Un-Recipe Files – Strawberry and Prosciutto Grilled Bread

  

This is such a simple and delicious appetizer.  It received rave reviews every time I made it. 

Cut a loaf of French bread in half lengthwise.  In a small bowl mix olive oil and a good dose of salt and pepper.  Brush the seasoned oil on the cut sides of the bread and grill until lightly charred and toasty. 

This cutting down the center thing was a revelation.  In the past when I grilled bread (like for this whipped ricotta appetizer) I cut individual pieces of bread, brushed with olive oil, and then grilled each one.  Then one time my cousin’s husband was helping me in the kitchen and did it in two large pieces.  Duh.  Why didn’t I think of that??

After the bread is perfectly grilled slice into pieces, top with strawberry jam or preserves, and then top each piece with some prosciutto.  Of course, if you can get your hands on some homemade strawberry jam that is the best.  I’m spoiled.

It is salty and sweet and chewy and crispy all at the same time.  Yum.  I'm hungry.

One year ago on Perfecting the Pairing: Pesto Turkey Burgers with Goat Cheese

Two years ago on Perfecting the Pairing: All Purpose Breakfast Casserole

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Un-Recipe Files – Avocado and Strawberry Toast with Feta and Honey

This spring I was lucky enough to go on a girl’s trip to Nashville to celebrate two very special birthdays with 11 other lovely ladies.  We. Had. A. Blast.   I had no idea Nashville was such a fun city!  Of course, this particular group of girls made Nashville extra fun that weekend.  We knew we were off to a good start when we walked into our hotel room and saw the incredible balcony.  It got a lot of use that weekend.

 

If there was a theme to the weekend it was probably something like, look ridiculous and be proud of it.  What started off as a denim only event quickly morphed into creating ridiculous outfits in general.

 

This one had a practical purpose as well.

 

 

You didn’t want to get caught walking alone in case someone thought that is actually how you dressed.  We were much better as an entire unit.

 

Nashville was hopping that weekend because of the Rock n’ Roll marathon and incredible weather.  The bars were all pretty much at capacity!

 

The weekend was in no way gourmet.  There was a lot of junk food consumed.  A lot.  Even though it was 99% bad, there was one meal that shined for me.  The first morning I walked to a nearby coffee shop with some girls to pick up breakfast and iced coffee.  The coffee shop specialized in healthy, local, organic ingredients.  I ordered avocado toast since that is one of my favorite things. They suggested adding strawberries, feta, and honey.  Why not?

 

Oh my goodness, I could not believe how delicious this combination was!  I was immediately obsessed.  It wasn’t long before I tried it at home.

 

There is no real recipe here.  Just mash up a ripe avocado with a pinch of salt, spread on some good quality toast, top with sliced strawberries, a drizzle of honey, and a sprinkle of feta.  Perfect for breakfast, a light lunch, or a snack.  It is crazy good.  Thank you Nashville for giving me this great idea and a ridiculously (emphasis on ridiculous) fun weekend.

 

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Strawberry Rhubarb Coffee Cake

Perfect Pairing:  Food processor

 

About five or six years ago (it could have been more) my mom called me one morning to ask if I was watching GMA.  They were doing a segment on a new fitness craze called Zumba.  It was a high energy cardio class that was mainly composed of Latin music and Latin dancing.  I was immediately intrigued.  I started in dance class when I was 3 years old, and continued to dance through high school on the dance team.  I was also a huge fan of Latin music and Latin dancing, so Zumba seemed like a great fit for me.  I did some research and found a Zumba class in Chicago and tried it out one Saturday morning. I was completely hooked.  It was such a great workout (you can burn up to 700 calories in a class) and it was truly fun. 

Through the years I visited many many many Zumba classes in Chicago.  When I say many, I mean in the 100s.  I kept trying new instructors until I found one that was a good fit, which meant I liked their music, energy, and style.  Even though there were free Zumba classes offered at my gym I was still paying a hefty amount to take classes from my favorite instructors.  Somewhere along the way I started thinking maybe I could be an instructor. 

Last November I became official.  I was a certified Zumba instructor!  I spent the next few months coming up with routines and practicing.  I practiced a lot in my living room, which was definitely not as fun as a class environment!  I finally worked up the nerve to apply at a gym in March. Within one week I had an audition, and later that day I was offered a teaching job teaching two classes a week!  I was going to start the following week!  I was pumped!  And terrified!

It was so surreal to walk into the class as the instructor and not the student.  After that first class I knew I had made the right decision, and all the hard work was totally worth it.  I loved it.  If you’re interested you can find out more about my classes at http://lindsayrodgers.zumba.com/. 

 

After my mom took one of my classes in Chicago (see above) her wheels started spinning on how to have me teach where she lives.  So she organized a class for some of our family friends on her dock.  One morning a few weeks ago we had 9 lovely ladies down on the dock at 8 AM for a Zumba class!  It was a blast.  It was definitely the best view I have ever had during a class!  I think there were a few boaters passing by that had a hard time not staring at this strange occurrence. 

 

I am pretty sure everyone had a great time, and I have received requests for another dock Zumba class later this summer.  To thank everyone for coming, and to reward them for the great workout, I made this Strawberry Rhubarb Coffee Cake. 

 

I followed this recipe.  The only changes I made were to use the food processor to make the crumb topping and the cake.  It was so much easier than cutting in the butter manually.  I would suggest using up the last of the season’s rhubarb with this recipe.  It was amazing.  Seriously. 

As long as we’re talking about rhubarb, you could also make this super simple, super yummy, Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp.  Why not have the perfect combination strawberry and rhubarb for breakfast (coffee cake) and dessert (crisp)!?

 

One year ago on Perfecting the Pairing: Shrimp and Arugula Pesto Grilled Pizza

Two years ago on Perfecting the Pairing: Corn and Avocado Salsa

 

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Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp

Perfect Pairing:  Last rhubarb of the season

There are not many desserts you can make with a vegetable.  Rhubarb is such a funny ingredient.  The raw form is anything but tasty, but once it is cooked with some sugar?  Amazing. 

During my childhood we had rhubarb growing in the backyard.  My dad kept a keen eye on its process and as soon as there was enough for a pie he would bring it to my mom.  His favorite thing in the world is rhubarb cream pie.  In fact, about 30 years ago my mom decided to start up her own business with Longaberger.  She needed a few hundred dollars for her start-up kit and asked my dad if they could spare the extra money.  He jokingly said he would lend it to her, but would charge interest of two rhubarb cream pies.  I am sure he would have said yes no matter what, but was serious about the pies.  It ended up being a very good investment on his part as my mom is still with Longaberger today!  I plan on making my dad a rhubarb cream pie this weekend for Father’s Day.  If you are looking for some manly recipes, check out last year’s Father’s Day post.

On a recent trip to the grocery store I saw a huge display of rhubarb.  I had no idea what I was going to do with it, but bought a bunch since I knew it was going to be going out of season soon.  I decided to make a quick dessert with rhubarb’s perfect pairing, strawberries.  This Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp is so simple and delicious.  I used orange zest and juice to give it some freshness; it also helps to balance the sugar.  The topping is pretty standard, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nuts.  Of course this is best served warm with vanilla ice cream! 

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Strawberry Pie

Perfect Pairing:  Whipped cream or Cool Whip

Summer is officially over.  Hey, I’m the first person to say that I love crisp fall weather, sweaters, football, and all things pumpkin, but I am going to miss summer.  It is my favorite season for so many reasons. 

It really started to feel like fall this weekend around Chicago.  I went to a Cubs game on Saturday and it was not exactly pleasant baseball-viewing weather.  Yesterday was a perfect fall day with bright sunshine.  I spent the day watching my niece and nephews play soccer.  I saw a lot of kids that looked like me when I played soccer at five years old.  My skills included tracking butterflies, picking flowers/weeds, and scoring goals for the other team.  Soccer is not my sport.  Fortunately, it looks like my niece and nephews are not taking after their aunt.

You can bring back a little bit of that summer loving with this strawberry pie.  Have one last summer hurrah before you start celebrating fall with pumpkin or apple pie.  Strawberry pie is so easy and delicious.  My family likes it even more the following day.

I would recommend using my grandma’s famous “Press, no mess, pie crust” recipe for the crust.  It is truly the best homemade crust.  It is made right in the pie plate, no rolling pins needed.

The Perfect Pairing for Strawberry Pie is whipped cream or Cool Whip.  Clearly, homemade whipped cream is the preferred choice but if you want to cut a few corners you could use Cool Whip, chemicals and all.

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Lake House Chef’s Challenge 2010 – Dessert Course

Perfect Pairing – Coconut coffee

Check out the challenge details, appetizer, and main course posts!

The picture above sums up how everyone was feeling once we got to the dessert course.  We decided that the next year it would be much smaller portions.   But, we persevered and moved on to the final course.  The desserts had to use strawberries and once again had to feature the “secret” ingredient which was no longer a secret.  You may remember that Jon’s secret ingredient was bacon so everyone was a little concerned how this would work in the strawberry dessert.

Jon served a Bacon Wrapped Strawberry dipped in Peanut Butter Chocolate (recipe below)

Once again Jon forgot to work on his presentation ahead of time….

Everyone agreed they were really tasty!  What is not to like?  Strawberries?  Good!  Bacon?  Good!  Chocolate and peanut butter?  Good!!

I made a Chilled Strawberry Bisque (recipe below) and a Peanut Butter and Strawberry Jelly Bar

Julie made an outstanding Coconut Chocolate Cake with Sugared Strawberries (recipe below)

The Perfect Pairing for the strawberry dessert course was by Julie.  It was a strong coffee flavored with coconut rum.  It was amazing with her cake!  Check back for the results!

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