Monika’s Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 sticks butter (1cup)
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
16 ounces dark chocolate chips or broken up dark chocolate from bars
1/2 cup (or more) chopped pecans or walnuts
Beat butter, sugars, eggs and vanilla until light and fluffy. Mix flour, soda and salt together, then add to egg mixture with mixer on low. Once combined, stir in chocolate and nuts by hand with a stiff spoon. Put dough in fridge overnight to cool.
Remove dough from fridge and roll into three logs. I ususally make the logs about 1.5 inches in diameter. Wrap in wax paper and freeze. You can bake them directly from fridge, but they’re better after a freeze.
After freezing for a few hours minimum, slice the cookies into equal sized rounds. I usually cut them about 3/8″, then cut those in half and mound them into equal sizes. Drop the mounds several inches apart on cookie sheet.
Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes. Let cookies sit on baking sheet for about five minutes on top of cooling rack to finish—gives them a nice texture of crisp on outside, chewy on inside. Remove from baking sheet with a spatula and serve or finish cooling on rack. #Yum.
Roasted Tomatoes with Shrimp and Feta
This recipe is from Real Simple magazine, September of 2004. They posted it online later. Here’s the link. It’s a super simple, fast one-pan dinner and it is DELISH!
We love this combo with a Trader Joe’s baguette. You can also serve it with couscous or a good grain mix or even plain rice. The lemon-garlic-tomato sauce that results is great for sopping up after everyone cleans their plate. We’ve also recently started making this with halibut or cod or other firm fish in place of the shrimp. Just cut the fish into similar sizes pieces (about 1 – 2 inches) so they all cook at the same rate.
Ingredients
- 5 large tomatoes, cut into eighths (you can also use cherry tomatoes or whatever you have on hand)
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons minced garlic
- kosher salt and black pepper
- 1 ½ pounds medium shrimp, peeled and deveined (OR: firm white fish)
- ½ cup chopped fresh parsley
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 cup Feta, crumbled
- crusty bread, for serving
Directions
- Heat oven to 450° F. Place the tomatoes in a large baking dish and spoon the olive oil and garlic over them.
- Sprinkle with ¾ teaspoon each salt and pepper and toss. Roast on top rack of oven for 20 minutes.
- Remove baking dish from oven and stir in the shrimp, parsley, and lemon juice. Sprinkle with the Feta.
- Return the dish to oven until the shrimp are cooked through, 10 to 15 minutes. Serve warm with the bread.
NOTE: Depending on the tomatoes, I sometimes cut them and squeeze out some of the seeds, gelatinous matter so the sauce doesn’t get to watery. This is sometimes necessary/makes for a better sauce if you’re using cherry tomatoes.
Tomato Tarte Tatin from the New York Times
This is such a great recipe for an abundance of summer tomatoes. Gets lapped up pronto. You can add crumbled bacon or cooked pancetta and make a complete meal out of it. Also, sometimes crumble some Feta or blue cheese on top. SO YUMMY!!!
1 14-ounce package all-butter puff pastry
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 red onions, halved and thinly sliced
¼ cup plus a pinch of sugar
½ teaspoon sherry vinegar
¼ cup chopped pitted Kalamata olives
1½ pints (about 1 pound) cherry or grape tomatoes; a mix of colors is nice
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
Kosher salt, to taste
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Unfold puff pastry sheet and cut into a 10-inch round; chill, covered, until ready to use.
2. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onions and a pinch of sugar and cook, stirring, until onions are golden and caramelized, 15 to 20 minutes. Add 2 tablespoons water and let cook off, scraping brown bits from bottom of pan. Transfer onions to a bowl.
3. In a clean, ovenproof 9-inch skillet, combine ¼ cup sugar and 3 tablespoons water. Cook over medium heat, swirling pan gently (do not stir) until sugar melts and turns amber, 5 to 10 minutes. Add vinegar and swirl gently.
4. Sprinkle olives over caramel. Scatter tomatoes over olives, then sprinkle onions on. Season with thyme leaves, salt and pepper. Top with puff pastry round, tucking edges into pan. Cut several long vents in top of pastry.
5. Bake tart until crust is puffed and golden, about 30 minutes. Let stand for 5 minutes, then run a knife around pastry to loosen it from pan, and flip tart out onto a serving platter. Cut into wedges and serve immediately.
Monika’s Pecan Tart
Ingredients
Yield: 8 – 12 servings
1 prepared pie crust, or pie pastry crust (see recipe below)
4 tablespoons butter
⅓ cup maple syrmp (original recipe called for corn syrup)
½ cup light brown sugar
¼ cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
¾ cup (or more) whole pecan halves
For pastry
I always make this “Basic Food Processor Pastry” Super simple.
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 stick, less 1 Tablespoon very cold butter
1 Tablespoon Crisco or bacon fat
1 teaspoon salt
4 – 6 Tablespoons ice water
1-1/12 Tablespoons vinegar or lemon juice (I usually leave this out)
- Use the steel blade of the food process and put flour, salt, Crisoc and butter (in chunks) in the bowl.
- Process with on/off pulses until mixture resembles a coarse meal. Add the ice water and vinegar/lemon juice (if using) in 1 – 2 Tablespoon dribbles, while pulsing the machinea few secons between additions. Stop processing when it starts to form a ball. Remove and chill 1 – 2 hour before using.
Preparation
Make pastry the night before or a couple hours ahead of time. Remove from fridge and roll out into a tart pan with removable bottom.
When ready to make the tart, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Line a 10-inch pie or tart tin, preferably with a removable bottom, with pastry. Line the pastry with wax paper and pour in rice or beans to weight down the pastry. Bake 7 minutes. Remove the rice or beans and paper.
Put the butter in a heavy skillet and cook, stirring until it is light brown. Add the maple syrup, brown sugar and cream, and cook, stirring, until blended. Add the vanilla. Let sit while pastry bakes.
Arrange the pecan halves neatly and symmetrically over the partially baked pie shell. Pour the syrup evenly over all. Place in the oven and bake 20 minutes. If bubbles form in the pastry, prick with a toothpick.
Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack. Best served at room temp with creme fraiche or gelato.
Lentils and Coucous Salad
This recipe is from Weber’s Art of the Grill and we served it often at our annual holiday parties on Harrison–usually with pita chips. But it also makes a great side or main dish. You can add cooked sausage and heat in the microwave, or add feta or cooked salmon to make it more hearty. Very healthy and satisfying and doesn’t leave you bloated. It’s also really quick to make
2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
3 Tablespoons EVOO
3 dashes Tabasco sauce
1/4 cup fresh chopped basil
2 scallions, thingly sliced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
3/4 cup french green lentils
1/3 cup quick couscous
2 roasted red bell peppers finely diced
1 carrot finely diced
- In bowl, whisk lemon, EVOO, Tabasco, basil, scallions, salt and pepper
- Rinse lentils under cold water, put in medium saucepan with three cups of water. Bring to boil, then simmer for 25-30 minutes.
- Drain lentils, add to olive oil mix.
- In small pan, bring 1/2 cup water to biol then pour over couscous in small bowl, stir with fork, and cover for five minutes.
- Fluff gently with fork, add to lentils
- Add bell peppers and carrots, stir and toss, adujst seasoning. Voila.
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