on a weeknight. I promise.

Olive + Mushroom Ravioli Filling

1/3 cup mixed Italian olives (pitted)

1/2 cup parmesan cheese (shredded)

2 cloves garlic (smoked if you have it)

1/3 cup breadcrumbs (panko)

1/4 cup fresh parsley (loosely packed)

1 egg

6 mushrooms (baby bella, white button / sliced and sautéed in olive oil)

a pinch of lemon zest

a few turns of the pepper grinder

All ingredients go into your food processor and are pulsed until finely chopped. Serve this with your favorite tomato sauce and a little extra parmesan on top.

Under-the-Radar Places to Eat in Memphis

Check out this recent article of ours for a lot of really, really great local places to try over the weekend!

Naan Pizza with Coriander Tomatoes + Yogurt Cheese

I invented this cultural mash-up. At least I thought I did until a quick Google search revealed 10 billion similar recipes. Nevertheless, I was the first one in my house to make it, and surprisingly, it may just be one of the best things I have ever tasted. The marriage of pizza and Indian food sounds like a 3 a.m. dream food craving come to life, and it is. You must try this. It's delish.

The naan:

1 1/2 cups bread flour

1/8 tsp. garlic powder (fresh garlic will burn on the stone)

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp rapid-rise yeast

about 1/2 cup warm water

The dry ingredients go into the food processor with the dough blade in place. Turn the processor on and drizzle the water in until the dough clumps into a ball and rolls around the bowl. Stop the processor, grab the dough, cut it in half, and roll each half into a ball. Cover and allow to rise for 45 minutes.

Place pizza stone on the middle rack of the oven. Turn the broiler on medium high and preheat for 20 minutes. This sounds strange, but it mimics the effect of a tandoori oven. Roll each dough ball out into an oblong shape that is about 12 inches on the longest side. Pull out the rack containing the stone, place dough directly onto the pizza stone, push the rack back in, and shut the oven door. Allow each bread to cook for about 3 minutes or until the top is blistered and brown. Remove naan from the oven.

The sauce:

2 tbsp butter

1 tbsp coriander

1/2 tbsp cumin

1/2 tbsp hot curry powder

1 jalapeno (minced)

3 cloves garlic (minced)

1/2 white onion (thinly sliced)

capful of white vinegar

salt

Toppings: yogurt cheese and cilantro

Add the butter and spices to a pot over medium-high heat. Cook spices in butter for 1 minute or until fragrant. Add the onion and cook a few minutes until translucent. Add remaining ingredients. Smash the tomatoes with a potato masher or a large wooden spoon. Reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes. Uncover and simmer until thickened.

Now set your oven to bake at 450 degrees. Dress each cooked piece of naan with half of the tomato sauce and a few ounces of shredded yogurt cheese. Place on the pizza stone until the cheese is melted and bubbly. Garnish each with cilantro. Spring this unexpected pizza on your next dinner guests.

Running 26.2 miles in honor of my Mom and for the benefit of St. Jude

On Sunday, December 4, 2010, I will be running my second full marathon. This has become a tradition for me; I run as a St. Jude Hero in honor of my late mother Suzanne Burks, whose favorite charity was St. Jude Children's Research Hospital here in Memphis, Tennessee. I think if my mom were here to see this race, she would tell everyone that I won the marathon, no matter when I finished it. It is also important to me that this year, the December 4 race day would also have been her birthday. Any support for "Team Suzanne" would mean so much to me and to the kids receiving care at this amazing hospital here in my hometown. Looking back on my races up until now, I see that running has offered me clarity of mind along with the strength to reach any goal I set in life. If all of my blog followers give a little then we will hit our fundraising goal with no problem. Please join me in your support of St. Jude and help me honor Suzanne Burks this December as I prepare to best my 4:50 time at 2009's Chicago Marathon and complete this one with a goal of 4:30

It only takes a minute to fill in the blanks and make a

small donation to a worthwhile cause. I promise it will make you feel good. Click THIS LINK and then the "donate now" button in the top right corner of my St. Jude page to make a donation. Fellow bloggers please feel free to post a link to my St. Jude page in order to help get the word out there.

Thank you in advance for your help,

-Justin

Purple Salad

I was imagining this one for a while: what would an all-purple salad look like? A one-off Halloween project? Lush and shadowy like an Old Masters still life? Or maybe just color-wheel opposite day? Keeping track of all the purple fruit and veg that I saw, I tried to figure out a way to gather all of them at one perfect time for the dark, moody salad I daydreamed about making.

This week ended up being the right time to transfer what was vividly locked in my mind to the plate. (Now I'm dreaming of salads representing each hue; red and yellow and green are easy...but what about, say, blue? Hmmm...)

Purple Salad

1 Detroit red beet

olive oil

honey

sea salt and cracked black pepper

crusty bread

4 leaves purple cabbage

4 leaves radicchio

purple baby romaine lettuce

10 purple basil leaves, no stems

20 red grapes

a purple plum

For the salad:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Peel the beet and slice it into about 1/4-inch thick half-moons. Drizzle with a 1-2 tbsp. olive oil and 1 tbsp. honey; add sea salt and pepper to taste. Bake for 20 minutes. Set aside. Next, chop up the bread into small squares and drizzle it with olive oil to lightly coat it. Add salt and pepper. Put this into the same oven for about 10-15 minutes until crisp. Set aside.

Rinse and chop the radicchio and cabbage into small, thin strips. Rinse and spin the purple baby romaine and purple basil. Wrap these loosely in paper towels and allow them to chill in the fridge. Cut the red grapes in half; slice the plum with the skin on. Chill these, too.

For the goat cheese disks:

1/2 cup goat cheese

1/2 cup pecans

2 tbsp. honey

1/4 tsp. gray sea salt

Dry roast the pecans for no more than 5 minutes in a skillet on medium heat. Roughly chop them and spread them on a small plate. Mix up the goat cheese with honey and gray salt. Shape the goat cheese mix into 1-inch-round balls and smash them into the pecan mixture to flatten and coat.

For the purple vinaigrette:

2 tbsp. olive oil

1 tbsp. honey

2 tsp. balsamic vinegar

1 tbsp. grenache vinegar

juice from half a lemon

sea salt and cracked pepper

Whisk all ingredients and drizzle the vinaigrette over composed salad.

Roasted Red Pepper Soup + Sambal and Cinnamon

At lunch on Friday, I saw a friend eating a bowl of thin, bright, gorgeous red pepper soup, and it looked so perfectly spicy, so very fall, that I swore I was going to make something like it this weekend. It helped that peppers are still at the markets -- actually, I was surprised by the amount of produce still going strong right now -- so we picked up a dozen red peppers from Whitton Farms for this, a Moroccan spin on red pepper soup.

Roasted Red Pepper Soup + Sambal and Cinnamon

12 small roasted red peppers

1 white onion

6 cl0ves of garlic

1/2 cup of white wine (We used chenin blanc.)

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tbsp. sambal

1 peeled tomato

1 tbsp. olive oil

1 tbsp. garbanzo bean flour

1 capful of vinegar

squeeze of honey

1 vegetable bouillon cube

sea salt and crushed black pepper

Roast the peppers right on the grill and wait until the skin blackens. Take them inside to cool and then peel off all the char under running water and pull out the stems and seeds. For the soup, chop thin slices of onion and sauté them (in a soup pot on medium-high) in olive oil until they're soft and starting to turn brown. Add the garlic, white wine, cinnamon, and sambal. Reduce until thick and syrupy. Chop the peeled tomato and add it to the mix.

Now push everything in the pan to the side and add a tbsp. of olive oil and garbanzo bean flour to the middle. Toast it up like a roux. Add vinegar and honey, salt and pepper, and all the prepared peppers. Add 2 cups of water and the bouillon to the mix. Carefully blend the soup with an immersion blender. Taste it to check the seasoning before it's set to serve. (Yesterday we added local goat feta on top, some julienned peppers and English cucumber, and a slice of Sherri's honey whole wheat bread with sunflower seeds. A grilled cheese sandwich might be pretty great with it, too.) This is a versatile recipe. We served the leftovers as a roasted red pepper dip along side some rosemary and white bean hummus.

Date Marzipan No-Bake Truffles

I just saw fresh dates on the vine at the Mediterranean Grocery on Park. I'd never seen these before, so I snatched them up and brought them home right away. I decided to make cookies with no oil and very little added sugar, and dates are so sweet and inoffensively raisin-y, so they were the base. These refrigerator cookies reminded me of the Mexican marzipan disks made out of peanuts and powdered sugar and wrapped in plastic that's stamped pink and green.

Put 10-12 fresh dates, peeled and pitted (the skins slip right off when they're ripe) in the food processor. Add 1/4 cup roasted and salted peanuts and start processing. Use a small scoop to portion out round bits of batter onto a plate. Put them in the fridge for a couple of hours then dust them with powdered sugar. You'll love these tiny, sticky treats because they taste great and are healthy for you -- or you could just go ahead and coat them in chocolate ganache!

A Tennessee Dinner

We so love our home state. A couple of new things made in Tennessee that we haven't tried until now starred in the best dinner this week: Waynesboro's Bonnie Blue Farm goat's milk cheddar on acorn squash, sage, and fennel gnocchi, and then a little Nashville Olive & Sinclair salt and pepper chocolate bar. Two of the best things I have ever had in my life -- sincerely!

The goat's milk cheese is aged one year and is more akin to a super-nice parmesan than a typical cheddar. It would work as well on pasta as it did on Italian dumplings because it has a nice funky, mushroom-y rind, a dry texture, and a salty tongue. And don't even get me started on the chocolate...eat your heart out, Vosges! The chocolate itself is complex and smoky while the salt adds a nice top end and the pepper hits you in the upper nasal region. I cannot even fully describe it here. You must try it.

Muscadine Soda

We couldn't resist the lure of the muscadines any longer, but we had no idea what to do with them. We bought a pint of black muscadines with a deep purple skin and a light green middle, and we set them out on the counter for a couple of days. There they sat.

Once I finally took a bite of one, I was immediately reminded of the flavor of grape soda and grape gum, and then it whisked me back to my childhood, in which I was always drinking Nehi peach or grape soda and eating dill-pickle-flavored potato chips while sitting on my skateboard in Germantown. My better half remembers her grandfather making muscadine wine every summer, but it was always weak, so everyone used it in place of vinegar. Due to all of the memories swirling around, this was a fun thing to try.

Muscadine Soda

20 muscadines

2 tbsp. agave nectar

1 bottle of sparkling mineral water

Run the muscadines through a food mill (or blend and strain) to catch the peel and seeds. Add agave to the juice and mix well. Pour this over crushed ice and add mineral water. Stir and wonder why you ever bought soda instead of making it your own self.

Pickled Chanterelle Mushrooms

"If you don't like mushrooms and you don't like pickles, this may not be the dish for you," I told Alan. I knew the tiny crock of pickled chanterelles I brought to his house was a pretty unusual addition to the wonderful bruschetta and cheese plate he and his wife Courtney had set out. "I try to avoid both," he said smiling.

I urged him to give them a try anyway, and he did. I personally think the flavor and texture of chanterelles is so unexpected that it almost doesn't seem mushroom-y at all. As the mushrooms pickle, they become silky, rich, and meaty with a bright finish from the wine, white balsamic vinegar, and thyme. I really loved them, and even Alan went back for seconds.

1 1/4 cups chanterelles torn into slivers

1/4 cup white balsamic

1/4 cup white wine

1/2 cup water

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon sugar

a few black peppercorns

2 cloves garlic

1 sprig thyme

Everything but the mushrooms should be brought to a boil and then removed from the heat. Put mushrooms in a glass container and cover them with the pickling mixture. Place in the fridge for at least 24 hours and up to a week. To serve drain pickling liquid, remove pepper and garlic, then top with good olive oil, salt, and pepper.

Asian Cabbage Wraps

After scouring the shelves for the first new vegetable seedlings at Lowe's this weekend -- cauliflower, butter lettuce, cabbage, broccoli, so many different things all set to grow now -- we decided to ditch the fall garden plan for a minute and go make some leafy wraps at home for dinner. (Looking at all the perfect pictures of hefty cabbage stapled to the front of the plant trays must have triggered a little craving!)

Somehow, in the midst of all the excitement, we forgot to buy the typical restaurant-wrap iceberg lettuce at the store, so the dense curly cabbage we did pick up ended up being a surprisingly good, nutritious sub for it.

Asian Cabbage Wraps

Roughly chop up one carrot, one bell pepper, half a head of napa cabbage, a shallot, one clove of garlic, and a 1/4-inch slice of ginger. Put all of this in the food processor and pulse until very finely chopped.

Cube a block of firm tofu into a small dice. Cook it in a saucepan on medium-high until crispy in a mix of olive oil and sesame oil. Set aside. Add those chopped veggies to the oil. Once they're heated through -- just a few minutes -- add a squeeze of Braggs or soy sauce, mirin, and sriracha. Allow some liquid to evaporate. Mix the veg with the tofu. Add 3 chopped scallions and 1/2 cup chopped peanuts to the mixture. Serve in chilled cabbage-leaf cups.

Trying Out Christina Tosi's Compost Cookies

I had to try them. Like a charm necklace or infinity scarf, this is a trend that I just could not miss. They may not be the healthiest cookie in the world, but they certainly are divisive and also hilarious.

Compost cookies were developed by my new pastry chef idol, the Momofuku empire's Christina Tosi of crack pie and cereal milk fame. These cookies gained some mainstream fame recently on Regis & Kelly, of all programs. This week, I meticulously followed Tosi's pretzel, chocolate, puffed rice cereal, and potato chip cookie recipe -- even its super-long mix time. I added a good dose of espresso powder in place of coffee grounds, which have been mysteriously omitted in this recipe.

These crazy cookies are very buttery. They really need an overnight chill in the fridge. In the end, they only lasted hours. They scare people a little bit, just as a good modern pastry should. Mine kind of reminded me of lacy oatmeal cookies plus unexpected junk food flavors. I think I will be passing this recipe down to my grandchildren…or at least a niece or nephew.

Apple + Walnut + Kale Ravioli

It's been ravioli night over here every Monday for weeks, and I've kept it pretty classic up until now. However, after an assignment photographing what goes on in the kitchen on No-Menu Monday at Andrew Michael Italian Kitchen this week, I felt liberated and ready to push the boundaries of ravioli. I saw the guys stuffing handmade tortellini with creamed corn and serving it with shaved black truffles. Yeah!

So, I thought about what I could do differently in my own kitchen. Apples, onions, walnuts, and kale screamed fall. They came together really well; here's how it went.

For the pasta dough:

1 cup semolina flour

1/2 cup AP flour

2 eggs

Make a well with the mixed flours. Crack the eggs in the middle and mix with your fingers until dough forms. Knead it for 5 minutes. Wrap it in plastic and put it in the fridge for 30 minutes to rest.

For the filling:

1/2 white onion

2 tbsp. olive oil

1 Pink Lady apple, peeled and sliced

1/2 cup white wine

1 bunch kale:

- veins and stems removed

- blanched in very salty water

- squeezed dry

1 clove of garlic

sea salt & cracked pepper

6 whole walnuts

1 spoonful of ricotta

1/2 slice of white bread

1 egg

lemon zest

Start with onions sliced into half-moons in a medium-low pan with olive oil. You want them to caramelize. Once the onions begin to brown, add the white wine and then the apple slices. Place the onion-apple mixture, kale, garlic, salt and pepper to taste, pecans, ricotta, bread, and lemon zest in food processor and pulse until it's well-incorporated but still a little chunky. Set aside in the fridge.

For the sauce:

4 medium green zebra tomatoes

1/2 onion

2 ribs of celery

1/2 green pepper

2 tbsp. olive oil

1/2 cup white wine

a splash of white balsamic vinegar

small knob of butter

Finely dice the veg. Put it all in a saucepan -- along with olive oil -- on medium, and add white wine and vinegar once the vegetables start to get a little brown. Add butter at the end.

Assembly:

Roll out this dough to a #6 on the pasta maker. Trim the raggedy edges with a pizza cutter. Add about 2 tsp. of the filling to the along the sheet of pasta but leave an inch on each side of filling: you are going to fold the top over. Use a pasta tool to seal the front edge and sides. Cook in salty boiling water; as soon as they float, keep them in for another minute. Remove with slotted spoon and put them straight into the sauce. You may want to top it with parsley and parm. Ready to go! All the trouble will definitely be worth it.

Maldon Sea Salt & Tellicherry Black Pepper

A family member and I paired up for a quick round of grocery shopping last week. (If you want to learn all about the hidden bizarre-o quirks of a person you thought you knew pretty well, all you have to do is witness her weekly shop. Try it out. It's very revealing.) So we had a little tiff in the spices aisle. And it all started with salt.

"Just get the one with the girl on it!" this unnamed relative exclaimed impatiently as I browsed. "See, it has iodine in it. You need that."

Well, it wasn't just about replacement, because we always have Morton's in the cupboard. I tried to explain why I like having a few different salts to use, why I'm a sucker for any kind I haven't had before. I feel like there are different kinds of salt for all manner of dishes, but my shopping partner could not fathom a reason to try out any other salt besides the basic one. A tiny $10.99 pot of fleur de sel was deemed ridiculous. Common sense says that it is...but something changes once you taste it.

Around here, we've used up some fleur de sel in the past year, and I love how melty it is once it comes into contact with food. It's a little like fairy dust in that it makes everything taste amazing. Now we're trying out classic Maldon sea salt, which tastes exactly like the ocean. It may be a new staple. Other salts of note? Well, a small bowl of pink Himalayan sea salt looks nice the table, and we're also working through Bianca's gift of a salt tasting set from the Meadow. I also like the mild taste of gray sea salt and have been dreaming of using it on desserts.

Pepper is a little bit simpler. First, forget all the pink-and-green, brown-and-black mixed peppercorns. It looks pretty, but that's too many competing flavors! I never was that particular about pepper before, and it was a full year before I replaced our broken pepper grinder at one point, so already-ground pepper was the norm. This year, I became interested in Tellicherry black peppercorns after reading about them everywhere, and having this particular kind in the grinder does make a difference on top of a finished dish. This pepper is big, strong, floral, and pungent.

We are trying to figure out how to use white pepper now, too. Recently, I've had it in an apple dessert and heard it's great with asparagus soup. I also really like shredded pink peppercorns with sea salt and honey -- good for a cheese plate.

All of this is not to say that being a total snob about salt and pepper is the key. I still want to be able to adapt and not complain if I don't have a certain kind of spice on hand or I'm cooking somewhere unfamiliar and going with what's provided. But it's nice to toy around with the basics just to learn what it does to your food to see if you really can taste the difference.

Plum, Pluot, and Basil Salad

Plums and pluots are looking great right now. I picked up 5 different varieties in a beautiful range of colors at Fresh Market this week; as I waited a few days for them to ripen, this salad came together in my mind. It's almost like a caprese, but not. Basil, bleu cheese, toasted almonds, and a plum-honey-white balsamic dressing go well with the plums' sweet flavor.

Plum and Basil Salad

1/2 cup of basil, stems removed

5 plums and pluots, not peeled

1/4 cup sliced almonds

1/8 cup bleu cheese, crumbled

sea salt and cracked pepper

Wash and dry basil and arrange it into the bottom layer on the plate. Slice plums thinly and alternate them in a circle. Add bleu cheese in the middle. Toast the almonds for a minute in a dry pan on medium heat and add them on top after they cool a bit. Add salt and pepper to taste, and add dressing right before serving.

Dressing:

1 tbsp. of juice from the plums

1 tbsp. honey

1 tbsp. white balsamic

1/2 tbsp. olive oil

squeeze of lemon

sea salt and cracked pepper

Whisk all ingredients and drizzle over composed salad.

Easy Peach Smoothie

I have been freezing peeled peaches so as not to let that perfect point of ripeness go to waste. I was glad to have thought ahead because this ended up being the perfect drink for a sore throat on a blistering hot day.

Easy Peach Smoothie

Makes 2 smoothies

2 1/2 cups frozen peaches

1 small container of Greek yogurt

3 tbsp. honey

1/2 cup milk (maybe more)

pinch of salt

Blend it all up; have a spoon handy.

Vegan Zucchini "Pasta" + New Peeler Report

My sister asked me what we did on Friday night. I told her we went to the store to buy stuff for a tomato aspic salad and then we checked out a whole bunch of vegetable peelers at T.J. Maxx. She laughed a short little disbelieving laugh; being her sister and having known her forever, I knew that it meant she thought our weekend-night adventure was more than a little bit dorky. And she even cooks, too!

Peeler Night really was worth it, though. We've found a new favorite in the julienne one, and because our friend Laura had been raving about her serrated peeler, which takes just the thin skin off peaches and tomatoes, we snagged one of those, too. Three colorful plain peelers were also a must. Trying new things and making quick garnishes has gotten to be effortless after splurging on these tools.

In the mood for pasta, but needing something really healthy and raw for a quick weekday lunch during a busy week, I opted for zucchini ribbons. With the help of my julienne peeler, it was easy: I kept the skin on the zucchini and cut off long slices to be blanched then topped with tomatoes and beans.

Vegan Zucchini "Pasta"

1 large zucchini

salt

2 tbsp. olive oil

2 cloves of garlic, sliced thinly

1/2 cup of white wine

1 1/2 cup of grape tomatoes, halved

1/2 cup of cannellini beans

handful of chopped parsley

sea salt and cracked pepper

Peel strips from the zucchini with the julienne peeler; this should come to about 2 cups. To blanch, boil very salty water and add zucchini for 15 seconds before removing with tongs. (This takes out any bitterness and softens veg.)

Put olive oil and garlic in a sauté pan. Once the garlic browns a little, add the wine. Let it all cook down for 2 minutes. Add tomatoes and beans. Add the blanched zucchini, too and cook through for a couple minutes until everything is warm. Top with sea salt, cracked pepper , and chopped parsley to taste.

Vegetarian Tomato Aspic

I was talking to my old friend Scott who works at the venerable Jim's Place East, and he said that they were not only moving to East Memphis but also updating the menu. We got to a point in our conversation where I wondered aloud how one would update something like tomato aspic. He said something to the effect of, "How would you update that?" Suddenly, I saw this as a challenge; since everyone remembers eating this tomato jell-o-like substance in the 80's or the 50's, it's now time to bring the aspic back. (Of course, there would be no gelatin involved. I used agar agar, or seaweed powder, from an Asian market instead.)

Easy Tomato Soup (for the eventual aspic)

Roughly chop 5 large tomatoes and cook them down on medium heat. Once they've broken down after about 10 minutes, run them through a food mill when they've cooled. Add a pinch of sea salt, red pepper flakes, and cracked pepper to taste. Microplane a clove of garlic into the mix. (Honestly, if you don't to do this prep., get a can of smooth tomato soup, because that's basically what you're ending up with here anyway.)

Vegetarian Tomato Aspic

2 cups cooked-down tomato soup

1 tsp. sugar

1/4 tsp. agar agar

sliced tomatoes

Whisk together these 3 ingredients, making sure there are no lumps, and pour into a silicone muffin tin; add tomato slices on the bottom before you pour. Serve in the middle of a chopped salad of baby romaine, bleu cheese, celery, and top with buttermilk dressing.

Buttermilk Dressing

1/3 cup buttermilk

1 clove of garlic, microplaned

1 tsp. white vinegar

1 tsp. mustard

sea salt and cracked pepper

Whisk all ingredients together and chill it in the fridge before using on the salad.