So, for the past few days, we’ve been talking about Le Grand’s delicious sauces.  (Read here for an introduction to Le Grand’s gourmet raw sauces.)  Yesterday, we made braised meatballs in sun-dried tomato pesto, today we’re going to try something different:

Cucumber “Fettuccini” with Le Grand Garden Pesto Sauce

So I think in my intro, I said I was going to be making cooked food with Le Grand’s array of gourmet cold pressed, raw sauces.  However, the more I got to thinking about it, the more I wanted to make a raw meal with from the raw sauce.  So, I did!

This is a take on raw stroganoff that we made at the SolFud raw tasting dinner.  However, I took this dish from Russia and sent it to Italy with the help of Le Grand Garden Pesto sauce.

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The White Album- Perfect Music to Listen to for a White Meal

Okay, so the fashionistas all agree that you can’t wear white after Labor Day, but, I’m wondering about eating white after Labor Day.  Think about it.  If you can’t wear white, you’re probably wearing darker colors and if you spill… yikes!  Who knows…maybe tomorow the manner experts are going to outlaw fettuchini alfredo, sugar cookies, and White Russians!!

Just in case, maybe you should try this all-white Labor Day menu.  It’s not exactly the most waistline-friendly, but that’s not my fault.  I was trying to think of what was white and, of course, I thought of heavy cream!  It’s not my fault this meal is so creamy and delicious.  I have to make sure every one gets one last white meal during Labor Day.

You know, just in case.

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Grilled Eggplant

You ready for some Italian?  How about

Grilled Eggplant Paninis?

The inspiration for this dish came from a great man and an amazing chef: Chef Jasper from Jasper’s restaurant in Kansas City.  He actually let me hang out with him for a Saturday (which, mind you is the ONLY reason I would wake up at 8 on a Saturday!) 

It was such an experience!  I got to attend his radio program, we talked food, we stopped by a grocery store, and he showed me how to tell when mozarella hasn’t been pulled long enough.  (hint: hard mozarella needs more pulling.)  I even got to hear about the real Jasper from his wife.  Amazing.

Part of my day was eating with Chef’s wife at Marco Polo’s, which is this amazing little deli connected to Jasper’s.  They fed me a startlingly refined, slightly spicy sausage sandwich from the deli.  It was topped with onions, green peppers and potatoes and came with a very unique barbecue sauce that was kind of sweet and kind of tangy.  A lot of times sausage sandwiches are greasy and taste like burnt sausage.  This one was perfectly balanced sausage sandwich with meat that didn’t overpower the other ingredients.  And I got to take some of the sausage home.  (yay!)

Anyway, last week I got hungry (like I do) and was in the mood for a sandwich.  So my buddy and I headed over to Marco Polo’s in the hunt for another sausage sandwiche.  Sadly, there was no one manning the grill!  Disappointed, but undaunted I headed in and ordered a fairly outstanding consolation prize: a grilled eggplant panini with mozzarella and roasted red peppers.

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Eggs on Tortillas

This #meatlessmonday, I wanted to do something simple like

Scrambled Egg Tostadas

Why go with something so homey?  Being meatless doesn’t necessarily mean being complicated.  In fact, when my wife and I went vegetarian, our strategy was to take dishes we ate all the time and swap out the meat for something similiar.  Given how much we loved Mexican, this dish was only natural.

I love making egg tostadas because they are so easy.  They’re filling and can be made in about 10 minutes.  So they’re perfect for the vegetarian and the #meatlessmonday fan who needs to get dinner on the table and wants to do it without meat.

If you want to make these tostadas for yourself, all you need are a few simple ingredients and literally about 10 minutes.

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Tonight I interviewed Chef Debbie Gold from The American restuarant in Kansas City, MO. I had a fabulous meal include a lamb dish that unseated Fogo de Chao’s lamb as the best lamb dish I had ever had. But that’s another blog post.

Today, we’re talking about

Sunchokes

While talking Chef Gold and touring her immaculate kitchen, she showed me some really beautiful sunchokes in her walk-in and she gave me a brief tutorial about them. Of course, later, when given the chance, Ihad to order the LaBelle duck which rested on a pillowy bed of sunchoke puree.

I thought I’d share what she told me with all of you:

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Gazpacho is tomato soup, served cold that hails from the Andalusia region of Spain.  The thought of eating ice cold tomato soup at first may appear strange, especially for those from the United States that grew up with grilled cheese sandwiches and hot tomato soup as the cure for the winter chills.  However, this dish is both traditional, and delicious.

Classic Gazpacho

The classic version of the dish features tomatoes, bell peppers, olive oil, garlic, salt and vinegar.  This version adds ginger and more vegetables, making it perfect for summer when the days are hot and the produce are in season.

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So my friend @Nightblooms and I got on the subject of tofu one fine night on Twitter when she told me about this amazing tofu/tomato sauce she made for her family.

Never one to pass down the opportunity to let others do my work for me, I begged her to do a guest post on BlogWellDone.com.  She graciously accepted with the vaguest promise of a post from me in the near future (more on that later.)  But without further ado…

Creamy Tofu-Enhanced Tomato Sauce

Contributed by Marie Oliver

Food as medicine is a practice that is easily taken for granted growing up with restaurateur parents.  Living away from home for the first time as a young adult was when the ingrained habit revealed itself. I found myself grocery shopping for sometimes obscure foods and spices that supposedly improved health when consumed as a beverage or used as an ingredient in foods.

There is nothing obscure about the tomato, but did you know it was once considered poisonous?  The tomato is among a wide range of plants that are a part of the deadly nightshade family, avoided due to their toxicity.  Eggplant, peppers and potatoes are among the nightshade plants we relish as dietary staples.

The health  benefits of tomatoes are numerous, whether eaten raw or cooked.  There was a fascinating study initiated by a couple of Harvard scientists over 20 years ago that examined the effects of tomato products on prostate cancer in about 48,000 participants. Data was gathered and reviewed over a 12 year timeframe.  Although they claimed the study to be inconclusive, in the same breath it was asserted that there was a definitive reduction in the risk of prostate cancer in men who consumed tomatoes – about 45%.

The red pigment found in tomatoes is lycopene, an antioxidant or cell damage neutralizer.   Lycopene has also been said to inhibit growth of breast, lung and endometrial cancer cells.  However, for some who are allergic, tomatoes may be a health hazard.  If you suffer from hives, headaches or asthma symptoms after consuming tomato products, then step away from the fruit. Tomatoes also contain the chemical salicylate, which is an active ingredient in aspirin. So, if you have an aspirin allergy, talk with your physician about whether you should avoid food salicylates as well.

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So after yesterday, we’re back to what we do best: recipes.  (Yay recipes!)  This post was inspired by my Twitter buddy @fiftiesguy, who once told me, to my absolute horror, he wasn’t a big fan of eggplant.  Once I recovered from my complete shock, I promised I would create, espeically for him, this recipe:

Eggplant Parmesan

Eggplant is one of those vegetables that you either love or you think you despise.  Sadly, given my culinary experience, I find that there are far more of the latter than the former.  The only explanation I have for this disturbing trend is that those who say they don’t like it haven’t had good eggplant.

Cue the calvary charge music…

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The other day, my friend Carissa emailed to ask a question.   It seemed that she was going to serve 30 guests that evening and wanted some thoughts on making this recipe from RecipeZaar for

Fresh Orange Rice

and wanted my thoughts on how to make it.

First off, Carissa is a great cook, so I had no doubt she could follow the recipe, own it, and make it great.  There was one problem, though, as far as I could see.

Being a big fan of Chipotle, I have tried and tried to make their cilantro lime rice and I just can’t get it right.  It’s ALWAYS too limey.  (Since trying and failing several times, I think I figured out the key.  I think they add the lime juice after the rice is cooked, but that’s another story.)

Anyway, I told her my misgivings that basically a little citrus goes a long way and that some people (like myself) were going to really taste the citrus if it was strong.  She later emailed me, telling me that she had changed the recipe, reducing the citrus and it had turned out wonderful.

I asked permission to share this story and her recipe. Read the rest of this entry »

All good things must end, which includes the 8 Days of Cabot, our whirlwind descent into deliciousness with the help of Cabot Creamery Collective‘s amazing cheeses.

Some will say, though, that I saved the best for last with this little cheesy gems because today we’re making

Two Pepper Cheese Souffles

That’s right two different types of chili peppers go into these souffles.  What are the two peppers?

Well all throughout the 8 Days of Cabot, I’ve been on a definite Tex Mex kinda twist and the last block of cheese I had left was Cabot Habanero Cheddar.  I thought that the spicy kick of the habanero cheese  would be perfect in a cheese souffle.  So that’s pepper #1.

Never one to leave well enough alone, I got to thinking.  Habaneros are good…but habaneros and chipotles in adobo are even better.  So I mixed them together to form an amazing cheese souffle.  But I wasn’t done yet.  I also added mushrooms to the souffle to give it an earthy taste and a firm texture that you are going love.

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