Celebrate Good Times! Pantry2Plate WINS Cuisinart's Get Cooking! Contest

Polenta Fries with Parmesan Dipping Sauce and Basil Oil

I am more than thrilled to announce that Pantry2Plate has won the latest series of Cuisinart's Get Cooking! Contest.  This contest makes it easy to get excited about being in the kitchen and the winning recipe truly came from one of the greatest pleasures of cooking...sharing good food and great times with remarkable friends.  The feedback from the Cuisinart Chefs is on point and something I've heard from another faithful reader (Squints, you call 'em like you see 'em!), so I will work on being a bit more descriptive in my posts.  How about the rest of you?  Anything else you would like to see?  Thanks for your support...I am grinning from ear-to-ear!

Check out the link below for what Cuisinart Chefs had to say:
http://www.cuisinart.com/recipes/get-cooking-contest/winners.html

The winning recipe post can be found in my archives and linked below:
http://pantry2plate.blogspot.com/2010/06/polenta-fries-with-basil-oil-and.html

Cuisinart's 'Get Cooking' Contest - who will be the winner?!

I can't wait to hear the results of Cuisinart's 'Get Cooking!' Contest.  Pantry2Plate was selected as a finalist and they are expected to announce the winner this week!  Have you tried the Polenta Fries yet?  One bite and you'll be hooked! 

Cuisinart's Recipe Swap - Come on East Coast, Get Involved!

You guys have read many a post referencing Cuisinart kitchen products that I love, to say I am a fan is an understatement.  I've been following them on Twitter and Facebook and recently learned of their many contests for readers and food lovers like you and me. The next one up is an online take to an old-fashioned exchange and you can benefit as soon as you submit. It's a Recipe Swap! Here are the details:


Cuisinart is proud to host the East Coast vs. West Coast Recipe Swap on Tuesday, August 10th between 11:00am - 5:00pm EST. Simply enter a recipe into the swap and - when you do, you will be emailed a new recipe, submitted by a Cuisinart.com user. Another Cuisinart.com user will receive your recipe via email.
What is the East-West battle? One entry, from whichever coast submits more recipes, will be randomly selected to win the Countertop Elite Set.

Entering is easy...just go to Cuisinart.com and under the 'Recipes' tab, you'll see 'Special Features' in the left nav.  Click on 'Recipe Swap' for details and to submit.  Let me know what you get good!

Chilled Gazpacho Soup

Remember the marinated and grilled veggies post from the other weekend? I recently had an opportunity to make it again when we had some friends over to welcome them back to town (yahoo!). While at our favorite farmer's market Saturday, we bought a brown bag full of summer squash and baby zucchini so we threw those on the grill with spring onions, mushrooms and a baby eggplant. We used the same balsamic marinade and they came out just as tasty as the first time.

We had almost a pound of the grilled vegetables leftover so last night I decided to try making Gazpacho which, surprisingly enough, I've only ever tried once. We'll be changing that this summer! Here's how it came together:

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1/2 raw white onion, diced

1/2 large green bell pepper, diced

2 garlic cloves

leftover grilled, balsamic-marinated summer vegetables

1-26 oz can crushed tomatoes with basil

2 tbsp tomato paste

2 cups low sodium chicken stock

2 cups water (or more if you want to thin it out)

fresh chopped herbs - I had basil, oregano and thyme on hand

crushed red pepper flakes

2 bay leaves

salt and pepper

I started by sautéing the onion and green pepper in the olive oil with a little S & P in my Martha Stewart Collection Enameled Cast Iron Casserole Pot until the onions were translucent . Next I turned up the heat on the stove a bit and added the crushed garlic, grilled vegetables, tomatoes, tomato paste and chicken stock. I broke out my trusty Cuisinart cordless hand blender and blended all the veggie bits together until there were no big bite-sized pieces left (although I left it a little chunky because I like that texture). Next I added the water, the fresh herbs, the bay leaves (these will come out before serving), a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes and a pinch more black pepper. I brought the soup up to a boil and then put the lid on and took it off the heat to simmer for about 30 minutes.

From there the whole pot went into the fridge overnight and then the chilled soup went into my belly over lunch. With these 100° days, I've been craving ice-cold lunches and this one hit the spot. It's a great way to help meet your veggie quota for the day and enjoy a refreshing, cool meal.

Fresh Lime-Basil Sorbet

I found this recipe a few weeks ago while I was doing some research on different varieties of basil.  One could say I am a little obsessed with the bright, versatile summer herb that can be used for anything from pizza to dessert.

Couple things to note on this recipe:

1. Delicious.

2. You must like lime.

3. You must love basil.

Here's the recipe I found and some of my modifications listed below (pics to follow shortly):

Fresh Lime-Basil Sorbet
1 cup fresh squeezed lime juice (8 to 10 limes)
1 cup water
1 cup simple sugar syrup (1 cup sugar plus 1 cup water, boiled then cooled)
12 whole basil leaves
1 egg white (optional)

Combine all ingredients, except egg white, into a freezer friendly container and freeze 6 to 8 hours or overnight.

Remove from freezer and allow to soften a little. Put chunks of frozen mixture into a food processor and process until all crystals have disappeared and mixture is smooth. Re-pack into container and keep frozen until needed. This will keep for up to 2 months. If you prefer a lighter, less icy sorbet, add 1 egg white during processing.  Yields 4 servings.
(Recipe from Herbal Gardens’ website)

In terms of ingredients, the only thing I modified was adding basil leaves to infuse the simple syrup (I pulled 8 leaves, gave them a quick chop and added to the water sugar mixture before it started to boil) .  Using equal parts sugar to water, I made a little extra syrup because I thought it would be a really tasty topper for fresh strawberries and vanilla ice cream and I wanted to try making a lemonade basil cocktail with it.  More to come on those...

My changes in process included using my handy-dandy Cuisinart Ice Cream and Sorbet maker because I am not a patient person and it helped to speed the process up significantly.  I froze the initial liquid for about 4 hours, transferred to the blender and processed with one egg white and then transferred it to the ice cream maker.  My machine takes about 20-25 minutes to get the sorbet to a good consistency and then it only took about 2 hours in the freezer to get to that right serving temp.  I also like the texture that's created while churning away in the machine.

One last note, I think the 'yields 4 servings' is an understatement.  I was able to pack my quart-sized ice cream freezer container to the brim with the quantities listed above.  Also, because the sorbet is so tart, it is best served as a tasting rather than a heaping  scoop which means you can get a lot more than 4 servings out of this recipe.

One thing is for sure, it is a delicious and refreshing way to kick off summer!

Veggie Pesto

Non-traditional pesto has become one of my favorite go-to foods especially when trying to get in my daily 5.  Using veggies along with herbs, nuts, olive oil and good cheese, you can create a lot of different tasty combinations that are flavorful and healthy.  My favorite, as of late, is pea pesto and it whips up in a heartbeat so it's a great quick grab.  I blend it all using my Cuisinart hand blender with the processor attachment and I usually vary the ingredients each time.  However, here's one that is pretty standard:

1 can sweet young peas or 8 oz. frozen peas, thawed and rinsed

olive oil (about 2-3 tbsp)

walnuts (between 1/4 to 1/2 cup depending on how much crunch you like)

parmesan cheese (about 3-4 oz)

a few basil leaves to taste (optional)

1 garlic clove (optional)

salt & pepper

Blend away!  Once it's whipped up, I use it as a sandwich spread (this morning I made an egg salad using 1 hardboiled egg and a tbsp pesto), a dip with crudite, a pasta sauce, a salad topper and occasionally just a bite by itself.  I feel okay about that though...it's a veggie pesto after all!