Every year I overload myself with summer recipes I want to test, photograph, post, and share. And every summer I find myself in a race against the calendar to get them all ship-shape and blog-ready before everything gives way to pumpkins and pecan pie. There is so much produce to play with during the summer and so little time. So every year, I leave this season with food-related regrets. Missing sour cherry season this year really burned my biscuits. But one thing I did not miss was pea season. And out of the numerous peas-related adventures I embarked upon this year, these Marinated Sweet Peas with Back Bacon and Burrata were my very favorite.
I’m going to go out on a limb and assume I am offending many Italians with today’s Antipasto Kale Salad. A dear friend of mine who works with a group of born and raised Italians was once ridiculed for adding chicken to her fettuccine. So, I’m sure my oxymoron of a dinner idea is going to raise a few disapproving eyebrows. I mean no disrespect. I know that antipasto roughly translates to “before food” and is in no way intended to be a main. Nor is a salad, kale or otherwise, ever considered an entree at any Italian’s table. So, I’m not making many friends here with this salad but if you have no strong feelings about Italian food other than “Holy geez! Do I love Italian food!” you and this salad will get along fine.
After the decadence of my previous post, I felt like we could do with a big bowl of veggies and some faux-fried bit of protein. After all, one cannot subsist on fried burrata alone. But although my brain is happy to load up on some vitamin D and C via bright and fresh produce, my palette is not always down with this plan. I’ve been craving fried food hard. And it’s not that surprising. It’s a well-established pattern. Once I reach the middle of February, my mind turns to chocolate, candy, and fried foods. I think it’s all Valentine’s Day’s doing, personally. But I consider today’s Oven-Fried Tofu Bowls to be an antidote to these less-than-virtuous cravings. It’s a compromise in a bowl, but I promise it tastes a lot better than that sounds.
This is cake without an occasion. I made it for no reason whatsoever. This isn’t like me. I like to bake but I rarely bake without a purpose. I’m not really a dessert person, I’m far more of a salty snack person. So when I whip up a dessert, I better have mouths at the ready to help me eat it. But this Chocolate Plum Cake with Mulled Wine Caramel is a rare exception. I dreamed it, I wanted it, and I made it. There are so few things in my life that I have actual control over, so it’s nice to be able to conceive of something and bring it to fruition in a more or less fuss-free fashion. And it’s a chocolate cake. Dessert lover or not, I think we can all agree a chocolate cake is worthy of a celebration.
