Food Matters Project #20: Walnut Pâté Sandwich with Arugula & Pears

With the heat index rising, this weeks Food Matters Project came at the right time.  The chosen dish was easy, fast and did not require turning on the oven!

This weeks Food Matters Project host is Aura, of Dinner with Aura.  From Mark Bittman’s Food Matter Cookbook, she chose Updated Tea Sandwiches.  Check out what everyone else made in their kitchens!  Mark Bittman’s original recipes can be found on page 52 in his cookbook.

Walnut Pâté Sandwich with Arugula & Pears
Adapted from: Vegetarian Times

For these sandwiches I used ciabatta bread, but any type of bread will be great.  In addition, the toppings can be changed to whatever you’d like.  Alternatives include: spinach, tomatoes, roasted red bell peppers, cheese, etc.

bread (ciabatta, whole wheat, foccacia, peasant bread, etc)

Pâté:
1 cup walnuts
1 15oz can cannellini beans, rinsed & drained
juice of 1 lemon
8 garlic cloves
1 tbsp olive oil
pinch of salt
pinch of pepper
pinch of red pepper flakes (optional)

Toppings:
arugula
pear slices
cucumber slices

Add all of the pâté ingredients in a food processor.  Purée until smooth.

To make sandwiches, spread the pâté onto the bread, top with arugula, pear slices and cucumber slices.

Heat Wave: Shrimp Gazpacho

I’m not sure where everyone else is living, but here in DC we’ve had a couple of hot days.  The kind of hot that you just want to sit in an air conditioned room, eating and drinking cold foods.  I’ve got just the soup that will keep you cool when the heat wave gets to you!

I’ve mentioned previously that I studied abroad in Sevilla, Spain.  While I was there over the summer, it was hot- so my señora made a gazpacho quite often to cool us down, and fill us up.  Although it wasn’t my favorite at first, I learned to love it and have eaten many bowls every since.  Check out other soups we’ve made that can be eaten cold: cucumber gazpacho, tomato soup with basil, and roasted vegetable soup.

Tomatoes are starting to pop up at the Penn Quarter Farmer’s Market, so I’m taking advantage and buying some every week.  It’s really hard to resist all of the beautiful colors, and amazing taste!  The better tomatoes you use (ex: heirloom) the flavor will be more intense!

Need other meal ideas to keep you cool this summer?  Check these out: rum raisin ice cream, colorful slaw, tomatoes with basil & mozzarella, Sam’s summer pasta sauce, and the Penn Quarter Farmer’s Market Summer Salad.

Shrimp Gazpacho
Fifth Floor Kitchen original
Serving: 4 large dinner (6 lunch/sides)

If you do have a grill in your home, I would utilize it and grill the veggies rather than roasting them in your oven (won’t get as hot!).  Also, feel free to change the number of each vegetable- if you prefer more corn, add it in, or don’t include it.  This is one of the reasons I love soups, so easy to change them to your taste!

5 tomatoes
3 corn on the cob
3 red bell peppers
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
5 garlic cloves, chopped
2 carrots, peeled & chopped
1 3/4 cup vegetable broth
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)
about 1 lb shrimp, peeled/cooked
2 tbsp chives, chopped

Preheat the oven to 425ºF.

On a cookie sheet, spread out 3 tomatoes, corn on the cob (husks off) and the red bell peppers.  Once the oven is preheated, put the veggies into the oven for about 30 minutes.  Turn each of the vegetables over onto another side about every 10 minutes.  Once they are done, allow them to cool off.

Once everything has cooled, add the tomatoes to a food processor.  Then cut off an inch off of the point side of the corn, and set it down on a flat surface.  Grasp the stalk end holding it vertically over a cutting board, and carefully slice downward over the cob cutting off the kernels.  Then add the corn from 2 of the cobs into the food processor, add the other corn kernels to a big bowl.  Lastly, chop off the end of the pepper with the stem, and add the pepper to the food processor.  Processes all of the vegetables until they are pureed (to your liking of consistency), then pour everything into the big bowl with the corn kernels.

Chop the remaining 2 tomatoes and add them to the large bowl.

In a medium saucepan, heat up the olive oil.  Then add in the onion, allow it to cook until it is translucent.  Add in the garlic and carrots, cook for another 5 minutes.  Finally, add in the veggie broth, and allow to simmer for an additional 5 minutes.

Allow the broth mixture to cool, then add it to the food processor.  Puree it until the consistency is smooth.  Add the liquid to the big bowl filled with the other ingredients.  Sprinkle in the salt, pepper and red pepper flakes, mix well.  Lastly, add in the shrimp.

Place in the fridge and allow it to cool for at least an hour (although, the colder the better).

Once you’re ready to serve, ladle out the soup into bowls and garnish with chives.

Heat wave & tomatoes

Temperatures are soaring all over the US.  Tomorrow will be extremely hot in DC (100°F or more).  The humidity does not help.  And if you’ve been to DC in the summer before, you know how sticky it gets here.  So with the temperatures soaring, all of us are melting into puddles.  Non-cooking dishes do not only sound fantastic- they are essential for our survival.

What I do like about summer are tomatoes.  Especially tomatoes from the Farmer’s Market.  Have you ever really looked a tomato?  Up close?  Aren’t they beautiful?

And what do you do when you have delicious looking tomatoes and it’s hot outside?

Tomatoes with fresh mozzarella and basil.

Yum!

I hope all of you go out and get some beautiful tomatoes, and enjoy them.  All you will need is:

tomatoes (depending on size about 1-3)
fresh mozzarella (2-3 small balls)
basil (5-10 leaves)
Salt & pepper

Cut the tomatoes into slices.  Arrange them nicely on a plate.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Chiffonade the basil, and sprinkle over the plate.  Lastly, slice the mozzarella, and place a piece on each tomato slice.  You can drizzle the dish with olive oil, but I preferred the earthy flavor of the tomatoes.  Serve and enjoy.  A fresh baguette and butter are a fantastic addition.

And to leave you with something more to read, rather than just looking at the delicious pictures, here’s an interesting article.  It discusses how the tomato flavor and production in the US has changed over the last 50 years.

How Industrial Farming ‘Destroyed’ the Tasty Tomato

Stay cool!

Egg Salad with Whole Wheat Bread

Let me tell you, it’s hot here in DC…and it’s going to get hotter.  And more humid.  And more uncomfortable.  Those are the days where I wish we could walk out of our home and into our air conditioned car, and that car would drive me right next to the front door of my work, so I could step into another air conditioned building.

Unfortunately, that’s not how it is.  I hold my breath before taking a step out of our building, where I hope and wish it’s not too hot and humid.  You see, the news keeps telling us that the Midwest is hot and uncomfortable (100°F or higher), and I’m dreading the day this heat wave rolls into DC.  Since we don’t have air conditioned cars, we have the metro cars that “sometimes” might be air conditioned (it’s a gamble).

So, as you can tell with my little rant, the idea of turning on the oven this week is unbearable.  So sandwiches for dinner!  Easy, delicious and no oven required- the perfect dinner when it’s still 95°F at 8pm.

Egg Salad with Whole Wheat Bread
Adapted from: Bella Eats

6 eggs
4 tbsp capers, rinsed & drained
3 tbsp green onions, chopped
2 tbsp parsley, chopped
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp cayenne
1/2 tsp chili poweder
1/3 cup mayonnaise
2 tbsp dijon mustard
4 stalks of celery, diced

Add the eggs into a pot filled with water.  Turn on the water until it boils, then turn off the burner.  Leave the eggs in the warm water for 10 minutes.  Then remove the eggs, and soak them in an ice-cold bath.

Once the eggs are cooled, peel the shells and chop the eggs coarsely.  In a large mixing bowl, mix the eggs and the rest of the ingredients together.  Mix well, and serve on whole wheat bread.