cold cantaloupe soup with prosciutto crisps

I may or may not be part Italian and I may or may not have grown up eating cantaloupe wrapped in prosciutto at every sort of formal family occasion, which is where I may or may not have developed a love of all things salty and sweet.

To freshen and glam up the traditional dish, my best friend and I, as part of a five course meal we prepared ourselves – because we are out of control and love to cook together (even in a 2′ x 2′ kitchen) - pulled together this fresh and delicious cold soup.   It is perfect for a hot, humid summer day and looks pretty darn impressive if you ask me.

Cold Cantaloupe Soup with Prosciutto Crisps

This soup can serve anywhere from 4 to 16+ servings.  It makes about 4 big bowls or can be divided down into smaller portions – even into little shot glasses.  Just remember that you will need as many pieces of prosciutto as you have servings (unless you are a glutton like me and want more than one crisp per serving).

The soup can be made a day ahead of time and chilled overnight in the fridge.  The crisps should not be prepared too much before the time you intend to serve the soup to ensure they do not lose their crispness.

The total hands-on time for this soup is minimal and in reality it can probably be completed from start to finish in about 25 minutes if you have all of your ingredients ready to go.

• 1 cantaloupe
• 1/4-1/2 c plain greek yogurt
• salt and pepper to taste
• prosciutto slices
• 1 avocado (optional)
• Basil (or another herb like mint, parsley, chives, etc)
• olive oil for garnish

Slice the cantaloupe in half and scrape out the seeds.

Scoop out or chop up the cantaloupe flesh and place in a blender or larger bowl if you are using an immersion blender.

Begin to puree the cantaloupe smooth and taste to see how sweet and ripe tasting your melon is.

If you have a large, juicy, very ripe and sweet cantaloupe, you may need the full 1/2 cup of greek yogurt to give it a more creamy texture and mellow out the sweetness slightly.  If your cantaloupe isn’t very ripe or juicy, you will probably only need a 1/4 cup of yogurt.  Start by adding the 1/4 cup of yogurt, blending, then tasting to see if it needs more.

Add salt and pepper to taste.  You don’t want the soup to be salty, but a little salt and pepper will enhance the melon’s sweetness and lend a hint of savoryness to the soup.

When the soup is completely blended and smooth, refrigerate the soup until ready to serve – this chilling time eliminates the frothy bubbles that formed during the blending process leaving you with a smoother soup.

While the soup is chilling, pre-heat the oven to 375.  Lay the slices of prosciutto out flat on an aluminum foil or parchment lined baking sheet – do not let the pieces overlap.

Bake the prosciutto for 5 minutes and then turn the slices over and rotate the pan and bake for another 5 minutes until the prosciutto is crispy, but not burned.  Set aside to cool.

Chop or slice the avocado and set aside.

Remove the chilled soup from the fridge (it can be served chilled, slightly cooled, or even at room temperature depending on your preference).

Divide most of the avocado among the serving dishes, setting some aside for garnish.

Ladle the soup on top of the avocado.

Garnish the soup with the remaining avocado, prosciutto slices, chopped basil, and a drizzle of olive oil. Serve immediately or else the crisp will get soggy, and no one likes a soggy crisp.

Enjoy!

peach upside down pancake

This isn’t quite a pancake , nor is it a cake. It is fluffy, lightly sweet, and perfect for fruit.  It is a completely flexible and forgiving recipe.

I used a peach, but any fruit will do (apples, nectarines, plums, berries, bananas, etc).   The flavoring can be changed up too.  Sub in vanilla sugar in place of both the sugar and vanilla.  Try cinnamon or almond extract or even a splash of oj instead of lemon juice.

I drizzled a little honey on before serving, but you could serve it plain, dusted with powder sugar, topped with maple syrup, or anything else you like.  Serve it for dessert with a scoop of ice cream and/or fresh whip cream.

This recipe is for one, but can easily be doubled, tripled, or quadrupled – just make sure to increase the size of your pan as well.  Also, make sure your pan is oven safe.  I have a mini cast iron skillet that I used – perfect for a single serving.

Peach Upside down Pancake

• 1 peach (or any other piece of fruit)
• 1 tsp butter
• 2 drizzles of honey (1 for the fruit while it is cooking if it is not ripe and 1 for a topping before serving) – both optional
• 1 egg
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 tbsp non-fat yogurt (greek or regular is fine)
• 2 tbsp flour
• dash of baking powder (I actually have a measuring spoon that says this – it is less than an 1/8 of a tsp)
• tiny pinch of salt
• spritz of lemon juice
• dash of vanilla

Pre-heat oven to 350F.

Chop the peach and melt the butter in a very small skillet over medium low heat.

When the butter is melted add the peaches and a little honey if your fruit is not completely ripe.  Stir to prevent burning and cook until just starting to soften.

While the peach is cooking, whisk together the batter. Whisk the egg in a small bowl.  Add the sugar and yogurt and whisk until smooth.

Next add the flour, baking powder, salt, and flavorings (vanilla and lemon juice) and whisk until smooth.

When the peaches have softened slightly, pour the batter over top and move the pan to the oven.

Bake for a bout 10 minutes until the batter is puffed and a bit firm to the touch.

Turn the pancake out onto a plate so that the peaches are on the top.  Tope with honey and serve.

renegade pie maker

I love to cook. I like to bake. I’m pretty good at both. Pie crusts on the other hand are my downfall.  My mom always made (and still makes) fantastic pies – maybe this is why I always seem to fail when it comes to the crust.  They aren’t as flaky, no matter how cold the ingredients are.  The sides fall down. I could go on and on with my low pie moments. 

So against all things homemade, I broke down and finally used a store-bought, refrigerated pie crust.  No fail this time!

Besides the store-bought pie crust, I tend to free-form my fillings – very unlike my mom’s pies which followed a recipe to the T most times.  Hence the term renegade – I feel like a rebel when I throw caution to the wind and flip the bird to traditional recipes. How do I accomplish these rebellious acts you might ask?  I use brown sugar (most fruit pies use white sugar), rarely ever use the same fruit combos or amounts twice, and switch up my flavorings (though I went standard with vanilla this time).  I’m really living on the edge here, in my head perhaps.  Sorry for projecting.  The pie is delicious though.

You can change-up the type of fruit depending on what you like or what you need to use up.   You just need enough fruit to fill up the pie dish.  If you are more skilled than I, definitely make your own pie crust. Store-bought crust is good, but I must admit homemade still tastes better (unless I’m the one making it).

Mixed Berry Pie

• 13 oz to 1 lb strawberries sliced
• 1/2 lb to 12 oz blueberries picked over to remove stems
• 1 plum peeled and cubed
• 1/2 c brown sugar, plus extra for dusting the crust
• 3 tbsp corn starch
• pinch of salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract, lemon or orange juice/zest, almond extract, cinnamon, liqueurs, etc
• 1 package (2 crusts – one for the top and one for the bottom) refrigerated pie crust at room temperature
• 1 tbsp butter, sliced into thin pats
• 3 tbsp milk

Preheat over to 400f.

Toss all the ingredients, except for the crust, butter, and milk in a bowl.  Mix so that the sugar and cornstarch are mixed with the fruit juices and vanilla.  Set aside.

Unroll one pie crust and line a pie plate with the crust. Make sure it is down into the corner edge at the bottom of the plate.   Trim excess from the edges if you are feeling frisky (leaving enough for crimping), or leave it if you lazy like me.

Dump you fruit mixture into the pie plate.  Dot with the pats of butter.

Unroll the second crust and lay across the top of the pie.  If you are feeling frisky again, trim off any excess crust from the edges or leave it as is.

Crimp your edges to seal your pie.  Make them look pretty, or if you are like me again, make half the crimps ugly and hit your pretty crimping stride when you have already massacred half the crust.  You just want to make sure the pie crusts’ edges are sealed together.

Make some slits in the top of the pie to let out steam.  Brush the top of the pie with the milk and sprinkle with extra brown sugar.

Pop it in the over for 10 minutes at 400.  You can place a baking sheet lined with tin foil under the pie plate to catch any filling that bubbles over.  I was a rebel (with an oven already in need of a cleaning) and didn’t put any protection down under the pie.

When the crust begins to brown a bit, it is time to turn the oven temperature down to 350/375f.  At this point you want to wrap the edge of your crust in tin foil  (make a narrow collar type contraption) to prevent it from burning.

Cook for another 20-40 minutes depending on your oven and fruit.  The pie is done when the filling in bubbling and the crust is golden brown.  If the filling doesn’t bubble up then it will not thicken and you will have a runny, corn starchy filling – yuck.

Let the pie cool a bit before serving.  This allows time for the filling to set.  Slice and serve with a scoop of ice cream or some fresh whipped cream.

Crafty Harissa

Do you like spicy?  I mean really spicy.  We do! 

This is my version of Harissa which is a North African pepper paste condiment.  A layer of oil on top of the paste preserves it in the fridge for a few months (in my experience).  You will have to add oil to the top almost every time you use it.

This paste is very versatile: add to rice or noodles, spice up soup, make your own sausage flavor, be daring and dip bread into it, serve it on the side of main dishes, add it to marinades, use it alone as a marinade, add to salsa and other sauces, serve with eggs,  spread it on a grilled cheese sandwich, pretty much just add it to anything you want to heat up!

Warnings:

This is very spicy – a little goes a long way.

Wear gloves or wash your hands often and thoroughly when preparing the chilis.  Do not wipe your face or any sensitive skin areas with a hand that has touched the chilis. 

Crafty Harissa

• 1 1/2 tbsp cumin seeds
• 1 1/2 tbsp coriander seeds
• 1 1/2 tbsp caraway seeds
• 1/2 bunch cilantro – stems and leaves
• 2 sprigs fresh mint – stems removed, leaves only
• 1/2 lb fresh Bird’s Eye chili peppers
• 1 head garlic
• 1 1/2 tbsp salt (sea or kosher)
• 1/2 – 1+ c olive oil

Toast the cumin, coriander, and caraway seeds in a dry pan over medium heat until fragrant and starting to brown – do not burn.

Peel the garlic cloves and remove the stems from the chilis.

Place all of the ingredients in a blender, food processor, or mortar and pestle.  Start processing.

Drizzle in the oil as needed to make a paste.

Scrape the paste into a jar and top with a layer of  olive oil.  Keep refrigerated and add a new layer of oil to the top after each use to preserve the paste.

kumquat beach balls

Huh?

After I used a double boiler to melt my chocolate for the Best Brownies Ever, I decided not to waste the energy that was used in boiling the water. I chucked about an equal amount of sugar into the water (as there was water in the pot).  By the way, that is how you make simple syrup – equal parts sugar and water brought to a boil so that the sugar dissolves.  Anyway, we had a few left over kumquats from our CSA last week (or was it the week before???), so I tossed those in too.  Candied kumquats couldn’t be bad…

 

They bobbed and floated until they split a little or started to look prunish (a little wrinkly).  I fished them out with a spoon and placed them in bowl to cool.  I reduced the syrup a little further and poured it into a little ceramic pitcher – orangey flavored simple syrup = yummy.  I figured I would find a use for them at some point.

Feeling festive this morning, I tossed a kumquat in my soda water (from my SodaStream which I am OBSESSED with)  and it floated around like an abandoned beach ball in an empty swimming pool.  Hence the title, kumquat beach balls.  Wouldn’t that be a phenomonal cocktail garnish?  Good for kiddy and non-alcoholic cocktails too.  Sweet, healthy, cute, fun – win, win.  I stirred a little of the syrup into my soda water - delicious.  You get a strong whiff of orange off of the floating fruit then a slight hint of orangey sweetness on your taste buds.