Insalata Caprese

Hi everyone!

Are you taking advantage of all the wonderful fresh produce this summer? If you don’t grow your own garden, the next best thing is to hit the local Farmer’s Markets in your area! You will find the most amazing and fresh garden goodness!

Here is a simple and delicious summer salad to enjoy from the bounty that is available at the markets.

In fresh Caprese cuisine, the past and present live together, in proper proportions. To honor a culinary culture that has made simplicity its forte with that "simplicity that is hard to get", of course. Source

What better treat than an Insalata Caprese

A Caprese Salad is one of the most simple salads with wonderful clean flavors. When making one of these beautiful salads, using gorgeous heirloom tomatoes makes it all the more stunning. I was blessed with these fabulous heirloom tomatoes from my friend Katie. She specializes in growing these beauties. I will be doing a post about Katie and her husband Christian and their business soon. I know none of us want to think about next Spring yet but, you are going to want to keep them in mind when you start planting next year because she sells seeds (online) for these stunning and amazing tasting tomatoes!

 

Making a Caprese Salad is very simple.

1. Slice tomatoes and mozzarella cheese and layer between the two.
2. Add fresh leaves of Basil
3. Drizzle with olive oil
4. Sprinkle with salt and pepper
5. Drizzle with vinegar (optional)

Most people seem to like balsamic vinegar, I do too. But, we just finished a batch of Basil vinegar and I used that. Oh you would not believe the amazing smell of Basil in our kitchen when I made this salad! Divine!

 

They are Runnin’ Amuck!

Hi everyone!

Holy cow! Our herbs here at home are going crazy! I need to seriously find a good chunk of time to harvest them soon!

Barrels of Peppermint and Spearmint! I have never harvested the mint flowers. I think I am going to do that and play around with some recipes using them.

Time to cut and dry some dill and dill seeds! And in the background you can see a sage plant ready to be cut back and dried as well.

More dill. Some purple basil and oregano all need harvesting!

The lemon balm is just huge! And it needs to be harvested first because we dry and sell this one. It is a popular dried herb of ours because it is very difficult to find dried lemon balm. Customers are always asking for it.

Lemon Verbena, more purple basil and some thyme are so ready to be cut! 

This is about 1/3 of our herbs here at home. They are all doing amazing!  And I have said it before, but just walking near these herbs, the smells are so wonderful! If for no other reason, planting herbs just for the scent would be something I would do!

All of our plants are completely grown chemical free. We have had such great success growing all of our herbs naturally that I can’t even image using any chemicals! 

We have several neighbors who come over and ask to buy some for our fresh herbs here at home because they are making some recipe right then and there that requires certain herbs. They all know we have a lot of fresh herbs here. We tell them to just pick what they need. Then it never fails, a couple of hours later we end up with a bowl of whatever they just cooked/baked. LOL

I am also posting this on our DTL Herbs Blog .

Don’t forget you still have time to enter the Yoplait “Pink Lids” Prize Package giveaway!

Just click the picture above!

Guest Chef Tara from Scarborough Seashells

Hi everyone!

Tara at Scarborough Seashells is making Pesto for us today! I love that fact that this can be froze to be enjoyed at a later time!

Thank you Tara for sharing this with us! I hope you all visit Tara’s wonderful blog. You should see the gorgeous jewelry she makes! Okay, on to this yummy recipe!

Basic Pesto

Ingredients:
(this makes 2 batches, so I only used half my ingredients at a time)
4 packed cups fresh basil leaves
2 cups fresh parsley
8 cloves of garlic
2/3 cup pine nuts
1 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus a little extra for drizzling
2 TBSP lemon juice
zest of 1 lemon
3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste
This recipe is so simple:
Toast the pine nuts over medium high heat until oils begin to release and they become golden brown (about 3 minutes). Set them aside to cool while you prepare your other ingredients.

Add all ingredients -except parmesan cheese- to your blender and blend until smooth. Add more olive oil at a slow drizzle or a TBSP or 2 of water to thin out if necessary.



If you are eating fresh, pour into a bowl, stir in the parmesan cheese and serve immediately.



If you are planning to freeze, leave the cheese out until ready to thaw and use. Pour your mixture into an air tight container.
Drizzle a bit more olive oil on top of the pesto, place a piece of wax paper or plastic wrap directly on top of the sauce to keep the air out and then freeze for up to 3 months.


Enjoy!

Guest “Chef” Emily from The French Hutch!

Friday, July 15, 2011

Hi everyone!

Oh, I have a treat for  you today! Emily at The French Hutch is our featured guest "Chef" today! Emily has created not one but a couple of mouth watering recipes to share with us. Thank you Emily for such wonderful recipes and drool worthy photos!

Click the above picture of Emily’s beautiful French Hutch to go to her blog!

 

ITALIAN BRUSCHETTA ~ WITH FRESH HERBS AND TOMATOES

My post this week will be the Weekly Featured Recipe at DTL Herbs. Please join Diann from The Thrifty Groove and me at her herb blog sharing great recipes using fresh herbs.

Thank You Diann, I am honored  to have my recipe featured at DTL Herbs.

please click here to join Diann at her new blog

BRUSCHETTA

Summer months you will always find in my kitchen fresh herbs from my little herb garden and home grown tomatoes from family or friends. My sweet dad always had these growing in a garden in our back yard so its from these fond memories I love and enjoy preparing any recipe using tomatoes. When my sources run out for suppling me with what I feel is a summer staple, I head to the huge farmers market in Birmingham. I know I'll always find tomatoes and most any herb I need there.
I think I started to go apes over bruschetta after my first trip to Roma.  We have a favorite restaurant where Jim and I always enjoy dining, I always order the bruschetta as an appetizer, from orders by the waiters who always remember us and tell us what to eat, oh those Italians! In Roma, the bruschetta is different than what we found in Florence and the Tuscan hill towns. Roma offers up its version with chopped tomatoes, basil and thicker bread for the oil and vinegar to soak into, where the Tuscan version uses thiner slices of bread and is more of a finger food. Roma serves bruschetta like a salad and you need your fork and knife. I love both, but it can get a little messy eating as finger food. I like serving it as a first course replacing the salad.  Either way, its a summer favorite, a staple you'll find on my menu while the tomatoes are garden fresh and herbs are out of my back yard garden. Ah, the wonderful bounty of summer.

WHAT YOU'LL NEED

~

FRESH CHOPPED BASIL

FRESH CHOPPED ROSEMARY

CLOVE OF GARLIC / OR SWEET ONION

YOUR FAVORITE FRESH OR DRIED HERB

FRESH CHOPPED AND/OR SLICED TOMATOES

FAVORITE OIL AND VINEGAR

FRESH GROUND SEA SALT AND PEPPER

YOUR FAVORITE BAGUETTE BAKERY BREAD

~

BEAUTIFUL GARDEN FRESH HERBS

DRIED IF FRESH IS NOT IN SEASON

DRIED BRUSCHETTA HERBS

PURCHASED IN POSITANO

BLUE BASIL
BLUE CENTER

HOME GROWN TOMATOES

GRILL OR TOAST BREAD

A PRETTY FRENCH ROOSTER PLATE

RUB BREAD WITH GARLIC OR ONION

ADD HERBS TO TOMATOES

~

CHOPPED FOR ROMA BRUSCHETTA

SLICED FOR RUSTIC

TUSCAN BRUSCHETTA

TOP BREAD WITH TOMATOES AND HERBS

POUR OIL OVER TOMATOES

AND ONTO PLATE AROUND BREAD

ADD VINEGAR

ENJOY YOUR FAVORITE BRUSCHETTA

DELICIOUS

POSTCARDS FROM ROMA

GEORGIE, JIM, EMILY AND MOUNIR

BRUSCHETTA AT TUDINI'S IN ROMA

THE REAL DEAL

LEMONCELLO
AFTER DINNER DRINKS

TOMATO, FRESH MOZZARELLA AND BASIL SALAD
JUST ADD YOUR FAVORITE OIL, VINEGAR AND HERBS

 

Really there is no right or wrong way to make bruschetta. I love the two ways presented here, the way I first tried it in Roma. It just doesn't get any better.........CIAO!