extra crunchy broccoli salad

So we all know that infamous (expensive) uber-tasty broccoli salad from Whole Foods right? Man that stuff is good! Almost worth it's weight in goodness.

I, of course, do love it, but have always wanted to jazz it up (no brainer there).

What I created is good. No no, I mean it's good. I did not foresee myself eating this for breakfast, lunch and then for dinner with some roasted chicken.

I should point out to you all that I am NOT a broccoli fan, nor am I a mayo-based salad fan UNLESS it's my balsamic potato salad. So, with that said you have to know that I must really like this crunchy broccoli salad. The flavors going on, the textures, the un-mayo'ey like taste....really tasty.

I know I say this alllllll the time, but promise me you will make this? Even if the ingredient list sounds funky? Trust me you will love it--it's highly addictive. But hey it's filled with veggies. OK?

Cook notes: One can easily add bacon chunks to this, and I've even seen almond butter and/or peanut butter added into this and I can now see why. Fabulous additions. If you do use almond butter add a pinch of cinnamon too--trust me.

"extra" crunchy broccoli salad
print recipe

About 3-4 cups of broccoli crowns, flash cooked (just to take the raw edge off)
1/2 cup red onion
1/2 cup raisins
½ cup sesame sticks, loose chop
1/2 cup whole honey roasted cashews
½ cup of carrots, chopped

Dressing:
(not quite a) 1/2 cup Hellmans mayo
2-3 TB white sugar
2 TB apple cider vinegar

1 - 2 TB honey
¾ TB madras curry powder

Dashes of Tabasco sauce
½ TB of red hot pepper flakes
Salt & pepper to taste

Cook notes: One can easily add bacon chunks to this, and I've even seen almond butter and/or peanut butter added into the dressing, and I can now see why. Fabulous additions. If you do use almond butter add a pinch of cinnamon too--trust me. This does not keep for days as sesame sticks get soggy. This makes a good amount of dressing, so use sparingly and keep the rest for future batches. Obviously if you dress the salad and then store leftovers it will get soggy. So dress the salad as you go along and add sesame sticks after you've dressed the salad.

Make sure to flash cook the broccoli heads to take the raw edge off. A quick 2 minute cook should work.
Drain them well. Even go as far as to blot with paper towels. Place in bowl and chill.

Combine all the dressing ingredients in a small bowl and mix, do a taste test and see if you like it and/or what it needs. Then set aside in fridge to chill.
When ready to serve get all the add in’s ready on a plate; then in a giant bowl add in the chilled broccoli heads, carrots, and all the add in’s. Mix well. Then in batches pour in the dressing and stir. Add as much or a little dressing as you desire. I found that this doesn’t need a lot of dressing.

Cover and refrigerate for at least 2-hours. If you do add bacon to this, add it at the very last minute just before serving. You don’t want the bacon chunks getting soggy.

filet mignon salad w/ balsamic-blue cheese dressing

Living on cape cod has it pro's and con's. Pro's: summertime on the beach, endless supply of fresh seafood, close to both islands, provincetown, ice cream stands everywhere. Con's: long winters, limited sun, endless supply of tourists, limited supply of restaurants, limited supply of farmers markets, and no whole foods, BUT we do have a Trader Joe's. And when I say limited I do mean limited because most family owned businesses that are restaurants close down for the winter. Most of the family owned restaurants are fairly good (for the cape). We do have a small amount of the larger chain restaurants like Chili's, Outback, Friendly's, etc.. Not many really. It is rare for the hubby and I to go to a large chain restaurant. If we do it's because we are desperate, there are long lines at the seafood joints or we're just plain stupid. The latter for the most recent trip to Outback. I don't know why we did what we did because my inner voice told me not to go to Outback. Yes, it was awful. I ordered the steak salad. On the menu the steak salad sounded really good: a sliced filet mignon with balsamic and blue cheese and a nice wedge of iceberg with tomatoes/onions. Plus the photo looked really good! What I got was nothing like the photo (see photo below), it was small, micro-small, and way over-cooked, plus the iceberg wedge was mostly white (under grown lettuce). Have you ever seen white iceberg? Scary. I made sure to let the manager know of my situation and that I was not happy. Nothing was done. For real.



To quote Miranada from Sex and the City, who said while eating at the "raw" restaurant after drinking a shot of wheatgrass juice "I'm going to need a pizza after this!". That is exactly what hubby said after eating half of his micro-mini, gamey cheeseburger and fries, served on greasy plate.

This turn of bad foodie events prompted me to remake this steak/salad dish at home.

My version came out perfectly. Wasn't heavy at all. When the hubby eats a meal that he loves he won't come up for air or speak until half is devoured--half time! And at that point he exclaims, as always, I can even mouth in-tune, with him, as he says "this is the best dish ever!"

The sauce is great mingling of tastes when combined with the blue cheese. Plus the beef I used is a lot safer than what is served in those larger chains. Heavens knows where their beef comes from and what it was fed.

And the real point I wanted to make: this is really easy to make. Simple, tasty and fast. You can easily make the reduction sauce a day ahead and chop up veggies ahead of time. This meal is a great way to impress friends for your summertime lunch/dinner. I did grill the steaks in a cast iron pan (for the nice grill marks), but one can easily grill these too. Just watch the steaks if you use a filet cut as filet's tend to cook a lot faster than a strip steak or porterhouse.

Leftovers make EXCELLENT steak sandwiches on toasted buns!



filet mignon salad w/ balsamic-blue cheese dressing
print recipe

2 filet mignons
1 small red onion, chopped
heirloom tomatoes (or regular tomatoes)
salt & pepper

for the sauce:
1/4 cup balsamic dressing (trader joe's has a good one)
5 TB Worcestershire sauce
chunky blue cheese dressing
1/4 cup (or more) danish blue cheese crumbles

In a small bowl mix the balsamic dressing and worcestershire sauce, set aside

Season the filets with salt & pepper.
Get your grill or cast iron grill pan ready--nice and hot.
Cook the steaks. And on the cooked sides generously douse them with the balsamic miixture. I just poured the sauce right on the steaks and caramelized both sides of the steak.
It makes a nice sticky coating. Make sure to do both sides.
And if you want, with any remaining sauce, go ahead and make a quick reduction (heat up, boil a few minutes till sauce thickens just slightly) to use on the salad wedge and any extra you want on the steaks and/or veggies.

Serve the steaks with a wedge of iceberg lettuce and heirloom tomatoes.
Then drizzle lettuce and tomatoes with blue cheese dressing, then the blue cheese crumbles..
Top the steak and salad with red onions.
Do a drizzle of the reduction sauce if desired.

summer so far....

Haven't been baking much. Since we had almost 9 months of winter, I promised myself during those 9 months of torture I would take more time out in the summer to enjoy as much as I can. I dearly love cape cod, as much as I complain I don't (in the winter) I do love it here and would miss it dearly when we finally move back to cali. This post is some of the things I've been up to this summer, so far....

Been spending as much time as I can at the ocean, the marina, the beach, anything ocean related. I don't own a boat, but have friends that do--good friends. Here is hyannis harbor--jam packed with boats.



Can you see off in the distance the Hyline Ferry coming into the small harbor? Oy! It's a tiny harbor too, but those steamships are able to rotate 180 degrees as opposed to backing up and pulling forward. It's really cool to see.





But once you're out of the harbor it's kind of nice. Can you imagine living in this house? Seriously great views. Cold ass cold in the winter though. Would you do it? I would.



Love the solitude the middle of the ocean can give to you.



Corporation Beach in Dennis, MA at low tide is the place to be for long walks IN the water--you can walk out for a while before you hit deep water.





Head over to cape cod national seashore to see the giant seals. And I mean giant. These seals were huge, about 7 of them that day. I wish I could have gotten better shots for you guys but I only have an iphone. I felt bad about having just an iphone because the day I was there a lot of people with big fancy cameras were all set up waiting for the seals to come to the surface. These seals were quick and you need a fast camera to capture them. I saw them but the photo didn't take so well. The arrow is where one seal is.





Some swell on the cape.



The Nauset coast guard station has their swimsuits hanging out to dry. I just love this. And right around the corner were the surfboards.



These signs are new and are everywhere at the national seashore. Which is good because the rip current is powerful.



Traffic is awful here. We only have 2 lanes and two ways off the island.







But once you cross the cape cod canal you're on way to less traffic.



Cape Cod Grecian festival: ate my weight in greek food. Honeyballs. Oh yes.



A gyro every hour is ok with me.



Another round? Sure, why not!



Fresh, homemade baklava. Sweet sarah this is the real deal.



Ready for ice cream. I'm always ready for ice cream. I wonder how many quarts of ice cream I've eaten so far this summer? Yeah, let's not.



I'm thankful to have a husband that has no problem sharing his ice cream with me when I've devoured mine.



It's been hot here, even for cape cod.



Stay cool everyone!

peanut butter-oreo ice cream

Yes, peanut ice cream with Oreo cookie chunks. Can you believe it? I owe all the inspiration for this to Emack & Bolio's ice cream. We have an Emack & Bolio's on the cape, and every spring I wait patiently for them to open, to see what new flavors they have created. When I first saw peanut butter oreo I knew I was not only in heaven, but had to give props to Emack & Bolios' for such a genius creation, plus I had to recreate this divine creation at home. I mean why have we not seen peanut butter and oreo ice cream before? I haven't. So right, so modern, such a perfect combo. My all time favorite ice cream is mint oreo, but now, geez I have to give it up to this one. Peanut butter and oreo's.....swoonworthy.
Is this as good as it looks? Oh indeed it is. It's pure custardly, pure peanut butterly, pure filled with Oreo chunk heaven.
And the best part? I did not turn a stove on at all to make the custard. Nope. I used an old classic ice cream base recipe from the boys at Ben & Jerry's. Yes, it involves raw eggs, but in my opinion as long as the eggs are fresh and organic they are fine to eat.

Pretty darn close to the Emack & Bolio's version of pb & Oreo. This Emack & Bolio's is located in Orleans, MA. A place I go to often. If you go there, just down the street about 7 miles is the national seashore--another place I love. I'm sure you've heard me talk about the cape cod national seashore many many times.

peanut butter-oreo ice cream
Sweet cream base from Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream & Dessert Book

print recipe

1 cup creamy peanut butter
2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar (next time I would use about 2 TB less of the ¾ cup)
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
1 ts vanilla extract
About 1 cup of chopped plain oreo’s (I think, I might have used a bit more)

Whisk the eggs in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.

Whisk in the sugar, a little at a time, then continue to whisk until completely blended, about 1 minute more.
Pour in the cream, vanilla, peanut butter, and milk and whisk to blend.

Freeze according to your ice cream maker’s manufacturer instructions.
The last 2 minutes of ice cream churning add in the chopped cookies.
Makes about 1 quart.

spicy pecan cocada

Literally cocada is the ultimate in coconut bark. It's a Mexican/Latin America candy/cookie that is bark-like--just like what I've made. It's very sweet, very coco-nutty, and I've always wanted to add a nut to it for texture and crunch. I've also wanted to add a tiny bit of heat to it as well, hence the spicy pecan. It is an oven baked goodie that is supposed to be served at room temp for chewy texture. And yes, it is very chewy, almost caramel like texture. If you have any loose teeth or fillings, think twice on chomping down on this one. The bark is a bit difficult to cut, you need a sharp, wet knife. The edges of the cocada are the best part; they get the most caramelization of the condensed milk paired with the coconut. Add in's are endless on this one--whatever would work with caramel flavor and coconut really.



spicy-pecan cocada
adapted from http://scarlettabakes.com/cocada-simple-coconut-bark/
print recipe

2-14 oz. cans sweetened, condensed milk (approximately 3 1/2 cups)
1-14 oz. bag of sweetened, flaked coconut (approximately 5 1/2 cups)
1/2 c. light corn syrup
1 tsp. vanilla extract
5-7 oz of spicy, toasted pecans (optional but amazing)

Preheat oven to 350°.
Line an 11” x 17” baking sheet with parchment paper. This is a very sticky candy/bark; non stick spray will NOT work—use parchment paper. Make sure to completely cover the baking sheet.
In a large mixing bowl, stir the condensed milk, corn syrup and vanilla together until well-blended. Fold in the coconut and spicy pecans. Mix well.
Spread the mixture onto the prepared baking sheet.
Using a rubber scraper or wet fingers, push the mixture evenly across and into the corners of the pan. Bake for 25-28 minutes. Don’t let it burn. Check the cocada at the 25 minute mark.
The cocada will bubble as it bakes and turn a deep golden brown, with the edges becoming especially dark – it is done baking when the top appears golden throughout.
Allow the cocada to cool at room temp for a couple hours. Then I put it in the fridge to harden a bit before slicing.
Using a sharp, wet knife, slice the cocada into squares, carefully remove each piece from the parchment lining, and enjoy straight away or store in an airtight container.