Proud Italian Cook

Using Up Our Summer Bounty

August 11, 2010 by Marie 20 Comments

This quick and easy meal is something I made often this summer, everything is cooked in one pan and before you know it it’s on your table, providing you use thin cut boneless pork chops like I used here or some chicken breast.

It’s been so hot and muggy here the humidity is off the charts, walking out to my grill is not appealing, sometimes I’d rather cook inside with my nice cool air conditioning on. Yes, you have to heat up your oven for this but it’s nothing compared to the heat outside plus it’s a great way for me to use up my sweet cherry tomatoes that we’re fortunate enough to be picking on a daily basis.

We have an over abundance this year I think we went a little overboard in our planting of cherry tomatoes I’m constantly thinking of ways to use them, I made this recipe up out of necessity and it’s become one of our summertime favorites.

I love the different colors and how they cluster together and stay on the vine. They’re so delicious fresh, but sometimes I think I love them even more when they’re cooked and caramelized, the flavor just intensifies! We have a few different varieties some being heirlooms. Right now I’m looking out my window and all I see is red!

I used my cast iron grill pan, but you can use any heavy pan, you’re first going to brown your pork or chicken on top of the stove and then finish it off in a 375F oven until the meat is cooked through and the tomatoes are caramelized.

Pre heat oven

Season your meat with salt and pepper

Brown on both sides in a hot pan drizzled with olive oil

Toss in your cherry tomatoes, I used a lot as you can see

Shaved garlic

Fresh basil

Drizzle olive oil over top of the tomatoes

When finished garnish with more basil, you can never have too much!

Serve this with some five minute cous cous on the side and you’re done! I told you it was easy.

Buon Appetito

I hope you can stop by and help me celebrate my 3rd Blogiversary on Sunday, until then have a great week!

20 Comments Filed Under: Meats Tagged: boneless pork, chicken breasts, heirloom cherry tomatoes, one pan meal, summer bounty

Zucchini Tomato Gratin

August 6, 2010 by Marie 54 Comments

Our garden is producing wonderful things and I’m inspired daily to use everything we pick. Winter comes all too soon here and it’s going to be really sad to say goodbye to all this freshness! So for now I give you my version of a gratin.

I like to make this in a wide pan, I use this paella pan that I have, I’m sure you’ve seen it in many of my posts, but I love it I can’t help it! I’m sure a cast iron pan would work as well.

First layer; Sweet Vadalia onion ring slices on a nice drizzle of olive oil ( the pan I use gets them all caramelized on the bottom)

Sliced zucchini

Handfull of romano cheese spread all over

Toasted homemade Italian bread crumbs spread about

Small cherry tomatoes placed all around

I had some cut leeks I needed to use so I threw them in, glad I did!

Drizzle with olive oil

More cheese

More breadcrumbs

Repeat!

Garnish with fresh snipped basil

Place in a hot oven at 425 till tender and crispy and the tomatoes pop and get caramelized, you could even place it under the broiler at the end to crisp up the top more, I have a convection roast feature on my stove so that always does the trick.

The imported romano cheese, the tomatoes ( you must use cherry tomatoes, please) the homemade breadcrumbs and those caramelized onions paired with the zucchini, I’m telling you I could almost become a vegetarian!

But instead I made more of that beautiful cod along side it. I saw this preparation on the cable TV show, Every Day Food, it’s so simple but BURSTING with flavor! Chop up some fresh herbs, I used basil, chives and parsley, now grate some fresh lemon zest into the mix. Salt and pepper your fish and swipe the top with Dijon mustard, now press it down into the herb mixture and of course drizzle with olive oil. Bake at 425 till translucent. This…Was…Fabulous! The fresh herbs complemented the fish so well, so light, so summer!

Now for a little palette cleanser, how about some Key Lime Pie. Sorta. You see my husband and I are crazy about key lime pie, but living here in Chicagoland key limes are not readily available so I never even thought about making this, until I saw Pioneer Woman’s post on it.

She calls it Key Lime Pie, Sorta because she uses regular limes not key limes, no problem here because I just bought 20 limes for $1.00! So I was inspired. I won’t even tell you how many times I’ve made it this summer, we crave it! I know it’s not the so called “real thing” but it’s darn close!

So before summer is over all you key lime pie lovers, you MUST make this! So here’s the recipe.

Note: From my guilt of making this so often I used reduced fat condensed milk and I even bought a reduced fat graham cracker crust and the result was just as good. I would encourage you to try her version first, but if you go past 3 pies like I did, you might want to think about switching things up! It’s so refreshing on a hot summer day.

Enjoy your weekend and Buon Appetito!

Oh, next week August 15Th is my 3 year Blogiversary I hope you can stop by for a visit, I have a nice giveaway too!

54 Comments Filed Under: Fish, Pies, Side Dishes, Vegetables Tagged: gratin, herb crusted fish, key lime pie, zucchini, zucchini and tomato gratin, zucchini gratin

Open Faced Portobello Burger with Zucchini "Fries"

August 4, 2010 by Marie 29 Comments

This burger is so good I promise when you bite into this you won’t miss the meat at all! Portobello mushrooms have such a meaty like texture, the large caps are a perfect replacement for a beef burger. I try to make a few vegetarian meals each week and this has been one of our current favorites.

I like to grill up a bunch of different vegetables over the weekend and then use them in various quick meals during the week. I almost always do onions, red and green peppers, zucchini, and eggplant, however with the portobello’s I like to cook them up right before I assemble this, which I did inside on my grill pan.

For this burger roasting or grilling the vegetables will give you the same results.
I like to remove the gills on the mushrooms but you don’t have to, then just a quick toss in olive oil, salt and pepper is all you have to do to prepare them.

Each component together gives you an amazing end result!

Toasted ciabatta bun
Grilled red pepper
The portobello, gill side up
A dollup of basil pesto
Fresh mozzarella
Grilled onion
Tomato
Garnish with a balsamic glaze over top

You could eat this with a bun top but it was so huge, I would suggest using a thinner bun.

The zucchini fries were made by tossing them in olive oil to coat then dipping them individually in a mixture of panko breadcrumbs and grated parmesan or romano cheese, salt and pepper.