I Smell Summer . . .

And with summer inevitably comes bathing suit, shorts, and sundress season. Despite this anxiousness some of us begin to feel around this point in the year (if we haven't felt it already), we nevertheless cannot wait to plant ourselves outdoors.
My mom and I spend everyday smothering each other with love via text message. Just around this time of the year our texts turn to messages like this:
Mom: "How much longer until we can sit outside for breakfast, lunch and dinner?
Me: "I can't wait."
Every text following this typical exchange involves some meal we'd like to cook on the grill, or enjoy with a fresh brewed iced tea while sitting by the pool. Although we love to eat during the summer, we especially love to eat light and healthy. My mom and I like to get creative and inventive with our meals, and the sunny weather can make us all a little adventurous. For my mom, that sometimes means trying something totally new. Exhibit A - Last summer I successfully convinced my mom to try sushi for the first time. I don't know if it was the beach weather, too much sun, or her gin and tonic, but she liked it.

What's most important about our meals is that we try to make them light and healthy, usually by involving summery foods like fruit, veggies, fish, or even a lean piece of meat. I hate the combination of feeling uncomfortably warm from the sun, while feeling too heavy or too full.


I threw this salad together one night purely because I had leftovers toppings from a few other recipes, has become my mom and my salad of choice for this upcoming summer. Don't judge me, but there IS blue cheese in it. (go figure i know) I had a package of it left over from the first time I made the turkey burger sliders and since it's rather expensive to buy, I tried to put it to good use. There are also sun-dried tomatoes. I swear that after this salad I'll cool it on those little sun dried jewels for a little while.
I like to use baby spinach because I think it gives it some elegance. Throw in some pine nuts, sun dried tomatoes, and blue cheese. To make it even lighter I just used EVOO and a touch of garlic salt. Actually, if you don't want to use salt and pepper, buy a container of capers and toss a few in. That will give it a tasteful saltiness that won't be too overpowering, just smooth. This salad will make for a fantastic lunch or even a light dinner with an iced tea or lemonade. If you want to make it more of a heartier meal, I suggest grilling some chicken or shrimp in a balsamic marinate! Happy Summer!

Just Cheese'n

I am in the midst of an exciting, thrilling, captivatingly ecstatic love affair- with blue cheese. I can't seem to get enough of it! I don't remember much about the first time I tried it, but what I do remember is that blue cheese dressing was a quick and satisfying bribe to convince me to order a salad at a young age. Fox Hill, my family's country club, was always a favorite dinner spot amongst the Burke cousins from a very young age. Our parents would drag us for dinner at least once a week, and sometimes more often if during the summer months. The cousin clan ordered pretty much the same thing every time we went.
"Can I have . . . "
"--May I have."
"May I have a grilled cheese with bacon ( which Fox Hill actually put on their menu due to popular demand), and a hearts of lettuce salad with blue cheese dressing and NOTHING else." I liked the dressing, but what I loved was finding the big chunks of blue cheese amidst the creamy base.

Once I discovered how much I enjoyed oil and vinegar, I seemed to drift from the blue cheese dressing. It wasn't until recently, when I became infatuated with the Waldorf Chicken Salad at California Pizza Kitchen, (apples, grapes, pecans, and dried blue cheese) that I rekindled every ounce of my past blue cheese delight.

Flash forward to assignment number two for my Food Writing Class: Pick an ingredient. Research it, cook it, serve it, write about it. I chose to work with the sun dried tomato, which led me to find a recipe for sun-dried tomato feta turkey burger sliders. They definitely caused a thrilling stir in the Burke household as well as during our class's Monday taste testing session.

Then I got to thinking (nod to Carrie Bradshaw for the contemplation phrase) . . . what if I substituted blue cheese for feta cheese. For any of you who have visited or spent a lengthy period of time on any of the Greek islands like I have, you'll understand when I say that "I AM SO SICK OF FETA CHEESE."

This past Saturday, my brother Michael cut his night out early when he found out that I would be creating these sliders for an encore presentation. I bought two pounds of 99% fat free Ground Turkey from my local Wegmans, I mashed the ground turkey in a huge bowl and combined it with four tablespoons of EVOO, a cup of crumbled blue cheese, a cup of Julienne cut sun dried tomatoes packed in italian herbs, a cup of chopped baby spinach leaves, and some ground pepper.

Next, I heated a large skillet on the stove on high heat because I am annoyingly impatient and did not want to wait for it to heat on medium. Take a tablespoon and make cupped sliders. Once on the skillet, be sure sure to keep watch because each side of the slider takes about three to four minutes to prepare, which is really not long at all.


The recipe called for a Sun-Dried Tomato Mayonnaise, but I was dying to throw some pesto sauce into the mix so I created my own Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto Mayo to smooth over the top of the bun. While the burgers finished cooking on the burner I created the spread by improvising and hoped for the best. For this I used:

Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto Mayonnaise

1 Cup of Fat Free Hellemens Mayonnaise
3/4 cup of chopped sun-dried tomatoes
½ cup of any pesto sauce
a few pinches of minced garlic and basil
a pinch of ground pepper, minced onion, and sea salt

I found some great whole wheat slider buns and coated the top with the special pesto sauce before sliding the burgers into the center.

I think blue cheese itself has a slight whisky taste too it. So, initially, I tasted that whisky whiff that made you step back for a second like "woah thats strong." But, immediately following that you think, "wait, no, thats good!" It's almost as if you think you're overwhelmed with flavor, but instead, you're just captivated.

I loved the sauce, but I really wanted to see what my best taste tester- my brother Mike, thought about it.

Me: Now Mike, be honest. Tell me about the sauce.

Michael: oh! The mayo- it was so good! It tasted like that special sauce that you want on everything and you can’t put your finger on just what is in it. I think the sliders would be too plain without it! At football camp they had this awesome combination, and then we learned it was ketchup and mayo. But, this is so much better!

Then I asked my Mom and Dad for their reaction to these little burger gems.
My dad said, "“Slimy yet satisfying” – quoting the lion king. No, really. I thought they were very tasty. They were a touch tangy and a touch sweet. A nice texture and had a little bite but definitely not too much. They were a little chewy- but good chewy. They smelled incredibly savory while on that skillet."
My mom said, "They're like a healthy burger. I feel light, not stuffed. Don't be too afraid to throw some extra sauce on the burger. The blue cheese should have been in the original recipe, not feta."

WIth May 1st just days away, I am becoming more and more excited about trying these on the grill. I suggest throwing together any side salad that you're in the mood for, and pairing the meal with a light beer.



Blue Cheese Sun-Dried Tomato Turkey Burger Sliders

4 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 lb ground turkey
1 Cup crumbled blue cheese
1 Cup sun-dried tomatoes, jarred in olive oil
1/2 Cup fresh baby spinach leaves, chopped
makes about 12!

From Pastaphobic to Pastafantasic

If you dare to take a stroll through the college style kitchen my beautiful roommates and I share in our Manayunk townhouse, you will probably find special K bar's in all of our cabinets, maybe a jar of peanut butter, and possibly some crackers. (and if you're lucky, a visit from our sixth roommate, our mouse we named
"stuart" who resides in our cabinets and tends to make his creepy debut late in the evening ).
What you will most certainly find, is that each one of our cabinets has a box of pasta - but mine.

Although 75% of my heritage represents a map Dublin, the remaining 25% represents a map of Calabria, which neither my Nana, nor my dark features will let me soon forget. Growing up, there were only two meals that I totally hated to eat for dinner- meatloaf, and spaghetti. Meatloaf can speak for itself- but the spaghetti left a horribly soppy, bland aftertaste and always left my stomach feeling heavy even after a few bites. As I got older, and my taste buds expanded, I ventured to tastes like manicotti, or ravioli tossed in vodka, pesto, or garlic sauces. When I became a vegetable lover I tried various primavera dishes that looked exquisitely colorful and didn't taste half bad.

But, when I finished indulging, I started to notice that what was left on my plate was the actual pasta. I will eat everything around the pasta, the veggies, the chicken, the seafood, and leave the pasta. Ironically, one of my favorite things to cook for a big group is tortellini in pesto sauce with mushrooms, broccoli, zucchini, chicken, and with a pinch of garlic. I basically make it because I love the way the add-ins taste in the pesto sauce - but not the actually tortellini.

My task: create a pasta dish that would be light, veggie filled, and most especially, one I would actually want to eat again. To my roommates, this feat is in honor of all the nights we sat around our kitchen table snacking and gabbing at 2am, post bar, as I downed celery and peanut butter and you all enjoyed Meredith's mac and cheese. To my roommate, Meredith, this feat is my apology for the endless ribbing I gave you for your unwavering loyalty to your nightly pasta bowl. Finally, this challenge is dedicated to my dad who jokes that no husband of mine will tolerate a wife who can't cook a bowl of pasta!

A Burke Family favorite restaurant in the Greater Pittston area called Grico's has catered almost all of our family events, communions, birthdays, engagements, you name it. One dish that has become a staple for any event is a cold pasta with sesame seeds, roasted red peppers, and small slivers of grilled chicken. It is fantastic! So, I'm going to try my hand at making my own version and see what happens.

I'm all about the appearance. The dish has to look presentable if I'm going to want to serve it let alone eat it. I picked really unique and fun looking pasta called Campanelle that looks like frilly ziti.


I defrosted some chopped spinach in the microwave as well as some asparagus. For the asparagus, I thought the spears would look the most appetizing and add a little veggie glamour. I cleanly chopped the asparagus in a diagonal cut towards the speared end of the stalk. My grandmother taught me a quick trick for steam veggies that has yet to fail me. Throw whatever veggie you want, broccoli, zucchini, asparagus, into a microwave safe bowl. Sprinkle a little grated cheese, salt and pepper and a dash of EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) or lemon juice. Cover and microwave for about 5 minutes. Works every time.

After I drained the cooked pasta, I poured it into a tupperware container and refrigerated it for about 2 hours. Then i tossed the spinach, the asparagus, threw in some pine nuts, sliced black olives, garlic salt and stirred it in EVOO. You can really put as much EVOO as you'd like. Then I added sun dried tomatoes, which were already packed in olive oil, which gave the dish the extra zest.


It tasted incredibly light with a burst of flavor that hits you on the first bite. As for the pasta itself, I'd recommend a firmly cooked pasta. Don’t be afraid to throw in a lot of spinach. When you're stirring everything together it's going to look like the bowl is flooded with spinach, but afterward you'll want to add more. The key to the zest is You want to get the julienne cut sun dried tomatoes already packed in the oil. The first helping had my mom and I questioning what was missing. Once we added the sun dried tomatoes we looked at each other in agreement that we'd found the missing ingredient.

Result: I loved it. I pictured myself sitting on my back patio with a fresh brewed unsweetened iced tea, enjoying the weather, and for once, enjoying pasta.

To my food writing family, the dish is coming your way tomorrow!!

Recipe
1 lb box of Campanelle Pasta
about 15 asparagus spears
10 oz box of frozen chopped spinach
8.5 oz jar of California Sun dried Julienne Cut Tomatoes
a few pinches of garlic salt (to taste)
EVOO (to taste)
sprinkle of pine nuts
sprinkle of sliced black olives

1. boil and cook pasta and refrigerate for about 2 hours or until cold
2. gently steam the asparagus
3.) defrost spinach
4.) add everything together!

The O'Burke Shrimp & Avocado Dip

Why is it called the O'Burke? Well, here's the story behind this insanely delicious dip. My best friends Molly O'Brien, Laura Magnotta, and Katey Burke and I had our first Big Girl Dinner party when we were about seventeen or eighteen. We got all dressed up, set the dining room tables, lit the candles, and poured the (sorry mom!) wine into our glasses as we all sat down to try the homemade dinner that we each took turns creating.

Molly cooked our first meal. She made a delicious pasta with beautifully colorful vegetables and grilled chicken. I can still picture her cooking in her pretty sundress adorned with her stained apron. Before dinner, she placed this dip that she called Shrimp Ceviche, on her counter with some tortilla chips. It had a creamy base, (what the cream was I still don't know) with cilantro, some lime, shrimp, avocado, tomato, and onion, all mixed up in a bowl. DELICIOUSLY ADDICTING.

Throughout the past few years, she has served it at several dinner parties, movie nights, or birthday events, and every time I say that I am going to make it myself. She sent me the e-mail with the recipe, I glanced at it, and accidently deleted it. I figured I basically remembered what was in it- how hard could it be?

So, I bought Multigrain tortilla chips, 4 avocados, two giant red tomatoes, one red onion, and a bag of frozen shrimp. (Clearly not realizing I left out half of what the recipe called for)

I defrosted the shrimp and chopped up all the vegetables and shrimp. Trust me, you want to make this WHEN. YOU. HAVE. TIME. It's tedious.

So, all excited for everyone to try it, I placed it all in a bowl and took a taste test- incredible as I expected.

I called Molly, and raved about the recreation, and what I threw it the bowl, what I bought, how it tasted, and she responded, "Beth, thats great, but that's not my dish."

"oh. woops,"

SInce then I've made MY version of this dish- my first successful attempt at recipe creation and watched it melt the hearts of men and women all over the world! - well actually just my family. But that's all that matters right?!


It's easy. Just buy four somewhat mushy to feel avocados, about two ripe red tomatoes, one large red onion, and a 1 lb. bag of frozen shrimp. Defrost the shrimp, and start chopping. Chop everything and throw it together and you're done! The best part of my version is that there's no cream base to it. WIth avocado being the leading vegetable for your daily dose of potassium and omega-3's, tomatoes, and plain shrimp, you're definitely doing your body good by indulging. You can't go wrong!




I think it's served best with chips, but I would imagine that pita chips or pita bread would be just as tasty. Serve it during the summer with a glass of wine or a mojito - or if you're a gin snob like me, go with tangueray and tonic with extra lime and you've got it made.



HAPPY EATING! nod to Molly O'Brien with the O'Burke dip!

And so it begins . . .

Welcome to my very first blog post! Let me first explain how I came up with this blog idea and what it's all about! I love food and I love to cook, BUT i hate to follow directions. It might be because I'm impatient or it might just be because I'm stubborn. I hate the constant back and forth, glance at the recipe, oh no I lost my place, oops I added too much, or oh, I thought it said ONE cup of sugar! It all takes away from the fun of prancing around the kitchen, or keeping a conversation with my mom as she glances on to whatever I'm cooking, or even listening to some music and singing along.

SO, with each post I am going to try something from scratch, a little of this, a little of that and see what happens. Let's Roll !