Sardine Crostini

I have wanted to try sardines for many years now, having read several articles about them, and seen many recipes and television shows about how good they are, and how good they are for you. I was somewhat awe struck with the idea and a bit intimidated.

I had this impression however, that they were going be very salty strong little fishes, I guess maybe I was thinking they tasted more like anchovies, which I love, but they are used sparingly. I managed to purchase a can of sardines at a Spanish market I found last year and the can remained in my pantry until last night. I must have finally been in the mood.....it was a warm spring evening, we were going to open a good bottle of wine, and play cards on the balcony. That always gets my brain working, what we need is good appetizer to go with that. I thought of the can of sardines and enlisted my husband to help. He was all jazzed about trying them.

Get all the components of the dish ready and then assemble.

1 loaf bread, thinly sliced, Ciabatta or baguette style

1 fresh garlic clove

Juice of 1/2 Lemon

Sea Salt

1 jar roasted red peppers, well drained, and cut into bite size pieces

1 tbsp capers

Very good quality olive oil

1/2 half a white onion

Prepare the sardines. Open the sardines and dump the can upside down on to a plate and separate them. They are very delicate so be careful. They were packed only in olive oil, and there was quite a bit of it, so I got rid of a some of it. Then I took half a lemon and gave them a little dressing. We sampled a tiny bit and found that they needed salt. A sprinkling of good quality salt made all the difference.

Slice the white onion in very thin slices.

Drain the peppers and slice into bite size pieces.

Drain the capers.

Brush the bread with olive oil, and bake in oven only until they start to turn slightly brown. Depending on your oven this might take 5 to 10 minutes. (I have also used my toaster oven for this if I am only making a few.) Immediately upon removing the crostini from the oven take the garlic clove and brush over the toasts. The heat will cause the garlic to melt on the bread.

Next top with all your ingredients, the sardines, capers, peppers. Once they are all assembled drizzle very lightly with a little fresh olive oil.

There are lots of strong flavors going on there. I hope you enjoy them!

Risotto with Artichoke and Lemon

Risotto. Gotta love it.


It can be made so many different ways. Risotto with mushrooms, seafood, broccoli, it is all based around arborio or carnaroli rice. Carnaroli can be found in Italian markets, or ordered on-line, while arborio is readily available in most supermarkets and Trader Joe's. I use the arborio on a regular basis because it is easy to find. It has become a staple in my pantry. The Carnaroli I pick up when I go to the Italian market, which is rare, maybe every few months. I recently bought some to make a special dish from Venice, using fresh shrimp, and had some left over that I used in this dish.

Even though artichokes are in season right now I did not use them. I find that the frozen or jarred are just fine for some dishes. In this case I used the jarred. If made fresh, you must discard all the leaves on the outside of the choke to get to the heart, and it pains me to throw all that out. You can decide for yourself which type you want to use.

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 small onion or 1/2 a large onion, diced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 cup carnaroli rice
1 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp white pepper

1/4 tsp dried thyme
1 32 ounce can chicken broth
1 5 to 6 ounce jar artichoke hearts
Zest of one lemon
1 Tsp Lemon juice
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, freshly grated

Drain the artichoke hearts well. Set aside.

In small saucepan heat the chicken broth until hot, then reduce the heat but keep hot. It is important that any broth or water added to the dish be very hot.

In a heavy bottomed large saute pan heat the canola oil, add the onion and saute about 7 minutes. The onion should be more than soft but not yet browning. Add the garlic and stir for one minute. Add the rice, stirring for a few minutes to coat well and slightly toast.

Start adding the hot chicken broth one ladle at a time. This process will take about 20 minutes. Add a ladle of broth and stir, almost constantly, allowing all the broth to cook off before adding the next ladle.

Add the salt, pepper and thyme. Stir well. Add the artichokes but stir gently so they do not completely fall apart.

Once the rice is done, turn off the heat and add the lemon zest, lemon juice, and Parmesan cheese. To test for doneness you must taste it. Do not judge by time alone.

If the risotto gets too dry add a little hot water, that will loosen it up. And it is ready to serve.

The majority of the flavor should come from the zest which is why I love this dish so much. The combination of the zest and the artichoke is wonderful. You can hardly detect the other ingredients which is what you want. They are in the background, and add to the overall flavor, without you really knowing they are there.

Hum....what kind of wine should we serve with this dish?

Baked Pears with Lemon Zest and Anise

This recipe literally came to me as I was making it. I had two pears in the kitchen I needed to use and realized I had not had a baked pear in a long time. I don't make dessert very often these days but the thought of a special dessert on a Sunday night seemed like a nice thing to do. Lets see, what to put in them? I was going to look for a recipe and then decided to just through a couple things on the pears and be done with it. I knew that cinnamon was a given, and I needed something sweet, without being too sweet or high in sugar grams, so I used the agave syrup I had on hand. (I'm telling you the more I use that stuff the more I like it.) I had a big bowl of lemons on the table and thought that zest always wakes up a dish or makes it more interesting so I would try some lemon zest. Then I opened the drawer where I keep all my spices and found some anise seed, which I never use, but thought oh what the heck! Lets try something different. The pears came out so good, I was shocked. Sometimes I surprise myself! I will put this recipe in my collection and make it again.

2 whole pears

1 cup apple juice

1 tablespoon organic agave syrup

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Zest of 1/2 lemon

1/4 tsp anise seed

Cut each pear in half, remove seeds and stem ends. You may peel the pears if you like or leave the peel on. I leave it on because I want the vitamins and fiber. Place in a gratin pan, or other ceramic dish. Combine the rest of the ingredients and pour over the pears. Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes. Every 15 minutes baste the pears with the sauce.

After the pears have finished baking pour the sauce into a small saucepan and reduce on high heat for about 7 minutes. It will get thick and syrupy. While reducing use a spoon to skim off any foam and the anise seed.

Plate the pears and pour the reduced sauce over.

I took this picture of the pear half plated for the blog post. What you don't see is that once I had the photo I put 2 pear halves in a bowl and topped it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. So you can serve this two ways, the pretty small portion when you have company, or the big portion with ice cream when you are alone in front of the TV.