{Sweet Friday} Apricot Coconut Crumble

No big surprise here...I’m back with another Friday sweet treat, and it’s sweet, tart, summery and simple, simple, simple.  I recently came across a recipe in a Martha Stewart Living magazine from last summer for an apricot pie with coconut crumble that sounded delicious.  And I love pie.  Do you remember when I said I love just about any kind of fruit dessert?  Fruit pies are at the tip top of that, and I don’t really mind making pie crusts from scratch, which I know scares a lot of people, because I love eating homemade pie crust so darn much.

I planned to make the pie last Saturday but the day went by in a blur and before I knew it I just didn’t have enough time left to make the dough, pre-bake it, make the filling and topping and bake the whole thing.  Which got me thinking...a fruit crisp or crumble is really just a pie without the crust.  I had all the ingredients for the pie filling and topping, so why not make the recipe as an apricot crumble instead?

I can’t say how it compares to the pie, but this crumble version was fantastic.  Plus, heck, I probably eliminated a stick or two of butter from the recipe by leaving out the crust!  The filling of fresh apricots, sugar, and cornstarch darkens and bubbles thickly by the end of baking and has this wonderful chunky, jammy consistency.  It’s the perfect blend of sweet and tart, giving you that hint of a pucker when you take a bite without actually being sour.

The topping is a pretty classic crumble but the addition of coconut puts it over the top for me.  You get that complexity and mildly exotic flavor that coconut brings without it being the star of the show here.  Hands down, the apricots are this dessert’s leading lady but the coconut is one heck of a supporting actress.

Add a hearty scoop of vanilla ice cream, gelato, or frozen yogurt on the side and prepare to get lost in a little bit of summer dessert goodness.

Apricot Coconut Crumble

Ingredients

Filling

1 3/4 lbs. apricots, unpeeled, cut into 6 wedges each
1/2 c. granulated sugar
1/2 c.  brown sugar
1 tbsp. plus 2 tsp. cornstarch
1/4 tsp. salt

Topping

3/4 c. plus 3 tbsp. flour
1/8 tsp. salt
1 c. plus 2 tbsp. sweetened shredded coconut  

1/2 c. cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes

1/4 c. plus 3 tbsp. brown sugar

Preheat oven to 375.

To make the filling, stir together apricots, sugars, cornstarch, and salt. Pour into a 9" pie plate. 

For the topping, pulse coconut in a food processor until finely ground. Add flour and salt and pulse until combined.  Add butter and brown sugar, and pulse until clumps form.  Pour topping on top of apricots and spread to cover.

Bake crumble, with foil underneath to catch juices, until vigorously bubbling in center, about 1 1/2 hours. Loosely tent topping with foil after 30 minutes to prevent burning. 

Transfer crumble to a wire rack, and let cool for at least 2 hours before serving.

Click here for printable recipe.

Adapted from recipe here.

Panzanella | Bread Salad with Fresh Vegetables

Bread and salad are a winning combination when served side-by-side, so it stands to reason that mixing them all together would be a perfect marriage.  But I've always found panzanella salads to be a bit lacking - soggy bread, over-dressed vegetables, nothing special, really.  I'd see recipes from time to time but always breezed over them thinking it just wasn't my thing.  Then my mom made this version last summer and I ate practically to the point of sickness.  It was so good.  Turns out, panzanella is totally my thing.

The key - and this is a tip borrowed from the Barefoot Contessa - is to toast the bread chunks in a pan in a generous amount of olive oil and salt before any salad dressing hits it.  The bread comes out golden, crispy, salty, and stays nice and toothy even after sitting in dressing for a good long while.  I remember saying to my mom last summer, "Seriously?  There's nothing but olive oil and salt on this bread?  Why is it so good??"  

This panzanella is a study in contrasts - it's hearty and filling but still light and fresh.  Seems like an oxymoron, doesn't it?  Hearty and light?  Try it and you''ll understand.  The abundance of vegetables keeps it feeling summery and light but the toasted bread chunks make it a meal.  I often serve this with chicken breasts I've marinated in yogurt (recipe to come soon!) but it could absolutely stand alone as a vegetarian entree.  

To some extent, even though I've made this salad a lot since my mom introduced me to its splendor last summer, it still baffles me.  I don't quite understand how such humble ingredients transform into this mouthwatering salad.  It's nothing more than bread, olive oil, vegetables, and the simplest of vinaigrettes.  But I don't have to get it.  And neither do you.  Just go round up some veggies and bread, even stale will do, and about 20 minutes later I bet you'll be thinking, "Wow.  So good."

Panzanella

Ingredients

1 loaf ciabatta bread, cut into 1" chunks

3/4 c. extra-virgin olive oil, divided

1 yellow pepper, cut into 1/2" chunks

1 seedless cucumber, cut into 1/2" quarters (cut lengthwise, then lengthwise again, then into slices)

1 pint grape tomatoes, halved (use any fresh tomato you like!)

2 avocados, cut into 1/2" chunks

2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar

1 tbsp. dijon mustard

Heat 1/4 c. olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat.  When hot, add the bread chunks and drizzle another 1/4 c. olive oil over the top.  Sprinkle generously with kosher salt, about 1 tbsp.  Toss in the pan occasionally until the bread is golden and crispy.  Remove from the heat.

Meanwhile place all the vegetables in a large bowl.  Whisk remaining 1/4 c. olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and dijon until combined.  

Add slightly cooled bread to the vegetables and toss well to coat with dressing.  Season with salt and pepper.

*You can add more olive oil to the bread in the pan or to the tossed salad if desired.

Click here for printable recipe.

Unrelated to this gorgeous salad, I wanted to be sure those of you who have become regular readers know that you can sign up receive an e-mail notification when I've posted something new.  You'll get the whole post delivered via e-mail, which you can read right there, or use it to click over to the actual blog.  It will be all the same content but the blog looks a little prettier :)  It saves you from having to check back multiple times to see when I've updated.

You can sign up in two ways: click the RSS icon in the top right above my photograph and then click "Get The Chronicles of Home delivered by email."  You'll be asked to enter your e-mail address.  You can also type your e-mail address into the box along the right side, below my photo and description, under "Follow By E-mail."  Either way, you'll be alerted when there's something new to read over here!

{Sweet Friday} Dark Chocolate Mini S'mores

I can't take credit for coming up with this great idea myself.  A local friend hosted a girls' night cocktail party at her house a couple months ago and made bite-sized s'mores as dessert (you can read more about all the wonderful food she made here).  It was like a dessert lightbulb going on in my head...everyone loves s'mores, they're so easy to make, and the mini-size is perfect for just popping one or two in your mouth if you're not looking to sink your teeth into a giant graham cracker, half a chocolate bar, and several marshmallows sandwich post-dinner.  Though, truth be told, I probably ate the equivalent of a whole s'mores sandwich that night.  They were just so good.

I've made these little nuggets a few times since, and at first I thought homemade marshmallows would elevate them straight to s'mores heaven.  Have you ever made (or eaten) homemade marshmallows?  Vanilla clouds of wonderfulness.  However...I made the marshmallows this time around a day or two before bringing them to a 4th of July party at my brother-in-law's and sister-in-law's house and it was very hot and very humid.  The marshmallows still gelled but they were a sticky mess.  They tasted delightful, but were a nightmare to handle.  I managed to cut a few squares, though, and set about assembling the mini s'mores.  Don't they look pretty all piled high?

I popped them in the oven for a quick broil and took them out to find a whole bunch of unfortunate marshmallow puddles.

We still gobbled them up at the 4th of July party but, really, a fork would have been the best way to eat them.  And who wants to eat s'mores, mini or not, with a fork??

I'm not sure if the melting was a function of the weather when I was making the marshmallows or just that homemade marshmallows aren't the best choice for this particular recipe, but either way, next time I made them, for a cookout we hosted last weekend, I decided to use nice, firm, store-bought marshmallows.

You should use whatever kind of chocolate you like best.  For me, that is almost always dark chocolate.  I grabbed a few bars from Trader Joe's.

I cut the graham crackers into little squares using a serrated knife.  It works beautifully as long as you saw back and forth gently and don't press down hard on the crackers.  After I had a bunch of squares I placed them on a baking sheet.

Next, I cut the chocolate into little squares and put one square on top of each graham cracker.

For the marshmallows, I used a non-serrated large knife to cut each one into thirds - just chopped right down through them, no sawing motion this time.  I topped each graham cracker and chocolate tower with a marshmallow hat and preheated the broiler.  

 

I placed the baking sheet toward the bottom of the oven - I found this toasted the marshmallows much more evenly than placing the sheet directly under the broiler.  I set a timer for 30 seconds and repeated until the marshmallows were browned on top, about 1 minute total.  Beware, it happens very quickly!

I served them warm right off the baking sheet and, no surprise, the kids at the cookout went nuts and asked for seconds and thirds and fourths.  I can't say they were exactly mess-free for the little ones - there was a lot of chocolate to be wiped off mouths and faces and hands and clothes - but they were reasonably neat to eat for the adults, as s'mores go at least, and were just as popular as they were with the kiddos.

Hope you enjoy a sweet weekend! 

Linking this post to Southern Lovely and Lil' Luna!

 

Herbed Greek Pasta Salad

Another versatile summer pasta for you today (last week I posted about one of my all-time favorites).  For the most part, this is a traditional Greek pasta with tomatoes, cucumbers, and feta cheese, but I substitute mild black olives for the sharper Kalamatas and add lots of fresh herbs from my back deck pots.

It's a great meatless entree option or a side dish for a barbeque and can be made completely ahead of time if you're preparing it for a party.  It would also pack beautifully for a picnic and tastes great at any temperature, though I like it best either cold or room temperature.

I used two kinds of tomatoes here: red grape tomatoes and brown tomatoes.

My ultimate kitchen tool for slicing tomatoes is this small serrated knife.  It's slices like it's going through soft butter.  I can't believe I ever cut a tomato without this knife now that I've experienced how effortless it is.

With tomatoes, cucumbers and herbs in full harvest mode around here, this simple dish bursts with fresh, seasonal flavors.

I had trouble squeezing a few shots in before little hands made their way into the serving bowl...

Herbed Greek Pasta Salad

Ingredients
1 lb. whole wheat penne
3 c. assorted tomatoes, chopped
1 seedless cucumber, chopped with skin on
1 can pitted black olives, drained and sliced
1 c. crumbled feta cheese
1/4 c. fresh basil, chopped
2 tbsp. fresh parsley, chopped
1 tbsp. fresh dill, chopped
1/2 c. extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 c. red wine vinegar

Cook pasta in boiling salted water according to package directions.  Drain and set aside.

Add tomatoes, cucumber, olives. feta, and herbs to a large bowl.  In another small bowl whisk the olive oil and vinegar and pour over the vegetables.  Stir gently and season with salt and pepper.  Add pasta and stir everything together until well coated with dressing and herbs.

Click here for printable recipe.

Watermelon Feta Bites

I love these fresh little watermelon and feta bites as a summer appetizer.  They almost couldn't be easier - three simple ingredients skewered on toothpicks.  The watermelon is juicy and refreshing and pairs beautifully with the sharp, salty feta.  You can spear a little mint leaf on top of each bite but I chose to chop the mint and sprinkle it on top to make it easier for little-mouths-with-not-many-molars.

No real recipe to follow here - cut watermelon and feta into bite-sized cubes, put one cube of feta on top of each cube of watermelon, sprinkle with some chopped mint, and skewer each bite with a toothpick.

This combination is lovely in a salad too - add some arugula and sunflower seeds, almonds, or something else with a little crunch, and a light vinaigrette.  Summer perfect!

Mocha Almond Chip Gelato

I think I should start calling Friday posts {Indulgent Fridays}, as lately I seem to be always writing about an indulgent breakfast (dried cherry scones), decadent dessert (dark chocolate brownies), or a tasty cocktail (fresh margaritas).  Seems a theme is emerging here...apparently I need a little treat by the time Friday rolls around!

Here we are again on a Friday and I've got another sweet little something for you...though, I promise, this is nowhere near the decadence of the dark chocolate brownies.  This gelato is still creamy and chocolately and all things good about ice cream but it's made only with milk, no cream in sight.  In fact, you can choose whichever percentage milk you like - I've made it with 1%, 2%, and whole milk and it's been great every time.  I've not actually made it with coconut, soy, or almond milk, but it has turned out so beautifully all the other ways, I can't imagine it would be a flop with a non-dairy milk.  Almond milk could be an especially delicious complement to the sliced almonds in the gelato.  Just one caution if you use a non-dairy milk - make sure it's unsweetened or the gelato will be much too sweet. 

You'll need an ice cream maker for this recipe, which actually makes the whole process pretty light on labor.  You make a quick pudding-ish concoction, cool it down a bit, pour it into the ice cream maker and the work of turning it into gelato is done for you.

 Mocha Almond Chip Gelato

Ingredients
 3.5 c. milk (1%, 2%, or whole)
3 tbsp. cornstarch
2/3 c. sugar
4 tsp. cocoa powder
2 tbsp. decaf instant coffee granules
2 tsp. vanilla
2 oz. dark chocolate, chopped
1/4 c. sliced almonds

Whisk 3 c. milk, sugar, and cocoa in a saucepan and bring to a boil over moderate heat, stirring occasionally.  Whisk in coffee granules.

In a small bowl, whisk remaining 1/2 c. milk and cornstarch, then add to mocha mixture and whisk over medium heat until mixture thickens, just a few minutes.

Off the heat, add vanilla and a couple pinches of salt to mixture and whisk to combine.  Let cool to room temperature.

Pour mixture into an ice cream maker, add chocolate and almonds, and process according to your machine's instructions.  Transfer to a lidded container and freeze.

Little lesson learned during my gelato photo shoot: when photographing frozen desserts, one must move very quickly!  

 
For printable recipe click here
Adapted from recipe here

Pasta Caprese with Pine Nuts

In general, I'm hesitant to say I have a "favorite" dish or favorite food.  I like a lot of food.  I like some modicum of variety in my food and in general I just love to eat good, interesting, delicious things.  In fact, the only things I think I could say I won't let cross my lips are oysters.  I have tried - oh, have I tried - but when the fried variety still made me openly gag at a restaurant I threw in the towel.  No one needs to see that.

Even if I don't have a single favorite, I think we all have at least a few favorites, and this pasta has been in my top five for a long time.  The original recipe came from a Bon Appetit of my mom's sometime in the 90's.  I think this version may differ slightly from the original but it's close and I've made it so very many times by now I know it by heart.  It's great warm, it's great room temperature, it's great cold, it's great leftover for days and days after it's made.  It has very few ingredients - mostly the classic caprese components of mozzarella, tomato, and basil - and goes together in the time it takes to cook the pasta.  I make it year-round but it's especially awesome this time of year when great tomatoes and fresh basil abound.

You can absolutely make this whole dish while the pasta is cooking (and I often do) but if you have ten minutes earlier in the day, mix up all of the ingredients besides the pasta and basil a few hours beforehand.  The marinating really increases the depth of flavor and the tomatoes release some of their juices.  I often use grape tomatoes, but use whatever great tomatoes you have on hand.

The recipe as follows serves two adults and two little ones with leftovers, but I often make a double recipe because the leftovers keep so well.

Fusilli Caprese

Ingredients
1/2 lb. whole wheat fusilli or rotini
1/4 c. olive oil
2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1 small clove of garlic, pressed
1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
2 large balls fresh mozzarella, drained and cut into cubes
1/4 c. pine nuts, toasted
1/4 c. sliced fresh basil

Bring pot of water to boil, add a tablespoon or so of salt, and cook pasta according to package directions.

In a large serving bowl, whisk the olive oil, balsamic, and garlic to blend.  Add tomatoes, mozzarella, and pine nuts.  When pasta has finished cooking, drain and add immediately to the mixture in the serving bowl.  Top with basil, season with salt and pepper, and toss well to coat mixture with sauce.  Add more oil and vinegar to taste.

Click here for printable recipe

Chef Salad

Chef salad was a regular, and a favorite, on our summer dinner table when I was growing up.  I still love it now, but for much more than just its great flavor.  It's packed with vegetables and is a great way to showcase fresh, summer produce in the simplest of ways.  It's super quick to make and requires only one itty bitty stretch with the stove on (crucial on a scorching day in a house with no central air).  The salad itself is cool and refreshing.  And it tastes just downright delicious.  Perhaps the greatest thing about chef salad, though, is that there are no hard and fast rules.  If there's something that you don't like, leave it out.  If there's something you love that I don't list here, add it in.  If you have a different kind of tomato or pepper or cucumber than what I suggest, substitute it.  It's a great I-need-to-use-this-extra-stuff-in-my-fridge kind of meal.

This is pretty much my M.O. for summer cooking - little time at the stove, crisp and cool, but still a tasty and satisfying meal.  If you make enough to have leftovers, be sure to store the extra without salad dressing so the lettuce doesn't get watery and wilted.

Chef Salad

Ingredients
3/4 lb. smoked turkey or ham steak - I like the turkey best because it's a bit leaner
1 large ball fresh mozzarella
4 hard-boiled eggs
red bell pepper
yellow bell pepper
1 pint grape tomatoes
1 english cucumber, peeled
3 carrots, peeled
several handfuls of baby romaine or spring mix greens

Cut all ingredients except greens into bite-sized pieces or strips.  Toss together gently and serve with Russian or Blue Cheese dressing.

Click here for printable recipe

Dark Chocolate Brownies

I pinned this brownie recipe on Pinterest a couple weeks ago and made them this week for a casual afternoon gathering with some friends and their kids.  They're kind of amazing.  I'm not even sure they should be called brownies.  Maybe "fudge cookies" or "molten cake bars."  "Brownies" doesn't quite seem descriptive enough for these, dark, rich, chewy, melt-in-your-mouth, darkest-of-chocolate delights.

They are decadent and wonderful and rich, so much so that I found I couldn't eat more than a couple bites in a sitting, so that does keep your portion size down.  And the chocolate is all dark, dark, dark, so that practically counts as health food with all of the antioxidants, right?  Bottom line: you probably shouldn't eat these every day.  But when it comes time to make a batch of brownies, I ultra recommend this version.

*A little baking tip for you: if you are out of semisweet or bittersweet chocolate when you go to use it (which I was) but have an inexplicably large quantity of unsweetened chocolate (which I did) you can substitute the unsweetened for the sweetened ounce for ounce and add 1 tbsp. of sugar for each ounce of unsweetened chocolate.

Dark Chocolate Brownies

Ingredients
1 1/4 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
11 oz. semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 c. (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 tsp. instant coffee granules (I used decaf)
1 1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. packed brown sugar
5 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter the sides and bottom of a 9×13 glass baking dish.

In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, salt, and cocoa powder together.

Put the chocolate, butter, and instant coffee in a large microwave safe bowl and microwave for one minute.  Remove and stir or whisk, then repeat until chocolate is completely melted and all ingredients are incorporated.  Add the sugars and whisk until completely combined.  Let mixture come to room temperature.

Add 3 eggs to the chocolate mixture and whisk until combined. Add the remaining eggs and whisk until combined. Add the vanilla and stir until combined. Do not overbeat the batter or your brownies will be more cakey than fudgey.

Sprinkle the flour mixture over the chocolate mixture. Using a rubber spatula, fold the flour mixture into the chocolate until just a bit of the flour is visible.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake for 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the brownies comes out with a few moist crumbs sticking to it. Let the brownies cool completely, then cut them into squares or triangles.

Click here for printable recipe
Adapted from recipe here

Dried Tart Cherry Scones

I don't have a huge weekday breakfast repertoire...egg & cheese sandwiches, whole-grain pancakes, hot 7-grain cereal, or smoothies are what the girls and I eat most mornings...and I have a feeling it's going to get even narrower when Ada starts preschool in the fall and we are fire-drilling it out of here three mornings a week!  On weekend mornings I like to do something different than our "usual" and these dried tart cherry scones are one of my go-to's.  They're sweet, tart, buttery, and taste richly of vanilla.  

They're mouth-watering right out of the oven - crispy on the bottom, soft and biscuity inside, but leftovers warm beautifully in the toaster, so I usually make a double recipe and we enjoy the leftovers through the week.  While something about scones feels decadent, these are actually a bit lighter than traditional scones, which are usually made with heavy cream.  

I think scones are widely misconceived as being very difficult and time-consuming to make, but the dough for these goes together in a matter of minutes and they spend only 15 minutes in the oven.  As if I needed another reason to love these little nuggets.

Dried Tart Cherry Scones - makes 6-8 scones

Ingredients

1 1/4 c. flour

3 tbsp. sugar

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

6 tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into small cubes

1/2 c. dried tart cherries, chopped

1/3 c. buttermilk

1 egg

2 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 400.

Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in large bowl to blend.  Add butter and mix in with fingers or a pastry cutter until the butter is about the size of small peas.  

Gently stir in cherries.  Whisk buttermilk, egg, and vanilla in another bowl.  Add to flour mixture and stir with a spatula just until the dough sticks together.  The dough should be very lumpy.

Using a spoon or ice cream scoop, drop large rounds of the dough onto a baking sheet and pat down slightly to flatten.  You can also shape the dough into a large circle and cut into wedges but I find dropping rounds easier.  

And a side note: I LOVE this ice cream scoop and use it for much, much more than just ice cream.  You can find it at Williams Sonoma.

Bake scones until golden, about 15 minutes.

Wishing you all a happy weekend and a belly full of warm scones.

Click here for printable recipe.

Fettucine with Mushrooms and Goat Cheese

I love pasta.  I’m 1/4 Italian and those ancestral roots come out in my abundant love for pasta more than anywhere else - you certainly wouldn’t stop me on the street and say, “Whoa. You must be Italian.”  But come into my kitchen and you might guess it.

This dish is everything I love about a great pasta.  It’s simple, a little bit rustic, luxurious without being decadent.  The velvety sauce is nothing more than goat cheese melted by hot pasta and pasta cooking water, which, if you don’t already know, is liquid-awesome when it comes to pasta sauces.  You should always save a cup or two in case you need a little something to make your sauce just a nudge saltier or creamier or more silky.  And always, always generously salt your pasta water.

The ingredients here are quite simple and the preparation is unfussy but it all comes together into creamy, earthy wonderfulness. 

Fettucine with Mushrooms and Goat Cheese

Ingredients
1 lb. dried fettucine
6 oz. cremini mushrooms, sliced
6 oz. shiitake mushrooms, sliced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tbsp. olive oil
4 oz. goat cheese, crumbled
1/2 c. freshly grated Parmesan
1/4 c. pine nuts, toasted
1/4 c. chives, minced

Bring a large pot of water to boil and add a palmful of salt.  Add the fettucine to the water and cook according to package directions.  When the fettucine is finished, reserve two cups of the cooking water before draining pasta.

Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a saute pan over medium heat.  Add mushrooms and garlic.  Season with salt and pepper.  Saute until browned and tender.

Put mushrooms, hot fettucine, goat cheese, and Parmesan in a large bowl and pour about a cup of the pasta water over everything.  Stir gently until the goat cheese is completely melted and everything is coated with the sauce.  Add more pasta water a little at a time if the sauce seems too dry or sticky.  Top with pine nuts and chives and serve.

Click here for printable recipe.