Roasted Asparagus wth Parmesan and Crumb Crust

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...How many people does it take to produce a decent photo of asparagus with a Parmesan crust? Obviously, more than are sitting at my kitchen table tonight. Ordinarily, I bypass the recipe and find something else to post, but this is such a nice dish that I wanted to share it with you  while asparagus is still in season. I'll be posting twice today to make up for the bad photograph. The version of the dish I'm highlighting tonight was developed by Mark Bittman, and you can find his recipe and a photo of the asparagus as he made it, here. The dish is simple to make and can be assembled several hours before serving. Those of you who try this recipe will be really pleased with the results. Here's how the asparagus is made. 

Roasted Asparagus With Crunchy Parmesan Topping...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite courtesy of Mark Bittman

Ingredients:
1/2 cup bread crumbs, preferably homemade
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
1-1/2 pounds asparagus, more or less
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Directions:
1) Heat oven to 450 degrees. Combine bread crumbs and Parmesan.
2) Rinse asparagus and break off woody bottoms. Peel if thick. Lay stalks in a baking dish that will hold them in two or three layers, and, if asparagus are thick, add a splash of water. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and place in oven.
3) Roast until asparagus are tender, 10 to 12 minutes if they’re thick. Test for doneness by piercing a spear with point of a sharp knife; it should slide in but meet a little resistance. (Up to this point, recipe can be made as much as two hours before serving; just leave asparagus at room temperature.)
4) Turn on broiler and place rack as close as possible to heating element. Top asparagus with cheese-crumb mixture and run under broiler to brown, a minute or two. Serve hot or at room temperature. Yield: 4 servings.








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50 Women Game Changers in Food - #33 Christopher Hirscheimer and Melissa Hamilton - Canal House Roasted Tomatoes Studded with Garlic

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...Canal House Cooking is a series of seasonal cookbooks created for the home cook by the food writing and photography team of Christopher Hirsheimer and Melissa Hamilton. In 2006, the two women opened Canal House as a photo and design studio for cookbooks and magazines. They had known each other for years before forming the partnership. Melissa Hamilton, a chef, had been the director of the test kitchen at Saveur magazine where Christopher Hirsheimer was a founding editor and photographer. Their food is a fusion of European country classics and American regional favorites which, while easy enough to do, is designed to be interesting and capture the eye and imaginations of their readers. Their recipes reflect Hamilton's French heritage and Hirsheimer's California background. Both women have traveled extensively and have impressive culinary backgrounds. Their vision includes three publications a year and they have been able to make their self-published concept work by doing most of the work themselves. Each of their publications contains about 75 recipes which they develop, test and photograph on their own. That has helped preserve the homespun but edgy quality they wanted their magazines to have. Together they share position 33 on the Gourmet Live list of 50 Women Game Changers in Food.

I selected a really simple recipe to highlight the type of cooking that the women do. As you scan through the recipe, you'll see a fairly standard list of ingredients for a simple pasta sauce. What is different, however, is the way the dish is prepared and presented. The idea here is to give everyone a flavorful roasted tomato that can be mashed over a serving of pasta, effectively creating a sauce meant for one. It works fairly well, especially when first served and piping hot. I thought the crumbs became gummy and less pleasant as the sauce cooled. The recipe is novel, at least to me, and I think those of you who enjoy something different for a change, might really like this. Here's the recipe.

Canal House Roasted Tomatoes Studded with Garlic on a Bed of Pasta

Ingredients:
1/2 cup diced pancetta
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for the pasta
2 anchovy fillets
1 cup coarse fresh bread crumbs
4 tomatoes, tops sliced off, seeds scooped out (use your fingers)
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
Small handful fresh thyme, parsley, or basil leaves, chopped (I used a combination of all 3)
Salt and pepper
1/2 pound spaghetti

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Fry pancetta in a skillet over medium heat until browned and crisp around edges. Use a slotted spatula to lift pancetta out of skillet to a plate. Leave rendered fat in skillet. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and anchovies to skillet. Use a wooden spoon to mash anchovies until they dissolve. Add bread crumbs and cook, stirring often,until they are golden.
2) Put tomatoes, cut side up, in a baking dish and slip some garlic into each tomato. Mound some bread crumbs into each tomato and scatter pancetta and herbs on top. Season with salt and pepper and drizzle remaining 4 tablespoons of oil over all. Roast tomatoes in the oven until they have browned a bit and interior is supple but tomatoes have not collapsed, about 1 to 1-1/2 hours.
3) Cook spaghetti in a large pot of boiling salted water. Drain. Return pasta to pot and stir in some olive oil and some of the oily tomato juices from the bottom of the tomato roasting dish.
4) Serve spaghetti with roasted tomatoes and their juices spooned on top. Yield: 4 servings.

The following bloggers are also featuring the recipes of Christopher Hirsheimer and Melissa Hamilton today. I hope you'll pay them all a visit. They are great cooks who have wonderful blogs.

Val - More Than Burnt Toast, Taryn - Have Kitchen Will Feed, Susan - The Spice Garden, Heather - girlichef, Miranda - Mangoes and Chutney, Jeanette - Healthy Living
Mary - One Perfect Bite, Kathleen - Bake Away with Me, Sue - The View from Great Island Barbara - Movable Feasts , Linda A - There and Back Again, Nancy - Picadillo
Mireya - My Healthy Eating Habits, Veronica - My Catholic Kitchen
Annie - Most Lovely Things, Claudia - Journey of an Italian Cook, Alyce - More Time at the Table, Amrita - Beetles Kitchen Escapades

Next week we will highlight the career and recipes of Ella Brennan. It will be really interesting to see what everyone comes up with. If you'd like to join us please email me for additional information no later than Monday, February 6th.

Pasta with Bread Crumbs and Herbed Tomatoes

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...I had more than a passing encounter with Mother Hubbard's dilemma today. I've been madly preparing for an extended trip to the coast and dinner time rolled around with packed suitcases but nothing more for dinner than a defrosted steak that desperately needed something to keep it company on the plate. The cupboard was, indeed, nearly bare and I wasn't up to a last-minute grocery shop. It was obviously going to be a make-do supper. That occasionally happens here, and, when it does, I have a handful of recipes that I fall back on. This is one of them. I make this dish once or twice a year when I have stale bread and ripe tomatoes that must be used. It's not my favorite recipe, but it is serviceable and makes a really nice accompaniment to plain grilled meat or chicken.I routinely use stale bread to make crumbs and usually have a supply in the pantry. Because I have them in ready status it takes only minutes for me to make this pasta. If you are going to make crumbs just for the pasta, it will take about an hour for them to properly dry and toast, so plan your time accordingly. I've included instructions for preparing crumbs in today's recipe. If you make the recipe from start to finish you will need a couple of hours to put everything together. An easy shortcut is the use of panko bread crumbs. If you use a gentle hand, panko has enough substance to stand in for homemade crumbs. If you use them, you would begin with step 3 in the recipe below. This is really easy to make, and, if ever you are in need of a quick go-with, you might want to try this pasta. Here's the recipe.

Pasta With Bread Crumbs and Herbed Tomatoes...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite

Ingredients:
1/2 large loaf country-style bread, crust removed
1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
3 cloves, chopped
6 large, ripe, Roma tomatoes, cored, peeled, seeded, and chopped
1/2 bunch fresh parsley, chopped
1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, chopped
3 sprigs fresh thyme leaves, chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Balsamic or red wine vinegar to taste (optional)
12-ounces dried fusilli or other short tubular pasta

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 275 degrees F.
2) Cut bread into pieces. In a food processor fitted with the metal blade, process bread, in batches, to coarse crumbs. There will be about 3 cups of crumbs. Spread in a shallow baking tray and toast in the oven for 1 hour, or until dry and crisp but not brown.
3) In a large saute pan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add bread crumbs and garlic and cook, stirring constantly, for 10 minutes, or until crumbs are golden. Pour into a bowl and set aside.
4) In a glass or ceramic bowl, combine tomatoes and chopped herbs. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add a splash of vinegar to intensify flavor of the tomatoes, if you desire.
5) In a large pot, bring 4 quarts of salted water to a boil over high heat. Cook pasta per package directions until al dente. Drain well.
6) Transfer pasta to a warm, shallow serving bowl. Toss with reserved 1 tablespoon olive oil. Pour tomatoes over top and toss to combine. Add bread crumbs and toss again. Serve immediately.
Yield: 4 to 6 servings.







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Mocha Crumb Cake

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...The desserts served at my table have changed a great deal since I wrote my first entry for One Perfect Bite. These days, I have two categories of treats that I serve to my family and our friends. Those designated BB (Before Blogging) are generally less sweet and very easy to do. Back then, theme and variation within a category such as cake, assured our palates would not be bored and made exploration unnecessary. Besides that, desserts BB were a sometime thing, meant only for a weekend treat, or to end a meal when we had guests at the table. Once I began blogging, it became apparent that my laissez-faire toward dessert just wasn't going to cut it in the AB (After Blogging) world. So, I made it a point to feature desserts more often. That pleased our neighbors and the folks who were reading One Perfect Bite. Neither Bob nor I have a wildly active sweet tooth, and more often than not, once a dessert is tested it is sent down the hill to neighbors who love sweet things. Usually. Tonight, however, was an exception. Dinner was a homely, fireplace affair designed to ward off the day's damp and chill. It included a warm crumb cake that is definitely a BB affair and it is not going anywhere. This cake is plain and lacks sophistication but it is really good, and when the planets are aligned and the cake is served warm with really great ice cream, you'll swear you've died and gone to heaven. It would be just plain wrong of me to keep this one to myself, so, from the annuls of my BB collection, here's a recipe for mocha crumb cake that will make your socks go up and down - on your way to heaven of course.

Mocha Crumb Cake...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite courtesy of Starbucks

Ingredients:
1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
1 tablespoon instant coffee granules
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup chilled butter, cut into small pieces
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
Cooking spray
1-1/2 teaspoons water

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat an 8-inch round pan with cooking spray. Set aside.
2) Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine flour and next 4 ingredients (flour through salt) in a mixing bowl, and cut in margarine with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse meal. Reserve 1/2 cup flour mixture for topping, and set aside.
3) Combine remaining flour mixture, baking powder, and baking soda; add milk, vanilla, and egg. Beat at medium speed of a mixer until blended. Spoon batter into an 8-inch round cake pan coated with cooking spray. Combine reserved 1/2 cup flour mixture and water; stir with a fork. Sprinkle crumb mixture over batter. Bake at 350º for 30 minutes or until cake springs back when touched lightly in center. Cool on a wire rack. Serve warm. Yield: 8 servings.







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Broccoli and Cauliflower Gratin

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...This is a quick and delicious dish that I stumbled on while looking for new ways to cook broccoli and cauliflower. The recipe was developed by Laura Chenel for Food and Wine magazine. There tends to be a sameness to recipes that are written for the more strongly flavored vegetables. This one is a delightful departure from the norm. While I love the recipe as it is written, I would suggest you omit the broccoli and double the the amount of cauliflower the recipe calls for. I think the mix of ingredients is better suited to cauliflower and it makes for a much prettier dish than when the two are combined. I promise I'll give broccoli equal time at a later date. I love it, just not in this particular dish. This gratin is strongly flavored and is probably best served with plain grilled chicken or meat, though I must say I liked this enough to have the leftovers for my breakfast the last time I made it. "Gratin" is one of those culinary oddities that identifies a pan in which to cook, as well as a method of cooking. The pan is a shallow vessel that is used to hold a mixture that is topped with breadcrumbs and cheese and quickly broiled or flashed to produce a crunchy crust. They are usually easy to prepare, high in calories and absolutely delicious. This one is no exception, though it healthier than most. This is a really nice, serviceable recipe that you'll use over and over again once you've tried it. I hope that will be soon. Here's the recipe.

Broccoli and Cauliflower Gratin...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite, courtesy of Laura Chenel

Ingredients:
4 cups broccoli florets (from 2 small heads)
4 cups cauliflower florets (from 1 small head)
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/2 pound sharp Cheddar cheese, coarsely shredded (2 cups)
1/4 cup pitted oil-cured green or black olives, coarsely chopped
1 cup coarse plain dry bread crumbs
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Butter a 2-inch-deep 2-quart baking dish. Bring a large saucepan of salted water to a boil, add broccoli and cauliflower and cook until crisp-tender, about 3 minutes. Drain thoroughly.
2) In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of oil over moderate heat. Add garlic and crushed red pepper and cook just until fragrant. Remove pan from burner. Add broccoli and cauliflower and toss. Toss olives and half of cheese with vegetables. Transfer to a baking dish and sprinkle with remaining cheese.
3) In a small bowl, toss crumbs with remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil; season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle crumbs over cheese. Bake in upper third of oven for about 12 minutes, or until cheese is bubbling and crumbs are golden. Serve hot. Yield: 4 to 6 servings.

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Spring Vegetable Ragout - One Perfect Bite
Summer Vegetable Gratin - Delicious Dishings
Winter Root Vegetable Gratin - Playing House
Vegetable Au Gratin - eCurry
Root Vegetable Gratin - The Bitten Word
Summer Vegetable Gratin - Erin Cooks