Smashed Garlic and Avocado Vegetable Sandwich

It's confession time here on The Domesticated Wolf: I love carbohydrates. Low-carb diets be damned, I can't pass up good bread. 

Our local farmers market offers a lovely selections of artisanal products.

I recently bought plush multigrain rolls for veggie burgers and had two leftover. More sandwiches! Goodie goodie...

Ingredients for two sandwiches:

1/2 eggplant, sliced 

1/2 zucchini, sliced 

1/2 onion, sliced 

1 whole tomato, sliced 

2 cloves garlic, peeled

1/2 avocado

1 oz good blue cheese

Olive oil

Salt + cracked black pepper

2 doughy sandwich rolls

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400

2. Slice eggplant, onion and zucchini and peel the garlic  

3. Salt eggplant, set aside and let sweat 15 minutes

4. In a heavy-bottomed, cast-iron skillet coated with olive oil, caramelize the onions over medium-low heat, remove from heat when finished

5. With a damp paper towel, remove the liquid and any residual salt from the eggplant

6. With a pastry brush, coat both sides of each eggplant and zucchini round with olive oil, season lightly with salt and pepper 

7. Place the eggplant on a greased baking sheet, cook for 15 minutes in the oven, then flip, cook another 15 minutes

8. When the eggplant has cooked on one side, place zucchini in the oven for about 15 minutes, or until well roasted (zucchini can cook down very quickly, so be mindful)

9. With 10 minutes left on the zucchini timer, place whole garlic cloves on the same baking sheet as the vegetables and allow to cook until soft

10. With 3 minutes left on the zucchini timer, evenly distribute blue cheese on the zucchini, allow to melt

11. Toast the bread

12. Slice the tomato

13. Remove all roasted vegetables from the oven

14. On a plate, smash the garlic into a spreadable paste

15. On one side of the bread evenly spread the avocado, on the other evenly spread the roasted garlic paste 

16. Finish building the sandwiches: eggplant, blue cheese zucchini and sliced tomato, top with caramelized onions

Some of what you'll need:

Roasted eggplant:

Blue cheese zucchini:

Starting to stack:

Finished product:

Someone Boo called me crazy for making a sandwich with so many moving pieces. Until he tried it! The combination of cooked and raw foods is the bomb - in least dangerous way possible (safety first!).  Plus who can argue with any excuse for garlic, avocado and caramelized onions (my favorite foods!) in one bite? Wham, bam, thank you ma'am. 

What's your favorite sandwich?  Hope you enjoy...

xx,

The Future Mrs. Wolf

Zucchini Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Are you guys sick of banana bread yet? Oh good, neither are we. Remember this version?  Well, this one is jazzed up. And near vegan. That's probably not a real thing -- it either is or it isn't. But I will call this almost-vegan. And it can be made fully-vegan quite easily. Or amped up with even more animal products. To each her own...

Ingredients for one loaf:

1C whole wheat flour

3/4C sugar

1 tsp cinnamon 

1 tsp baking powder 

3 ripe bananas, mashed (about 1C)

1C zucchini, grated

1 egg

2 tbsp coconut oil (or butter), melted

1 tsp vanilla

1/2C semi-sweet chocolate chips 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees 

2. In a large bowl, mash bananas and mix with sugar, egg, coconut oil and vanilla, set aside

3. Measure the other dry ingredients and combine in a medium sized bowl 

4. Grate the zucchini with a box grater, add to banana mixture 

5. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet and incorporate

6. Fold in the chocolate chips

7. Grease a loaf pan, pour in batter and cook for 60 minutes (cook time with depend on the size and ripeness of bananas)

What you'll need:

Zucchini and banana mixture:

Dry ingredients:

Finished product:

Side shot:

Close up on splitsies:

Whole wheat flour and zucchini give this loaf a bit more body than a traditional banana bread. Extra nutrition, similar taste and chocolate? We're in. 

Plus, with only a little fat added to the recipe, there's more room for heavenly toppings -- whipped cream cheese, sea-salt butter, ricotta cheese, homemade frosting, caramel. Okay, maybe not caramel. But it's something I've been itching to make. And really, what doesn't work with caramel?

Have you ever baked with zucchini?  Hope you enjoy...

xx,

The Future Mrs. Wolf

Hot Potatoes!

To call these "smashed" suggests a totally very different kind of dish. However, these are only "smashed" in the sense that they are flattened -- not mashed. And crispy. And flavorful.  And garlicy.  And a perfect base for a poached egg. Oozing yolk. Oh yes, talk to me. 

I've made this recipe using small, red skinned potatoes, and now larger boiling potatoes. Both versions work well. Just offer different results. But who can argue with potatoes? I mean really -- "I hate crispy potatoes bathed in olive oil and roasted garlic!" - said no one ever. Without further ado...

Ingredients for two servings:

2 round white potatoes or 4 red bliss potatoes (although really, any small potato will do),             fork pricked

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 eggs, poached

4 scallions, chopped

olive oil 

Kosher salt + pepper

white vinegar

Directions:

1. Fill a pot with cold water, place potatoes in water and bring to a boil, cook until just fork tender 

2. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees

3. Peel garlic by placing garlic on a cutting board, covering it with the blade of a chef's knife or santoku knife, and pressing down on the blade of the knife with the palm of your hand

4. Chop the garlic and place in a lightly-oiled cast iron skillet, cook on low until just golden brown, set to the side and re-oil the cast iron skillet

5. When the potatoes have finished cooking in the boiling water, place potatoes into the same lightly=oiled cast iron skillet where you cooked the garlic

6. With the bottom of a drinking glass or mason jar, lightly press the potatoes until they just burst open, brush with olive oil and season with salt and pepper
7. Using a pastry brush, lightly coat potatoes with olive oil

8. Cook the potatoes for 18 minutes in the oven, then remove from oven and place the golden brown garlic on top of the crispy potatoes, cook for another 4 minutes

9. Crack each egg into its own ramekin

10. Chop scallions

11. Bring a pot of water to boil and add in vinegar.  Take the back of a wooden spoon and swirl the water to create a mini-whirlpool, then slowly pour each egg from its ramekin into the water, cook each egg 2-1/2 to 3 minutes, depending on how firm you like your yolk, remove with a slotted spoon when eggs are finished cooking

12. Plate half of the potatoes onto each plate, and one egg on top of each potato mixture

13. Season with extra salt + pepper (if you'd like) plus chopped scallions

Potatoes:

Scallions + garlic:

Pricking the potato:

Smashing the garlic -- please be careful:

Pulverized:

Skinless:

Minced:

Sizzle, sizzle:

Smash:

Finished product:

What's your favorite way to cook potatoes?  Hope you enjoy...

xx,

The Future Mrs. Wolf

Individual Peach Crumbles

Guys, I can't stop baking.  If Boo wasn't such a good eater (bless him!), we would be in  big trouble.  And, if this were twitter, or instagram these would be filled under #CantStopWontStop or #LongHairDontCare.  Both are totally applicable to this recipe. 

As you may know (or may not know as it really is meaningless trivia and your life is likely not really enriched for knowing it...)  Boo and I are knee deep in our CSA. Week after week we are loving our bounty of fresh and local fruits and vegetables. And this week we were blessed with 6 nectarines and 6 peaches!  

So, fast forward to Friday, and here I was with a plethora of peaches and guests coming for dinner...peach cobbler it was!  After all, who can resist an excuse to use these little blue ramekins?*

For the curious minds out there, you may be wondering what the difference is between crisps, crumbles and cobblers.  And if you're not, feel free to skip to the photos below.  They are all quite similar, in fact, starting with a fruit base and three basic ingredients -- flour, butter and sugar.  A crisp includes just the three ingredients previously mentioned.  A crumble adds rolled oats to the mix.  A cobbler is essentially dropped-biscuit topping the same fruit base. 

*You can easily use a small baking dish if you do not have ramekins in your kitchen. 

What you'll need for 4 servings --

Ingredients for fruit portion:

6 medium-sized peaches, sliced

1/2 lemon, juiced 

1/4C granulated sugar

1 - 1 1/2tsp cornstarch (depending on the ripeness of your peaches)

Ingredients for crumble portion:

1/3C whole wheat flour

1/3C rolled oats

1/3C granulated sugar

1/3 stick unsalted butter

1/4tsp sea salt

1/2tsp ground cinnamon

1/4C raw almonds, chopped (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. Slice peaches, combine with corstarch, lemon juice, sugar and set aside

3. Combine flour, oats, sugar, cinnamon and sea salt, cut butter into the dry mixture, mixing with a fork until well incorporated

4. Butter each of the four ramekins and place peaches evenly amongst them

5. Cover peaches with crumb topping 

6. Place the ramekins on a cookie sheet and bake covered for 15 minutes, remove tin foil and bake uncovered 20 minutes or until the topping is golden brown

Peaches:

What you'll need:

Sliced peaches:

Mixed with lemon, sugar and cornstarch:

Preparing the crumble:

Butter:

Mixing the butter, flour and oats:

Crumble perfection:

Distribute your peaches evenly (the fruit will cook down, so it's fine to pack it in tightly):

Generously top with crumble:

Hot stone-fruit goodness:

Her close-up:

What's your favorite stone fruit? Hope you enjoy...

xx,

The Future Mrs. Wolf

Roasted Eggplant Tomato Sauce

There's something about Sunday nights that make me want to cook. But it's usually with ingredients we have on hand, since very rarely will I shop for a Sunday dinner.  You know, YOLO!

We had a beautiful heirloom eggplant (btw, do they really exist? they should - this one was a beauty) and I wanted to use him up! So I started fishing around for other goodies to add to the mix, and here's what I came up with:

Ingredients for two servings: 

1 medium eggplant

1C cherry tomatoes 

1/2 onion

3 cloves garlic 

2tbsp olive oil + extra 

1/2 bunch fresh basil

balsamic vinegar 

1/4C walnuts, toasted 

1/4C Parmesan cheese, grated

Salt + pepper + red pepper flakes to taste

Pasta of your choosing 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400

2. Chop eggplant and onion, peel garlic (leave the cloves whole) and place with tomatoes in a large bowl

3. Season with olive oil, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes

4. Place vegetables on cookie sheet, bake for 15 minutes, stir and cook another 15 minutes

5. Bring a pot of water to boil, and cook pasta according to directions 

6. When the vegetables have only 3-4 minutes left in the oven, place the walnuts in an oven-safe pan or dish and toast them (just be mindful so they don't burn)

7. Place roasted vegetables into a food processor with basil, add an extra drop of olive oil for richness

8. Drain pasta, reserving 1C pasta water to add to the sauce prior to serving

9. Place cooked pasta back into pot, add eggplant sauce, stir to combine with a hefty drop (technical, I know) of balsamic vinegar

10. Add pasta water little by little to thin out the sauce to your liking (I used about 1/4C -- we like things extra saucy)

11. Plate pasta and top with Parmesan cheese and toasted walnuts 

This would be a fitting dish for parents trying to "sneak" vegetables into their kids (or wives with picky husbands!) because the vegetables really do dissolve right into this tasty sauce.  I'm not sure how I feel about sneaking vegetables - they're so delicious! - but if it's you're thing (not judgement!) try this recipe on your little (or big) ones. 

What you'll need:

The crown jewel of the farm (one of them!):

Roasted vegetables:

Into the food processor:

Finished product:

Her good side:

What's your favorite pasta garnish?

Hope you enjoy...

xx,

The Future Mrs. Wolf

Spiced Nuts

In an effort to use up the small bounty of raw nuts we have at home, and needing something to serve guests in a pinch, I decided to candy these babies. 

I've always loved raw nuts, however roasting them creates the most amazing deep flavor. And sugar and spice never hurt anyone, right? 

I used what I had on hand in my spice shelf. But you can swap anything you prefer. You can always alter the ratios for a sweeter/saltier/spicier mix. 

Ingredients:

1/2 pound raw almonds 
1/2 pound raw walnuts 
2/3C granulated sugar
1tsp cinnamon
1/4tsp smoked paprika 
1/2tsp kosher salt 
1 egg white
1tbsp water 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees  
2. Add sugar and spices together in a mixing bowl, stir to combine  
3. Briskly whisk egg white and water together until well combined and frothy  
4. Evenly coat nuts with egg whites, if you have extra egg whites, remove nuts from the bowl, straining the egg whites  
5. Place egg-white-coated-nuts in a large bowl, and mix well with sugar mixture
6. Place aluminum foil or parchment paper on a cookie sheet, evenly spreading the nuts in one layer 
7. Bake for 15 minutes, remove from the oven and shake, cook for another 15 minutes  
8. Remove from oven and separate any clusters that may be stuck together, cool and serve

What you'll need:

Egg whites:

Just frothed egg whites:

Spiced sugar:

Coat nuts with egg mixture:

Mix with spiced sugar:

Mix to coat:

 

 Into a ramekin for serving:

What's your favorite nut?  Hope you enjoy...

xx,

The Future Mrs. Wolf