Author: arielleclementine

Sicilian Tomato Salad

arielleclementine1 Comment

What makes this salad Sicilian, you might ask? Well reader, I haven’t the slightest. But it’s good! It’s real good. This is my attempt to copy my favorite dish (of the same name) from Mandola’s, a pretty good Italian place up in the Triangle. While we’re on the subject- I say this place is ‘pretty good’ because I’ve had both lovely dishes (this salad, spaghetti carbonara, cookies!) and lackluster ones (a very blah caprese panino, so-so marinated vegetables on an affettati plate).

Anyway, in my days before The Lumpy Dumpster was on the scene, my friend Erin and I used to eat here all the time for work lunches, and we would both always order this salad.  It just has everything going for it-sweet tomatoes, briny olives, rich olive oil-soaked bread, and salty cheese. Come on! That’s tasty.

To recreate this dish, I used a basket of beautiful cherry tomatoes from the farmer’s market, added wafer-thin slices of red onion, oregano from my garden, and a handful of kalamata olives. For the vinaigrette, I decided to add a couple tablespoons of finely grated pecorino cheese (which I looked up, and actually is Sicilian!(it’s fun to learn because knowledge is power!)) to a simple red wine vinaigrette, and the results were really enchanting.  Every bit of the salad is flecked with a nutty aged cheese! The grilled bread in the bottom is a very basic bruschetta, which I learned how to make from David Rosengarten’s cookbook, Taste. That’s the fun thing about making a restaurant dish at home- at Mandola’s you only get that one delicious, tomato juice-soaked piece of bread at the bottom of the bowl.  At home, Andy and I each got three slices. And let me tell you friend, we ate the hell out of them.

Sicilian Tomato Salad

  • 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
  • 1/2 small red onion, sliced very thinly
  • 1/4 cup kalamata olives, pitted and halved
  • 2 tablespoons fresh oregano leaves
  • 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons finely grated aged pecorino
  • pinch of kosher salt and black pepper
  • 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 4-6 thick slices country white bread
  • 1 clove garlic, smashed
  • extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling
  • kosher salt and black pepper, for sprinkling
  • 2 ounces ricotta salata, grated
  1. Fire up your charcoal grill or preheat a gas one.
  2. Combine the cherry tomatoes, red onion, kalamata olives, and oregano in a medium bowl.
  3. In a small bowl, whisk together the red wine vinegar, the grated pecorino, and a pinch of kosher salt and pepper. Slowly drizzle in the 3 tablespoons of olive oil and whisk until emulsified. Pour over the tomato mixture and toss to coat.
  4. Grill the slices of bread a minute or so on each side until handsomely charred. Rub the slices of bread with a smashed garlic clove, and drizzle both sides with olive oil. Season with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.
  5. To assemble, place a slice of grilled bread in the bottom of two bowls. Spoon the tomato mixture on top of the bread slices and finish with the grated ricotta salata. Serve with extra bruschette!

Austin’s Best Queso + Ridiculous Migas from Leftovers

arielleclementine5 Comments

For many Austinites this picture will look all too familiar- it’s chips and green chile queso from Torchy’s (Damn Good) Tacos.  As far as I’m concerned, this is the pinnacle, the apex, the apogee of man’s quest to create the perfect cheese-y dip.  The melted cheese is studded with diced roasted New Mexico chiles and then topped, oh-so-cleverly, with a dollop of guacamole, queso fresco, cilantro, and a shot of Torchy’s habanero diablo sauce.  This stands head and shoulders above the standard velveeta + rotel queso of my youth.  I don’t know how they did it, but Torchy’s queso never congeals or gets a rubber top-skin, even after being refrigerated! They’re mad queso geniuses, I guess.

Anyway, Andy and I live down the road from Torchy’s and thereby eat a lot of this queso.  Usually we’ll have leftovers of both the chips and queso (because we both also order two tacos :/ ), and one day I decided to make migas with them.  This may have been one of my best culinary moments.  I think this migas is  wonderful, and if you ever find yourself with half a tub of leftover Torchy’s queso and some chip remnants, I hope you’ll give it a try!  Here’s how you do it:

Heat some tortillas in a pan.  We prefer Central Market’s flour tortillas, which are practically inedible straight from the bag, but completely amazing when grilled or griddled on both sides until they’re spotted with golden brown dots and puffy. Wrap your tortillas in a kitchen towel or aluminum foil to stay warm while you make the migas.

Crack 4 or 5 eggs into a bowl, and get out some vegetable oil and your leftover chips and queso.

Put a tablespoon or two of vegetable oil in a skillet over medium heat, and then crumble in several large fistfuls of tortilla chips.  Toss so the chips are coated in the oil, and cook a minute or two, so that the chips start to toast and turn brown in places.

Beat the eggs and then add them to the pan.  (I usually pull the pan off the heat for this part, so the eggs don’t overcook.) Fold the eggs into the toasted chips and continue turning until the eggs are mostly scrambled.

 
Add your leftover queso to the pan and toss again, so that that magical queso covers everything.

It’ll look something like this! You could eat it just like this, or serve the migas as tacos in warm flour tortillas. I hope you like it!

Summer Squash Couscous

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Let me start by saying that before this recipe, I really couldn’t have cared less about couscous. To my mind, it was something über-healthy people ate in lieu of pasta. And I am neither über-healthy nor willing to replace pasta with healthier whole grains. But friends! This recipe is amazing! Perfect! Probably one of my very favorite food52 recipes. The couscous is cooked in stock, then tossed with quickly sauteed shallots, squash, and pistachios (isn’t that fun? cooked pistachios!), fresh mint, and a lovely lemony vinaigrette.  Many people have commented that this recipe adapts beautifully to variations (using just one kind of squash (and double the amount), almonds instead of pistachios, etc), but I think it’s just perfect the way it is. I think this makes a lovely side for roast salmon, or a chicken marinated in Greek yogurt with Indian spices.  I hope you like it too!

Summer Squash Couscous
by Internet Cooking Princess via food52

  • 1 tablespoon lemon zest
  • Juice of one lemon
  • 1/2 teaspoon honey
  • Olive oil
  • 3 garlic cloves, crushed
  • 1 1/4 cup veggie stock
  • 1 cup couscous
  • 1/2 cup diced yellow squash
  • 1/2 cup diced zucchini
  • 1 medium shallot, finely chopped
  • 1/2 cup sultanas/golden raisins
  • 1/4 cup chopped pistachios
  • Kosher salt
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  1. In a small bowl, whisk the lemon zest, lemon juice, honey, and 1/4 cup of olive oil. Add the garlic cloves and let them steep for about 30 minutes.
  2. Next, bring the veggie stock to a boil in a medium saucepan. Stir in the couscous, cover, and turn off the heat; allow the couscous to sit for about 5 minutes, or until it absorbs all the liquid. Toss the couscous with a fork so the grains don’t start clumping together, pour into a large mixing bowl, and set aside.
  3. In a skillet over medium high heat, add about 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Then, add the chopped squash and zucchini, shallot, sultanas, pistachios and a pinch or two of salt. Only cook for about a minute or two — you still want the squash and zucchini to be al dente. This just ensures they aren’t too al dente, and all the flavors can marry before they hit the couscous. Set aside until everything reaches room temperature.
  4. Once the veggies have reached room temperature, add them to the bowl with the couscous and combine.
  5. Then, remove and discard the cloves of garlic from the dressing, and toss it with the couscous (add the dressing gradually, as you may not need it all). Fold in the mint, season with additional salt and pepper if necessary and serve at room temperature.
Apropos of nothing, a baby picture for you!